Good Manors Read online

  “It’s okay, it’s safe, trust me.”

  She nodded and followed me up the creaking steps. I pulled out my bundle of keys from my pocket, flicking her knickers out with them. I pushed the flimsy material back into my pocket with a smile then opened the attic door, pausing to pick up the huge torch I leave just inside the doorway.

  “No lighting up here,” I explained. “So watch your step.”

  Flicking on the torch, I revealed the majesty of this huge, open space. It covered the length of the servants’ quarters, with plaster inserts here and there breaking it up into several rooms. The attic we stood in was around twenty feet in length and virtually the same width. High beams and low ones, old and solid.

  “Wow, Xander, this is amazing!” India gasped. “How far does this stretch?”

  “See the door there?” I pointed the beam of light to the far left corner.

  “Yes, I see it.”

  “Well that leads on to another section like this and there’s another one after that. I’ve seen it on the blueprints but the doorway there into the next section is blocked up. I can’t push past whatever is behind the door. One day I want to break open the seal, to see what’s beyond it, but I need to have money in place to do it. I don’t know what will greet me at all.”

  “God, that’s exciting. If you do it, let the mag know, they’d love a scoop like that… The hidden attic of Mallard Hall, unveiling the secrets of centuries past.”

  “Nice, you do have a way with words.”

  “Thank you, that’s why I’m a journalist.” She winked.

  “Well, if it gets the famous India Grace back to Mallard’s, I’ll certainly think seriously about it.”

  She blushed and stared down at her toes. I couldn’t believe such a beautiful, vivacious woman was so shy.

  “So, why’s there a warning sign down there?”

  “Because I don’t know what’s past the door. It could be dangerous back there but in here, it’s perfectly fine.”

  “Another one of your escapes?” she asked, her eyes pulled to the blanket and cushions to the side of us and the pile of books and magazines.

  “Yeah, this room has special memories for me.” I smiled. “I like to revisit from time to time.”

  “What kind of memories?” she asked me, her head tipped to the side thoughtfully.

  “I’ll tell you. Let’s sit down first and get comfortable.”

  I walked over to the blanket and sat down then made room for her to sit beside me. India followed suit, and I scooched a little closer. I needed to feel her close to me.

  “Okay, are you comfy?”

  She shuffled in place, and I put an arm around her shoulders. She didn’t tighten up—in fact she moved closer to me. I knew we’d fucked but there seemed to be something deeper, more intimate, in our cuddling together.

  “Yes, comfy now.”

  “Okay, then I shall begin.” I let my arm slip down her back and settle behind her, propping myself up and just touching her.

  “I was seventeen when Mum employed Ariana. She wasn’t known to us before she started, unusual for Mallard’s. She worked all over the manor. We didn’t have the shop back then but she helped with tours and the livestock as well as cleaning and some admin duties. I saw her all the time.

  “She was older than me. It seemed like a huge rift at the time but really seven years isn’t that much. At that age, though, I didn’t have many years behind me so it seemed like half a life’s difference.”

  India lay her head on my shoulder, and I stopped for a moment and smiled before continuing.

  “I was completely transfixed by her. Tongue-tied and awkward. I barely spoke to her for the first nine months she was with us. I just fantasized about it. She’d smile at me occasionally, we’d even manage the odd work-related conversation but that was it.”

  I took a break, gulped then continued, “Mum must have known I was besotted, well, that’s the kind of thing they notice, isn’t it?”

  India nodded against my shoulder.

  “She must have told me a million times several really good reasons why you shouldn’t get involved with someone you’re employing. I knew exactly who she referred to and actually, her plan totally backfired. It was her impassioned calls to not be involved with a staff member that made me think more and more about it, and eventually I was brave enough to do something about it.

  “I started small with ‘hellos’ and ‘how are yous’ and moved on to complimenting her at every opportunity I could. Once I took that step the rest was relatively easy. From an acquaintance grew a friendship and from there a flirty seduction. It didn’t go like I expected it to, with her taking the lead. I found a voice deep within me, a confidence and swagger, I suppose. I seduced her.”

  “I can believe it.” India smiled up at me, and I leaned down to press a gentle kiss to her lips.

  “It surprised me, honestly, scared me a little but I just went with it. I can still remember the first time I kissed her in such detail. I saw her nipping into the airing cupboard and took the opportunity to follow her in. I blocked the door and said hello. She berated me for scaring her and said she had to get on. I told her she wasn’t getting past until she kissed me. I was very surprised when she relented without even a moment’s protest. She pushed me out of her way and went back to what she was doing while I reeled from her kiss.”

  “What’s this got to do with the attic?” she asked.

  “Patience, I’m getting there.” I kissed her forehead, and she smiled. “You need to know the background before I take you up to the attic. With my words, I mean.”

  “Okay, Sir.” She sighed. I liked her use of deference even if it was brandished like defiance.

  “If you’re going to be bratty I won’t tell you any more.”

  “Sorry, Sir, I’ll be good, promise.” She sat up straighter.

  I cupped my hand over her hip and squeezed. “So, like I said, Mum wasn’t at all taken with the idea of me seeing a member of staff so when our interludes got longer, hotter and heavier we had to find somewhere to go where we wouldn’t be disturbed. I literally searched the house top to bottom.”

  “What about the secret passageways?” India interrupted again.

  “What did I say about interrupting?” I sighed tetchily.

  “Sorry, Sir.” She dipped her head. “But you knew about the passages, right? Why didn’t you use those?”

  I shook my head and loosened my tie.

  “If you’d shut up I’d tell you. But no, you keep gabbling on. I think you’re doing it on purpose, naughty girl.”

  “No,” she insisted. “No, Sir, I’m not.”

  “Well, you won’t do it anymore.” I unlooped my tie and pressed it against her cheek. “I’m going to gag you so I can finish my story. If at any point you get uncomfortable with what’s happening raise your hand and I’ll untie you. Okay?”

  “Yes, Sir.” She nodded.

  I gave her a couple of moments more, just in case she wanted to use her safe word, but when she stayed silent, I wrapped my royal blue tie around her mouth and knotted it at the back securely. I ran a finger down the back to check it wasn’t too tight then cupped her face in my hands and dropped a kiss delicately in the middle of her forehead.

  “Right, maybe now I can actually finish my story in peace.” I kissed her cheek right above the line of the tie.

  “So, as I was about to say, I didn’t want to reveal the passageways to her because she might pass that information on, to Mum, to outsiders. I didn’t want that at all. So I searched the house and believe me, that’s no small feat. Finally, I found the attic, with the same warning sign that hangs on the stairs now.

  “I cautiously ignored it, pushed on and discovered this. It was the perfect place to bring Ariana. It was here I discovered she had kinks. I mean, I was a naïve virgin…”

  She snapped her head round to look at me.

  “Yes, virgin. Anyway, I was just eager to fuck to be truthful and she was incred
ibly patient with me. I set up dozens of candles in here that first night. I thought it was romantic and you know, it looked spectacular. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, but she did. After we fucked—I’m not afraid to say it was a short and fairly straightforward experience—she asked me to pour hot candle wax over her breasts. I didn’t know much, I thought it was weird, but if the lady who’d just happily taken my virginity wanted me to drip hot wax all over her then I was going to do it.”

  India made a noise, muffled by the tie, which I’m sure was an indication of arousal.

  “She went crazy, bucking under the stream. I was fascinated how it went from liquid to solid on her skin. She had me pick the cooled wax from her skin as I fucked her—that was an interesting balancing act. I loved the red marks that lingered, my marks left on her, physical evidence of what we’d done. I realized then—the very first time I had sex—that it was better with a bit of kink. I also found out that Ariana was submissive. She taught me all I know.

  “So I like to come up here and remember. Remember all the good times. Mum sacked her when she found out we were—well, I can’t say dating, we never went on a date—fucking. I never saw her again.” I looked away from India at that moment—I knew there’d be sympathy in her eyes. I looked back to check on her once I was convinced I wouldn’t see it.

  “So I keep some souvenirs of the old days up here.” I reached over behind the pile of pillows and pulled out a coiled-up length of rope, a candle and a flogger and placed them on the blanket before India. “Would you like to play?”

  India nodded.

  “Good.” I reached back again and after a little rummaging pulled out a box of matches and lit the chunky cream candle before me. “If at any point you’re not happy with what’s happening shake your head. I will stop the moment I see that sign. That will be your non-vocal safe word. If you understand and you’re happy with that, nod now.”

  India nodded eagerly.

  “Wonderful. Okay, stand up.”

  India stood, and I helped her kick off her shoes, then undid her top and pulled it away from her. I let her keep her skirt for the time being. I stroked over her shoulders and down her arms. I looked her in the eye and I saw a world of desire painted in her gaze.

  “Come with me.” I held her hand and walked her toward my favorite beam. It was the kind of beam developers hate. A little above waist height, it made walking through the middle of the room a pain. But I loved its old, weathered wood and the height was perfect for what I wanted to do.

  I escorted India over to the beam and lay her arm flat along it.

  “Keep it there,” I said and walked round her to smooth the other arm flat. I stood back and flipped up her skirt. It was a beautiful sight—India bent forward, arse presented to me. “Don’t move.”

  Hurrying across the floorboards, I picked up the rope and flogger in one hand and the candle in the other. I settled the candle just beyond her reach at the left hand side of the beam, then unwrapped the bundle of rope until I had enough to encompass her wrist. She twisted her head to watch as I tied then coiled the rope once, twice, three times around her wrist and the beam.

  “Now, I could loop this over your neck and hold that down too but since you’re gagged I won’t do that.” I just ran the rope underneath her and to the other arm.

  She shifted and looked at me again as I wound the other wrist to the beam.

  “Is that okay?” I asked, very much aware of how vulnerable she was and both turned on and grateful for her submission.

  India nodded, narrowly avoiding hitting the beam with her chin.

  “Good, if it gets too much just shake your head, don’t stop shaking it. If I see that I will stop immediately, understand?”

  She nodded, and I stroked down from the top of her head, through her long luscious hair onto her back and over her buttocks. The subdued moan she made intensified a moment later when I rubbed down between her buttocks and cupped her pussy in my hand.

  “Wet already.” I tutted. “I’ve barely touched you yet.”

  I wondered what to use first—the flogger or the wax? What a delicious decision I had to make. I took only a second or two to decide and picked up the flogger from the floor by her leg. I swished it in the air and her legs and back stiffened. Running the leather strands through my hand, I watched her, took in the whole picture. Her bound arms, the flickering candlelight, the focus of the torch holding her in the middle like a star on stage. The tips of the straps must have tickled her when I ran the length down her back because she wiggled. Well, it either tickled or she was begging for more. I decided the most fun interpretation was the latter and brought the flogger down with a flick of the wrist.

  The crack echoed through the silent attic. I struck again before it had time to really dissipate. I had to build up the effort I put behind the whip of many leather tails to make it truly sting on impact. After three or four of my hardest strokes, India was moaning and bucking, trying to escape the crack of the flogger. When her cheeks pinked I stopped the punishment.

  “Maybe in future you’ll not interrupt and ask so many impertinent questions, India.”

  Pressing my fingers against her arse, I felt the heat there. Slipping them down between her buttocks, I found her hot, wet center. It amazed me how pain translated to pleasure for her.

  “I’m not finished with you yet, though, India.” She made a noise through the gag, maybe she cursed. I stopped fingering her. I knew she had to be vibrating with lust, I’d denied her an orgasm for so long. “I think you’re going to like this next bit.”

  I traced a pattern up her spine and stepped over toward the candle. I swept her hair back over one shoulder and bared her back to me.

  “I’ll be watching carefully for your reaction, India,” I whispered, reaching out for the candle and extinguishing it with a sharp breath. Slowly I tipped it. My cock bobbed in my trousers, reminding me how turned on I was. I let a few drops fall onto her back. She flinched, fought against her bonds for a moment, but she didn’t shake her head.

  I tilted the candle again, this time releasing a little more and watched the drip slip down and settle in a congealing pool at the base of her back.

  “You will behave, India, you will. Remember you are mine to control.”

  I moved the candle until it was over her left shoulder blade. I poured the wax in a gentle, continuous stream like a cook drizzling oil into mayonnaise and left a diagonal streak across her back that ended at her waist above her right hip.

  I did the same action but from right to left. A waxy X marked her back, marked her as mine. India seemed to be okay, no head shakes, but she trembled elsewhere. She’d done really well but I decided it was time to unbind her. I wasn’t sure she’d ever experienced bondage before.

  “I’m going to untie you now, sweetheart. You’ve taken your punishment well and now it’s time for a treat.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  India Grace

  Tom had never bound me in our games of submission and control, he had just used his words to make me bend to his will. The rope turned me on and scared me all at the same time, and when Xander had stretched me along the beam and secured me I hadn’t been sure if I was excited or petrified.

  Then had come the flogging and the wax, and by the end of it I knew I liked it, I liked it a lot. It was a relief, though, when he unbound me, I had been nearing the edge of my limits. The rope left indentations in my skin, coils around both wrists that fizzed and popped as blood rushed back into my extremities, making me tingle all over. I could still feel the phantom tie in my mouth after he pulled it away and that imprint lingered, a reminder to be on my best behavior.

  Xander captured my hand and dragged me back over to the blanket and cushions, pulling me down with him to lie side by side.

  “Lie on your belly,” he instructed, and I turned over to satisfy him. He picked off the dried wax, bit by bit, the sting reigniting.

  “I can see a pink X right across your back, now,” he
purred and traced the outline with his fingers.

  “I can feel it, Sir.” I gasped.

  “Good. Now, unfasten my trousers and suck my cock for me, my sweet, sexy slave. Show me how much you enjoy being mine.”

  Slave. I liked that, the way he’d said it, the way it resonated deep inside me. I’d always be his slave, even when I had to leave. We’d forever be bound together by these few acts of Dominance and submission and through years of history by that photo that had killed his father.

  I couldn’t dwell on that. I had a job to do, a very pleasant job. I focused on the now, unfastened his trousers and dragged them with his underwear down his legs as he lifted his bottom to help me out. I studied his cock, hard and straining, then dipped my head to plant a kiss on the very tip of him.

  I loved the special brand of satisfaction that came from solely using all my talents to satisfy another. I had Xander in my control—his pleasure was dictated by my actions. I knew I couldn’t tease him for long, though, I’d end up with another punishment. I moved around, climbed over his leg and settled on my knees between his spread thighs.

  Bending forward reminded me of how I’d been bound—it stretched my back and I felt the pull of the wax burns, the X indicating Xander’s possession of me. My body buzzed with arousal. I licked in a circle around my mouth and dipped my head downward.

  I started at the base of his cock and kissed my way upward. The hard tautness contrasted with the softness of my lips and I couldn’t wait to taste more of him, more of us. Not long ago he’d fucked me and I could detect my own fruity flavor along with his salty tang. I kissed around the fleshy rim of his dick and lapped up the juices that pooled there. I wanted more. I looked up along his body as I paused with my mouth just around the tip of him. He was propped up on his elbows, watching me.

  I stared into his light blue eyes and sent him an unspoken message of desire before pushing down, stretching my lips around him. I covered the head and pressed the tip of my tongue into the dip there, rewarded by his gasp. I pulled up with a smile, took a breath and swallowed him again. I pulled him deeper before retreating. I kept on that path, taking a little more of him each time I delved forward until I could feel his pubic hair tickling the end of my nose.