Beastly Desires

Chapter Six

Colette fingered the soft wool knit leggings folded atop a shelf inside the small Haberdasher shop she shuffled into a few moments ago.

It was full of various fabrics, all sorts of sewing, crapes, laces, silks, perfumes, skirts and other fashion finery and normal everyday wear. She meandered through its four tall shelves and along the wooden counters that lined three of its walls until she found what she was looking for.

"Fancy a new pair of stocking for this brittle autumn cold we done got?" A plump, blond haired, seamstress sat behind a counter, finicking with the sleeve of a cotton shift. Her ruddy face was pinched in concentration as she sewed the sleeve into the shifts open shoulder. She did not look over her shoulder as she addressed Colette, who stood a counter widths away.

Colette clutched the pair of stockings in her hands and walked up to the counter, placing it on the smooth surface.

"Yes. I'm afraid mine might fall off if my knees continue to clack against the cold." Colette opted for humor by way of greeting. A safe, comfortable approach to bargaining.

The seamstress huffed a chuckle out, smiling to herself. "The north wind has blown a hole through them, aye?"

Colette matched her laugh and placed two copper coins onto the counter. "And what of the garter ribbons you have behind the counter. Will those brace the cold well enough to keep my socks up?"

A display of beautiful silk ribbons in various shades of purple were draped along a thin wooden pole braced to the wall beside the seamstress. Colette found herself lusting after the lavender one, its frilled edges teasing her eyes. She hadn't a pair as pretty or feminine as those and for the life of her she desired to own a pair suddenly.

The seamstress pressed her lips together, eyeing the two copper coins that faced her on the counter. She went back to sewing the sleeve of the shift and barked out, "A pretty girl like you may get by with your looks around other shops but beauty doesn't buy exotic threads."

Colette was startled by the offense and accusation. Then again, it wasn't new to her- the snide remarks from the women she received . She didn't think her beauty was as intimidating as it has always been interpreted. She knew the threads were not exotic, they didn't have that foreign luster like the silks she'd seen on a noble lady a year ago as she had passed her in the market place. The gown she wore was rich in color and the softness of the silk melted the light that danced across its shiny surface.

Though the ribbons that hung were beautiful and better quality than normal she doubted they were exotic and knew the seamstress was bargaining for more than they were worth.

Colette plucked another copper coin out and placed it near the other two. "I did not know they were exotic. They are lovely." She tried to sound pleasant even though the insult weighed heavily in her throat.

The seamstress stood from her stool she sat upon, burried beneath the layers of her skirts and pocketed the three copper coins. "Which shall you want?" She pointed to the ribbons and Colette motioned to the lavender one.

"Fancy anything else?" The seamstress said curtly, pulling the ribbon from its place and sitting it atop the stocking.

Colette gathered the stockings, wrapping the ribbon around them and shook her head. "Thank you." She turned on her heels and made her way out into the bustling streets of the market.

Vendors lined the wide dirt paths that snaked their way through and around their carts and makeshift tables. Shops and cottages gathered around the central area of the market, shielding the hustle and bustle of people and merchants from the autumn wind that wiped at the brick and mortar.

Men came up to Colette, offering chickens and foreign goods. Spewing deals laced with sweet words and ridiculous compliments. They showered her in honey covered advances, reaching for her hands, an arm to graze their greedy fingers over. She would normally ignore the handsy ones but found herself unfortunately cornered by one between a stack of hay bales and a cart of produce.

"If only but a kiss upon your hand and this lovely goat will be yours."

Colette smiled tightly at the purred advance, desperately searching for an escape route as the haunched man crept closer to her. He held a rope in his right hand tied off to a spotted kid goat while his other hand reached out towards her.

"I- I don't need a goat, good sir. If I might, I'll be on my way n- now." She stuttered, sucking in her breath as he neared closer to her.

His grimy face was laced with sensuous intent. A blurred hunger- desire pooled behind his brown eyes. Colette wondered what awful thoughts raced through his head, ushering him to stand in front of her, his hand racking down her arm to clutch her own.

"S-sir," she squeaked out. Dread filling her entire body.

No one batted an eye. The woman who passed by only glanced at her, their sneers louder than the words of disgrace that fell from their lips. Men carried on with their work, focusing on the next opportune buyer.

Colette looked up to the heavens, pleading as she struggled to take her hand back.

"Mwah... mwah...mmm, such lovely skin. Like tea with cream. Oh how sweat the taste of cream is."

Colette appalled at the assault her hand took from the man's greedy lips. She thought surely there would be bruises with how roughly he kissed her.

His mouth started up her forearm and she squabbled to be released. "Sir, you must let me go this instant!"

A tall shadow arched above the man and two large hands clamped down onto his shoulders before yanking him back into the ground. The man yelped as a heeled boot pressed down into his abdomen.

"The lady said get, you gluttonous pig. I'll be taking that goat as payment for the expensive soap she'll now need to purchase to clean the filth her hand is covered in. Get, I say."

The man scrabbled to his feet beneath an impatient looking Gregorie who towered over him like a balking tree.

Relief and subtle wariness filtered through Colette's body as she stepped from out her corner of dread. Of course it was Gregorie who came to rescue her at the right moment, as if he hadn't been trailing after her the last ten minutes throughout the market place. She felt his shadow looming behind her for quite some time now

Gregorie held out his hand and Colette gingerly took it. He yanked the kerchief out from around his neck and wiped at the back of her hand with it, his eyes softening as he smoothed the cotton across her fingers. The gesture was intimate, sharing one's kerchief, especially between a man and a woman was a sign of courting.

Colette snatched her hand away before mumbling an illiterate apology.

Gregorie brown eyes simmered with an unreadable emotion. "I saved your life and you balk at the kind gesture?"

Colette flinched, a blush working it's way across her cheeks. She didn't mean to seem rude, she only felt embarrassed by the gesture. She fumbled to say the right words. "M-my apologies, Gregorie. Thank you."

She offered a slight curtesy, her eyes glued to the ground as she felt the assessing weight of his stare at the crown of her head.

"Where is your father? He shouldn't let his daughter- his only daughter meander about the streets of this merchant house filled with ungodly people who pray on beautiful woman."

His eyes swept across her face and dipped below her chin. A strand of hair had escaped Colette's braided crown and fluttered beside her cheek, cupping below her chin in a featherlight embrace.

She stilled as she felt Gregories long fingers brush her chin and twine around the strand of hair.

"Beautiful Colette. Tell your father I wish to speak with him immediately."

He reluctantly let go of the strand of hair before squaring back his shoulders, that sure male pride resurfacing on his face.

"My father has gone on a business trip. He won't be back until the end of the week." Colette swiftly shoved the strand of hair into her hood, staffing off the warmth that pooled into her abdomen at the gentle gesture. She did not know the feeling that rose inside her, other than the fact that somehow Gregorie was the cause of it. And for some reason that did not sit well with her.

Gregorie shifted on his feet, impatience running along his eyebrows. "How untimely," he said, dryly.

Colette gathered herself and started to say goodbye, but Gregorie seemed to have other plans and hooked his arm around hers and started them down the dirt path. "Please, allow me to walk you home at least."

It wasn't like Colette had much of a choice as he ushered her through the throngs of people hustling around them.

The walk to her cottage felt longer than normal and severely uncomfortable. She kept sneaking glances up at Gregorie who walked quietly beside her, his eyes set in distant thought.

She studied the planes of his face, trying to find an end to the countless freckles that splattered his high cheekbones and crept back behind his neck into the collar of his kerchief. He was handsome. Anyone would admit that tho she thought tersely. But she found herself filling with that same warmth she felt earlier and grimaced at why it came to be.

"Does the walk tire you out? I can always hoist you onto my back if you'd like." Gregorie smiled down at her teasingly.

Colette smirked, smoothing down a fold in her skirt. "I think you find that thought more entertaining than I do."

She still had her arm entwined with his and for some reason never thought to unhinge it from his own when they left the confines of the marketplace. Maybe it was the wariness of being cornered again or that she only carelessly forgot.

Gregorie chuckled and it was a genuine, unfiltered laugh. Colette caught site of her tiny cottage and found their pace to be slowing. She looked up to catch Gregorie staring down at her with an unreadable emotion.

She gulped, feeling like she was in that corner again. "Thank you," she blurted out, breaking the tension that had suddenly bloomed. "Thank you for saving me. That was a kind gesture and I'm sorry I reacted so rudely. I guess... I was a little shocked, startled by the suddenness of it all." She found herself saying more than she had intended.

Gregorie smiled tightly. "Is it not foreseeable that I would do something like that? Interfere on your behalf? What kind of man would I be if I did not protect the most valuable thing to me?"

Colette's mouth went dry. The cottage was a few lengths away but felt miles from where they now stood near the well in the center of their pathway. It was set between a row of cottages on either side.

"I-I don't know what to say to that, Gregorie." She spoke. Hesitantly, quietly. She didn't realize how much she meant to him. Didn't realize how deep his infatuation with her went beyond teasing remarks and casually spoken proposals. Perhaps it was his way of dealing with how deeply he cared for her, as she shoved him aside like a coddled child.

"I'm tired." Was all she could say. It was true. The events of today wore her out and the only thing she wanted to do was sit in her rocking chair and watch the stars pour into the night sky.

Gregorie clamped his lips together, his eyes assessing, before leading her the rest of the way to the front door of her cottage.

People sauntered into their homes nearby, candles lighting up the dirt stained windows.

The end of the day was being called in by the warm candle lights pouring across the faces of the cottages.

"I'm a patient man, Colette." He sucked in a tearess breath. "I've been... patient, with you."

Gregorie stood facing down at Colette, his arm had left hers but his hand grasped her own now. "Please, don't make me wait any longer."

Maybe it was the sincerity in his voice. Perhaps the coziness of the candle lights that encased them, leaving her feeling comfortable, safe. Maybe it was her fathers words echoing from yesterday.

Colette reached up to cup the side of Gregorie's face and he stilled beneath her touch. His eyes went slightly wide, full of wariness as she strained, lifting up on the tips of her toes to plant a soft kiss upon his cheek.

"Good evening, Gregorie. " She said, before stepping into the confines of her home. She closed the door behind her and sagged against it. She prayed it wasn't a mistake what she had done. What felt like a promise.