A Convict's Lover by Kayla Trautman (the false prince series .txt) 📕

it, "It would be my pleasure to take you as my wife. You'll make a beautiful trophy of mine. And I always cherish my trophies." She smiled at him as he stood. But she could not say anything. What kind of compliment was that? She guessed that it was the best he could give.

"Now get of here. I have a lot of work to do." Louis ordered. Bertly followed her to the door and opened it for her. She smiled and stepped out into the hallway. She started heading outside but Bertly called after her, "Miss. Julie."

Julie stopped and turned to smile at him, "Yes, Mr. Bertly." "Call me Jeffrey." He smiled as he walked up to her. "I was wondering if you'd go horse riding with me. I could be ready in fifteen minutes." Julie nodded, "That would be great. I was heading out there to go see Bunny, myself." He smiled showing his teeth; he never stopped smiling. More like he never stopped gloating over his easy victory today. "I'll meet you in the stables in fifteen minutes then."

***


They rode out together side by side. They were completely alone now. "I hope that one day you'll find that I'm not as bad as you think I am." He broke the silence. Julie frowned and looked over at him, "What makes you say that?" He smiled slightly, "I know what you think of me. You think I'm a swine, don't you?" She sighed, "No, I don't. And if we're being honest here then I didn't want to marry you because I wasn't even attracted to you. No offense. You are very handsome. What I mean by that is we don't connect. I'd rather be free but once I'm married to you I'll have to go to you for everything."

"Maybe I'd like waiting on you." He offered. She shook her head and looked ahead, "It would be controlling me, not waiting on me." It grew quiet between them again. But soon Bertly reached over and grabbed her reins, stopping them both. Julie looked over at him and he dismounted his horse. When he turned to her she asked, "What are you doing?"

"I thought we'd walk. Maybe talk out our differences. You're going to become my wife by spring and I'd appreciate it if you acted like it. I've been trying to be gentle about this whole thing." He spat out. What was this? He never showed this side of him before.

Julie let him help her down and then took his arm when he offered it, "I'm sorry if it disappoints you that I'm not as thrilled about this situation as you are. But it's just the way it is. I won't back down from it. I will marry you."

Bertly walked her over to a tree and stopped her by turning her around. She leaned back against the tree and swallowed, "Why are we stopping again?" "Well, since we're going to be husband and wife, I don't find any harm in this."

She saw as he braced his hands on the tree beside her, trapping her in, and bent his head. She was going to marry him. They would have to kiss sometime; especially at the wedding, and she would want to get the first kiss over with without an audience.

She stiffened when his lips touched hers but she did not stop him. His lips moved on hers but she didn't respond to them. But when his hand touched her her arm and squeezed she gasped. He took advantage of her open mouth and his tongue invaded her mouth. Her hands flew up to his chest to push him back but he just stepped closer, crushing her to the tree.

Julie took a deep breath and sighed. She kissed him back. The taste of him was disgusting but she had no choice. They would be married soon. Bertly then pulled back and started kissing her neck, "You're so beautiful." "Thank you." Julie frowned and layed her head back against the tree. She knew it wasn't true. It was just a flattery to get her on his side.

His hand left her arm and he grabbed her breast. Julie gasped and pushed on his chest, "Bertly!" "It's okay, darling. I'm allowed to. You're mine now." He grabbed again and his other hand ran down her spine to grope at her buttocks. Julie pushed him back harder, "Don't! Stop it!"

Bertly pulled back to look at her, "Come on, Julie. We're going to be married soon. There's no difference." She frowned and slapped him across the face, "And we will wait until then. Now get your filthy hands off of me." Bertly's expression changed. He grabbed her face and glared down at her, "There will be a time when you learn not to talk back to me or to hit me again. And for future notice, don't make me angry. It isn't pretty."

A new fear rose in her. She frowned up at him, "Please unhand me. If you don't I will tell my father that you tried to rape me." He frowned and practically threw her face away from him, "Just wait. I may not be in the mood anymore at the moment but later you will obey me. I'll deal with your temper then." He turned and mounted his horse, "And don't think that I'll back down just because you have a little more spunk than I thought you did." He smirked. "I always love a challenge." Chapter 3

Julie took Bunny further out into the forest. It was dark outside. She should've been home a long time ago but she couldn't go back. She was torn between doing the right thing by going back and running away. She had no where to run to. No one lived around here for miles. They were in a deserted place. And no one would keep her at their place longer than the time it took for her father to come get her.

She knew that it was dangerous to be out here by herself; not just because of dehydration but because of bandits. They traveled in groups and were made of runaway convicts. They robbed houses at night so no one would realize until they woke in the morning and the robbers were long gone. They also had the habit of kidnapping women and raping them before leaving them deserted to die.

Julie climbed down from her horse and sat down beside Bunny. She held her knees up to her knees and layed her head on her knees. She was depressed and didn't know what to do. A branch cracked behind her that made her head pop up. She stood up and turned around. There was a man standing there. He was dressed in rags. He wasn't skin and bone, he had muscle, but he looked like he could use some more weight.

"Wait. Don't be afraid." He whispered. He must've saw the fear on her face. She didn't know what he wanted but she didn't stick around to find out. She tried to mount her horse but he grabbed her arm and pulled her down. "Let go of me!" She yelled and fought back. He grabbed both of her arms and pulled her back against him, "Stop." It was just a low whisper.

She stomped on his foot and then kicked his shin. He yelled and loosened his grip on her. He didn't let go but it was enough for Julie to shake his hold off of her and run. She left her horse and went running into the forest. She couldn't go back because that's where he was so she was forced to run deeper into the forest.

"Hey!" She heard him yelling after her. "Get back here! I just wanna talk to you!" She looked back as she ran and saw him only a couple steps away from her. She screamed and pushed herself faster but that did no good with the dress she wore.

Julie screamed as she felt him grab her dress and heard it rip and she went falling to the ground. She felt his hands on her legs but she was dazed. Her head hit the ground when she fell. "Hey." He turned her around on her back and gazed down at her, "Hey. Are you okay?"

She moaned in pain, "Please. Please don't hurt me." The man touched her forehead and she winced. He sighed, "I'm not going to hurt you. You hit your head awfully hard, little lady. I'll take care of you." Julie realized her eyes were closed and she opened them. Her vision was blurry. "Don't touch me. I wanna go home."

"Trust me, lady, I wanna go home just as much as you do." He whispered as he picked her up and turned around. Julie was powerless to stop him from taking her away. "Stop calling me lady

." She heard him laugh, "You are a lady, are you not? You have breasts and I doubt there's anything hanging between your legs."

She frowned at his inappropiate words and closed her eyes, "Where are you taking me?" "Home. Your place shouldn't be too far from here. I just need you to promise me that you won't let them shoot me on sight. They'll think I kidnapped you when I didn't." She whispered, "You attacked me ... we won't give you any money ... just because you saved me after you hurt me."

"That was an accident. And I don't want your damned money, lady. Stop chattering. You're giving me a headache with your squeeky voice. You'll be out cold in a minute if you keep talking." The man hoisted her up to lay over the horse and got on the sadle. He sat her up and made her lean back against him. He grabbed the reins and turned the horse around, "Try to open your eyes and keep them open." Julie moaned as her head began to hurt even more, "I can't. It hurts too much." He just sighed. His arm was around her stomach as he walked the horse back. He'd have to gallop once she passed out. If he did now then it would hurt her more and she'd feel it. But that sigh was the last thing that Julie heard before she fell unconscious.

Chapter 4

Julie felt a wet cloth laying on her forehead and she also felt the headache that followed with consciousness. She opened her eyes to find herself in her own room. She groaned and squeezed her eyes shut tight.

"Julie." She just