"How dare the bastard humiliate me like that? Treat me like a common servant? Me, Claire Summerfield! Just because I told him I'd done enough work for one day and threw the trowel, handle first into the sloppy mortar and ran off, he thought he had the right to spank me. Of course running only delayed my punishment for it didn't take him long to catch me but I did get a punch into his face before he sat on that low wall, where everyone walking the coastal path could see him pull my trousers and knickers down, and watch while he pasted my arse with his hard bloody hand. Utterly disgusting and degrading; I was never meant to be a builder's labourer and wouldn't be one now if it wasn't for my sodden father and mother. How could they do this to me? Their only child, and pretend it was for my benefit?" Tears streamed down my face as I lay on the bed muttering curses at the people I was forced to live with, and at my parents and the choices they gave me.

I should start this tale several months earlier. Stupidly I tried shoplifting an expensive designer trouser and jacket outfit from a well-known, high-class London boutique, a store that adhered strictly to their policy of prosecuting all thieves. The store detective arrested me and, after a humiliating trial, the court fined me £1,000 plus costs and by the time Daddy added the expense of a lawyer to my bill, the total came to over £3,000, which almost cleaned out the little I had in my savings account. Perhaps the worst part of the whole affair came later. After being found guilty, the magistrate asked for reports on my character before sentencing me and two weeks later the interviewing probation officer gave about the bleakest report that she could. "Claire is a promiscuous, idle, rich girl, trying to keep up with the jet set, attending parties, getting drunk, and sponging on her parents and others," she told the judge. While it may have been close to the truth, she painted it in the blackest colours and I'm pretty sure she wanted me under her control for a while and expected me to spend a considerable number of hours on community service. At least the lawyer wangled me off that, but daddy had a scheme his own.

After dinner that Wednesday evening, he ordered me into the lounge and I expected another of his speeches abhorring my behaviour and saying that he expected me to mend my ways, but mother and he had decided enough was enough. They were ready to kick me out. Already they'd confiscated my credit cards and with a balance of less than two hundred pounds in my savings account, I would have money enough for only a few days unless I could get work and a place to stay.

"Sorry Claire, this is the last straw as far as we are concerned. You have brought our good name into disrepute and the publicity has made us the laughing stock of our friends, therefore, your mother and I, have decided that you will not remain here as part of this family and we will no longer support you financially. At twenty-six years old you should be making your own way in life or be married and bringing up a family. However, we've decided to give you a choice. I admit it is not much of a choice but it is time you learned to make your own way in life even though it may involve some hardship, and we hope that, in the end, you will see the error of your past behaviour and lead a better life. The choice is a simple one between two options, either you leave and find your own way in life, whether that be as a working girl or on the street," that shocked me, "Or you can go and live and work with Ted Jones on his farm in Wales and be a labourer when they start building our holiday cottage on the Pembroke coast. There you will be in a safe environment, have a roof over your head and food in your stomach but..." He paused for emphasis. "You will have to work and it will be ordinary, physical work. Workman type work; work you have abhorred and despised in the past but have no experience of. Once the house is built, we will let you stay there for a nominal rent and the payment of the taxes and utilities. Those are the choices. You have until Sunday night to make up your mind. Monday morning you will leave this house with what you can take in the car and you can arrange to collect the rest of your stuff when you've found a place to live. If you decide to go to Wales, we'll see your car has a full tank of petrol but apart from that don't expect any other favours from us." Daddy and Mummy both looked grim as he made he announcement.

"You can't mean it Daddy! You're disowning me. You intend to throw me out on to the streets, almost penniless or send me away to live and work like a common peasant, with a family of farmer builders in some godforsaken wilderness? Mother can't you change his mind?"

"No dear, I actually suggested it. We think it will do you good to have to work to earn enough to keep yourself and being in a remote area, you will be less likely to get into any more trouble. The Jones's are reliable hard working people who we are sure will keep you under control better than we can and will integrate you into their family. We had a long talk with them when we finalised the plans for the house last week while we awaited the probation report."

All my further pleadings and promises, met with the same response, "Be gone by Monday," and repeats of my misdeeds. I stormed off to my room. For the remainder of the week, I alternately sulked or pleaded with them to reconsider, but by Sunday morning, I knew there was no chance of that and I had to make the choice of taking off on my own and trying to get a job or taking a chance on the Jones farm and possibly being able to worm my way back in the near future. Knowing I now had a criminal record for theft, no previous work experience and no qualifications, the only work I could see me getting was that of a street whore and I wasn't really prepared to demean myself that far. That only left the 'Jones option' unless I could find another person willing to take pity on me.

My mind vacillated from one option to the other until, at another meeting with my parents on Sunday night, I was forced to give them my answer and, when my further pleas for forgiveness were rejected, I opted to go to Wales. I'd tried to stay with friends but the resultant publicity following my court appearance, and I suspect quiet words from daddy, turned them against me and they'd given the feeblest excuses to refuse me.

I'd only met the Jones's once when we went to buy the derelict old house on the cliffs overlooking the sea. In fine weather the site was idyllic and buying the house was the only way we could acquire the land ostensibly to restore the building. As our architect warned us, "That is not practical because there is too much structural damage, but the council will eventually sanction its demolition on the grounds that it was an unsafe structure, so we can build the house you want, subject to various regulations." In fact we were limited to a stone walled three-bedroom, two storey house but at the moment, only the demolition and site clearance had been completed.

Ted Jones served for many years as the local builder and when he married Gwen, he inherited a small farm with fields that surround the house we bought. They had one son, Len, who I'd never met but who now did most of the building work.

Arriving at the isolated farm, weary after a long drive in the rain, Ted and Gwen greeted me quietly and welcomed me into their family. I tried to respond in a friendly way but inside I fumed that the place was plain and dull and more like a prison. Ted helped me with my cases and showed me to a country style bedroom with a single bed, austere by my standards but clean and with ample storage space for the stuff I'd brought. It would do until I found a way to escape and return to civilisation. "We eat at six and the bathroom's just across the hall. You'd do well to use it straightaway otherwise Len will want to be in there to clean the mud off himself when he gets back in half an hour or so. The rain over the last week has made everywhere a quagmire and he'll be in a mess." The advice went unheeded and I unpacked first and had just started to shower when Len hammered on the door and yelled for me to get the hell out of there." He cursed when twenty minutes later I emerged and gave him the 'fuck you' sign with my fingers. It signalled the start of our enmity.

I soon found that being part of the family involved doing chores. "Set the table please Claire and then strain the potatoes." These were things I would never do at home but Gwen, in her quiet way, made it clear that I was expected to do my share of the housework and Ted suggested that next time I should heed any advice he gave me. Len came down late for dinner in a bad mood and glared at me but a look from his mother curbed any comments until later. Meanwhile I carried on a conversation with his parents, mainly about my journey and what I would be expected to do but my mind kept wandering to how I was going to free myself from this yoke of work and get back to a more normal life.

"I cooked so you two can do the washing up while father gets the fire going in the lounge," Gwen ordered, "Len knows where things belong."

"And she doesn't belong here," Len muttered sourly as he threw a tea towel at me with more force than necessary. Not a good start especially as he was the one I would be working with. Without central heating in the old house, I'd worn a sweater for warmth and which hid my tits but even so, Len kept glancing at my body and I guessed he was mentally undressing me. Most men find me attractive and up until then, I usually dressed sexily to keep that attraction but I had no intention of showing myself to the farm yokels around there. At 5' 6'' my height was about average but my 34'' bust and long, curly black hair that at the moment hung in ringlets around my face, gave me an innocent look that belied my true nature.

Len, on the other hand, was tall and muscular and, surprisingly for late March, his skin was tanned, or at least the parts that I could see were. In other circumstances I might have fancied him but here he was just a peasant or a warder in my prison, someone to be obeyed until I could get away. In the hour or so since we'd met, neither of us liked each other and an air of hostility surrounded us.

Not in the best of moods, I sat and sulked in the car the next day, as Ted and Gwen drove me to Haverfordwest to buy working clothes and other items I would need, as well as doing some shopping for themselves. "Your father arranged for us to put any items you need for work on the house expenses account and we're to take the money out of the advance payment he deposited." Increasingly I realised this had been planned for longer that I thought. I returned to the farm, equipped with trousers, shirts, coat, boots and wellies and a number of other items, Ted considered necessary. The whole lot came to less than the trouser suit I stole in London.

Late in the afternoon we visited the site. Len hammered in markers and strung lines between them, which, he explained, were to mark the footings and drainage channels. Next day my labouring work started in earnest and I'm sure Len did his utmost to make it as unpleasant and exhausting as possible. Dressed in my ghastly work clothes, my prison garb as I thought of them, I was given a spade and a barrow and with hardly any instruction, told to dig the trenches for the footings. We had to do this by hand because of the difficulty in getting a digger there for the short time we would need it and at every opportunity Len berated me for my slowness and my lack of strength to wheel a full barrow load of earth. Unwisely, I chose to try and be as strong as possible and not to act the feeble female, but I should have made myself to be the real wimp and not able to do anything and, by the time we went back to the farmhouse for lunch, I was wiped out and regretted the choice I'd made. Gwen must have had a word with him because he was a little easier with me during the afternoon, but even wearing leather gloves by suppertime, my hands were red and raw.

Len claimed the shower first and in a very depressed mood, I sat on the bed and examined my blisters, and tried to rub my sore muscles. Finally, I got into the shower only to find that he'd used all the hot water. My temper flared and dragging a robe around my body, I strode into his room and swore loudly and long and called him all the worst names I could think of.

"Go to your room Claire. We don't have that sort of language used in this house. We may be lowly working folk but we try to control our tempers and our words," Gwen intervened and followed me to my bedroom where I sat, still muttering and crying. With some gentle prodding, Gwen elicited most of what happened during the day and then went on, "I'm not going to condone what my son did but it isn't all your fault, although your attitude hasn't helped. Only three weeks ago, the girl he expected to marry went off with another and he found she'd been carrying on an affair with this man for some time. All girls are devious bitches in his eyes now. Your being here has given him the opportunity to get his own back. I'll make it clear to him, that this behaviour has to stop." I doubted it would happen but she went on to examine my bruises and blisters. "Wear your robe until after supper and by then the water will be hot again. There's usually enough water for two showers but Ted had one only a little while before you came in and he'd been mucking out the sheep pens so he needed to get the smell off him. Have a good soak in the bath and when you've done, I'll put witchhazel on the bruises and salve on the blisters. Ted will probably be able to do some site work tomorrow so he can keep an eye on things."

Things did get a little easier but not much. The work was always hard manual labour and I always seemed to get the dirtiest jobs and when I threatened to go on strike, Len laughed and said he would be the one to do the striking and by the way he moved his hand, I knew exactly the striking he would do. By the end of the first week the site was dry enough and the footings ready for the tanker of ready-mixed concrete to arrive and pour and a few days later we poured the concrete slabs for the ground floors. Len's attitude towards me never improved, although somewhat kept under control by his mother's words. I tried alternating between ignoring him, flirting and acting like a bimbo, but this only hardened his intolerance of my presence. When finally I asked him outright what I had to do to get into his good books, he grinned, "Just come into my room at night."

"Fuck off!" On site I could use succinct expressions I didn't dare use indoors. I wasn't really averse to sleeping with him, as I frequently felt horny and Gwen had mentioned his ex had slept with him many times, but I wasn't going to be blackmailed into it.

On that Friday when he did actually strike me, he laid the first course of bricks and just at packing up time demanded I make up more mortar. When I pointed out it was time to get back for supper, (that's what they call the main meal of the day) he angrily said we'd go back when the bricks were laid. Reluctantly I made another batch of mortar but the mix wasn't to his liking and that's when I lost it and told him to stuff his mortar and ran off. The spanking that incurred, made me more determined to find a way out of the place. They paid me weekly so I had two week's money in hand. It wasn't much but I hadn't anything to spend it on and my board and lodging was free. I could at least fill the car with petrol and keep myself for a few days. However, when I checked the car, I noticed a steering wheel lock in place that would prevent my escape. "Your dad suggested it," Ted informed me, "He thought you would try and get away before you really got into the ways of things." I cursed father again and this prison I was in.

Two things changed my life. The first was a dance in Haverfordwest ten miles away and the second, the employment of a specialist stone mason for giving the outside of the house the required stone look.

By the following Friday, the house had begun to take shape mainly because we used large, lightweight insulation blocks to build the walls. Fortunately we'd hit a period of dry warm weather, which lifted Len's mood a little and mine too, and either I was getting used to the work or it was easier. I did the minimum I thought I could get away with and didn't directly disobey him again, but my thoughts still tried to find a means of escape although, when I thought about my situation rationally, I knew I wasn't too badly done by. The food was good, if plain and wholesome, and Gwen and Ted treated me like a daughter and showed more concern for my welfare than my parents had ever done, but I was a prisoner and I resented the loss of my freedom.

"Has Len asked you if you would like to go to the dance in Haverford?" Gwen asked at the supper table. Len looked daggers at her and it was evident that he didn't want me along. "Once a month there is a dance in town for farmers and their kin, mainly for youngsters and Len usually goes and stays overnight in a hotel to save driving back on these small roads when he's had a gut full of beer. The rooms are usually twin beds so you could share and perhaps being together without work will help your relationship." In my mind this was tantamount to saying he could fuck me but she quickly dispelled the notion by speaking directly to Len. "Just because you will be sleeping in the same room, doesn't mean you can have sex with her if she doesn't want to. That will be rape and could get you put away. If she says no, remember that means, NO!"

In one way I wasn't keen on going but I thought it might be an opportunity to find someone who would help me escape from the farm by taking me in. On the journey, Len quickly put his version of his mother's edict. "Despite what Mam says, if you stay in my room overnight, then you'll be fucked. If you don't wish to have my prick stuffed in your cunt, then stay out of the room or find another man to take you in. In any case I might find another girl who is more willing, and take her to bed, and we won't want you leering at us." He crudely emphasised the message and made me wonder yet again, at his deep antagonism towards me.

Dancing was one thing I could do well and several times I showed off my superior talents to the locals and in doing so, attracted the attention of a number of likely looking young men and one in particular, Stewart Quiller, looked prosperous and showed more than a little interest. In the course of our conversation, I found he too had booked into the hotel for the night so I encouraged his attention, particularly as Len seemed to have found a girl. It was in the ladies room, that I found she was his ex girlfriend trying to get back with him after being ditched by her other lover. I'd just sat down to pee when two girls came in and must have stood by the sinks and mirror.

"That London girl really strutted her stuff in the dances. Bit of a show-off if you ask me."

"You know she's living with Len? Bet he shags her rotten, not that he's much of a fuck."

"You should know. Looks like he's trying to get back with Lynn, I thought they were really through with one another after she took off with the Milford boy."