She was grateful for the chance to serve him – grateful to have met a man who ignited her passion, and grateful to be opened up to so many new thoughts, feelings and emotions.
Before she could change her mind, she pushed herself up onto her tiptoes, flung her arms around his neck and planted a tender kiss on his cheek.
“Whatever was that for, girl!” he exclaimed afterwards, feigning confusion. But Angelica could see that secretly, he had enjoyed the surprise of her kiss. “Why you’re even more curious a creature than I first suspected,” he muttered, more to himself than to Angelica, as he turned and led them both back into the darkness of the house once more.
Angelica spent the rest of the afternoon, lost once more in silly daydreams – daydreams she knew she shouldn’t entertain but did so anyway, daydreams in which she, Lady Sutherland, took her place proudly beside her Lord.
He would dress her in fine satin and silk, and adorn her breast with jewels. Splendidly attired, he would show his precious wife off to all of England’s high society. Together, they would host magnificent parties. Beautiful, decadent affairs that would be the talk of all the land. The champagne would flow like water, and tray after tray of exquisite delicacies would appear, as if by magic, from the kitchen, causing squeals of delight amongst the assembled crowds.
And then, once they had bade goodnight to all their guests, once the last glass of champagne had been drunk, and the last carriage had made its way out of the front gates, Lord Sutherland would sweep his lady wife into his arms, and carry her up the great staircase, into the bed chamber they shared together. And to the bed, where they shared the most delicious, exquisite pleasures. And although she were now a dignified lady of society, that did not mean that Lady Angelica’s bottom did not deserve a delicious spanking, every single night ...
But this was only another of Angelica’s many fantasies. And as if to stop her getting ideas above her station, she was drawn to the window by a commotion outside.
As she saw the delicate cream carriage pull up in front of the house, she knew that this signalled the arrival once more of Lady Reedsdale.
There is a true fine-born lady, thought Angelica, sadly. And you are nothing more than a serving girl.
She saw from the window two of Lord Sutherland’s maids, crisply dressed in their neat black and white uniforms. They had come out to attend to Lady Reedsdale, but one of them caught the eye of Angelica, up there in her room. And together they pointed at her and sniggered.
Angelica quickly hid her face from the window in shame, feeling the hot prick of tears at the corners of her eyes.
You aren’t a serving girl, she reminded herself. You’re simply a whore.
She fell onto her bed in a fit of sobs, her slim frame trembling from the sheer force of her crying, and in fact she was so busy sobbing and crying that at first she did not even hear the door to her room opening and Mary, setting foot inside her chamber.
“My, you startled me!” Angelica pronounced with a gasp, when she finally registered the kindly maid through her tears.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, Miss Angelica,” Mary said. Her voice was kind. She sat down upon the bed, and laid a gentle hand on Angelica’s shoulder. For if Mary was prudish, she was not foolish, and could tell just what was upsetting Angelica so. Poor Mary. For despite her wish to shield the girl from any more pain today, she knew that the news she was here to impart would be difficult for the girl to hear.
“You must dry your tears, and make yourself pretty, dear girl,” she continued, “For I’m afraid Lord Sutherland has requested your company this evening.”
“But whatever could he want with me?” Angelica asked. “I’ve seen the carriage. I know he is to dine with Lady Reedsdale tonight.”
Did he mean for the three of them to dine together? Is that how he intended to humiliate her?
“I cannot join them,” Angelica insisted, “for I have nothing to wear to dinner.”
“Oh, my poor love,” Mary replied quietly. “You misunderstand me.”
And with that she took out a plain black and white maid’s uniform and laid it upon Angelica’s bed.
“Lord Sutherland has requested you personally to serve he and Lady Reedsdale while they dine.”
Angelica looked herself over in the floor-length mirror. The maid’s uniform fitted her perfectly. Why should she feel that this was so cruel? So unfair? After all, this was all she expected when she first arrived at the house. Why, a poor girl from a poor village such as her should be proud to wear such a clean and neat uniform, and to serve such grand people.
Angelica sighed.
Why has he done this to me? Why couldn’t he just leave me be? I may have known nothing about the true desires of my heart, but I was happy back then.
But Angelica was not to be left alone with her thoughts much longer, for at that moment, the door to her room opened just a crack and she heard Mary’s soft voice calling her. “Come on, girl, it’s time.”
So with a final sigh, Angelica left the sanctuary of her chamber and followed Mary through the many winding corridors that led them through the house and down to the kitchen, where Angelica saw that the kitchen staff had laid on quite the feast for Lord Sutherland and his dining companion: a whole roasted duck, a beautiful delicate pink salmon, partridge, grouse and quail, as well as carrots julienne, asparagus, and fresh crisp salads.
It was the kind of display that Angelica had only ever read about in books.
But there was no time for her to stand there gawping at the delicious food, for before she knew it, Mary had thrust a tray into her hand and pushed her in the direction of the door that led out toward the grand dining room.
Angelica approached it nervously, feeling her little heart pounding against her ribs as, with each timid step she took, she heard a little more of the conversation emanating softly from the large, dark, wood-panelled room.
“Oh, how marvellous!” a well-bred female voice greeted Angelica, the moment she stepped into the room. “I’m positively famished!”
Angelica let her eyes flit up from her tray to take in the scene. Sure enough, there was Lord Sutherland and, sitting across the table from him, was Lady Reedsdale, her pretty emerald eyes twinkling and sparkling in the candlelight.
Angelica had only seen the Lady from afar, but now, as she appraised her from only feet away, her heart sank to see just how beautiful she was. She had the kind of beauty only obtained by generations of good breeding, and her soft skin had obviously never known a day’s work.
Angelica knew that she were a handsome enough girl herself, in fact, she had always been proud of her fine figure and long legs, but when faced with the regal beauty of Lady Reedsdale, Angelica hung her head in shame.
“Well, don’t just stand there, girl!” Lady Reedsdale giggled, baffled by Angelica’s hesitancy. “Come now and bring us our food!”
“I do apologise for the rudeness of my servant, dear Annabel,” Lord Sutherland said coldly. “She is at present rather uncouth and untrained.”
And as he spoke, his words struck Angelica harder and deeper than any strike across the rump every could – cutting right to the core of her, as sharp and stinging as the lash of any horsewhip.
Angelica had no choice but to do as she was told, feeling her whole body trembling with embarrassment and shame as she approached the large dining table and began to serve Lord Sutherland and Lady Reedsdale their meals.
All the while, she could feel Lord Sutherland in particular watching her every movement, his dark eyes burning. She felt terrified. The slightest misstep and she might knock over one of their beautiful cut-glass goblets, dashing wine everywhere, or perhaps through her clumsiness and embarrassment set one of the many candles flying dangerously from its holder ...
But luckily, Angelica somehow managed to keep herself from causing any such disaster, even daring to risk a clumsy curtsey before leaving the two alone once more in the dining room and returning to the kitchen.
But eve
n so, she could not control the hot flush of shame to her cheeks as she was reminded all over again how futile her girlish daydreams had been about a romantic life with Lord Sutherland.
No, it was clear. She was just his whore and nothing more than that. He intended to firmly put her in her place – that was clearly why he had requested her to serve at his table: so that she could see with her own eyes the kind of distinguished, elegant lady he was planning to take as his wife.
Was he perhaps punishing her for her impertinence earlier that day when she’d planted that brazen kiss on his cheek?
Stifling a sob, Angelica returned quickly to her room, sad and ashamed, pulling off the maid’s uniform and then throwing herself in despair upon the bed sheets, wishing she were dead.
What a foolish girl I’ve been! she cursed at herself. What a foolish girl, indeed!
“I can hear you sobbing from the corridor, girl,” said her master, as he opened the door to Angelica’s bedchamber. “Do you complain of your treatment here? Is it your living quarters? Are they not palatial enough? Or do you require a bigger bath, perhaps?”
Angelica felt as if her heart might snap clean in two.
Must he come here to taunt me further? After everything this evening? Have I not been through enough humiliation? Am I not to be allowed the privacy of my own room?
But Angelica knew that her privacy was not her own. That it had been sold to Lord Sutherland by her very own father. So, wiping the tears from her eyes, she rose from her bed and stood before her Lord, her face turned reverently to the floor.
“No, Lord Sutherland, I do not complain of my treatment,” she spoke quietly. “You have been very kind to me here.”
“Then why are you crying, my girl? I have a right to know what is upsetting my staff, do I not?”
A tide of anger rose suddenly in Angelica, and she found that she could no longer face him. She turned around and said, in a low but firm voice, “You know very well what ails me, my Lord.”
“Do you mean to tell me that you have been so upset by your task this evening? You are my servant, and here to do my bidding. Do you understand, Angelica? Your task this evening was not strenuous. I do not expect this insolence from you.”
“You are right, Lord Sutherland,” Angelica replied. “I am but your servant. And I do believe it is unseemly for a young serving girl to be alone with her master in her bedchamber. So I respectfully request that you leave me be.”
“I shall do no such thing,” Lord Sutherland replied sternly. And instead of heading to the door, he walked over to Angelica, grabbed her roughly by the shoulders, and span her around, forcing her to face him. “You are mine, Angelica,” he said. “Do you understand? I plucked you from the gutter and gave you a feather bed. You are waited on here, hand and foot. Does not Mary bring you everything you desire? And in return, all I ask is for you to obey me. You are more than a simple serving girl, and I expect more from you than this.”
Angelica could no longer remain calm.
“Then how could you treat me like a simple serving girl?” she cried. “You knew how cruel that was! To make me watch you fawn over that beautiful woman with her fine jewels and her fine manners! I may belong to you, Sir, but I am a woman just as she, and I am entitled to my feelings.”
Lord Sutherland looked stunned by her outburst. He stood there before her, stock still and silent.
And now that the tide of anger had burst out of Angelica, she could not stop the words that poured from her mouth. “I wish for you to make my position clear,” she began. “For after your marriage to Lady Reedsdale, it will hardly be appropriate to keep me here. I am not ashamed to serve you at the dinner table like a humble maid, as I did tonight. And if that is to be my duty, I wish for you to move me to the servants quarters, where I shall live with the other girls.”
At this impassioned outburst, Lord Sutherland’s face darkened.
“The impertinence,” he whispered. “I will not have my servants dictate to me like this. Whether or not I intend to marry Lady Annabel is no concern of yours. And even if I did, I would expect you to remain here and do your duty to me. However, I am not a monster, and if the moments we have enjoyed together in my private chamber are causing you so much pain, then I will of course allow you to move below stairs, and work as an ordinary servant girl.”
He turned to leave, but he had taken no more than a few steps towards the door before he turned around and spoke to Angelica once more.
“But tell me this, at least. Has our time together really been so ... distasteful to you?”
At this question, Angelica raised her face and met his gaze. She wanted to look him squarely in the eye, for him to see the honesty in her face as she replied.
“You have seen the way my body responds, my Lord. I know that it is shameful for a woman to enjoy pleasures such as these, but I cannot deny that I have. And what’s more, I’ve grown to love nothing more than to serve you, my master. My tears tonight, my outburst ... It is no more than weak female jealousy.”
“I see,” Lord Sutherland muttered to himself as the truth of the situation began to truly dawn upon him.
It was clear that Lord Sutherland was tossing some new thought or idea around his mind.
“Sit down upon the bed, Angelica,” he commanded, as he strode back into the room towards her. “You see, if I’m to believe you,” he replied, “then I must have access to your most private thoughts. Until now, you have been a pawn in my game. You have seen what darkness lies within my heart. And now, you must let me in to the desires that lie within your own breast. And do not try to deceive me by telling me what you believe I wish to hear. For I will know the truth. Take off your petticoat.”
“Yes, master,” said Angelica removing the flimsy cotton petticoat with trembling hands.
He walked over to her on the bed, and took the petticoat from her.
“Close your eyes,” he commanded, and Angelica did just as he wished.
Her Lord twisted the wisp of cotton into a rope and tied it firmly around her eyes, before whispering to her, “I want you to pretend that you are alone. I want you to tell me things that you would never dream of telling another human being.”
“Very well,” Angelica began, her voice now trembling again, but not from anger this time, but from excitement.
Was she really about to open up to him – to let Lord Sutherland in on one of the many sordid fantasies she’d had since her time here?
“Well, my Lordship, it is as if you have seen into my very soul. For while I have been in this chamber, forbidden from touching myself, my imagination has indeed been very active. I have often imagined you binding my eyes shut, removing the sense of sight from me, only to heighten the pleasure I receive from my other senses. And just as in my fantasy, I feel my flesh tingling now.”
She took a deep breath before continuing her tale.
“I am with you in your private chamber, my Lord. My eyes are bound and so too are my hands, and I am kneeling on the floor. It is dark, but I can sense the flicker of candlelight. There is something else I can sense, too. For I believe that we are not alone in this chamber. My ears can detect the breathing of not one but two men, both excited by my naked, bound body.”
She took in another deep, shivering breath, wondering where he was in the room now, whether he had perhaps joined her on the bed.
“Just then, confirming my suspicions, I feel not one but two pairs of hands upon my body. Four rough masculine hands work their way across my body, exploring every inch of me. You speak to me, and tell me that I’ve been a very good girl, and that you have a present for me this evening. For you saw the way my body responded to the thought of young Phillip, the stable hand. And you have brought him here today, to enjoy me alongside you.
“Very good,” Lord Sutherland murmured, and indeed he must have joined her on the bed because his voice was closer to her now, so close that she could hear begin to slowly unbuckle his trousers. She gasped in anticipation. Did he mean to
have her now? “Carry on girl, I didn’t ask you to stop,” he said quietly.
“Well,” Angelica continued, her voice trembling with excitement. “You take out your cock, Sir, your thick hard cock, with its pink bulbous head so shiny and wet with your juices, just as my own cunny is now is growing slick and damp between my legs.”
“Spread your legs and hitch up your skirt, so that I can see you are telling the truth,” Lord Sutherland said quietly.
And Angelica did as he commanded, pulling the skirt of her petticoat up around her waist and spreading her thighs, feeling the ache and throb of her sex, hot and throbbing, and positively weeping for him.
“Very good,” Lord Sutherland murmured, a distinct tightness to his voice, the soft jingle of his belt conveying the notion that he was still pleasuring himself. “Continue.”
“Well, next My Lordship,” Angelica said, her own voice atremble, “I feel one of you – I don’t know which, mind – pinching roughly at my tender little nipples, causing me to squeal from the shock and pain of it. And as I’m still reeling from the pain of that, I feel something else brush against my skin – something hot and velvety smooth, moving gently up over my breast, moving ever nearer to my face, and I realise, Sir, that it is your manhood, the hot thick beast that grows between your legs, and which I have begun to crave so dearly ...”
“And what do you do, Angelica, when you feel this cock brushing softly against your lips?” Lord Sutherland asked her, the sound of his own hand pumping his cock so clear now in the quiet bedchamber.
My Lord and Master Page 8
