Arranged Marriages
by obohobo
Chapter 1 A week in the country
"You must try and get him to marry you. Our future and yours could depend on
it."
"But mother, I don't like him. He's a jerk. We have nothing in common."
"Elizabeth, if Aaron doesn't put his money into our company, we will be ruined.
Bankrupt, then where will you be?" Elizabeth's father added his voice to the
argument raging in the DeCoult household. "If Savron's takes a controlling
interest in Vistaelectric then our company goes to the wall and we lose
everything including the house. You can save us. If you seduce him into marrying
you, he won't sell to Savron's."
"You don't have to like him, dear. Just marry him and after a bit get a good
divorce settlement."
"But mother, how could you arrange for me to go away with him into the
wilderness of Wales for a week without consulting me? Its disgusting. Most
likely he'll spend his time watching birds or something. You know what he's
like."
"Darling I know he's shy but I talked with his mother and she's concerned that
he doesn't even have a girlfriend. I know you're no virgin but you haven't had a
boy friend that has lasted more than a month or two. It's time you settled down.
Curb your temper and try and be less irritable and you might get into a long
term relationship. Once you get him alone you might find him quite likable."
"Mother you know he never attends any of the social functions. Always dresses
like a slob, never goes to good restaurants...."
"No more argument, Elizabeth," her father interjected, "You are going and you
will do your best to persuade him to like you enough to ask for your hand. It's
for your good as well as ours."
******
"Elizabeth, I don't know why our parents arranged this but I guess it has to do
with money or business. I doubt they just want to marry us off so they can have
lots of little grandchildren. I am sure you have no liking for me and your way
of life is abhorrent to me. So why don't we just call a truce to the bickering
and try to get along for the week? I think we both know as a relationship, this
isn't going to work, despite what our parents think or want." Elizabeth just
nodded. They had been driving in the 4x4 Landrover Discovery through Shropshire
and had now crossed the border into Wales. Elizabeth was still fuming that he
hadn't brought the luxurious BMW but Aaron was adamant the Discovery was more
practical on the gravel roads to the cottage.
For some time there was an uneasy silence until Aaron pulled off at a small
roadside cafe. "Surely you aren't going to eat in a place like this? It's for
truck drivers and the like." Elizabeth started bitching again.
"And it has the best food around. In any case there is no where else for miles.
You can sit in the car if you wish."
Elizabeth decided she had better appear a little sociable. She needed a coffee
to lift her spirits a little. Two groups of truck drivers sat with steaming mugs
of tea eating eggs and bacon. Feeling very out of place in her bright flowery
dress and heeled shoes, Elizabeth sat at a table. It was clean enough but she
turned her nose up at the fact there was no table cloth. Only a plastic
imitation wood surface.
"What would you like to eat? The menu is on the board." Aaron pointed to the
list printed in chalk. "The steak and kidney pie is usually very good." She
decided to just have a ham sandwich. It wasn't the delicate quartered triangles
she expected but despite her reservations and snide comments, it tasted good.
The instant coffee though was not good and even Aaron had to admit, they were
better at making tea than the bitter dark brew they called coffee.
Further on, at a small village supermarket, Aaron bought supplies to last them
most of the week. When asked about her cooking skills, Elizabeth tartly replied,
"I don't cook. We have a person to do that."
"Well you will just have to rely on my skills then and they are pretty basic. No
cafes or hotels nearby."
A light drizzle had descended by the time they arrived at the cottage and the
low cloud gave a sense of gloom and foreboding to Elizabeth as she entered the
cottage, one of a pair that stood a hundred yards apart but otherwise isolated
from their nearest neighbours by two miles of moorland. It was however warm
inside, The wood stove had been lit but was now burning low. Perhaps the
neighbours lit it she thought but only commented on the gloom and the spartan
furnishings. Aaron rekindled the dying fire and soon had a simple bacon and eggs
meal sizzling in the pan. He was hungry after the long drive.
"Elizabeth, I know you don't want to be here or sleep with me. That's okay with
me too. You can have the back bedroom but we will have to share the bathroom and
toilet facilities. As you have already seen, they too are pretty basic and not
designed for spending hours face painting. It will have to do though."
Complaining bitterly and being brought to such a hovel, about the state of the
bed, about everything, Elizabeth finally went to bed. She couldn't sleep. What
was she going to do? How could she even consider marrying such a man? A man who
seemed to enjoy living in this godforsaken place. She silently cursed the lumpy
mattress and the hard pillow. She cursed her parents for their crazy scheme.
They might need the money but would she ever be able to put up with this?
Near midnight she heard the outside door open. Footsteps, obviously trying to be
quiet. A burglar? Surely not in such a remote hole? Listening intently she
discerned the opening of Aaron's bedroom door and then quietly whispered voices.
One a woman's. A bed creaked, then a pause before a more continuous creaking of
bed springs. She knew exactly what was going on. But who was the visitor? Aaron
obviously must know her. Maybe they have been lovers in the past. Maybe she is a
long time girlfriend. But his mother had said he didn't have a girlfriend.
Perhaps she didn't know about this one? Was she a rival for his hand in
marriage? Jealousy stirred in her mind. She didn't want him but she didn't want
anyone else to have him either. The creaking quietened. Muffled voices, then
nothing. No footsteps. She must still be in there. Eventually Elizabeth fell
into a troubled sleep.
The creaking started again. Elizabeth looked at her watch. 5.30 a.m. She lay
awake listening. Again she debated what to do. Quietly she sat up and put on her
dressing gown. Even in summer, the nights on the hillside were a little chilly.
Opening the door a crack, she listened and waited. The creaking stopped.
Whispered words, then rustling sounds. Dressing? At this hour of the morning?
"I've got to go." Faint words drifted through as Aaron's bedroom door was
opened. Boldly Elizabeth stepped out to confront the woman she now saw as her
enemy. A woman who must be stopped at all costs. Without warning she threw a
tight fisted punch at the woman's head and caught her full in the eye. A ring on
her finger caught a cheek bone causing a small cut to bleed copiously. The woman
tried to retaliate but Aaron intervened. From the woman's stature, Elizabeth
would have come off worst.
"Go home Dawn. I'll deal with Elizabeth."
"To hell you will Aaron. You'll just be nice to her. I know you. Your too nice
to everyone. That means you'll do what your bloody parents and she want and
marry her. Well if that's the way it is, I'll say good bye. If you want to see
me again, you'll have to ask ME to marry you first." Dawn ran from the cottage,
tears mingling with the blood on her face. Aaron started after her but she just
told him to 'Go to hell'. "I don't want to see you again," she added.
Aaron turned on Elizabeth. "That was the worst thing or maybe the best thing you
could have done. At least now, I know I won't kowtow to my parents, your parents
or your wishes. Dawn is the nicest woman I know and I will marry her despite
everything."
"Not while your father has anything to do with it, you won't. He still runs the
firm. You are only a junior partner."
The heated argument raged on. ".... I love her and I will marry her, not a bitch
like you." With the noise from the argument, they had not heard the door open
and a well built man enter.
"So this is the bitch that hurt my sister."
"I'm sorry, David. It happened too quick to stop her. How is Dawn?"
Ignoring the question, David grabbed Elizabeth and carried her to the back
bedroom. Despite her struggles, David kicked the door shut, placed the back of a
chair against it and sat down with Elizabeth kicking and screaming over his lap.
She suspected what he was about to do but couldn't believe anyone would have the
audacity to spank her. Aaron tried to open the door but with the chair back
under the knob and the combined weight of David and Elizabeth on the seat, there
was no way it was going to open.
Unceremoniously David pulled the hem of Elizabeth's robe up to reveal her lacy
pink knickers. They didn't cover her bottom for long. A swift pull and the
material parted at the sides to reveal a pair of taut white globes. "From what
I've heard, your parents should have done this years ago." David spoke through
gritted teeth, anger in his voice. As the word came out so his hard hand
descended on the unprotected flesh with a loud "Slaapp!" Before Elizabeth could
scream, the hand had forcefully landed again. Her arse was no longer white.
Finding her voice, Elizabeth cried out and started to call him the vilest things
that came into her head but these were soon replaced by pleas for him to stop.
Her struggles and kicks had little effect and soon she was reduced to a sobbing,
pleading wreck. The spanking stopped as suddenly as it had begun. David stood
and tossed his victim on her bed, removed the chair from the door and left the
house without a further word.
When Aaron tried to enter the room to comfort Elizabeth, she swore at him in a
most unladylike manner. He left her, dressed and walked to the neighbouring
cottage. Unusually the door was locked. David answered his knock and informed
him Dawn wouldn't see him. "You have to get rid of the bitch first." Elizabeth
was in no better mood when he returned. As soon as he entered the house she
threw a plate at him. It missed but he decided to leave things to quieten down
for a while and drive over to the next valley and watch his beloved red kites.
They at least didn't seem to have problems. They were free to soar and glide in
the updrafts.
Sulkiness had replaced venom when Aaron returned in the afternoon. He made a
meal which Elizabeth silently picked at and for the rest of the day she
adamantly refused to speak to him. She turned the radio on full to a pop station
which she knew Aaron wouldn't like and gingerly sat on extra cushions in the
armchair by the fire. Aaron tried twice to see and speak with Dawn. Both times
he was denied entry. Despondent, he went to bed early.
