A/N: Welcome back! A huge thank you to: 88dragon06, Makrciana, nuckythompson, Jay D. Moore, ForeverACharmedOne, powergirl24, skycord1990, Leyshla Gisel, JessicaDwyer, XantheXV, TinkerbellxO, xoangewingxo, AqoCJeyBee and guest.

A special thank you to DIONNE DANCE for all her inspiring comments and great help. We have made it our goal to study the Earl's poetry together! Yep! :D

Disclaimer: I do not own The Libertine.


Chapter 7

~There can be no danger in sweetness and youth,

Where love is secured by good nature and truth,

On her beauty I'll gaze and of pleasure complain,

While every kind look adds a link to my chain.~

~To This Moment A Rebel, John Wilmot

The water was scorching hot as she dipped her hand into it but Alexandra was determined to remove the stain. It also helped her with her sour mood. It was not an easy thing to push a very drunk and amorous Alcock away. It was a novelty actually because it was usually the Earl who was in need to be picked up after a whole day at the inn. Adding Alcock was just adding insult to injury. She was a bloody housekeeper, not a children's caretaker.

At that she paused in her scrubbing and mulled the thought over. Men were a bit like small children really. They needed to be petted and looked after but they just didn't know it…Or they simply did not want to admit it.

She released a small groan and carried on scrubbing the soap over the red stain of the otherwise white shirt, choosing to ignore a certain voice that was calling her name from the parlor. She had chosen to be deaf for the time being or else she'd never get a job done in that house.

She didn't have to wait long because the door of the washroom was pushed open five minutes later.

She didn't stop what she was doing and she heard a small chuckle.

"What in hell are you doing so early in the morning?" Lord Rochester asked as he pushed the door fully open and leaned against it.

As she looked up, she noticed that he held a glass in his hand. She gritted her teeth and scrubbed harder.

"Washing your clothes, my Lord." She replied as she turned the shirt upside down and continued torturing it with the bar of soap.

The Earl quirked an eyebrow and he spoke after taking a sip from his drink, "Are you this…vigorous in all your…activities?" he asked with a wicked glimmer in his eyes and she looked up at him, her cheeks flushed.

"I wouldn't know. I'd have to have experience to answer you that question." She replied with cheek and his eyebrow almost disappeared under his hairline while his eyes did a quick perusal of her body.

"Experience…Experience is easily acquired if you so desire it." He said as he pushed away from the door and approached her, "Personally I do not think it guarantees the pleasure, if you know what I mean." He winked and finished his drink in one go.

Alexandra's shoulders slumped and she sighed, "Isn't it a bit too early for wine, sir?" she asked instead and he grimaced.

"Do you have a better suggestion to relieve the morning boredom?" he asked as he placed the glass on a stool and crossed his arms over his chest. The sleeves fell back a little and revealed his ink stained hands.

"I would suggest some warm milk or a cup of tea for the nerves." She said as she wrung water out of the shirt and looked up at his scowling face, "Or if I were free to use my time as I pleased, I'd read…or I'd write if I possessed your talent." She said timidly.

He paused at that and approached her. He proceeded to crouch down in front of her.

She tensed.

"First of all, I despise milk. Second of all tea is for the masses and I try to divert from other people's path. And thirdly, how do you know that my writing is any good?" he asked with a cocked eyebrow and a seriously intrigued expression on his handsome face.

Alexandra tried hard not to gulp and simply shrugged, "Ms. Barry seemed quite taken with the poem you wrote for her…I imagine it is…good." She sputtered and he narrowed his eyes.

"Is that so?" he murmured as he searched her face.

She blinked and averted her eyes quickly but then she felt his hand on her arm. She gasped as he hauled her to her feet and dragged her out of the washroom and towards his study.

"My Lord, my hands are soaked! I am dripping all over the floor!" she yelped but he only rolled his eyes and thrust her inside his study.

He released her and walked over to his desk. He rummaged around his papers and then produced a half blank one.

"Read it." He thrust it towards her and his words were a firm command.

She swallowed thickly, "I…"

"I said read it. I want your opinion." He waved the verses impatiently at her and she nervously took the paper from his hand.

"Why would you want my opinion?" she asked quietly and he smirked.

"Because you're a woman. Now read it. Out loud." He said as he enunciated every single word like he was speaking to a child.

Alexandra's cheeks flushed under his scrutinizing stare but she licked her dry lips and started delivering.

"Let me still languish and complain, be most inhumanly denied: I have some pleasure in my pain, she can have none with all her pride-…"

"Enough." He snatched the paper from her and threw it unceremoniously on his desk, "Well?" he asked and she sputtered for a moment.

"I suppose it…can describe…the um, lady well." She got out at last and he narrowed his eyes.

"Explain." He twirled his finger at her in a signal to carry on.

"Well, she…" Alexandra trailed off, not knowing if she should speak her mind about his lover but he seemed amused.

"Do speak your mind." He said as he walked around the desk towards her.

"If I speak my mind, your Lordship might do not like it." She said and he smiled.

"Why is that?"

"Because…your opinion might be different."

"If it were different how do you explain those lines?" he quirked an eyebrow and she swallowed hard.

"Anger can make us say things that we do not mean."

The Earl smirked, "I never write in anger, my little saint." He whispered as he brushed a single finger down her cheek.

"I am not one." She said as his finger slid down her neck.

"Oh, I think you are. You are not speaking your mind because you're afraid of insulting someone even when I have given you leave to do so. I wonder if she'd pay you the same respect if she knew. She surely hasn't so far." he said and she tensed.

"I beg your pardon?"

He smirked, "Oh, I have your attention now." He said with amusement and she pulled out of his reach.

"I am sorry, my Lord, but I do not care what anyone has to say about me since they do not know me. I'd appreciate it if you did not make me a part of your liaison with Ms. Barry since we both share the same sentiments about each other. And if you so care for my opinion, I'd say that it is a pity that someone so rude can have any part of a man's affection." She snapped and then squeezed her mouth shut.

He didn't seem angry however; only thoughtful and…troubled.

"I apologize." She said quietly and he grasped her chin. With a small push, her eyes locked with his and her breath hitched as his thumb brushed over her lower lip.

"You are honest…A rare trait in a woman…" he said quietly and her eyes widened when the tip of his finger passed through her lips and stroked the inner flesh of her bottom lip.

Alexandra pulled her head back and his finger slipped out of her mouth. He pinched her chin and then stepped back.

"You may arrange my work by category; poems and essays. Do not loose anything." He told her before he turned on his heel and walked out of the study.

Alexandra stared after him in shock.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Alex, this is for you." Alcock yawned and handed her a letter.

She paused chopping up onions and wiped her hand on a cloth before she took it from him.

"Thank you." She put it in her pocket and then put the vegetables into the steaming pot.

"Won't you read it?" he asked as he looked at her.

"Not yet. I have to clean up the study and finish this…Are you sure you didn't lose any of his letters?" she asked him with a raised eyebrow and he scowled.

"I am sure." He muttered and she nodded.

"Good. Because I will get in trouble again if he finds out that I allowed you to take his correspondence." She said as she put the lid on the pot and then walked around the counter.

"Where are you going?" he asked as he grabbed an apple and started eating it.

She paused, "Unlike some, I have work to do. Keep an eye on the dinner." She said before she disappeared.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Is the Earl not back yet?" a cool, feminine voice startled Alexandra and she quickly looked up from the pile of parchments.

Elizabeth Barry stood in the doorway with her cape in her hands.

"He is taking his nighttime bath." Alexandra replied as she placed a few papers on the desk and rearranged the quills and ink.

When she looked back up, she found the actress watching her with a frown.

"Ma'am?"

"He allows you to see his work?" her voice held a tone of surprise and something else.

"My Lord has appointed me the duty of tidying up his study, yes. Is there something wrong?" Alexandra quirked an eyebrow in challenge and the woman pressed her lips into a thin line.

"You wouldn't think it is." Barry replied and Alexandra frowned.

"Pardon?"

"I've apparently taken the wrong poem. I am here to give it back." The actress said as she approached and placed the paper on the desk.

"Well, that you have to say it to-…"

"Alexandra, get out." The Earl's voice made both women turn their faces towards the door.

He was in his robe and his hair was still wet.

Alexandra immediately bowed her head and made to step around the desk when Barry spoke up.

"No reason for her to do that. I won't stay." She said and the Earl frowned.

"Lizzie?"

"I am here to return this." She held up the parchment and the Earl's eyes narrowed.

"Why?"

"Apparently I took the wrong one." She glared at Rochester and he frowned.

"Did it anger you?" he asked as he approached the woman, "You should have paid closer attention to detail then for you surely know that I do not give women love letters; not when they do not fully deserve it." He said quietly and Alexandra's eyes widened.

He did write affectionate letters to his wife; she had witnessed it just the other day.

"Perhaps my wit is not as sharp as yours, my Lord." Elizabeth replied, "But if you pay attention you may find that your gifts lack the value of your status." She said bitterly and the Earl smirked before he pushed her cape away to reveal her plain dress.

"I see…You have found a better provider I take it?" he fingered the silver pin on her dress and Alexandra stared at it with wonder. It was beautiful.

Realizing her stare she bowed her head and tiptoed towards the door.

"You do not think you're the only one, do you?" she asked incredulously and he stiffened, "You didn't come to the rehearsal." Barry said in a low voice and he cocked his head to the side.

"I was busy."

"Drinking?"

"I find it to be quite the hard work." He replied bitingly and before Alexandra had the chance to escape his hand shot out and grasped her arm.

Elizabeth stiffened when he pulled her in front of his body and coiled an arm around her stomach, pressing her tightly to him.

"Go. You think I need you? What I get from you I can have it for free or for just half a crown at the nearest street corner. What you cannot give me I can also have it within a few hours in Oxfordshire." He spat at her from over Alexandra's shoulder.

What was he doing? From his touch alone she could sense that his hold was not meant to be erotic…It seemed more possible that he was using her as a shield. To what though? To rejection? As defense to the woman's biting words? To show her that she too was as replaceable as he was to her?

"That's why you cannot be loved, John. You polished my talent but you cannot ever shine as brightly as it can because you cannot feel." Barry said quietly before she turned and walked out of the room.

Alexandra gaped after her and wondered of the cheek of the woman. She was speaking to an Earl and yet she had the courage to talk like that. She was also speaking to the man who was obvious in love with her.

As the seconds ticked by she did not dare move because she could feel the rush, heavy breathing of the man against her on the side of her face. Her hands were suspended from her body, not daring to touch him back but when he did not release her she lowered them and placed her palms gently on top of his hands that were tightly clutching her stomach.

"My Lord?" she whispered and he inhaled deeply, his tremulous exhalation a warm gust of air against her hair.

"Now I know how it is to be in the receiving end of pure, unadulterated honesty." He murmured before he abruptly released her and turned away from her. He grabbed Elizabeth's poem from his desk and ripped it into tiny pieces before he walked over to the fireplace. He threw them into the fire and then leaned against the mantelpiece.

Alexandra watched as he placed a hand on his lower belly and grimaced as if in pain. He took a deep breath and then he spoke.

"Pour me a drink." He murmured and for once she did not object.

She walked to the liquor cabinet he kept fully stocked in his study and poured him a glass of wine.

She brought it to him and he pulled his hand away from his belly to take it from her hand in silence. She took a step back and watched his profile as he took one, two sips and then he turned to look at her.

"Leave me." He murmured and she quickly nodded before she walked away, a heavy feeling deep in her gut.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

She tugged at the strings of her nightdress tightly and then opened her door to lock the front door. Cursing at her own thoughtlessness she stepped into the chilly corridor and headed for the foyer. She hadn't taken a few steps when she saw him.

"Good Lord!" she exclaimed as she rushed over to him and kneeled down, "Are you alright? What ever is the matter?" she asked as she placed a hand over his on his stomach.

"Nothing." The Earl hissed as he squeezed his eyes shut and leaned his head back against the wall.

Alexandra touched his cheek and he flinched.

"You're burning up, my Lord. Are you ill?" she asked and he gritted his teeth.

"What does it look like?" he snarled as he grasped her arm and squeezed it tightly.

"What can I do?"

"Can you help me get rid of kidney stones?" he asked and she frowned.

"No…But I can get you lots of water so you can get rid of them on your own." She said quietly as she took his hand and hauled him up. He groaned and leaned against her with a hand cradling his lower back.

She led him to her own room and made him lie down before she fetched him a water pitcher.

She poured him a glass and handed it to him. He took it and took a few sips before he stopped and looked up at her.

"How do you know about the water?" he asked as he sipped more.

"My mother suffered from them…She still does sometimes. I think they need to get out. That's why it hurts so much right now." She explained as she placed a cold compress on his forehead and smiled.

He frowned up at her and the smile left her face, "What?"

"You're different…" he murmured and she frowned.

"I'm sorry?"

He rolled his eyes and winced before he replied, "From the other servant girls. You are no ragdoll. I imagine you're going to make me pay for insinuating that I am shagging you in front of Lizzie." He said with a slight, painful smirk and she flushed.

"Well, I had planned to hide the wine." She said with a small smile and he released a hoarse chuckle before he reached up and captured her chin between his two fingers.

She paused and looked down at him, "You'd do me a good service, my little saint." He murmured before he groaned again and released her.

"Sir?"

He opened his eyes and grinned at her, "I think it's time for the chamber pot." He told her and her eyes widened before she complied.

Two hours later he was calmer and sound asleep in her bed with his head buried against her pillow.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Here you go, my Lord. Nice and sweet milk." Alexandra announced as she stepped into her room with the tray.

She froze when she saw him holding a parchment in his hands.

He looked up at her, his eyes wild, "What is this?" he asked as he held up the unread letter she had placed under her pillow along with his poem.

Her eyes widened, "I…I am not sure, my Lord. I did not read it." She said and he stood up with a wince.

"You did not read it?" he repeated slowly, "Do you think me for a fool, woman? Why is my mother writing to you, asking for information about my relationship with the King?" he barked at her and she gulped.

"I…I have no idea, sir. I did not read it because I did not have time-…"

"Are you here to spy on me, you little wench? Do you repeat everything I say back to my mother?" he cut her off sharply and she shook her head.

"Why would I do that, my Lord? Why would she?" she asked shakily as she saw him shaking with fury.

"Because she wants money from him. That's why. The commission her son gets is not enough because he spends it on drink and whores. Isn't it obvious?" he stood up and approached her, "Well, here is the answer I want you to say to my mother when you leave," he said as he leaned down towards her, "She can take the commission and shove it right up where it belongs." He hissed as he threw the letter at her and then held up another paper.

Alexandra jumped when he pushed the tray out of her hands, causing it to clatter loudly against the wooden floor. The cup of milk broke into tiny little pieces and some of them found her legs.

"As for this," he took a deep breath, "I underestimated you, Alexandra. You can lie and you lie very well. Like all of them." He whispered as he looked into her eyes, "Did you like it? Did the verses excite you? Hmm? Well, consider it as a gift from me." He grabbed her hand and shoved the poem in it before he pushed her away.

"Now get out of my sight. I want you gone in an hour." He told her with a grimace as he looked her up and down once and then stepped around her to walk out of the room.

His footsteps echoed down the corridor as Alexandra stood frozen near the door, clutching tightly onto the wrinkled piece of paper.

End of chapter 7

Author's note: Thank you for reading. I hope you liked it. If you did, please leave me some feedback! It's my only payment and it feeds the muse.

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Xxx Lina :)