“You are to wait there—silently—while I eat. And while you wait, you can think about the meaning of service and submission. Lower your eyes.”
His gaze snaps to the floor.
But as I stare at my score, with a half-sandwich in one hand, Idofeel a sudden need to get outside.
When I’ve finished my food, I dust the crumbs from my fingers and make a decision. “Oliver?”
“Yes, my lord?”
“I plan to take a turn in the gardens—and you’re coming with me.”
* * *
Oliver listens intently to my commands, and soon enough he’s walking exactly as I have asked him to—slightly behind me, to my left, keeping time with my own steps. But when we reach the maze, his feet pick up, and he forgets himself enough to move forward past me to stare at it.
“Omigod,” he breathes, whirling back to me. “That’s themaze, right?”
“It appears to be,” I say drily, walking past him as he stops to stare.
“Can we go in there?”
I stop and turn back. He’s so interested in the maze that he’s completely forgotten his place. Normally that would irritate me, but seeing his curiosity and joy, I find myself indulging him instead. “If you like.”
His smile is so wide that it shifts his mask up a little, and he has to pull it back down. “I’d love that,” he says. “I’ve heard a lot about it from a friend of mine.”
“Which friend?” I’m not sure why I sound so sharp.
“Ezra,” he replies. “Ezra Whitfield? He’s Sebastian Fox’s—he was there at the dinner last night, when I…”
Fox’s submissive. I find myself relaxing, though I’m not sure why I was tense in the first place. “As I said, you needn’t worry about last night. That shirt looks better in pink, anyway.” He doesn’t laugh. “Go on, then,” I say after an awkward pause. “I give you leave to explore the maze.”
“You’re not coming?”
I look at Oliver and then at the maze. I know what’s waiting in there for me, and I’m in no mood to face it. “Do you really want me to?”
“Of course. It’s no fun playing alone.”
Am I mistaken, or is there a glint in those autumn-brown eyes?
With a tut, I give in. “My shoes will get dirty, but I suppose I can always command you to clean them.”
That, at last, provokes a grin from him. “To the very best of my ability, my lord.”
I don’t even mind that he leads the way down to the maze entrance, since it gives me a pleasant view as he walks, the muscles shifting under the black trousers of the staff uniform. I have no doubt I would prefer to see Oliver naked, but this tantalization is a different kind of pleasure.
I hesitate only a moment at the entrance before following him in. Oliver is looking around the great hedge walls with wonder, his mouth wide and smiling. “Feels like we’re inThe Shining, huh?” he asks, casting me a look over his shoulder.
“Is it really so terrifying being in here with me?”
He laughs, running his free hand through the fronds of the hedge wall. “I mean, you’re pretty scary in your own way.”
“I don’t mean to frighten you.”
He laughs again, and comes back toward me, reaching out a hand. “Hold my hand, then,” he suggests, “to keep me calm?”
I don’t even hesitate. I reach out and take his hand.
I haveneverheld the hand of one of the household staff members before. Never, ever.
