Back in Service (26 page)

‘Damn, it is my son’s cursed wife,’ he grumbled, showing no concern whatsoever for her feelings. ‘What is up with you, woman, that you are sulking in here on a fine day like this?’ He wheeled himself up to where she sat and leaned forward in a confidential way that took her by surprise. ‘Tell me, Miss Hetty, what kind of mood is my wife in these days?’

‘I – I have no idea. She seems well enough.’

‘I mean does she talk of me at all?’

‘No, not very often,’ she replied truthfully.

‘Yet she still thinks of me with something like affection, would you say?’

Hetty found his anxious manner quite touching, if unnerving. Could he possibly still be fond of his wife? It certainly seemed so, and she patted his mottled hand sympathetically. ‘I am sure she is still fond of you, Sir Victor.’

‘You think so, really?’ His eyes lit up. ‘Then you give me hope, missy, and for that I thank you.’

The conversation puzzled Hetty as she went over it again in her mind later, but she was too obsessed about her upcoming meeting with Jane to give it any further thought.

The summerhouse looked in better order than the last time Hetty saw it. She guessed Jane must have finished her work there and the place had lost its sinister, decadent air. It looked more like the kind of building where ladies took tea, as it was meant to be.

Soon after three o’clock, Jane arrived with the tea tray and they sat companionably on the sofa unaccompanied by any troublesome ghosts. But Jane clearly had some urgent news to impart and she was restless as she poured the tea, spilling some in the saucer and apologising profusely.

‘Never mind, Jane. Perhaps you should tell me what is on your mind and then you may relax.’

‘Well it is… it is about your brother, Master George. He… well, I wondered if you had heard from him at all today, Miss Hetty?’

She took a deep breath. This would not be easy. ‘I have not, Jane. The fact is he left on the early morning coach for home. I believe you know he only prolonged his visit here because of you.’

She leaned forward, her face flushed. ‘Oh yes, I know. He loves me, Hetty, I am sure of it now. And yet did he leave no note for me? Perhaps there is something at the
Crown
. There may be a letter waiting for me there from him, do you think?’

‘Oh Jane,’ she sighed, taking both her hands in hers. ‘I do not want you to be unhappy, but there is something I have to tell you. It is not easy, but perhaps it is better that you know. I… I am not sure you will ever see George again.’

‘Do not say that or I shall die!’ Jane moaned, and Hetty’s heart almost broke with pity. Then the distraught girl leaned forward and added confidentially, ‘He came to me last night. He woke me.’

Hetty looked suitably shocked, but Jane had the bit between her teeth and went on breathlessly, her expression rapt. ‘It was the most wonderful night of my life. The things he did to me… I never believed a man could bring a woman such pleasure just with his lips and hands.’

Hetty felt a warm excitement creeping through the lower regions of her body as the memory of their lovemaking returned. ‘Oh Jane, I am pleased for you, but I should caution you not to get your hopes up too high.’

‘I do not think you understand, Hetty. I am sure your brother is a gentleman who would never compromise a girl like me. Yet I do not know whether what he did was… indecent. I do not even know whether I am still a virgin. Oh, I wish I were not so ignorant of such things!’

‘Perhaps you could describe to me what he did to you?’

She flushed crimson. ‘Oh no, I could not possibly speak of it in so many words.’

‘But could you show me?’ she asked on the spur of the moment, a flush of excitement speeding up her heart at the thought.

‘
Show
you?’

‘Yes. Why not pretend I am you and you are he? Then you could do to me what he did to you, and I should be in a better position to advise you.’

Jane looked uncertain and Hetty feared she had gone too far, but then suddenly she seemed to reconcile herself to the idea. ‘Well, I suppose it would not be so bad, you being a married woman, and all.’

‘Good, that is settled then. I shall lie back on this sofa as if I were you in bed, and you shall creep in like George and have your wicked way with me.’

When Jane giggled, Hetty knew it would be all right. She took off her boots and stockings, hitched up her skirt and petticoat and pulled down her bloomers. Then she lay down, closed her eyes and began making mock snoring sounds that made Jane laugh out loud. She longed for the cool touch of the girl’s fingers on her private parts, and finally she felt gentle hands brush against her thighs and fancied she felt a warm breath fanning her bush. Then a soft mouth pressed against hers and she murmured deep in her throat as desire swept through her like a warm current. When Jane’s deft fingers opened up her blouse and boldly began stroking her naked breasts, she moaned more loudly and her thighs moved restlessly against the girl’s skirt, which was pressed up against her.

Growing even bolder, Jane squeezed her breasts and sent a thrill of excitement through Hetty’s body that intensified almost painfully when Jane bent her head to suckle her taut nipples.

‘So this is what he did to you, Jane?’ she whispered. ‘No wonder you found it so delightful!’

‘Yes, it was wonderful…’

Hetty found she could not keep her hands to herself, but stroked and caressed her lover wherever she could find an inch of bare skin. Jane gradually lost all her inhibitions and slid down her body until her lips were kissing her stomach and her thighs, edging tantalisingly nearer to where her sex lay open and inviting. It was not long before Hetty felt her labia being gently parted, and the feel of another girl’s cool fingertips on her warm flesh was so exquisite she exhaled a loud sigh of rapture. Spreading her thighs wide, she relished the gentle tonguing her throbbing clitoris was receiving.

‘Miss Hetty, you are so extremely wet down here…’

‘Yes, I am,’ she murmured, ‘and you were, too, I imagine, when George paid you similar attention? Show me what my brother did next. Did he continue to use his fingers on you?’

‘Yes, and the feelings… oh the feelings! I never imagined such strong and heavenly sensations could exist. There seemed to be a particular spot where they were most powerful,’ she searched tentatively, ‘just
here
I believe.’

Hetty groaned as the girl’s fingers pressed against the swollen bud of her clitoris. ‘Oh yes, Jane, you have definitely found the spot.’

‘He continued to rub me like this, but after a while he replaced his fingers with his lips, and then…’

‘And then?’

‘Then he did this…’

Hetty cried out softly as Jane’s first and second fingers entered her slick pussy and proceeded to grope around inside her. All the while she could feel herself rising rapidly towards a climax, yet she did not want to come too soon for fear of frightening the girl off. Then Jane began licking her vulva again curiously, her tongue exploring lightly in a way that was at once teasing and highly arousing, as she slowly introduced more fingers inside her. Hetty ground her mons against her wrist in a frantic attempt to increase her satisfaction, and instinctively Jane proceeded to push her bunched fingers in and out of her in a rhythmic fashion, causing Hetty to cry out in approval. Soon her cunny was awash with the fragrant juices of sexual pleasure and her whole pelvis ached with anticipation of the orgasm brewing at the very core of her flesh…

Her release came in a rush of fluid bliss, leaving her gasping for breath and Jane moaning in astonishment as if she was experiencing the same violent paroxysms of delight. Then the two young women lay motionless together on the couch, Jane’s head resting on Hetty’s heaving breasts, and for a few minutes there was no sound in the room but their laboured breathing.

At last Jane raised her head and Hetty found herself staring straight into those candid blue eyes. ‘So you see, Miss Hetty, I do not think your brother will betray me now, not after he has been so intimate with me and brought me such divine happiness.’

Hetty did not have the heart to contradict her. George had to disappear from Jane’s life some day, but first she would allow her time to remember, to hope and to dream, before that dream was finally shattered.

After planting a last tender kiss on Hetty’s cheek, Jane rose from the couch and smoothed down her skirt. She looked abashed, but the rosy flush lingering in her cheeks made her prettier than ever.

‘Rest assured, Jane, that you have not yet crossed the Rubicon with George. Intimate though your last encounter with him must have been, if it went exactly as you have just demonstrated with me, then you are still a virgin. Only if he introduced his male member into your female part would you be considered a maid no more.’

‘I told you he would not behave dishonourably toward me, miss.’ And with this statement she returned to the house to resume her duties.

Hetty lingered in the summerhouse awhile, enjoying the golden light as she sipped tepid tea and nibbled on a lemon biscuit. The idea of a threesome caught her imagination and she wondered how Leo might take to the idea. The fantasy delighted her, and so absorbed was she in her thoughts that she did not hear or see her husband at the door until he said, ‘Ah, there you are, my dear. Any tea left in the pot?’

They sat for a while, with Leo mostly holding forth about estate business, until Hetty took advantage of a lull in the conversation to once more raise the matter of Jane and George. ‘I fear she is deeply in love with him and I do not have the heart to break it off just yet. I think I shall write her a love letter or two until I decide how to resolve the matter.’

‘Just as you think best, dear,’ he said vaguely. ‘As you know, I am quite a dunce when it comes to affairs of the heart. I know I told you to leave it in my hands, but I think it is best left in yours. You—’

‘Oh by the way, I encountered your father in the library this morning,’ she interrupted him as she suddenly recalled the strange meeting. ‘He asked about your mother most solicitously. It was rather odd, actually.’

Leo’s eyes narrowed. ‘He is up to something,’ he concluded grimly.

‘But what? He actually sounded fond of Lady Alice. I was quite touched by his vulnerable expressions of affection.’

‘Affection? The man does not know the meaning of the word. He lives by his own base appetites and that is all. But there is nothing we can do, Hetty, until he makes a move.’

‘You really think he is plotting something, Leo?’

‘I would stake my life on it. He has not bothered with my mother since the accident, but rather spends all his time in his own apartment with that dreadful travesty of a female. At least we have shown
her
she cannot terrorise the other servants, whatever my father may ask of her.’ He took her hand. ‘Oh Hetty, how I long for the day when my father succumbs to the Grim Reaper and I become master of Longton. That harridan of a nurse will go at last and without a reference, if I have my way. But I will take good care of my mother and ensure her last days are peaceful and comfortable.’

‘Then I hope things turn out as you wish, and soon, Leo.’ She smiled at him, thinking what a dear man he was and how wonderful it would be to live at Longton without the dark shadow of Sir Victor blighting all their lives.

That night, Hetty lay locked in her husband’s arms thinking about what had happened in the summerhouse with Jane.

Something had been resolved in her, a long dormant desire to share the pleasures of the flesh with her. She felt a strong affinity with the beautiful young woman. It had been a pleasure to watch her grow from a shy, inexperienced thing into a more assured and confident person.

Part of her still felt guilty about seducing her, but she had wanted to show Jane that sexual play need not be the brutal and degrading business she experienced at the hands of Sir Victor. She had succeeded in introducing her to sensual delights, but it was George who had won her heart, and George did not exist. Once again, the conundrum puzzled her brain and she had no idea what on earth she should do about it.

Her thoughts were interrupted by strange noises out in the corridor. She strained to listen, and fancied she heard the rolling of wheels accompanied by a firm tread approaching Lady Alice’s apartment a few doors down. Surely Nanny Baines was not wheeling Sir Victor into his wife’s bedroom? As far as she knew, he had not entered there since his accident but kept to his own apartments downstairs. It had been up to Lady Alice to visit her husband when she wished to see him, which did not happen often.

Intrigued, Hetty continued listening. For a while there was silence, but then she heard a cry of protest followed by a muffled sound. In her wildest fancy, she thought it sounded like her ladyship being smothered by a pillow and was on the verge of getting out of bed to investigate when she heard more distinct cries of dismay, and then a strangulated bellow from Sir Victor that made her blood run cold.

As she lay there, paralysed by uncertainty, she heard a door being opened, and soon there was an agitated tapping at the door to their sitting room. She shook Leo awake. ‘Something is happening,’ she said urgently. ‘I am going to investigate.’

He gave a sleepy murmur, but did not open his eyes. She leapt from the bed, drew on her silk dressing gown, and went to the door of the apartment, where she was confronted by the trembling figure of Jane in her nightgown.