.. pull back and light the tinder! Everyone, retreat and scorch the earth that we leave behind us! Burn it all ... burn them all! Burn everything and ...urn any and all stragglers!” the call came down the line of the coastal watch.The fires soon filled the beach with smoke, heavy and oppressive, the heat so forceful that men sweated for leagues away. Everything combustible was set ablaze. No one dared to lag behind. The threat of being incinerated was more than enough to motivate them to keep up. "Thank you master," was his only response."I've a mind to place her near my baths, what do you think Sebastien? She was meant to be for the garden but I think maybe it would be a waste to leave her to the birds. Yes, she's beautiful enough to watch over me as my slave girls bath me!"My stone flesh crawled at the though of spending eternity overseeing the baths of this cretin and others like him. But it was the thought of losing my love that made my heart ache as I had never yet felt in my short. She had hoped Joy would give her some ideas on how she alone could fulfill her husband’s fantasy not offer to become a part of it. She wasn’t completely sure how she felt about it...excited, inhibited, aroused, afraid.“Sure, what are friends for?” Joy’s mouth curled into a feline smile and her eyes narrowed. “In return, you can help me make one of Dan’s come true.” Amber bit her lower lip as she considered her friend’s offer and casting caution to the wind agreed. “Yeah, what are friends. He and the baby were her world.The memory of her parent's deaths brought back the memory of Jake Morley, overseer for the dozen farms owned by Morgan Farms, now a part of this new outfit. Jake had loaded his old Ford truck with her parent's scant belongings and said, "Git in the truck, girl. You goin' home with me." Numbly with fear, she shook her head no and backed away from him.The overseer's cruelty was well known among the farmers under him. No one had ever defied him before. Jake Morley's.