Madeline stepped across to the door and looked in at an ornately decorated bathroom. The tub looked huge and there was also the luxury of a shower. It was something that she’d never seen before, never mind used and she walked inside.
“Is the shower easy to use?” she asked.
“Just let me know when you want to bathe,” Gillian replied. “I’ll come in and get it running for you.”
“How exactly do I let you know?” she asked.
“I’ll show you,” the pretty servant girl went on.
Madeline followed her back in to the bedroom and over to a string pull hanging down close to the bed.
“Just ring this if you need me,” Gillian said. “It’s connected to a bell in our room downstairs, so I’ll know to come. Is there anything you need just now?”
Madeline stood thinking, but she was slightly overwhelmed by the situation she found herself in and her mind came up blank.
“No,” she eventually said. “I just want to rest for a bit.”
“OK, well just ring if you need anything.”
She nodded and watched as Gillian walked to the door and left. It was like she was in the middle of a dream as she looked around her new surroundings. She removed her coat and slung it over the back of a chair then moved across to the bed. Dropping down on it, she spread out her arms and legs and they didn’t even come close to the edges of the mattress.
“This is truly unbelievable,” she said as she closed her eyes to enjoy some rest after the long journey.
When she eventually got to her feet again, she walked over to the bathroom door and stepped inside. She was used to doing things for herself and the concept of calling others to help seemed weird to her. A look at the shower convinced her that she should at least get Gillian to show her how to use it one time before she got around to trying it herself.
She walked back out to the string pull in the bedroom and tugged on it. She sat on the bed to wait and a couple of minutes later heard the knock on the door. Gillian opened it and walked inside.
“What is it that you need?” she asked after closing the door.
“I want to have a shower,” Madeline replied. “Could you show me how to use it please?”
“Of course,” Gillian replied.
Madeline followed the young servant girl to the bathroom and watched as she went through the process of getting the shower running. She waited until she was alone then stripped off her clothes. Standing under the warm cascade was a new experience for her, but she knew immediately that it was one she could get used to. She closed her eyes to just enjoy it for a while before reaching for some soap. There was an array of sweetly scented bars on a shelf and she picked one up and started to wash the grime of the day’s travel from her body. Five minutes later, she stepped out from under the water and almost shrieked when she saw Gillian standing waiting with a towel. She’d been so engrossed in the shower that she didn’t even realize that she wasn’t alone in the bathroom any more.
“You didn’t need to do that,” she said.
She was self conscious that she was completely naked in front of another woman and hurriedly grabbed hold of the towel to secure it in place around her upper chest. Gillian began helping her to dry her body, but Madeline backed away.
“I can manage,” she said.
The weirdness of having someone trying to help with such a simple task wasn’t lost on her and she suspected that getting used to having servants around wasn’t going to be easy. She was used to doing everything for herself, but that was going to be turned on its head and she wasn’t altogether sure it was such a good thing. While being pampered seemed like a nice idea, she didn’t want to spend her life being reliant on others all the time and guessed she would just need to find a way of dealing with it as best she could. She waited for Gillian to leave the bathroom before using the towel to dry herself properly. She then wrapped it around her body and walked back to the bedroom.
“What would you like to wear?” Gillian asked.
Madeline let out a sigh.
“It’s OK,” she said. “You can go back downstairs.”
Gillian’s brow creased in a frown.
“You don’t need my help?” she asked.
“No, it’s OK. I can get dressed myself,” Madeline told her.
She ignored the protests of the servant girl and assured her that she would be fine. When she was alone again, she moved over to the wardrobe and opened it. The finery inside seemed too good to actually wear and the same thought struck her when she opened the drawer and saw the lacy undergarments. In the end, she went to her bag and put on some of the clothes she brought with her. It was the most comfortable option and when she was dressed she went to sit on the bed and wondered what to do.
She didn’t think leaving the room to just wander about the house was such a good idea, but as the evening darkness began to fall the hunger of a long day with virtually no food caught up with her. Ringing for someone came in her head, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it on the basis that she told Gillian to leave only five minutes before.
Madeline sat debating what to do when the knock on the door caught her attention. She waited for it to open, but it didn’t and there was a second knock. Getting to her feet, she crossed the room and swung the door open to the sight of the older man that greeted the arrival of the carriage earlier in the day.
“Mr. Cortege has requested that you join him in his room,” the man said.
FOUR
The words were enough to bring out her apprehension and the thought popped in her head that Robert wanted his wedding night a day early. She knew that she couldn’t refuse the invitation, but the breath stuck in her throat as she stepped out of the room. Her hand was trembling as she closed the door and she hesitated as the man walked off.
“Let’s do this,” she said under her breath and followed.
She found herself staring at the artwork on the walls again as she passed it by on the way to the door at the very end of the hallway. Her apprehension grew stronger with every step, but she tried to keep calm as they came to a halt. The man knocked and opened the door and Madeline waited for him to step through. It didn’t happen and his hand remained on the doorknob as he moved aside and turned to look at her. It could only mean that she was meant to enter alone and she sucked in a deep breath as she stepped forward and did just that.
The room she walked in was even bigger and more opulent than her own and her eyes opened wide as she looked around. She almost jumped when the door closed suddenly. The noise of that was followed by the sound of a voice.
“Have you recovered from your journey?”
Madeline looked towards Robert and saw him reclining in a leather armchair beside a large globe of the world that was opened to reveal the bottles of alcohol stored inside it. She heard the clink of the ice in his glass as he lifted it to his mouth to take a sip. The bottle on the table beside him showed that it was whisky he was drinking and she imagined that it didn’t come cheap.
“I’m fine,’ she answered his question although she wasn’t sure that was quite true.
She couldn’t stop trembling at being alone in the bedroom of the man she was to marry and still couldn’t take her mind from the fact that she might be about to lose her virginity. It brought out her apprehension and her pulse began to race faster.
“Have you looked around the house yet?” Robert went on.
Madeline shook her head.
“I just rested for a while then showered,” she replied. “The room I am in is…”
“Only yours for tonight,” Robert cut in. “From tomorrow you will move in here with me. Is that understood?”
Yes sir,” she replied.
She saw the smile spread across his face at her words and she knew that calling him sir was the right thing to do. He drank some more of the whisky before crooking his forefinger and beckoning her over. Madeline moved straight away and walked across the room until she was standing right in front of him. Her
anxiety grew as his gaze slid down to her legs and back up again.
“I think I definitely made the right choice for a bride,” he said. “I like that you’re respectful… a rare quality in a beautiful girl.”
Madeline couldn’t stop the blush of embarrassment spreading across her face at the compliment. It sounded strange to her ears, but at the same time she knew she liked it. She remained silent as Robert went on talking.
“Some of my family and friends think I’m crazy to be going through with this,’ he went on. “But then I’ve never been one to listen to others. My gut instinct on seeing your picture and corresponding with you was that you were the one. It’s something that has never let me down on my business dealings and I’m hoping that it now serves me well in my personal life.”
“I feel the same way,” Madeline told him.
She wasn’t sure she was quite as certain as Robert sounded about their upcoming marriage, but she knew she wasn’t going to back out and wanted things to work out between them.
“That’s good to hear,” he said. “I’m looking forward to tomorrow very much, but you must understand that to become my wife there are certain duties you must perform. I need to know that you will live by my rules and submit to my authority.”
Madeline suspected that Robert was a man that was used to getting exactly what he wanted, so his words didn’t come as a complete surprise to her. Still, she was nervous enough about it to ask the question.
“What duties?”
He glanced up and down the outfit she was wearing and she was suddenly self conscious that she was wearing her own clothes rather than something he got for her.
“For a start, I want you looking your best at all times,” he told her. “I don’t particularly believe in overly flaunting my wealth, but there are standards to maintain and the dress you are wearing doesn’t come up to them. I want you to throw it away.”
Madeline nodded her head.
“OK,” she said.
There was a slight pause before he went on.
“I mean right now,” he went on.
The panic arose to make her heartbeat race even faster and she stood looking at him.
“I’ll…, umm, do it when I go back to my room,” she said.
She saw the dark expression cloud his features and her panic rose even more. His voice was still relatively calm when he spoke again, but there was a steely edge to it.
“Your duties do not include challenging me,” he told her. “When I ask you to do something I expect you to obey without question. I need to know that you are one hundred percent by my side as my wife, so show me that you are and take off the dress.”
Madeline hesitated, but knew if she wanted the wedding to go ahead that she needed to obey the man she was standing before. There was a certain shame to being made to strip, but it wasn’t all she was feeling. The flicker of exhilaration came on unbidden and sent a shiver down her spine.
“Yes sir,” she said.
“So show me what I am working with,” Robert went on.
He lifted the glass to his lips again, but his eyes never left her. Madeline let out a slow breath as she reached for the three buttons at her shoulder. She loosened them one by one then reached for the hem of her dress to work it up her body and over her head. Her hands were shaking badly as she dropped it on the floor. She saw Robert lick his lips as he stared at her undergarments and naked skin. It brought out more shivers and she was unable to stop the tingle of excitement that welled up.
“You’re wearing your own panties and bra, aren’t you?” Robert commented.
“I am,” Madeline replied.
She kept her head bowed and tried to control her emotions. There was no doubt what was coming, but she hoped she was wrong. Robert’s words showed her that she wasn’t.
“Take them off,” he ordered.
Her nerves shot up and her words came out before she could stop them.
“We shouldn’t do this before we are married.”
The dark look clouded Robert’s face again.
“Take them off,” he insisted in a raised voice.
Madeline wanted to resist, but knew she couldn’t. This was partly because she really didn’t want to anger him by refusing his demands, but also because she found herself liking the way his gaze roamed over her body. She’d never been naked with a man before and couldn’t stop herself getting turned on at the prospect of doing it. Goosebumps rose on her skin and sweat began to prickle at her hairline as heat swept through her body. She unhooked her bra and held an arm across her chest to keep the material in place as she worked the straps from her shoulder.
“Take your arm away,” Robert commanded.
This time Madeline obeyed immediately and shivers wracked her body as the bra dropped away to expose her naked breasts. Her nipples stiffened and she saw Robert lick his lips as if he wanted to suckle on her erect buds.
“The panties too,” he told her.
Again Madeline obeyed him without question. There was still a certain humiliation to exposing her most intimate parts to a man she only met for the first time that day and her hands shook as she slid fingers under the waistband of her panties. The urge to do it came on stronger to her surprise and she closed her eyes as she worked the cotton material over her hips and ass and down her legs. The reflex action was to use her hands to cover her nakedness, but when she opened her eyes and looked at Robert she saw him shaking his head.
Madeline let her hands fall away and fidgeted as the turmoil raged in her mind. She was breathing heavily and when Robert gestured for her to turn, she did it slowly. There was no doubt that his gaze was fixed on her butt and her chest heaved. It was the most compromising situation she’d ever been in and the fact that it was turning her on was slightly shameful to her. There was no shaking off the exhilaration though and her heartbeat pounded in her chest. She turned all the way around until she was facing him again and watched the way he was looking at her naked body. There was a hunger in his eyes for her and she suddenly wondered if he would be able to wait until the following day to have his way with her.
There was a knock on the door and before she got the chance to react, a young woman walked in carrying a tray with a pot of coffee and a cup on it. The humiliation welled up in Madeline and she reached down for the dress at her feet. She quickly lifted it to cover herself and saw the look of surprise showing on the servant’s face.
“I’m sorry sir,” she said and bowed her head as she started to back out of the door immediately.
“Bring it in,” Robert told her.
The young woman kept her head bowed as she quickly walked across the room to a small table and deposited the tray she was carrying on it.
“You can go,” Robert calmly went on when she glanced up at him.
The young woman hurried back to the door, but stopped at the sound of the voice.
“Tell Gillian to bring some of Madeline’s clothes to my bedroom,” he said.
“Yes sir,” the servant said and walked out.
Madeline’s pulse was on fire as her embarrassment grew stronger. She couldn’t believe how calm her husband-to-be was and he glanced at her and smiled as he lifted the glass to his mouth to take a sip before speaking.
“You need to get used to being naked around me in here,” he said. “From tomorrow night onwards, I’ll expect to take my pleasure from an obedient wife.”
Madeline shuddered at his words. It meant she wasn’t about to lose her virginity that evening, but knew it was only twenty four hours before she would.
“Can we lock the door when I’m naked?” she asked.
Robert laughed.
“You don’t want the servants to see?” he said. “They are loyal to me and know not to say a word about what they encounter if they value their job.”
“That may be,” Madeline went on. “But I would be much more comfortable if we had some privacy.”
Robert lifted the glass to his lips again and took another sip of the
whisky. His gaze remained on her, but he said no more and the seconds stretched out. The knock on the door broke the tension and signaled Gillian’s arrival. She was carrying a selection of clothes and Madeline picked something without even really looking and put it on to cover herself.
“Be ready to leave at midday tomorrow,” Robert said.
It signaled the end of their meeting and she left. Gillian followed her back to the room and put the other clothes back in the wardrobe.
“I’d like something to eat,” Madeline told her. “Could you arrange it for me please?”
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