She wants to, but just can't.

Once in the upstairs bed chamber Christine hesitated. She had to find a way to warn this kindly matron of the danger she was putting her family in by taking in her and Erik. Before she could figure out a way to do this without breaking her promise to her father, the woman pulled the heavy robe from her shoulders.

"Get out of that nasty rag, child." The Verderer's goodwife encouraged her gently, "don't be shy, love." Christine was used to having servants dress and undress her, and she lifted her arms without a second thought allowing the plump woman to strip her of the threadbare rags. The tunic was so loose and torn that it barely covered her naked body anyways. The memory of the Verderer staring at her in the horrid hole where he found her made Christine's face color and her arms wrapped protectively around her chest.

Perhaps misinterpreting the look of shame, the Verderer's wife gently stroked her cheek. "There's nothing to be ashamed of Evelyn, you're safe here, I promise." The motherly kindness of the buxom woman after the horrors of the past two days was more than Christine was ready for and her already dirty face was soon streaked with tears. Before she even knew what was happening, she felt her dainty body wrapped tightly in the woman's arms and her shuddering body was pulled into the softness of her breasts.

"I'm sorry ... they wouldn't stop ..." The words came out in short gasps as Christine tried to explain why she was so skittish. "It was horrible ..." Christine stopped when she heard the servant arriving with the bathwater, and even tried to pull away, but the goodwife was surprisingly strong. She had **** but to rest her head against the Verderer's wife's bosom and hope that she wasn't making a fool of herself. With the bath set up and the servant gone, it was Marielle who spoke first.

"You don't have to say anything, Dear." The goodwife led her to the tub and helped her step into the warm soapy water. "We'll clean this filth off of you, get you into some clean clothes and after that you'll be ready for some food, huh?" It was a relief to keep quiet and let the Verderer's wife sponge every inch of her petite body with a warm soapy cloth. Her tension, like the dirt that covered her slowly washed away until she felt almost like a babe in the christening basin. She resolved to talk to the Verderer about the unacceptable danger she and her brother were putting him and his family in.

Close to an hour later, Christine was clean, dried and clothed with her hair neatly braided. The dress she was wearing was much too large for her even with the laces tightened as much as possible, but it was clean and warm and covered her far better than the threadbare tunic which had thankfully been whisked away. From downstairs she could hear the laughter of the boys mixed with Master Werner's rich baritone and she realized that she'd have to join them sooner rather than later.

In particular, Christine fretted about how low the neckline of Marielle's old dress rested on her much smaller body, it wasn't as bad as the tunic she had been wearing, but it was nothing like the dresses she was used to in her father's barony. Every time she moved, even just slightly, she could feel the cool air against her bare skin. To make matters even worse, she could feel her small nipples tighten into hard little peaks that surely must be dimpling the bodice of the dress.

"Well, didn't you clean up into a pretty little thing." Marielle seemed completely oblivious to how uncomfortable the revealing dress made her feel. "You'll have my boys' attention, Evelyn, that's for sure." She paused long enough to take Christine's hand in hers before adding an even more unsettling comment, "Werner's attention too, or I don't know my husband."