Read Online Back in Service by Rosanna Challis - Free Book Online Page B

shadow of my former self.’ He sighed theatrically and she saw the wart on his cheek quiver as his moustache trembled. ‘You could make an old man very happy, you know, as once you did.’
    His hand reached up with surprising speed and clawed at one of her breasts, but she slapped it down and pushed his chair away with all her might, then walked down the dark passageway as quickly as she could, and soon reached the safety of the main hall.
    She went straight upstairs to Lady Alice’s room, where she found Jane with her mistress. ‘Excuse me, my lady,’ she said, ‘but I think Sir Victor may need assistance. I believe his chair has become stuck in the door to the stillroom.’
    ‘Really?’ his wife said. ‘Whatever next? Well, do not come running to me in the future, my dear, for I can do nothing about it. Go fetch Nanny Baines. She has the strength of ten men and is used to the wayward behaviour of that contraption.’
    ‘Where shall I find her?’
    ‘In her room, of course. Oh never mind, I shall go just this once, but do not bother me again. I have as little as possible to do with Sir Victor these days. He is such a trial.’ She put down her needlework and left the room.
    ‘Stuck in the stillroom door, you say?’ Jane asked, and giggled.
    ‘Well, not exactly,’ she smiled, ‘but I had to say something to get her out of the way. Now I know what you have had to suffer these past months, Jane dear, I am determined you will suffer no more. When Sir Victor tried the same tricks on me he found he had met his match, and I shall do my utmost to protect you.’
    ‘Oh miss, you are so kind!’ She stood on tiptoe and planted a spontaneous kiss on Hetty’s cheek.
    The girl’s lips were warm and soft and waves of pure pleasure coursed through Hetty’s body, taking her by surprise.
    ‘Well, do not forget, if ever you need me, just ring or send for me… I must go now.’ She left hastily, flustered by the strange turmoil assailing her insides. It was time to find Leo. She needed someone to confide in and he was her only powerful ally in this strange and often hostile household.
    Finding him in their sitting room, she relaxed somewhat. They had been given light and airy chambers on one side of the house near Lady Alice’s apartments. The sitting room boasted a view of the park and was furnished with a variety of pretty ornaments and landscape paintings. Coming up behind him as he pored over the accounts sitting in a big armchair, she planted an affectionate kiss on top of his head.
    ‘Hetty, my love.’ He half rose to greet her, but then settled back in the chair with the heavy ledger book still open across his lap. ‘What have you been up to this past hour?’
    ‘What has your father been up to, more like,’ she retorted.
    ‘What? You are not telling me he is up to his old tricks again, are you?’
    ‘Yes. Being chair-bound has not affected his appetites in the least.’
    ‘Hmm. I suppose he is eating well, too?’
    They both laughed, and she perched jauntily on his knee after he closed the big accounts book and placed it on the table beside his chair. Then he slipped his arms round her waist and buried his head in her breasts. ‘Oh Hetty, I was dreading returning here,’ he confessed. ‘But now we are home again, I must admit I feel a certain relief. But if father is going to make life miserable for you—’
    ‘Have no fear, Leo, he will not, for I shall not let him. It is Jane I feel for. She has been the object of his indecent assaults ever since she came here, just as I was.’
    ‘Hmm… then we must think about how to prevent him. He is still nominal head of the family, his indisposition notwithstanding. Perhaps the answer lies with Nanny Baines. It is vital we get her on our side, Hetty. With her help we may teach him how to behave. She certainly knew how to instil good behaviour into me when I was a boy, and I do not mean just with reprimands, stopping pocket money and the banning of minor