House Rules (13 page)

‘You’d better tell me about it,’ he said.

Helena began at once, as if she had been waiting for this moment. ‘When I was a student, I knew someone who had been planning a bombing incident. You have probably heard of some of the things he and his kind did. I mean the firebombings of Turkish
Gästarbeiters
’ houses. Some people got killed, though I swear I did not know what he was doing. We were lovers. I did not want him to do these things, but he would not listen. He thought he was going to save Germany from being swamped by inferior races.’

‘Like Hitler,’ Richard interjected.

Helena nodded. ‘But of course I did not think of that at the time. He was just my lover. And afterwards they caught him and made him tell about the people he knew. The police came looking for me, but Margaret warned me and let me hide at her country house. She found out what the police knew through her contacts, and she had the documents stolen so that there would be no evidence to link me with him in any way. I thought she was doing me a great kindness, until she told me how I would be repaying her. But until now I thought going to prison would be worse.’

‘And now?’ Richard asked.

‘Now you are involved with her. She is making you dress as a woman and punishing you and making you serve her as a slave. And soon you will be transporting money around Europe and taking risks of your own – risks that could land you in prison. And I got you into this. I would not blame you if you hated me for that.’

The line was as old as time, Richard told himself, but it was nonetheless effective. He was going to help her. ‘What do you have in mind?’ he asked.

Helena said, ‘Steal the papers from Margaret and burn them. Then I will be free of her. We could go to England and start a new life.’ She halted abruptly. There was a long silence. Then she resumed, ‘But maybe you don’t want that. I was not thinking of you, only of myself.’ Her face became sad.

At that moment Richard knew he wanted nothing more than to take Helena to England. His aunt’s house at Bacton had been good enough for him, but he had been lonely without realising it. Helena would brighten the old house – and his life.

‘Of course that’s what I want. I want you with me.’ As soon as the words were out, he knew he had said the right thing, both for him and for Helena. Her face lit up with a smile, and he knew it was for him.

‘Oh, Richard, you make me so happy. I am so glad I found you.’

And so was he. He gave no more thought to the rights and wrongs of the matter. But he did have one important question. ‘Where does Margaret keep the papers?’

Helena answered, ‘I do not know where exactly, but they must be in her house. You must be on the lookout for a safe of some sort. I am sure she would not just leave the papers lying around for anyone to find. She is most careful about such things. I am coming to the house in a few days’ time, and I will help you by looking around myself. I have much more freedom there than you have. But keep your eyes open all the same. Now that you know there is something to look for, you might notice something that will help us.’

Just like that, ‘me’ had become ‘us’. Richard felt very good about that. But Helena was bent on making him feel even better. She put her arms around him and urged him to roll over so that he was lying on top of her. Then she raised her legs and crossed them behind his back, opening herself for him and pulling him down into her. Richard felt her vaginal muscles clamp down on his cock, and he began to grow hard almost at once. This time their lovemaking was more frenzied than before. Helena urged him on ever faster, moaning beneath him as he thrust into her, matching his rhythm with an urgency that almost overcame his self-control when she had her first orgasm. He managed to hold back, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to last very long. Helena seemed a woman possessed, bucking and writhing as she strove to take all of him inside her. She cried out again and again as she peaked, but she never slackened the pace. Her legs were clamped around his waist, and she was rearing and plunging as she clung to him. At last he let himself go and felt another shattering orgasm claim him as Helena screamed in ecstasy. Then once again they lay quietly, catching lost breath, cooling slowly from the fever heat of their lovemaking.

He rolled on to his side, looking at Helena. Her eyes were closed and a damp tendril of her hair lay across her cheek. She looked contented, and he was glad he had been able to give her pleasure. Richard could have stayed there for ever, but time was passing. It would soon be dawn, and he had to be back inside the house and in his room, dressed in the maid’s uniform and ready for the day’s work when the servants came to let him out.

Helena too seemed to realise the situation. She opened her eyes and looked at him with a wistful smile. ‘I wish you could stay with me, but we have to get you back before Margaret misses you.’ But she brightened at once. ‘Once we get the papers from Margaret, we will be able to do as we wish, all day and every day.’ She looked happy at the idea.

They got out of bed and began to dress. After the lovemaking, the assertion of his maleness, Richard felt much more conscious of the change as he put on the tights and corselet, the slip and the tight, black satin maid’s uniform. He was conscious of the tight clothing on his body, and felt anew the excitement he had experienced the first time he was dressed in women’s clothes. He liked the sensation of being enclosed, restricted, by the tight-fitting corselet. He had lost the earlier self-consciousness. Helena had taken his transformation in her stride, even thanking him for making the effort for her. He was glad she had not made an issue of the dress.

He put on the high-heeled boots and the coat and was ready for the trip back. Helena led the way downstairs silently. She checked the courtyard, and then they both stepped out into the pre-dawn darkness. There was not much conversation during the drive through the town and out to Margaret’s country estate. Once Helena rested her hand on Richard’s leg, stroking him lightly through the opaque tights. Just as I have done with other women, he reminded himself. It felt strange to be on the receiving end, but not unpleasant.

When she let him out on the roadside, Helena leant over and pulled him down to her window. She kissed him lingeringly and then let him go. ‘It will not be long, Richard. Please be patient.’

‘When will I see you again?’ he asked.

‘I do not know exactly. Margaret is supposed to come to Hamburg sometime next week to pick up the leather gear she ordered the day you met her. She usually wants me to come out to her house for discipline when she visits. The last time I escaped. She took you instead. I hope you did not suffer too much in my place.’

Richard shook his head, remembering the whipping he had received, and its aftermath, and this night with Helena. He would do it all over again. He told her so, and was rewarded again by her smile.

‘I will suggest to Margaret that she bring me out next week, if she does not suggest it herself. I will stay the night there – I usually do anyway – and I will come to you that night in your room. I have the freedom of the house and can come and go where the servants cannot. Even though Margaret sometimes has one of the servants whip me, I am still more free than they are. Freer than you are, too,’ she added with a rueful smile.

‘Never mind,’ Richard told her. ‘I’ll manage until I see you again, but don’t be too long. I want to be with you.’ The words were out before he realised what he was saying, but he didn’t regret them. The prospect of days, weeks, years with Helena suddenly brightened his future.

‘I’m glad. I feel the same, my darling. Soon. I promise.’ She kissed him once more, and they parted. She put the car into gear as Richard went in through the tall, iron gates and up the drive to the house. He saw the sky brightening in the southeast as he crunched up the gravel path in his high-heeled boots. He realised he was becoming accustomed to them, and to the other clothes he wore. It could become a habit, he told himself with an inward smile.

Richard let himself into the house with the key, being careful to lock the door behind him. He hung the coat on the rack in the hallway and quietly made his way back to the lift, intending to slip back to his room. As he passed the dining-room door, Heidi stepped out.

‘I was worried you might not get back before Margaret. I couldn’t sleep, so I have been waiting here.’ She wore a carelessly belted dressing gown which fell open to reveal her breasts. She didn’t seem to mind that, but she was insistent that he get back to his room at once.

Richard was relieved when he saw that she was wearing her chastity belt. After the evening with Helena, he didn’t think he would be much use to someone else. Only in sex fantasies does the stud get hard every time he sees a naked tit. He was also relieved to see that Heidi didn’t seem to expect anything more from him than she was asking. They went to the lift together and descended to the basement.

She hurried him along to his room and almost pushed him inside. He heard the lock click as she hurriedly shut the door. He undressed so he could take a shower and perhaps get an hour of sleep before the new day began. He knew that he would have to dress again and do his make-up in order to pass Margaret’s scrutiny. There must be no hint that he had been anywhere but in his room all night – for everyone’s sake.

The next day Richard cleaned and tidied around the house, helped in the kitchen with the cooking and washing-up, and looked around for signs of the safe Helena had told him about. He looked furtively behind pictures and mirrors and behind books in the library. By now, wearing women’s clothing felt normal. He practised walking like a woman, swinging his hips more than he was accustomed to, becoming more adept at walking in high-heeled shoes and in dressing himself and applying make-up. He even attempted to restyle the wig he had been given. He thought he had done well enough, until Marie told him otherwise. She came to his room as he was brushing the wig and peering into the mirror.

‘You will never be a hairdresser,’ she said, taking the brush from him. ‘Sit down there and watch.’ With a few deft strokes, she changed the style. ‘Now you look like a different person,’ she told him. ‘Madame will be pleased that you can change your appearance so easily. It will be very handy when you go on a job.’

Richard had to admit she was right. He did look different. Casually he rested his hand on Marie’s waist. He felt the steel of her chastity belt beneath her clothing. ‘It’s a pity you have to wear that all the time.’

‘Yes. A great pity,’ the girl sighed. ‘I have not had a man inside me in a long time. I miss it, but there is nothing to be done. Madame insists I wear the virgin’s basket and these –’ she pointed to her leg-irons ‘– all the time.’

‘Where are the keys kept?’ he asked. ‘I might be able to get them, and then I could unlock you whenever you wished.’

‘Yes, that would be nice. I would like to be free for you, but Madame keeps them safely out of our reach.’

‘Where?’ Richard persisted.

‘She has a safe in the dining room beside the fireplace, but only she and the cook have a key to it.’

As simple as that, Richard thought. All I had to do was ask the right person. ‘And where does the cook keep her key?’ Richard asked.

‘On a chain around her neck. She keeps it with her even when she sleeps. And she sleeps very lightly. I know, because I have tried to get it myself. She woke up and caught me. Of course she told Madame, and I got a beating for my pains.’

‘Maybe we can think of some way to make her sleep more soundly,’ Richard said. ‘Does she drink at all?’

‘She likes brandy. She usually has some after dinner has been served and she wants to relax. But she never takes much.’

If I can get a message to Helena or Ingrid, he thought, I’ll bet they can get some kind of sleeping draught to slip in her brandy. It was the only plan he could think of, and it would depend on waiting until Margaret was away. The first thing was to get the message out. The best time for that would be when Helena came to the house, as she had said she soon would. He felt better now that he had some idea of how to get at the place where Helena’s papers were probably kept.

Marie sighed as he patted her again and briefly explained his plan. ‘It will not be easy,’ she said. ‘But we will try. The reward will make almost any risk worthwhile. You really want to try?’ She looked at him intently.

‘Yes. Let’s do it,’ he said decisively. ‘We must both be on the lookout for a chance to get a message out to Ingrid. We need something to put in the cook’s brandy. Try to think of something we could use, and I will do the same. I will also ask Ingrid to help us the next time she comes to the house.’ They smiled at one another, conspirators against the tyrant.

Marie was smiling still as they left the room to begin their day’s work.

Margaret came home late in the afternoon, as Richard was cleaning in the dining room. He thought he had spotted the safe, and was about to look closer, when he sensed he was not alone. Margaret had come in silently and was regarding him levelly as he turned from the fireplace. Luckily he could use the duster and tin of furniture polish as an excuse for his presence.

Without preamble, Margaret announced that she would see him in the morning, causing Richard immediately to wonder just what she might know or suspect about him.

‘I have been told of your progress, Richard. The reports say you have been doing well in perfecting your disguise. Continue to do so.’ She left as abruptly as she had appeared, leaving Richard too shaken to make any closer investigation of the safe. But he knew that there were several bricks in the hearth that looked loose. He would look more closely the next time Margaret was away.

He couldn’t remember ever being as nervous with any other woman. More and more he was accepting Margaret as the arbiter of his behaviour. He obeyed her because he wanted to please her, and because he was becoming more accustomed to obedience. It was a new way to order his life.

In the morning Heidi came to his room with breakfast. She told him that he should remain there until Margaret came for him. He should also dress with extra care. She would stay, she said, to help him get ready. Richard was left with a sense of uneasy anticipation. He had little appetite for breakfast. The prospect of a close interview with Margaret unsettled him.