Persistence

He - Hello." 

"Amelia," Nick's voice was as smooth as melted chocolate, "we were wondering if you were alright? You didn't answer our texts," Nick said.

Oh shit, they weren't from Pearl. She thought.

"Er... sorry I er... forgot to pick my phone up and left it on the kitchen table, and I was cleaning upstairs." She said shakily.

"You need to keep it with you all the time, we need to be in contact with you," he paused, and Millie wondered if he was waiting for her to say something she was just about to apologise again when he said, "We might need you to do something for us." 

"Yes, yes, of course, I'm sorry," she said, feeling very warm again. Could this man do nothing except make her feel like a bumbling idiot all the time? 

"We will be home at about four."

Oh hell, what was she going to give them to eat?

 "So you will want dinner. What would you like?

"Dinner? Hmm..." there was another pause and then, "I'm sure you will think of something, you can surprise us. We usually eat about seven." 

"Okay, I'll find something."

"Are you going to have lunch now?" Nick asked.

"Oh no, I don't eat lunch, I'll have something later. "

Just then she could hear Gabriel calling to Nick. " Amelia, you must have lunch, did you have breakfast?"

"Er, no, not really I didn't have time." 

"Amelia, you must look after yourself," Nick was persistent, "You must have breakfast Amelia, you must eat."

" I just wanted to get on with the cleaning," she mumbled.

"Right," Nick said, letting out a sigh full of despair. "I'll send you lunch; please make sure you eat it and keep your phone with you. Gotta go. Bye, Amelia." The phone clicked.

"Oh, er...bye" 

Millie looked at her phone in disbelief. Lunch! Was he sending her lunch? What the hell would he send, a Boots Shapers Sandwich? An M&S salad? What was he playing at, and when did he become her dad? 

She finished cleaning the hall and moved into the sitting room, it was still dark from yesterday with the curtains drawn, and Millie opened them wide letting in the early Spring sun. She dusted and polished and vacuumed and was tidying things away when the doorbell rang.

"Miss Ashton?" The well-dressed portly gentleman standing on the doorstep queried

"Yes,"

"I've brought your lunch," he said with a smile, holding up a thermal carrier.

"Oh," Millie lost the use of speech as she showed him to the kitchen, at which point he proceeded to set the table with the crockery he had brought with him. Millie sat back wholly astonished at what was going on in front of her. Shining crockery, sparkling silverware and crystal glasses were set upon the table.

"I can't think that you are going to serve me a Boots Shapers Sandwich are you?"

"Good Lord, no!" He looked most offended as he polished a wine glass and set it on the table.

"Black truffles with soft organic polenta and aged Parmesan to start with."

Millie's mouth watered.

"Then wild line caught sea bass, salsify and trompette mushrooms and for pudding warm chocolate tart with spiced orange and rice pudding ice cream."

Millie's mouth fell open in awe, "Oh my goodness! Mr...er"

"Clayton, Ernest Clayton partner in Clayton and Philpotts Home Services."

Millie looked slightly puzzled.

"I'm a mobile butler, and my partner David Philpotts is a chef. Mr Henderson called and ordered lunch for you, and you don't say no when Mr Henderson needs something doing."

Millie nodded and got on with her lunch. She wasn't going to argue with Mr Clayton, if he could bring this fantastic lunch to the house within an hour of her telling Nick that she didn't eat lunch, then it stood to reason that Nick must be very well thought of in all circles.

Millie picked up her phone, "Thank you for lunch; it was amazing!"

A reply came quickly "I'm glad you enjoyed it, you'll be eating three meals a day from now on."

"Oh no, really I'm fine on breakfast and dinner, thank you."

Millie had barely put her phone back on the table when another text came through.

"Do not argue with me!"

Millie felt the butterflies revving up again. Did that text warrant a reply? There was only one that she could send.

"Yes, sir."

In the middle of the afternoon, Millie was halfway through making the meatballs for their dinner, and her hands were full of sticky meat mixture when her phone rang. This time she knew it was Pearl the ringtone of Carly Simon's You're So Vain chimed through the kitchen. Millie used her knuckle to turn it hands-free.

"What do you want Pearl?"

"Oh charming, that's not a very nice way to greet your sister!"

"I'm busy making meatballs, and I don't have time to chat with you." Millie rolled another ball.

"We want an invitation; we want to come and see if our sweet little sister is looked after. I mean you are sharing a house with a man you don't know!" Pearl giggled Millie's wellbeing was the last thing on her mind.

"Not a chance Pearl, you aren't interested in what I'm doing, or even if I'm well looked after. It's never bothered you before!" Millie cut her off, and the grabbed a load of mincemeat mixture in her hands and squeezed as if she was squeezing Pearl's neck the meat burst through the gaps between her fingers.

 She felt pleased with herself for not cowering to Pearl's demands; it was about time that she stood up for herself. There was absolutely no way that she would ever invite either of her sisters to this house.

By three O'clock, the only room she had left was Nick's study. Most of the rooms were reasonably tidy and just needed the inch of dust removing.

The study was at the back of the house; it was so quiet in there. One wall lined with bookcases and Nick's desk was at the far end of the room, the backdrop of gold, silver and platinum discs provided the glamour on the wall behind it.

At each side of the tall window were a series of four pencil drawings arranged in a square. The pictures told a story, and they started at the left-hand side of the window with the upper left image.

The first picture showed a woman, slim and sexy in a slinky red dress. The dress was the only colour in the picture; the rest of it was all pencil drawing. She had her back turned to the artist, and she was looking over her shoulder. Her hair hung down, covering most of her face, all you could see was part of her profile and just the upturned corner of her mouth. 

The main point of interest was that a man's hand was starting to unzip her dress. The next three pictures showed how the man eventually took her dress off. Millie was entranced, you never saw the man, just his hand or arm which was dressed in only a rolled-up shirt sleeve, his fingers were long and beautifully shaped, and Millie loved the dark hair on the back of his hand and arm, a sharp contrast with the snowy white shirt sleeve.

Millie gently flicked her feather duster over the pictures and moved on to the next set at the other side of the window. This time you saw just the back of the man, his hand flat on the girls bare back as if he was stroking her. It also showed her beautiful perky bottom in black lace panties; Millie sniffed, she would never have a bottom like that no matter how much she calorie counted, my God she would need radical cosmetic surgery to look like that!

She looked at the next picture, this time the girl was facing the front, and she had the most fabulous breasts, not too small, not too big, just a nice - handful. Again to have breasts like that Millie knew she would need surgery, her breasts felt like barrage balloons compared to this drawing. 

The most exciting thing about the picture was that you could only see the man's hands which he had slid under the sides of her black lace underwear. He was standing behind her, and you could just see the top of his head as he rested his forehead on her shoulder, and it was apparent that she would be completely naked in the next picture.

Millie closed her eyes; these drawings were very sensual; they were shocking too, especially as she thought the man in them was Nick. Although you didn't get much of a view of him, it was the way he stood and his whole attitude that made Millie sure that it was him. That thought made her feel very warm again, especially as in the next picture, the girl's hands were bound behind her back. The man had even used his striped tie to bind her wrists together. She was kneeling next to his seated figure her head down in supplication. Millie caught her breath as she took in the full meaning of the picture.

Millie hardly dared to look at the next picture, and she'd never even thought about sex in this way, this was not the kind of foreplay she had ever envisaged, and she had certainly never felt so turned on. Her core was heavy, throbbing almost, as her eyes dropped to the next picture. She drew in a sharp breath; the girl was laid face down across his lap, Nick's lap she had decided. His hand rested on her bottom, it looked as if he was stroking, soothing, deciding just where his hand was going to fall. She could almost feel his hand stroking her skin. He tenderly held one of her tied up hands, which were resting on the small of her back.

Millie couldn't wait to see what happened next. Whoever the JN was who had drawn these pictures was a genius she could see the raw sexual tension in the girl, she could almost feel her desperate wanting too, or did that feeling of want belong only to her?

The final picture was of his raised hand, Nick's raised hand?

For a moment, Millie leaned against the desk catching her breath. It was as if a whole new world had opened up for her.

Millie went back to the kitchen; her mind was reeling. She had been introduced to so many new things today, the forfeit jar, the...objects in Nick's dressing room, Nick's insistence that she ate lunch, and now those very naughty drawings.

She had to stop thinking about those pictures; she would go and make the sauce for the meatballs.

Millie went into her apartment and tidied herself up, brushed her hair and changed back into her skirt, stockings and pretty top, all she had to do was serve dinner and then her time was her own. A deep bubble bath would be an excellent end to the day.

Millie took one last look around the house, plumping cushions and straightening curtains. Everything looked perfect. She glanced at the vintage muppet clock featuring the Swedish chef, and it was nearly four. To calm her nerves, Millie looked at some new recipes she wanted to try on her iPad. She wondered if they liked cakes, she would never eat them herself but maybe she could try this recipe out for apple crisp cake.

She was halfway through reading the recipe when Pearl called again.

"No Pearl, whatever it is you want the answer is no." Millie carried on reading her recipe.

"Listen you fat slobby girl, Ruby and I want an invitation, and if you don't get us one we will make you lose that job, and we will make sure that you will never get another job again!"

Millie shuddered at the awful name that Pearl and Ruby had always called her, why couldn't they have been propèr sisters that loved each other.