Thief: Kingdom of Maidenhead Book One, page 12
“Yes, Bit. There are two boxes there,” he replies.
“Good, I asked the super to put your wardrobe delivery there. One of the boxes should have some silk pajamas for you.”
“I’ll go find them and put them on your bed.”
“Wait…” Yenjy starts, but he is already gone. “I needed him to put you in the tub and stay with you.”
“You can put me in the tub and stay until he gets back,” I say.
“I shouldn’t.”
“Oh, you definitely should.”
“Stop it. You’re my patient.”
“I didn’t say you had to take a bath with me. That is a wonderful idea, though.”
“Stop it.”
“Do you really want me to?” I ask.
“Not at all, but you must. For now,” Yenjy breathes out. I’m not sure if she is conscious of saying the last bit.
I can’t help myself. I kiss her, and she kisses me back.
“Now, put me in my tub,” I demand.
“Yes, mistress.” I send a moue at her for that, which causes her to laugh.
She eases me into the all but scalding water. She keeps her hands on my shoulders as I luxuriate in the hot water. I slowly become more mentally alert. I feel more and more aware of her hands. I lean my head back and see her looking down into my eyes. I reach up and lightly grasp her wrists. I gently pull her hands down to my breasts. She leans forward and kisses me. I let her take her time and wait. Soon her tongue is between my lips, and her hands are massaging my breasts. Her soft silky palms are rubbing my nipples. What she is doing to me feels glorious.
After several timeless minutes, Charlie walks in wearing a robe.
“I can come back later if you’d like,” he says, chuckling.
Yenjy lets out a strangled scream of self-loathing frustration and all but leaps back.
“No!” she says. “I should not have been doing that! Keep her here for about forty-five minutes more. You need to climb into the tub with her. Then keep her in your arms for the night. She should be fully healed but somewhat weak in the morning.”
“Okay, doctor.”
“Doctor Yenjy?” I ask.
“Yes, Betsy,” she replies.
“Will you come back tomorrow and release me from your care?”
“Is that what you want?”
“There is little I want more.”
She releases a little bit of a whimper before answering, “Okay, Betsy. I will come by later in the morning.”
“Thank you, Yenjy. For everything.”
“It was my pleasure, Betsy. Too much my pleasure.”
I can’t help smiling at her, nor she at me. She uses visible effort to break eye contact with me and rushes away without looking back. I wonder how much longer it would have been before she climbed into the tub with me.
Charlie drops his robe. I make an appreciative noise in my throat when I see his naked body. He should go around to all the temples and cathedrals, offering to be the model for their god’s statues.
“You are insatiable. Not two minutes ago, you were trying to subvert the doctor’s ethics. Now you’re ogling me,” he says as he slips into the water and shimmies over next to me.
“I nearly died this evening. Please don’t tease me because I want to feel alive. Besides, Yenjy looks like a younger version of my first girlfriend, Bundi,” I say.
“I know of several girls named Bundi. What was she like?’
“You may know of her better as Madame Cherry.”
“Bit, you live an amazing life.”
I lean my head on my shoulder and slide my hand over one of his upper thighs, then in between them. I see no reaction through the clear water. Having my hand there feels nice, even if it isn’t doing anything for him, so I leave it there.
“I guess you know what our talk was going to be about now,” I say.
“I guess I do,” at least he doesn’t sound angry with me.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I was having some of the best times of my life when you took Betsy out on dates.”
“So was I. I admit some disappointment that there is now nothing romantic here. But I hope you will let me take my friend Betsy out on some more dates. At least until you find a boyfriend, or apparently girlfriend.”
“You’d better keep taking me on dates. As for boyfriend or girlfriend, I may opt for both. If they have a problem with me still going on dates with my friend Charlie, then they can close the door behind them on their way out. After all, if I don’t continue to spend as much time as possible with you, how am I going to eventually seduce you.”
His bark of laughter at that warms my heart. He leans over and kisses the top of my head. When my hour is up, he lifts me out of the water. He lets me stand as he dries us both off. Then carries me into the bedroom and lets me stand again when he starts to lace my corset, after which he lays me on the bed. How he knew to lace me down again half an hour later, I don’t ask. He doesn’t overdo it. Now I get to sleep with him double embracing me. Once with his arms and as well as a full body embrace with his lacing.
In the morning, I wake to the wonderful sensation of one of his huge hands cupping one of my breasts. It feels wonderful. I gently place my hand over his. He starts to wake, which causes him to gently flex his hand in a lovely way. As soon as he starts to become more aware, he starts to pull his hand away. I let out a disappointed moan and push his hand back to its proper position.
“Please, a little more,” I whine.
“Okay, Bit. Just a little more,” He huskily whispers in my ear.
His hand retakes its proper position and restarts its delightful ministrations.
“Betsy,” I moan out in response to him calling me Bit.
His hand moves altogether differently after I say that. I have to resist the moans his ministrations are inducing in me. I don’t want to scare him off. I should have corrected him calling me Bit in the tub last night. Maybe the evening would have had an altogether different outcome. All too soon, he stops and resists my protests.
“We need to get you back in the tub,” Charlie says.
“Yummy. I’m still pretty weak. You should join me. I need you to help wash me,” I coyly say.
“Right. Somehow I’m not sure I believe that.”
“Dr. Yenjy said I would be weak this morning. I think you should carry me back to the tub and wash me.”
Charlie eventually gives in. After removing my corset, he carries me to the tub. Charlie baths me as I asked. I can’t help the whimpers when he washes certain areas. Areas that I keep shifting under his gently scrubbing hands.
He pauses and admonishes me, “Behave!” I can feel the good-natured smile in his admonishment.
I smile innocently at him. As soon as he starts washing me again, his hands end up right back where I want them. Eventually, he does find a way to wash me, despite my wriggling and writhing. I would have stopped my actions if he gave off the slightest hint of being upset or uncomfortable with what I was doing. I have the slightly sad thought that he is only humoring me because of what happened last night. Then after we get out of the tub, he spends a little extra attention on toweling off certain areas of my body without any input or deception by me. When he is done, I’m in such a state that I don’t think I can walk back to my bedroom.
He carries me to my bedroom. Then he gets out my least favorite corset. It crushes me an inch more than my normal ones. When he goes through my closet, he finds the boots with heels that are an inch taller than the rest. I try to put my foot down in protest to the boots. He catches that foot and stuffs it into the boot. They wouldn’t be so bad, except the platform under the ball of my foot is no higher than my boots with shorter heels.
“Why are you torturing me today? I thought I was supposed to lounge around and take it easy,” I whine.
“No woman of substance would lounge without her corset or boots, even if she is taking it easy for the day. Don’t forget the police are going to visit today, so you need to put your face on. Yenjy may be impressed as well,” he answers.
That last reason stills all my complaints. Charlie finds a day dress in my closet that I haven’t ever worn. When he laces up the back of it, and I look at myself in the mirror, I wonder why. While I am accenting my face, he somehow finds something in my pantry to cook for breakfast. I let him clean up the table and kitchen while I take a dramatic pose on my chaise lounge. Charlie laughs uproariously at my hamming it up. Once we get a little more serious, I have a task for Charlie.
“Charlie, after the police come and go, I would like you to go to Artemis’ office and invite him to come here and see me,” I task him. “We need to discuss last night and how the thugs found us. Assure him that I don’t suspect him. He’s smart enough to know that he is going to get rich off of my patronage.”
“Of course, Betsy.” I still get a tingle when he says my name like that.
The sergeant shows up an hour later with a captain. The captain speaks to me while I stay in my chaise lounge, while the sergeant takes Charlie into the security quarters.
“First off, milady, how are you feeling,” Captain Dreese asks.
“I’m well, captain. The healer that Sergeant Sims sent up was wonderful,” I reply.
“Thank you for that, milady. I will let him know that you appreciate his efforts. Now can you tell me in your own words what happened last night?”
I go through everything that I can remember about the fight.
“Do you know why they attacked?” he asks.
“I don’t know the reason with any certainty. The only person I know that might have an issue with me is Baronet Riven,” I answer.
“Why would he have to have an issue with you?”
“There was an issue with a foreign criminal down in the North Docklands. He was recently chased out of town. As I understand it, the thief master's council initiated shutting him down. Before he left, he was forced to sign over all his property. I seem to have unknowingly performed a service for them. What it was, I don’t know. I ended up owning much of the crook’s former property, including one and a half personal vaults at the Maidenhead Bank.
“The other portion of the half vault is shared with the baronet. According to Mrs. Youngerman, the baronet put nothing into the vault. When I transferred ownership, I moved everything out of the vault until ownership could be determined,” I reply.
“We received a complaint from the baronet this morning. Mrs. Youngerman confirmed your story. We will check with the complainant to see if he can show ownership of any of the physical goods that were in the vault. If the baronet can’t, then by Maidenhead law, it will be yours. He did state that you took money out of the vault despite there being a restriction about removing it from the bank. He also made significant threats about some crates.”
“As I understand the stipulation, it specified Mr. Maines. I’m clearly not him. Also, I haven’t removed it from the bank. It currently sits in my bank account. If he can even tell you the exact amount of money that was placed in there, he might have the beginnings of a claim. Someone may want to remind them that if he makes too much of a ruckus, an investigation may be initiated into his dealings with a known criminal. Someone should find out where Mr. Maines went, then try to speak to him about their relationship.”
“That would be somewhat difficult, as Mr. Maines died of apparent natural causes while he was trying to leave the country. Also, what do you mean by ‘them’?”
“With his death, it seems the world is a little bit better place then. As far as ‘them’ goes, I doubt the boy sneezes without his father telling him which direction to face.”
“So you don’t really think a sixteen-year-old would send a group of thugs after you?”
“From what I understand, his father often uses the son’s name for most of his more sketchy projects. The son is apparently a chip off the old block. So my limited research says it is entirely possible the father, not his son, was really behind the attack. Before I forget, I would appreciate my daggers back once you complete your investigation.”
“Of course, milady. You said you took out six of the attackers?” He asks.
“I killed six and injured two. I don’t know if those two survived or not.”
“They did. They’re not talking, though.”
“Maybe you should tell them that you are going to let me question them soon if they don’t start talking.”
The captain chuckles at that. “I like it. I’m going to give them a little more time before I spring that on them. Thank you for your forthrightness Milady.”
“You know I’m so far from inheriting even a minor title that I can’t be considered a noble. You certainly don’t need to call me milady,” I say with a little giggle.
“Some women are born noble, no matter who their parents are.” With that, he gathers his sergeant and says his goodbyes.
“What did the sergeant ask you?” I ask.
“Likely similar questions that the captain asked you,” Charlie answers.
“I don’t think he is actually a captain. He isn’t even part of the police. He is SIS, and high up SIS.”
“How do you know?”
“Did you hear about the spy ring house near the North Docklands Market?”
“I did.”
“Captain Dreese was one of the two people in charge of the SIS team that made up the initial assault and evidence-gathering team. He stayed in charge until another group, one that I call the nine, arrived.”
“And why were you there?”
“To see the results of my efforts,” I say with a smirk.
“Did you happen to profit off of your efforts?”
“Only to the tune of about a half million golds.”
I finally shock Charlie.
“While you are out speaking to Artemis, I would appreciate it if you would buy some food on your way back. If you want to stay here with me, you should also gather your belongings. We should probably try and find a maid to help with the housework.”
“I was going to ask if I could stay here from now on. My sister is an unemployed domestic. Uh–Betsy, I will need some funds to purchase funds.”
“Oh, how silly of me. Do you remember seeing two boxes in the top drawer of my dresser?”
“Yes,” he replies.
“Those boxes are full of smaller denomination coins. Please put one of them in the servant’s quarters and one in the security quarters. When you need more funds, let me know.”
“Okay.”
“If you would, please bring your sister by on your way home.”
“Thank you, Betsy.”
He goes into my bedroom, and then he comes back out a few moments later with two small wooden boxes in his hands. I hear him go out the front door.
Chapter fifteen
Yenjy
Now alone, I fully relax. Nearly half an hour later, I hear Charlie come in. When I turn to speak to him, I see Artemis is with him.
“Betsy, I’m headed out now,” Charlie says.
“Oh, I thought you had left already. Hello, Artemis. It’s good to see you.”
“I signaled a messenger girl to send for Mr. Kling. I’ll see you in a while,” Charlie says as he turns toward the door.
“Hello, Betsy. I heard something happened to you last night. How are you?” Artemis says.
“I’m doing well, thank you. I’m mostly recovered. In case you haven’t heard the full story, Charlie and I were jumped by twelve dagger-wielding thugs. We killed ten and injured two. The two injured ones are currently in the custody of the police, but they aren’t talking.”
“Oh my. How did they know where to find you?”
“That is why you are here. I would like you to find that out for me. I’m partially laid up for today and have too much to do to prepare for the nobles’ conspiracy after today. I would recommend you start at the bank. I know you are too smart to let anything like that slip. The bank is the only other place that knows I am involved with Maines’ personal vaults.”
“I will get right on it. Now, if you have time, I would like to go over what is happening with Baron Gimden’s holdings.”
“Of course. I hope things are going well,” I say.
“Of course they are. In fact, you now own all his debt. He is also putting out feelers about borrowing with his patent as collateral.”
“That’s good. Let’s hope there are no unseen circumstances.”
“I’m going to hold off on calling in loans until you have all the ownership paperwork in hand.”
“I understand.”
“Let’s go through what paperwork I need you to obtain.”
We spend several moments going through the lists of properties that the baron has mortgaged.
“That should be all of it,” Artemis says. “Now I need to find out who allowed your name to get out.”
“Before you go, please look into all this paperwork that I retrieved from Alber Maines. He officially signed everything over to me, so I would like to know what I’ve got.”
“I’ll take care of it, Betsy.”
“Thank you, Artemis.”
He heads out into the foyer, and I hear him leave. A moment later, I hear steps entering my great room. As I turn to look, I see Yenjy. I immediately pop to my feet. I’m proud of myself that I stand straight without wavering around. It takes tremendous effort to do so. I want nothing more in life right now than to have her release me from her care. Well, nothing more besides Charlie.
“Artemis let me in the door as he was leaving. Where is your delectable bodyguard?”
“He is running errands. You are looking very delectable yourself.”
“Stop it. You’re still my patient.”
“Patients don’t have any patient/doctor ethics to worry about.”
“Still stop it. I need to examine you.” Her smile shows that her heart isn’t in her protestations. She wants me, I want her, and I will find a way to have her.
“Okay, I’ll let you off the hook for the time being.”
She places her hands on me, and I feel a warmth emanating from them as she senses my body.
“You have certainly healed well,” she says.
