Innocence Lost

Chapter Three

"Here, let me help you." Captain Bordon reached up to take Anne as Tavington handed her down from the horse.

"Thank you." She looked at the red headed officer gratefully. Stiff from riding so long, she stamped her feet to get the circulation going again.

"That will be all, Bordon," Tavington said, dismissing his second in command with a wave of the hand. After quickly dismounting and grabbing a blanket from his pack, he took Anne's arm to lead her behind a group of large bushes near the creek. "See that we're not disturbed."

"Yes, sir."

Anne looked back over her shoulder at Bordon, her eyes beseeching, as Tavington led her away. He shrugged helplessly, powerless to prevent what was about to happen.

When they were out of sight of the soldiers, Tavington quickly spread the blanket on the grass near a tree, then pushed Anne down upon it, her back against the tree.

"Do you have any idea why I spared your life?" he demanded as she looked up at him, eyes dilated in fear.

"You want me to tell you about my father in law and his men," she said.

"That man in the church told me all I needed to know," he said.

"Then why?"

"I need to flush out Benjamin Martin and his men," he said. "I prefer to fight them on my own terms." Reaching down to run his hand through her hair, he said in a silky voice, "What better way to do that than ravishing his son's wife?" He removed his helmet, then released his hair from its tight queue as he spoke.

"Oh, I beg you, please don't!" Anne said.

Without warning, Tavington jerked Anne to her feet and pinned her back against the tree. He moved closer until his lips were almost touching hers.

Anne stared wide-eyed at him. From the first moment she'd met him, she had been painfully aware of his breathtakingly virile mlinilinity. It was now even more apparent with his long, nearly black hair hanging loosely about his shoulders. But she grimaced when she gazed into his ice blue, soulless eyes. Anne knew then that Tavington would show her no mercy.

As he pressed his body against hers, Anne turned her head and attempted to twist away from him.

"Now then," he said in a deceptively soft voice. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way." He pulled her head back to face him. "It makes no difference to me. I intend to have you and that is exactly what is going to happen, no matter what. You would be wise to accept it."

Tavington leaned forward to kiss Anne's neck in an unhurried manner. A lock of his hair brushed against the side of her neck, bringing with it the scent of his cologne, mixed with that of leather and horses. Anne remained still, willing herself to think of other things. She closed her eyes, imagining it was Gabriel kissing her.

"That's a smart girl," Tavington purred as he felt her relax in his arms. He loosened the bodice of her dress, exposing her small breasts. Without giving her a chance to react, he bent and took one nipple into his mouth as his hand lazily rubbed the other.

After a few moments, he unbuttoned his breeches to release his almost painfully hard member. With the other hand, he raised her skirts to her waist, tucking them up in her apron.

Anne stiffened in his arms as she felt his hand touch her most intimate place.

"Relax," he said softly. "This will go easier for you if you do." Pushing one, then two fingers inside of her, he attempted to make her ready for him.

Despite her fear and disgust, Anne finally moistened ast Tst Tavington's fingers.

"There now, don't you see?" Tavington said with the slightest hint of a smile. “I knew you wanted it.“ With no further delay he lifted her up and set her down on his hardness, with them both leaning back against the tree.

Anne instinctively raised her legs and wrapped them around Tavington's waist in an attempt to remain balanced. She gasped as Tavington completely filled her.

"I thought you were a married w," ," he said, noting that she winced as he entered her. "Or was Martin not man enough to consummate the marriage?" Tavington smirked at the notion of this.

"He's more of a man that you are!" Anne cried, eyes blazing. "It's just that you are so much......bigger....than he is."

To her surprise, Tavington nearly hooted with laughter. "Why does that not surprise me?" He bent to kiss her again, prying her mouth open with his insistent tongue. "As long as you're with me, I will show you how much more of a man I am than Martin," he said after the kiss ended.

He began to move, scraping Anne's back nearly raw against the tree as the thrusts increased in tempo and intensity.

Anne kept her eyes shut tightly, desperately pretending it was Gabriel who held her so intimately.

Tavington panted roughly as he neared his peak, a low moan beginning deep in his throat. Finally, Anne felt him shudder as he released his seed within her.

"Gabriel!" she cried. Anne had nearly succeeded in pretending it was her husband who was making love to her. She was brought rudely back to reality when Tavington slapped her hard across the face.

"I will soon have you crying out my name in passion," he vowed, furious at the mention of Martin's name. "I will make you forget you ever knew him." Pulling out from Anne, he wiped himself off with his handkerchief, then stuffed himself back into his breeches. "I will have you many more times before I am finished with you."

Anne sank to the ground after Tavington had pulled her skirt back down to cover her. She remained silent, too heartsick to speak.

Tavington quickly strode to the edge of the bushes, "Bordon!" he called.

"Yes, sir?"

"I am going to shave and wash up before we head on," he said. "Have someone watch Mrs Martin while I do this."

"I will do it," Bordon said.

"Fine," Tavington said, already heading to his horse to get his shaving supplies out of his pack. After retrieving them, he headed down to the creek, Anne Martin forgotten for the moment.

Anne hung her head and turned away in shame as Bordon walked over to her. She knew that he, and probably all the other men under Tavington's command, knew what had just happened.

"Are you all right?" Bordon asked her.

She did not reply, but gulped as tears started down her cheeks.

"Don't be afraid," Bordon said gent "I "I won't hurt you."

"I'm so ashamed," she whispered. "And scared."

"You're not the one who should be ashamed," Bordon said, turning to look at Tavington shaving at the creek.

Anne fell silent as she followed Bordon's gaze. Looking back at Bordon, she said, "Thank you for your concern. You've been a comfort to me.

"It's nothing," he said. "I wish I could do more to help you."

"I understand, " she replied. "But it helps to know that someone cares."

A few moments later, Tavington returned to collect Anne. "You may go now, Bordon," he said. "I will take her from here."

Bordon turned and walked away without comment.

Tavington retrieved his jacket, put it on, then quickly brushed and rebraided his hair. Despite her disgust for the man, Anne could not help but watch Tavington in fascination as he groomed himself.

Almost as if he could read her thoughts, Tavington returned her stare with the merest hint of a grin. For about a half minute, they each regarded the other with simple curiosity. Breaking the spell, Anne averted her eyes first as she remembered the unspeakable things he'd done that day.

Tavington helped Anne to her feet, all business once more. But to her surprise, his touch was gentle as he took her hand

As he gathered and folded the blanket he said, "I will unbind your hands if you promise to behave yourself."

"I won't try anything," Anne promised quietly.

After freeing her hands, Tavington led Anne back to his horse. He helped her to mount, then quickly swung up into the saddle behind her. As the men mounted up and grouped themselves behind him, Tavington donned his black leather riding gloves.

"Move out," he ordered, gesturing forward with one gloved hand.
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"Maybe we need to stop for the night, and begin searching again in the morning," Benjamin Martin said after several fruitless hours on horseback looking for Anne.

"Just a little while longer," Gabriel said. "I can't stand the idea of Anne having to be with Tavington any longer than she has to be."

"All right," Benjamin said. "We’ve got about another hour of daylight before we'll have to stop."

The men continued on in silence, too weary to talk.

"Look over there!" Gabriel said a short time later, pointing to a clearing up ahead on his left. "Do you see?"

"Let's take a look," his father said.

"Lots of hoofprints," Gabriel noted. "They must have stopped here."

"It would seem so." The older man had dismounted and was walking around looking for clues. Crouching down by the remains of a campfire, he said, "Cold. They've been gone quite awhile."

Gabriel was down at the creek, having followed footprints leading in that direction. As Ben came over to join him, he noticed something white stuck against a tree near the creek. Moving closer, he saw that it was a scrap of lace.

"What have you got there," Gabriel asked.

"It's a bit of lace."

"It must have come off Anne's dress." Leaning against the tree, he realized that Anne must have been in some sort of a struggle. "We've got to find her!"

"We will," Benjamin assured him. "If Tavington meant to kill her, he would have locked her up in the church with her parents." Walking back to the horses, he said, "Let's camp here for the night. We'll start again early in the morning."