The next morning I rose early, or early considering the time we went to bed, and packed up my things. I wanted to be sure that I was up and ready before Victoria and His Lordship made it downstairs; it wouldn't do to have my clients waiting around for me. The staff had laid out everything for breakfast so I helped myself to some muesli, fruit and yoghurt and then went and sat to read the newspaper in the drawing room.
Or at least I tried to read the newspaper, but the events of the previous night kept running around in my mind. I felt that I'd let Victoria down, that something I'd done had led to her returning to her own room that night rather than paying her husband a visit. I was sure now that my job was to try to bring them closer together, and I had failed in that task.
I heard someone moving around in the dining room and decided to remain where I was rather than disturb their breakfast. A short time later Victoria appeared in the doorway and greeted me with a reserved "good morning".
"I wondered who it was," I said with a smile and put the newspaper to one side.
"George was up early," she said, "I think he's out on the estate somewhere."
I did my best to maintain a blank expression but this worried me: if His Lordship hadn't slept well then that wasn't a good sign.
"Do you have any plans for today?" I asked her, but what I really meant was: do you have any plans for me today?
"I'd like your help with something, actually," Victoria said. I responded with an eager expression, as if I had any real choice but to try to please my client. Victoria came over and sat beside me.
"It's George's birthday today," she explained, and this time I couldn't help the surprised expression from showing: how could I not have known that? Because Victoria was my client, of course, and although I had her details ready to spring a surprise at the appropriate time, I hadn't gathered that information for her husband. I could have kicked myself: I was really taking this contract for granted, and if I didn't pick my game up I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't last much longer.
"Anyway," she said, "After last night..." She tailed off, slightly embarrassed as ever whenever we came anywhere near the subject of sex, "After I went to bed. Well... I felt bad. I should have gone to George."
She bit ruefully on her lip and I put a hand on her knee as an offer of support.
"There's always tonight," I said.
"Yes," she said, forcing a smile, "And I'd like your help. To make it special..." She paused again. "To help me to make it special."
I was glad she added that qualifier: I wondered for a second if she wanted me to be more involved than I had been to-date, but it seemed I was to continue to set the mood and then take a step back.
"Gladly," I said, "What sort of thing did you have in mind?" I wanted to know what her plans might be before I suggested anything.
"I've booked a table at a restaurant," she said, and I raised a questioning eyebrow. "For the three of us," she added.
So that answered my question of whether I would be working again tonight. This had been quite an intense session with the couple these past few days already and I would really have welcomed a night off. Still, if our usual system was anything to go by, once I'd done my job for a few days I wouldn't hear from them again for three weeks. And the money was very welcome.
"So..." Victoria tailed off again, obviously looking for me to help from here.
"So you want some help on what to wear?" I suggested and she nodded enthusiastically, although I knew that wasn't the only thing she wanted from me.
"This will be fun," I said, and I half meant it. She welcomed my enthusiasm with a grateful smile, and I could see her relief now that she'd placed responsibility for the evening in my hands.
"Let's take a look through your wardrobe," I said as I stood and Victoria joined me. Suddenly, the confident, sophisticated woman who pretty much paid my bills for me was like a puppy awaiting instructions and approval.
She followed me upstairs into her dressing room and I started looking through the copious designer dresses hanging from the racks.
"I can have the others brought out of storage if you can't find anything," she said.
I couldn't supress a snort of laughter: there must be more than fifty dresses in here, each costing hundreds if not thousands of pounds, and she had more in storage?
"I think I'll be able to find something," I said with an amused smile and Victoria laughed, although I wasn't sure if she knew why. I think it may just have been nerves.
"The most important thing," I said, "Is that you feel sexy all the way through." She blushed and looked down at the ground as I said the word 'sexy'. "So how about this one?"
I pulled out a dark blue cocktail dress with a Queen Anne neckline. I would have loved to have worn it myself and we were so similar in size that I was sure it would fit me.
"Isn't it a bit... short?" she asked.
"Absolutely!" I said with a wink, and she blushed again.
"I'm not sure..."
"Give it a try and let me be the judge," I told her. I felt that she really wanted me to steer the situation and I was emboldened to give her more-or-less direct instructions. She looked doubtful but she began to unbutton her blouse nonetheless.
I had expected her to turn her back, or even to leave the room, but she unfastened one button at a time in silence. A thought suddenly dawned on me that this was theatre for my benefit, to show me that she wasn't embarrassed by her body, as she had seemed every time the issue had come up before. She looked up and saw me following her fingers and I caught a flash in her eye that might have meant something else: was she wondering if I would like what I saw?
With this new realisation I took up my new role in the performance and took a step back to sit in an armchair a few feet across the room. I crossed my legs and sat to watch the slow striptease unfold in front of me.
The final button was unfastened and Victoria pulled the blouse off of her arms and tossed it onto the back of a chair. Without making eye contact, but still very conscious of my gaze, she unbuttoned her grey skirt, slid down the zip and pushed it over her narrow hips to drop to the floor.
She stepped out of it, bent to pick it up and draped it over her blouse. She glanced at me as she stood there in her plain white underwear and I let a trace of a smile play on my lips. I wasn't entirely sure if lust was the emotion she was hoping to see so I didn't want to spoil the scene by over-acting.
She was about to pick up the dress to try it on but I uncrossed my legs and sat forwards to interrupt her.
"Don't you have any better underwear than that?" I asked, and realised by the expression on her face just how blunt the question sounded. "Something a little more... seductive?" I added and she blushed again.
"I might have," she said, and I stood as she turned towards a set of drawers.
"Here," I said, and before she could react I unfastened the back of her bra. I saw her shoulders tense and then felt the stress within her as I brushed the straps down her arms.
