CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Becky watched excitedly as they approached the outskirts of town, and Glenn found himself grinning at her enthusiasm. Anyone would think that she'd never been there before. "How come you're so bouncy about a simple trip to the shops?" he asked her, looking at her with amusement as he pulled the truck into a parking space and shut off the engine.

"I haven't been out for a long time," she said, not adding more as if that explained everything. Glenn waited for her to elaborate and when she didn't he frowned. "Weren't you allowed?"

She shook her head, still looking out of the window. "No. Sometimes I had bruises and Isobel would never have wanted people to see them and gossip," she said absently and then she turned to look at him. "Can we go to the candy store? I haven't had any candy since....well, I can't remember the last time."

Glenn found himself smiling again and he nodded his head, amazed at how easy it was to be happy in Becky's company. "Sure we can go. But you can't get too much okay, it isn't good for you."

"Okay Dad," she said, rolling her eyes and giggling as he raised his eyebrows.

"Get out of the damn truck," he muttered, casting her a thoroughly disgusted look. "Dad, indeed..." he watched her get out of the truck and then got out himself, locking it up and frowning as he thought of her little jibe. Did she think he was old? He was a lot older than she was, but did that make him Dad material?

Becky caught his frown when he joined her next to the truck and she looked at him with confusion. He had been happy just now, what had happened to change that? "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Let's go," he said, drawing into himself and walking off.

She looked at him and followed as quick as her short legs would allow, almost running to keep up with his long stride. She knew she had upset him somehow, but she couldn't think of how. Maybe he would tell her eventually.

Glenn dragged her from store to store, placing orders with the shopkeepers and arranging to pick up the food supplies in two days time. Becky noticed that some of the store owners stared at Glenn, quickly looking away when he caught them, and she grimaced. This is the reaction he must have been talking about, but she didn't see hatred or disgust in the people's faces, merely curiosity, and that was understandable. Glenn had made sure he had his hair down and it was hanging over his face so people couldn't see his scar properly. She felt sorry for him as he was so self-conscious about his face, and she made a promise to herself that she would get him to see himself as she did, if it took her forever.

When they wound up in a clothes store Glenn stopped and shifted, looking faintly embarrassed to be standing amongst racks of feminine underwear. "You, er....you need some clothes. Get a few outfits and meet me by the cashiers desk."

"You don't have to go to any trouble," she began, but he turned and gave her a fierce stare that instantly shut her up.

"You can't go around in the same clothes all the time, and you'll be needing...you know...underthings..." he cleared his throat and hunched his shoulders. "Just get what you need."

Becky looked around her at the clothing and then back at the big man who obviously hated being here. "I don't know what to get."

He looked faintly irritated, but he took a breath and then turned to the nearest rack, pulling off a sweater and holding it up. "How about this one...and this one," he added, picking up another one in a pretty blue colour. "It matches your eyes," he murmured, turning away and starting to rummage through skirts and pants to find other things to match.

Becky followed him around the rails of clothes and held onto the things he thrust at her, bemused by the fact he was picking out dresses as well. Where on earth was she going to have a chance to wear them? she wondered. Her cheeks heated a bit when he started looking at the underwear and she stepped in front of him. "I can pick those out," she said quietly.

Glenn looked down at her and nodded, taking the bundle of items from her and watching her pick her way through the cheapest underwear she could find. He shook his head and walked over to the cashier, the woman standing there looking bored. He dumped the pile on the counter in front of her and told her to start totalling them up. Then he turned back to Becky and looked over her shoulder at the sizes she was choosing. He smirked when he saw how small some of the lacy items looked in his big hands when he started looking through them, but he wanted her to be wearing nicer things than the ones she was looking at. Several blue bras with lace on them caught his eye, and he got a bunch of them, adding panties to match, then grabbing even more in different colours as he thought of how fantastic her pale skin would look adorned with them.

Becky hadn't really noticed what he was doing, so she stood gaping at him when he held the bundle in front of her, looking arrogant. "You'll take these," he told her, pulling the plain white ones she had been holding out of her hands and dumping them on top of one of the stands.

"I...I can't, there's too much!" she protested, knowing that things this pretty cost money, and a lot of it. "Glenn, I really prefer..."

"I don't care what you prefer. I prefer these. You'll look beautiful in them."

"You won't be seeing them!" she said instantly, her eyes wide.

"Maybe not," he murmured, shrugging off the disappointment he felt at her words. "But don't you want to wear something this pretty under your clothes?"
Becky's eyes fell to the lingerie again and she had to admit it was lovely, all silk and lace, something she had never been able to indulge in before. Isobel wouldn't have wasted the money on such expensive items. "They would be nice," she whispered, chewing on her lip with a worried frown.

Glenn pulled her lip out from between her teeth and bent to kiss it, licking along it's plumpness to soothe any hurt. "Don't do that to yourself," he said roughly, pulling back and handing her the lingerie with a slight smile. "Take them, it'll make me happy."

"Okay then," she said softly, taking the bundle and letting her hand linger on his big arm for a second longer than necessary. She loved the feel of him, and he obviously liked her touching him, the way his eyes sparkled down at her told her that.

Glenn paid for all the items without even flinching at the price the woman announced, and Becky wondered how he could afford it. She didn't voice the question though, because she thought it might sound as if she were trying to get his money off him. When he turned and gave her the bags, she smiled shyly at him. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome, honey," he murmured, keeping half the bags and taking her hand so he could tuck it through his arm as they walked out of the store.

Becky didn't try and pull her hand away, it felt nice, like a gentleman escorting a lady somewhere, and her pleasure at the small gesture showed on her face.

As they walked outside Becky felt a cold chill run down her spine and she stiffened, turning her head to find out why she felt as if someone was staring at her. For some reason she had fully expected to see Isobel, so she was shocked when she saw Ellie's two stepsisters standing in the street staring at her, cold smiles on their faces.

"Oh no," Becky whispered, looking quickly away.

Glenn looked down at her with a frown and turned to see what she had been looking at, seeing two overdressed and over made-up women staring at them. "Who are they?"

"They...they're Ellie's stepsisters, they live next door to my father...oh God, they'll tell Isobel they've seen me," she said miserably, clinging to his arm for strength.

Glenn glared at the two women and was pleased to see them look startled and turn away from him. "It's okay they're going," he told Becky, placing his hand over hers where it clung to his arm and giving it a squeeze.

"They'll tell her," she whispered, raising big, worried eyes to his.

"It's okay honey, she can't get to you while you're with me. She doesn't know where you are," he said, feeling his chest clench at the look of fear on her face.

"You don't know Isobel...she'll find me, Glenn, she'll want to make sure I'm no threat to her," she broke off and swallowed hard, shaking. "Can we go home?"

He felt shocked that she had called the cabin home, but it pleased him. "Of course we can, come on," he murmured, drawing her back towards the truck and putting her inside with infinite care. He wanted to get that look off her face, but he had no idea how to go about it.

He glanced at her a few times as he drove back to the cabin, his attention having to go back to the road as they neared it because of how slippery the roads were, buried as they were under snow. The truck had no problem negotiating the tricky bends, and eventually he stopped it in a clearing not too far from the cabin.

Becky jumped out of the car without a word, forgetting her bags as she almost ran through the sloped woods to get back to the relative safety of his cabin. Glenn had locked it up after they left and she had to wait on the porch until he joined her so she could get inside.

She was aware of him looking down at her, and she met his eyes briefly, that one look letting him know that she was in the middle of a major panic. Glenn dropped the bags as soon as he got inside the warm cabin and then grabbed her arms, pulling her to a stop in front of him and bending to look in her eyes. "Rebecca, calm down, no-one knows you're here except me, and no-one in town knows that this cabin even exists. They cannot find you."

She took a couple of deep shaky breaths and then let her shoulders slump. "I wish I could be so sure."

"You can be. Look at me," he told her, using one hand to lift her chin. "I won't let anything happen to you, okay? Do you trust me?" She bit her lip and nodded slowly. "Good, then let me take care of you okay?"

She nodded again and then shuddered. "Can I have a cuddle?" she asked in a small voice and Glenn closed his eyes, pulling her towards him and wrapping her in a warm embrace, giving her all the comfort he could as he rocked her gently. He knew that if this Isobel had been there right now, he would have strangled her without a moments hesitation, and he winced at his own cruelty when he had threatened to take her back to that woman. Whatever happened now, he swore he would do whatever was in his power to make sure this girl was safe.

****

Ellie and Mark sat facing each other at the dining table, picking at the succulent food Lizzy had placed there for them. Mark's appetite wasn't good due to his cold, and Ellie felt too nervous to eat much. He had been asking her different questions over the last half an hour about her life and she had answered everything he asked, too nervous not to.

Mark scowled as he watched her hands fluttering about at her plate, and he hated the fact that he was the one to make her this nervous in the first place. "Ellie, I ain't gonna hurt you if you don't want to talk, you know."

"Oh, I er, didn't think...well, er.." she stammered and then stopped even attempting to talk as she stared across at him.

Mark smiled at her inability to speak and reached out to grab hold of her hand, stopping her almost instant withdrawal. "Listen, I just want us to get to know one another, is that so bad?"

She studied him for a few seconds and then shook her head slowly, her eyes flicking to their joined hands. "There's not really much to tell," she murmured, finding her voice again.

"There's a lot to tell, and I only know half of it. Not the good half I might add," he said, smiling grimly as he recalled what she had already told him. If he had had any doubts before, now they were all gone. Her life had been crap, and he had almost made it one hundred times worse. "Now I want to know what you like doing, what hobbies you have...stuff like that."

Ellie's eyes brightened a little. "I like reading," she said quietly, her voice almost a whisper as if someone would hear her.

"Reading huh?" Mark said, smiling and stroking the soft skin of her hand as he held it. "What sort of books?"

"Any books. I love reading. I like to learn about things, different countries, ways of life....and fiction of course, I like fiction," she said, her voice getting stronger as she explained to him what she loved about books.

"Fiction? Romantic fiction?" he prompted, smiling at the way her face had brightened up.

"Sometimes, and horror, I love horror stories. I like fantasy and adventure, something that takes me away from my everyday life, makes me forget..." she stopped talking and frowned, thinking maybe she was giving too much away.

"It's okay, I can imagine you needed an escape from time to time," he said, squeezing her fingers. "Did you get to read much at your home?"

"Before my father died I used to spend all my time in the library, but then Anne-Marie stopped me and threw me out into the servant's quarters...there were no books in there."

"And no television either?" Mark asked her, frowning at the picture in his head.

"No. I haven't seen a television for years," she said, shrugging.

"Would you like to?"

"See a television?" she asked, staring at him excitedly.

"Well, watch some television actually. If you haven't seen anything in years, then you'll probably love some of the films I've got. How about it?" he asked, raising his eyebrows and smiling.

"Can we? Really?" she asked, her eyes widening with surprise when he laughed.

"Of course we can. God, you'd think I'd just offered you a bag of gold," he said, chuckling as he got out of his seat and pulled her up out of hers, tugging her along to the sitting room.

Ellie stared at the array of electronic equipment he had in there. The television was enormous, bigger than anything she had ever watched, and it had an odd looking box underneath it. "What's that?"

"That's a DVD player darlin', I guess you've never seen one of those before? You have seen a VCR I assume?" he asked, pointing to the video player.

"Yes, my father had one of those. What's that?" she asked again, pointing to the video he had in his hand.

"This is a film I think you'll like, it's called The Mummy," he said as he pushed it into the player and switched the TV on. "It's set in Egypt, and you did say you liked faraway places?"

Mark settled back on the settee and pulled her down next to him, putting one big arm around her and urging her head down onto his chest until she was comfortable. "Okay?" he asked, looking down at her.

"Mmm," she murmured, snuggling closer much to his surprise and keeping her eyes fixed to the screen as the film began. She was transfixed by the movie as it played, having never seen such effects in anything before, and she relaxed against him fully.

Apart from asking Mark a question every now and then, she remained quiet, but when the film finished she looked up at him with a truly happy smile on her face. "That was great. Have you got any more?"

Mark chuckled and nodded. "Lots, but I think there's something else you should see first," he said, standing up suddenly and taking her with him.

"What?"

"Come with me and you'll see. Don't worry, you'll like it," he said, feeling younger than he had in years as her pleasure in what she had seen transmitted itself to him. He stopped outside two big doors and looked down at her. "Ready?"

"For what?" she asked, glancing up at him and then at the doors expectantly.

"For a surprise. Ready?"

She nodded and looked at the doors again, moving forward as he shoved them open and stood aside for her to enter. As soon as she got inside the doors she gasped, her eyes trying to take in all the bookshelves adorning the walls. It was a library, and the biggest one she had ever seen. There must have been thousands of books. She turned to Mark with wide eyes. "Am I...can I come in here and read sometimes?"

"Of course you can. Ellie, as far as I'm concerned this room is yours," he told her, folding his arms in front of him and watching her excitement bubble up as she looked around her.

"Mine?" she gasped, stopping her spin and staring at him.

"Yes, yours. If you want it?"

"Oh Mark!" she gasped out tearfully and then threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

Mark had time to unfold his arms and catch her, then close them slowly around her small body as she clung to him. He bent his head down over her and breathed in the scent of her hair, the floral perfume invading his senses as he held her.

"I love it, thank you so, so much," she whispered fiercely, squeezing him tighter.

Her words and actions made him glad that he had taken any time at all to get to know her, and glad that he had owned this library so he could give it to her. "You're welcome darlin', I'm just glad you like it."

"I love it." she corrected him, looking up but not lessening her hold any. "Can I kiss you?" she asked suddenly and Mark wondered why he didn't pass out in shock. This small female hadn't initiated any moves toward him before this, not that he could blame her. But it felt good that she was doing it now.

"Honey, you can kiss me whenever you like," he murmured, grinning down at her as she stood on tiptoes and tried to reach his mouth. "Need a hand?" he asked her, arching one eyebrow.

Ellie hadn't seen him playful yet and she gave a small laugh. "Can't you bend down a bit?"

"How about this instead?" he asked, picking her up so that she was on a level with him. "Go ahead, you can reach now."

Ellie blushed and bit her lip, but she didn't back down. She leaned forward and placed her mouth on his, gently kissing the firm lips with all the emotion she had in her. Mark let her kiss him for a few seconds, feeling desire rush through his body at her tentative caress, then he took over. He parted her lips and delved inside, feeling her tense slightly and then melt against him, her kiss becoming heated. He pulled back before he could get too carried away, reminding himself that he couldn't do anything with her until she was better anyway, so he might as well stop. But the taste of her kiss and the feel of her body pressed against him made him take her mouth again, his eyes closing as he really stopped to enjoy it. He hadn't merely kissed a woman for years, not without it leading to sex. But now he wondered what he had been missing, and he coaxed her to respond to his mouth with a skill she couldn't hope to match. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he was starting to really care about this girl, and ordinarily he would have been worried about that, but right now he didn't care. He wanted to just enjoy.