“You’re welcome. I thought I’d ask Niklaus if you could be excused entirely from the usual duties the household staff complete.”
When I returned, along with my caveats, some of the arrangements changed a little, too. My room is now next to Elliot’s, rather than in the sub wing, although Nik told me that if I ever needed time out, he’s kept the room down there open for me as well. And Elliot wanted me excused completely from household duties, but I refused. “If they all have to dust and vacuum, so should I,” I argued, and Elliot had agreed in the end, but only, I suspected, because he would have agreed to just about anything at that stage.
That amenable attitude seems to be changing tonight, though.
The idea is tempting, and God knows I’m no fan of dusting, but I can’t help feeling bad about it. “That’s really nice of you, but I don’t want to leave all the work to Daniel and the others.”
“I don’t seewhythey need you,” he says, and is it my imagination or am I hearing that old imperious tone creep back into his voice? “I know they like you taking care of me.Managingme. They’d rather you do it than do it themselves.”
It never occurred to me that Elliot was aware of the way the staff thought about him. “My lord, I would happily spend my time here lounging around in a bathtub being washed by you, believe me. But I signed a contract with specific expectations when I came to stay here, and it wouldn’t be fair not to keep up my end of the agreement, or to keep renegotiating what I will and won’t do.”
“Very well, then,” he says after a moment. “But if nothing else, I want you to have a nice long lie-in tomorrow. I’ll go down to the breakfast room myself. I’ll remember on my own so you don’t have to chase me. Agreed?”
“I’m being ordered to sleep in by my Dominant. I’m hardly going to say no to that, am I?” I ask with a grin.
But then I bite my lip as it occurs to me exactly what I’ve just said.
That’sthe thing that’s been bothering me.
I am no longer part of the household staff, not as far as Elliot is concerned. He isnottreating me like some useful service sub who works here.
He’s treating me as his personal submissive.
I definitely don’t hate the idea…
But after the masquerade, he’sleaving. There’s no future for us inanyrelationship, and I won’t see him again until he comes back next year for the Halloween masquerade. Normally, I wouldn’t care. Normally, I’d seize the day, enjoy the sex and the kink while it lasted. I’ve never assumed a Dom would last more than a month or so; I’ve always been with Mr. Right Now, not Mr. Right.
Definitely notLordRight.
But the idea of getting in any deeper with Elliot than I have already, and then having to let him go…
I’m not sure I can do it.
CHAPTER27
Elliot
Imake sure Oliver is fully washed, fully relaxed, and then I take him to my bed and tuck him in. He seems surprised, as though he expected some sort of action before bed.
In truth, it’s about all I can do to hold onto my chivalry, after having him naked before me for the last hour. But what I said to him was true: I don’t want him running himself down.
He works too hard, though he doesn’t want to hear it. I wish there were more I could do for him, and there probably is—but he doesn’t want me to.
I understand. But it still hurts.
* * *
The next morning, good as my word, I leave Oliver to sleep in and go down to the breakfast table myself. Zee and Niklaus are there as usual, and we are served by Daniel.
“I hope Chef Henriette and Carlton won’t mind,” I say to Zee, “but I ordered a sleep-in for Oliver this morning. I thought he needed the rest.”
“Oh,” she says, glancing at Niklaus. “Well, I’m sure that’s fine.”
But once Daniel has left the room, Niklaus leans forward and says, “Elliot, of course we’re delighted that Oliver is back, and that you’re getting on so well with him, but it’s not fair to the rest of the staff forhimto sleep in whiletheyare expected to do their usual work.”
“Oliver was assigned to me, was he not? Therefore I see no reason why I shouldn’t be able to command him to sleep in. Or that was my understanding—that he was here forme. Was I incorrect?”
Zee tries this time. “Elliot, perhaps you need to be honest with yourself about your feelings for Oliver.”
