Rose's Awakening: Secret Lives, #0.5

By Fern Bailey

Standalone prequel to the Secret Lives trilogy

 

Rose has always been a free spirit. She is so alluring, she is often thought to have fey heritage. It's a reputation she revels in, until she realises she's fallen for the one man she can never have. But now that her eyes have been opened to the most adult kind of pleasure imaginable, Rose is eager for more...

 

Join an uninhibited young woman on her wild journey of sexual exploration with different men...a journey which holds the promise of finding love somewhere along the way.

 

A steamy erotic romance
Complete story, no cliffhanger

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fern Bailey
• Release date: Nov 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201226152

Fern Bailey

Fern Bailey was born and raised in London and resides there today, where she writes sizzling hot romances about rule-breaking heroines and the men who love them...more specifically, she writes whenever her cat decides to stop napping on her keyboard.

Book preview

Chapter One

After a long day at work, which began before dawn and ended well after dusk, I could finally rest. Not only had I carried out my usual duties which consisted of milking, churning butter, taking care of the cattle and general dairy chores, I was put to work inside the house as well.

Even though it was only temporary, it felt strange working as a housemaid again, after being banished to the dairy six years ago because of my bad behaviour. The servants’ kitchen was lively as usual, and I enjoyed the laughter and chatter over supper, although it wasn’t quite the same these days without Daniel here.

‘What was that sigh for, Rosie?’

Had I really sighed? I looked up from my stew and flashed a quick smile at Tessa, my fellow dairymaid.

‘Missing a certain young man, I expect,’ said Molly, another dairymaid, nudging me with her elbow.

‘I am not,’ I replied with a laugh.

She leaned in close and dropping her voice, said, ‘Well, there’s some extra meat stew over there that needs to be used up. You can take it to your Daniel if you fancy a bit of a walk.’

‘My Daniel?’

‘You know what I mean.’

I did know, but I wasn’t completely happy with the implication. Daniel and I had an understanding, but we weren’t courting. He and I simply had fun together, although I was aware that for him it meant more than just a physical relationship. Although it was less frequent than with Daniel, I had the same kind of fun with Tommy Spencer, and knew that he in turn had fun with other women.

I was happy with the way things were and didn’t want anything deeper. Besides, I still hankered after Jonathan, who barely acknowledged my existence. He was always polite with me, but that was all our interactions ever amounted to.

Daniel had recently been promoted to gamekeeper full time, so he now lived in his own small cabin which was distant from the main house, but still within the grounds of Worthington Hall. I liked going over there of an evening to spend time with him, so I didn’t mind the excuse Molly provided me with.

After supper was over and preparations for shutting up the house and retiring for the night were underway, I left the container of stew behind a nook in the dark hallway off the kitchens that led to one of the rarely-used outer doors, then went upstairs to my small bedroom and changed out of my uniform, had a quick wash and put on a simple blue linen dress. I let down my hair and combed it out, trying to untangle my curls but giving up when it proved fruitless as usual.

By candlelight, I searched through my little trinket box, a present from Daniel, for another of his gifts. I wanted to wear the blue ribbon in my hair tonight. Although it was summer, the evenings could get rather chilly, so I donned a thick shawl.

Now that I was ready and the house was finally silent, I put out the candle and sneaked downstairs. I’d done this a thousand times before, but it never became any less nerve-wracking. Daniel had given me a key for this door and a few others, and those same keys had later been copied for Molly, although she only occasionally made use of hers.

Worthington Hall was a grand manor house, easily the largest in Fairweather, although there were other similar houses belonging to important families, as well as a castle on the outskirts of town. Once safely outside, and keeping close to the outer wall and out of sight for as long as possible, my footsteps crunched on the gravel, which soon gave way to grass when I climbed over the fence to the kitchen gardens, then past there and towards the forest path. The moon was out, so I was able to find my way through the forest without difficulty, and within twenty minutes was standing outside the door of his little log cabin.

I was relieved to find the light was on. He was moving around inside. Something fell to the floor, making a clattering sound as it landed. Had he just returned, or would he need to leave soon? Due to the nature of his job, Daniel’s hours were unpredictable, and he often didn’t know himself when he might be called upon to patrol a certain area, or to assist another gamekeeper. Much was dependent on the season, too.

My hand was on the door but before I could knock, it opened and Daniel was standing in front of me, smiling and looking so handsome he almost took my breath away. His hair was damp and he wore a clean shirt and trousers, but he didn’t appear as if he was ready to leave for work at any minute.

‘Hello, Rose.’

‘Hello.’ Tilting my head, I gave him a questioning look. ‘How did you know I was here?’

Taking my elbow and ushering me inside, he quickly scanned the area outside before closing the door. Turning to face me, he tapped his nose and said, ‘Of course I knew. I’m a gamekeeper now, Rosie. A proper one. I’m always alert.’

‘Ooh, Mr Lah-Di-Dah,’ I said laughingly, and leaned up to give him a quick peck on the cheek. My lips grazed stubble. ‘This is for you.’

He took the ceramic pot from me and sniffed the air. ‘Thanks, love. It smells delicious. Come on, let’s go in.’

Daniel walked ahead of me into the small kitchen area in the corner and placed the pot on the worktop by the sink. It was only a simple set-up, with a pump that brought in clean water from the well outside, but at least the cabin had running water.

‘How are you?’

‘Oh, all right. It felt a bit strange being back in the house again though. How about you?’

He turned around and grinned, and I knew he was remembering the incident that had caused me to be relegated to the dairy in the first place. ‘Yeah, getting used to it now.’

‘I’m glad.’ After hanging my shawl on the hook by the door, I went and sat down at the table in the centre of the room. The interior of the cabin was divided in two, with half forming the living space and the other half containing his bed, shielded from sight by a curtain draped from one end of the ceiling to the other. A small fire blazed in the hearth and a lantern was set on the table, giving the room a warm golden glow.

The cabin was furnished simply, but it was cosy and made more inviting by the brightly-coloured woven rugs and pictures on the walls. From the way one of the pictures was hanging askew, I gathered that was the thing responsible for the loud clattering sound I had heard from outside, before being hastily attached to the wall again.

On the table beside the lantern was a chess board, the pieces indicating a game was in progress.

‘Wiley’s been teaching me,’ Daniel said, coming over to sit in the chair beside me.

‘Are you any good at it?’ I tried to picture him sitting across from the elderly gardener, his brow furrowed in concentration, engaged in a battle of wits played out on a chess board.

‘Not really. It takes a lot of thinking. I’m not sure I’m clever enough for it.’

Picking up the nearest piece, I turned it over in my hand. A white pawn. I didn’t know how to play, but I recognised what the different pieces were at least. ‘No, you are. I’m the one who’d be hopeless at it.’

I was about to say something else but Daniel put his arms around my waist and pulled me onto his lap. He took the pawn from me and placed it back on the board.

‘You look lovely.’ I could tell from the way his eyes lit up as he ran his hands