At thirty years of age I made a career move and joined a small private company as assistant to the sole owner who had over the years built up a very prosperous business because of the niche market he had identified and taken advantage of and he was now a very wealthy man. At fifty-five he had been knighted for his achievement in the business world. Now sixty years old he wanted to ease the burden of work and so enjoy some of the more relaxing pursuits of which one of them was golf.
The business was in London but he lived at Henley-on-Thames. He was married so I learned to a woman who was thirty years his junior; she was his second wife and I had never met her in the eight months I had been with the company nor had I ever seen a photograph of her on his desk or elsewhere in his office.
One Wednesday morning in early June he said to me, "You know Jack you have been with me now for eight months and have proved yourself to be a very capable person, quick to learn and you have been a tremendous help to me making my job much easier. I think it's about time you came and spent the weekend with Lady Andrea and I, are you free this weekend?"
"Yes I am Sir James, I would like to spend the weekend with you and Lady Andrea, I look forward to meeting her at last."
"Why of course Jack I had forgotten you have never met her, she does not come up to the city very often preferring the country life but I am sure you will both get along just fine."
"Do you have a partner or girlfriend you would like to bring with you?"
"I'm afraid not Sir James my partner and I parted company two years ago."
"Sorry to here that old man, however I am sure you will find Lady Andrea good company she is the same age as you so you will not find some stuffy old woman boring you with bygone days and stuff like that," he said and laughed.
"Come home with me on Friday we could leave at four and we can discuss a few things I have in mind for the company on the drive to Henley."
"Thank you Sir James."
I then left him and returned to my office to do some work that was required urgently. Later that day when I had just about finished I paused and my thoughts drifted to Friday and my weekend with Sir James and Lady Andrea, I wondered what she was like and why she had married someone who was thirty years her senior, perhaps it was because he was wealthy and also for the position as she and Sir James had married about nine months after he was knighted. I also learned that she had been his secretary for three years prior to his knighthood.
In my mind I formed a mental picture of a woman who was pretty plain and who would be quite happy married to an older man rather than be left on the shelf so to speak. Then I once more carried on with the work at hand and left for home at about five-thirty.
On Friday I arrived at the office with my suitcase ready for my weekend with Sir James. The day passed quite quickly as it was one of those days when the phone never seemed to stop ringing and I had lots of other things needing urgent attention.
At three forty five Sir James rang me, "Are you almost ready to leave Jack?"
"Five more minutes Sir James," I said.
"Good, meet me at the car when you are ready."
I finished up the few final things that needed attention and took the lift down to the underground car park; Sir James was sitting in the car waiting for me I put my suitcase on the back seat and got in the front seat and we set off for Henley. The journey went quite quickly as Sir James and I talked about some innovations he wanted to introduce into the business.
"Nearly there now Jack," Sir James said.
About a mile further on we turned off and drove up a winding tree lined avenue and entered an open area and there before me I saw the house. It was quite a large house pretty old but it appeared to have been well maintained. We stopped in front of the steps that led up to the front entrance and alighted, as we reached the front door it suddenly opened and there stood a young woman of about twenty-three years of age dressed in a French maid's uniform. She was quite an attractive woman with blonde shoulder length hair, the maid's uniform showed off her slender figure to perfection, the curve of her hips the swell of her breasts which were exposed just enough to draw ones eyes to them and the short skirt which barely covered her thighs revealing her shapely legs. I did wonder briefly why she was dressed in such a sexy way before I was introduced to her.
"Good evening Sir James, mistress is waiting for you in the drawing room," she said then looked directly at me.
"Good evening Millie, this is Mr Jack Wilding."
"Good evening Sir, mistress said you were coming to stay for the weekend."
"Good evening Millie," I responded and as I looked at her I thought I saw the hint of a smile on her face and what I thought was an air of expectancy.
Entering the house Sir James said to Millie, "Take Jack up to his room and wait for him then when he is ready bring him to the drawing room."
Millie took me upstairs along a corridor stopping she opening a door then stood aside and said, "This is your room Sir I hope you like it I was allowed to select the room and chose this one for you because it has a great view over the rest of the estate."
"Thank you Millie," I said as I entered the room and put my suitcase down, I walked over to the window and looked out at the view, hearing Millie enter I said, "How thoughtful of you Millie it is indeed a lovely room and a great view. I better just wash my hands and then you can take me down to the drawing room."
I noticed that her voice had a hint of excitement to it as she said, "Thank you Sir."
I washed my hands in the adjoining bathroom, then Millie took me down to the drawing room, knocking on the door she opened it and stood to one side so I could enter..
