Twice as Long as Yesterday by hopeful wager.pdf

T wice as L ong as Y ester day

Chapter One ~ The Agreement

struggling to hold on the last thing I had my pride.

with his. Lord Cullen's emerald green eyes were entrancing and seductive, but they could not

He crossed the room, his footfalls barely making a sound. Shivers went down my spine as the

sensation of his sweet breath came forth, his mouth so close to my ear that I heard him lick his

lips before he spoke.

your

in your little cottage on the edge of my property, as long as you will present yourself to me each

night at 9 PM. Because I am a gracious, god-fearing man I will allow you Sunday nights for your

A disgusted scoff escaped my lips as he claimed the title of god-fearing. Godless was more apt,

or worse.

He stepped back, and I allowed myself to look up at him for a passing moment. He was still in

his riding gear, the cherry wood riding crop still clutched in his black leather-gloved hand. He

was drinking me in with his hungry gaze from head to toe. My dress was modest cotton, and my

cloak the simplest blue-dyed wool. If it revealed anything, it was only how poor we were, and

unable to afford the fine luxurious gowns of London society women. Not that that mattered to

Edward Cullen. H

one of the sheep or the horses. I was a stock animal to be used as he saw fit.

your pleasure each

His impish smile drew to my mouth.

twice as long each night after. As long as you hold up your end of our agreement, than you have

nothing to fear. If you miss a night, than you will pay penance by having your tally doubled

twice. Your father and you will be welcomed to stay on my land. But yo

I cast him a curious but repulsed stare.

it drop to the ground. I paced to the middle of the room, squared myself, and closed my eyes. I

agreed to let him do whatever he wished to me, but I did not agree to reciprocate his actions, and

he was sorely mistaken if he had assumed any such intentions on my part, despite how any other

of the Killarney girls would have traded their best stockings to change place with me. He was

handsome, but the devil so often was when he came courting.

A low chuckle met my ears, and I felt again the heat of his breath on my neck. He moved as

silently as the dead.

In one brisk movement, he pulled me hard against his body and pressed his lips to mine. My eyes

shot open as I felt his tongue pierce through my rigid lips, before fluttering closed again. I felt

the betrayal of my own body, giving into his insistence. He tasted me deeply, his hands and arms

encasing me in his embrace, the riding crop pressing painfully into my back, and my lungs trying

uselessly to refresh the air they needed. I relaxed my lips and let his mold around mine, just in

the moment he pulled away. He smiled, having felt the shift in my demeanor in that tiniest sliver

of a moment.

The anger surged through me at the realization of what I had done, and how I had felt. This man

was no friend or lover: he was the Lord, and I was no lady. I would not be his victim. That would

only happen if I let down my guard again. His kiss had set my pulse racing, but that was just a

physical reaction. He would never hold my heart. He stared at me now as he drew away with a

sense of accomplishment.

Clenching teeth gave way to bitter words.

always at the mercy of your

hand and lip, I will never take anything from you but contempt and disgust. Good day, Lord

I turned on heel and charged out of the stable, quickly making my way down the stonewall path

en route to our cottage a mile away in the meadow by Middle Lake. When I arrived home, I

discovered my father was still out afield. I set about peeling potatoes, as my mind reflected on

the abhorrent thing I had agreed to.

e twice as long as the night

before. I tried to work out the numbers in my head. By the end of the week, we would arrive at

blacksmith had promised to take my hand soon. I just needed to hold through long enough to

allow him to establish himself in Killarney proper, and then he would send for us. Then I would

at last be joined to him as wife, and my father and I would be safe.

Safe from poverty.

Safe from hunger.

Safe from the likes of the despicable Lord Edward Cullen.

~o}!{o~

C hapter T wo ~ C L A R I F I C A T I O NS

I had barely slept all night, racked with guilt as I was. How could I have agreed to such a sinful

proposal? Every time I closed my eyes, I would toss about until sleep finally found me, only to

have those emerald eyes seep through the inky blackness and render me wide awake.

though Gabriel himself had dragged me before all the heavenly host, each of them knowing the

hideous blight upon my soul.

And each of them knowing as well as I, that in the last moment of my first kiss with a man whom

I would never love, a thrill had run down my spine for which I would have sold my soul to

elixir of evil tastes sweeter than honey, but is poison of the basest sort.

The morning sun coming through the window stung my eyes, and I rubbed them hard as I sat at

the table across from Charlie. He poured a cup of milk for me, and handed me a saucer of wet

eggs and a crust of bread.

Emmett Hale was our middleman, the man engaged by the Cullen family to collect tenant rent

and keep stock of their holdings and properties in Killarney. His wife Rosie was a childhood

friend of mine. Since his employment by the Cullens, however, Emmett had been nothing but a

pain to Da and me. He came about biweekly to take the rent. In the recent weeks where we could

not provide full payment, he had made harsher and harsher threats against us. On his last visit ten

days before, he took one of our own two ewes as payment in lieu of the pounds we could not

provide. One ewe should have been enough for two months, but he offered it only as worthy of

two weeks. I since had begun to refer to him as did the other tenants: bloodsucker. But Charlie

was an honest man. He defended Emmett as just doing his part to support his family, and he

time. I suppose he thought maybe Rosie would prove an ally if she saw me asking her husband

for a favor. It had been in crossing the property that Lord Cullen had come across me while he

was out riding.

I recognized him at once, even though I had not seen him in twelve years, since I was eight and

he was ten. His father, the senior Lord Edward Cullen, had brought him on a summer visit to

Killarney. He was the first English boy my friends and I had seen. He was quiet then, very

reserved, and it took us the better part of June and July to get him to play with us. He was never

particularly taken with me though, and always teased me horrifically. By August, I had grown to

hate him. The first week of September, he chased me about the muddy sheep pasture with a

slimy frog freshly after a cold rain, and I fell face first into the muck and droppings after my legs

gave out. He laughed at me, and I rightly stood and bloodied his nose.

He had never forgiven me, it seemed. Nor I him, for that matter. But we were no longer children.

The senior Lord Cullen had died in London the last winter, and now with the closing of the

bloody English, and keep himself well situated in Norwich? He had recognized me the moment

he saw me, as he halted his horse and dismounted.

His smile was cunning even then, before I had taken opportunity of the chance meeting. He

asked me to walk with him to the nearby stable when I asked if he could spare a few moments

with me.

ast spring, and only now is

regaining his strength. I have been taking as much work at a bakery in Killarney on weekends as

yet. Your middleman is threatening to evict us, sir. I have every intention of making up for

He answered me without emotion as we rounded the corner of the building and walked into the

stable, his riding crop almost an extension of his arm as they waved about as he spoke.

now. The new manor house was only completed recently. I intend to spend quite a bit of time

here in Killarney, much more than my father ever did, but the upkeep of these lands and

properties is a costly undertaking. If your father is ill, it is none of my concern. As you seem able

recommendation. Mak

eyes, finding my hands on his chest in an effort to make him feel sympathy and understand the

in Ireland. Everyone either went to America or died in the famine. I will do anything, sir,

His eyes shifted, and his gloved hands reached down to take mine from his chest. He brought

them to his lips gently and planted the lightest kiss on my knuckles.

I withdrew immediately, a look of shock and horror overtaking my features.

eyes.

He then laid out his offer. It was bizarre, the very concept of doubling time each day, of allowing

him to access my body as though he were accessing his library. I refused twice, but each time he

threatened us with eviction, reminding me that the boat journey to the Americas was my best

alternative. and not a wise one for a single young woman and her sickened, elderly father. I at

last acquiesced. My fate was sealed.

I looked back at Charlie, hoping that my self-disgust did not manifest in my eyes and betray my

decisions. I could well be on a path to sacrificing my innocence and good name, but I was doing

so to buy us time. In a few months, Charlie would be well enough to work in town again instead

of just bringing the sheep in and out of pasture and helping with the harvest. Soon, the good

blacksmith would be busy making horse shoes for the winter, and the business would give him

the money he needed for us to be wed. Charlie and I would leave the Cullen estate, and would

settle in town with Michael.

the egg yolk with the bread.

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