© Lily Rockmore, 2009
Chapter Two:
The light went out, and he didn't bother to light the flint again. Anita didn't need the light to see the suspicion in his eyes.
"I didn't ask for a housekeeper," he said, and his arms tightened imperceptibly around her neck. "Neither did my father have one. Don't think of lying, girl. Who are you?"
Anita swallowed again. How was she to prove that she was indeed the new housekeeper without Madam Ruth around?
"But, sir," she said with a slight stammer. "Madam Ruth hired me last week."
Madam Ruth. Could that be Madam Ruth Tatiana? Even if it was, how would she know that he was coming and why would she hire him household staff?
"She -- um -- I remember her telling me that you wrote to her, asking the house to be readied for your arrival. So she hired two of us to clean the house last week. We've been living here since then."
He'd done no such thing, of course, but from the way the girl was speaking she seemed to think he was telling the truth. And from the war, he'd learned that facts didn't matter as much as the capacity of the human mind to believe them.
"Two of you?" he stated a moment later, catching on to her little slip. "If I remember correctly, you'd just told me that there was no one else in the house."
It was getting difficult to breathe. Her voice was whisper-soft. "I thought you were a burglar, s-sir. I didn't know if you'd hurt me, much more the other m-maid."
When Jay realized that the arm around her neck was choking her slightly, he released her, and felt a pang of guilt as she took deep, gulping breaths. Then a curse left his lips when he finally understood who had been meddling with his affairs. Who else would, but his mother. She'd done it before, and it seemed entirely possible that she would do it again. She wouldn't have thought of it as meddling, of course, but 'motherly care' was the word she would use. He remembered her pestering him to take a few servants with him on the trip, but he'd said no. Rather firmly, if he recalled. But his mother had gotten her way in the end.
'It's all for your own good, Jay,' he could almost hear her say.
He sighed. "Madam Ruth, you say?" He raised a hand to rub his shadowed jaw, assessing the girl as she nodded with her head bowed. She was rather interesting, with her whisper-soft voice and flashing blue eyes that were bold in their color yet shy in gaze. He didn't stop himself from running his eyes down her body. From what he could see of her, she was a shapely girl, with too much meat on her hips than was fashionable. Her loose hair tumbled down her back in damp tendrils, giving her, amongst other things, an extraordinarily exotic look. There was also something about a clean woman after a bath that was incredibly appealing. When an image of a woman, naked, cocooned in a bathtub entered his mind, he shook his head and cursed his vivid imagination. "Then I think my apologies are due. I'd thought you were a thief."
She shifted slightly on her feet. "I'd thought so, too, sir, from the way you climbed through the window."
"I lost my keys," he replied simply. "I didn't have much of a choice."
"Oh, we have extra ones in the kitchen. Would you like for me to get them for you?"
He smiled slightly, thinking it somewhat amusing that she never raised her head whilst speaking to him."Not right now, no. The morning would be fine."
There was a brief silence as he bent to retrieve his belongings. She rushed forward to do it for him, but he brushed her offer away. He wanted her to get one thing straight. "Since we're going to be living under the same roof for some time, I might as well let you know now that I don't like to be waited on."
She stepped away from him immediately, as though his words had physically repelled her.
He understood the insensitivity of his words once they left his mouth. Her only duty -- probably -- was to wait on him and he had just said he didn't need to be waited on. He quickly amended his sentence.
"But since you're here, would you like to show me to my room?"
"Of course, sir," she said and walked in the direction of the stairs, careful to dodge the furniture that she knew would be in her way.
As quickly as possible, she picked her way up the flight of stairs and opened the doors to the room that had its own balcony. She didn't even need to think of which room to give him. As the only occupant, he deserved the best.
A few seconds later, she heard him coming up behind her.
"We had prepared the room for you and your wife, sir," she said, somehow embarrassed by her words. There were fresh flowers on the dressing table and lace curtains hanging by the balcony -- feminine touches she'd thought his wife would like. "It has the most beautiful view."
Jay put the bags down and looked around the room. "Well, since I don't have a wife, I suppose I'd have to enjoy the view on my own."
The room had been decorated in the late nineteenth century, and its design attested to it. Rich white and blue wallpaper covered the walls whilst the furniture was made of pinewood. There was a dressing table opposite the bed, and beside the dressing table were the doors to the balcony. He strode over and opened them, letting the cool breeze from the sea, and moonlight swirl throughout the room.
When he turned away from the view, the girl had already lit two lamps and was turning the covers on the bed, down. The warm glow from the candle haloed her body, making her dark skin glow. The dip of her waist that wasn't covered by the sari was uncannily obvious, and the curve of her bottom was almost… violent.
Her fingers moved over the sheets, tucking in the excess and righting it to form a straight line on the bed. Her actions were nothing but ordinary, and yet, he felt an odd stirring in his abdomen. Her hands were mesmerizing and he could not tear his gaze from the way they efficiently stroked the sheets. Her hair, too, fell like a dark curtain over her shoulder, and she reached back several times to push it out of the way, making her blouse hike up just a little, revealing ample skin.
