Diva in Disguise Chapter 18

Karen… it could only be she… was seated on the bed when I entered. “Set the food down on the table” she commanded, “and sit in that chair in the corner. You and I are breakfasting together this morning. I’ll be fine here. Now! Isn’t this nice?”

My expression of thanks was perhaps overly hearty. I was wondering what the devious girl was up to now. For one thing the way she was dressed was unsettling to say the least.

“You must be famished” she continued. “You were hard at work all day yesterday and I’m willing to bet that you haven’t touched a morsel this morning either.”

She was quite correct, but my mind was temporarily otherwise occupied than by the thought of food. Arrayed in filmy black lingerie, with corset top and her endless legs exposed, the scantiness of the tall girl’s attire was visually stunning. An abundance of frills and lace distracted the eye and I didn’t know where to look first.

Seeing the way I was gaping, she tinkled an affected laugh. “You noticed!”

How could I not notice?

“I knew you would have no choice but to wear that tacky little uniform again this morning so I’ve chosen to adopt a similar style… so you wouldn’t feel cheap beside me.”

Her statement did nothing to prevent my feeling cheap, but Karen continued oblivious to my feelings. “Stockings and garters! If anyone last year had wagered that I’d be wearing these again, I’d have taken the bet in a heartbeat. But see, darling, for you I’d wear anything!”

Karen got to her feet and gave me a twirl, and incidentally the likelihood of heart failure. She beamed. “Here we are like peas in a pod. Isn’t that great?”

“It’s terrific!” I tried to sound enthusiastic.

“Terrific?”

“I mean, it’s really thoughtful of you to worry about how I might be feeling. I didn’t realise you cared about me like that.”

“Darling! You have no notion. I think about you all the time.”

One of the ideas she’d had for my comfort was more welcome. After making such an early start that morning I was ravenous. The immediate opportunity to eat was like an answer to prayer and I seated myself with alacrity. However, Karen declared she wasn’t hungry and stood close by to watch me satisfy my bodily needs. Being observed was off-putting and I found it impossible to concentrate on my breakfast especially since the willowy creature’s sensuous figure was constantly in front of my eyes. The most intimate parts of her body, ill-concealed by their gauzy coverings, were only feet away from me.

When I attempted to focus on her face, it didn’t help much. Karen had apparently taken extra care over her make-up that morning. The effect of the sultry look she had chosen was subtle but drew attention to those full lips and lustrous eyes. The food went cold as my gaze followed her every move as if magnetically drawn there.

The girl was in an unusually expressive mood. “You know, our story is so romantic, isn’t it?” she rhapsodised. "When you consider how first one of us, then the other, has been captivated only to have those feelings unrequited. You could write a book about it, or better still make a movie. Then, after the other night” she concluded with an insinuating smile, “we finally came together. Now we can put all the heartache behind us and let our unity blossom and grow.”

Ignoring the flowery sentiments I cudgelled my memory. The other night! What had happened the night before last? In my semi-conscious state had I succumbed to the undoubted charms of my erstwhile paramour’s body? That was the million dollar question and it was nagging away at me! I knew that once upon a time I would have been powerless to resist her advances. Was that still true even now?

Eventually she commented on my progress with breakfast, despite the lack of it. “Are you still eating?” she chided. “I really haven’t any appetite this morning. I simply can’t think of food when it’s so exciting that, after all this time, we are finally together!”

I was definitely finding something exciting. My feeble efforts to ignore the impact she was having on my nether regions were in vain. I squeezed my legs together and hoped she hadn’t noticed the tent that had formed in my borrowed panties. My concern over the inadequacy of my tuck far surpassed any thoughts of romance.

“Dear Jennifer. I want us always to be this close. Come over and sit beside me.”

Staring into her eyes was fatal. That puppy dox expression was so hard to resist. Why couldn’t I think of anything but her? Mesmerised by the gentleness in her voice, I obeyed. She pulled me closer and brushed her lips against mine. It was as if I was in a trance. We kissed. The embrace seemed to last forever but eventually I began to remember that this shouldn’t be happening.

Perhaps Karen sensed my budding resistance for she pushed me back on the bed and stood over me. I was aware only of the beauty of her form and my will to escape dissolved like mist.

“Come, dearest” she cooed. “Don’t fight it. You know that you find me irresistible.”

She was only too right.

“Come” she repeated. “Do you want me to beg?”

There was a tragic break in Karen’s voice which brought down the last vestiges of my guard. It seemed unbearable that she had to make such an appeal, and my heart went out to her. I knew I was about to give in. It seemed inevitable.

What would have next taken place I will never know. The crucial moment was interrupted by a firm rap upon the bedroom door. It roused me from my trance-like state but we remained frozen, staring at the door whose handle had begun to turn. As it opened, my would-be lover just had time to spring away and grab a lacy robe to hide behind. I was still on the bed, guiltily engaged in subduing the wayward layers of my skirts, when the slim figure of the maid appeared in the doorway.

“Have you finished with your tray?” Consuela’s question didn’t require a reply. Apparently oblivious to the compromising position she had discovered us in, the girl marched across the room and picked up the offending item. “My, my! You haven’t eaten much of all this good food. What a shame!” Then with a knowing smile in my direction and an airy “Come Jennifer. Madame has lots for us to do” she made her exit.

The spell had been broken.

I glanced uncertainly at Karen whose furious expression marred the beauty of her features. She turned away. Was that a dismissal?

Hesitantly I got to my feet and followed Consuela. Closing the door behind me I found her waiting in the corridor.

“No appetite, eh?” she smirked. Then conspiratorially she added “Or perhaps it was a different sort? Whichever! I reckon it wasn’t satisfied.”

“Were you listening?” I whispered accusingly, as we descended to the kitchen.

“Not as such” the maid temporised. “I passed the door and not hearing any voices, I thought I’d better play gooseberry. I reckoned that was what you would want. Was I right?”

I nodded. She was almost right!

“I thought so. I never had any time for that Karen even at school. She was a troublemaker then and she hasn’t changed.”

Though I couldn’t disagree, the harshness of her statement jarred with me. The effect of Karen’s beguiling appeal had not fully subsided. I was about to protest but Consuela held up her hand for silence. “Shhh!”

I looked at my co-worker mystified.

She beckoned me to follow and silently we tiptoed to the foot of the stairway above which angry voices could be heard. Consuela gestured me to remain and crept half-way up the flight to listen. Karen was in Madeleine’s room. I could hear how mad she was, but I couldn’t make out what she was saying. Her mentor’s voice was icy chill by comparison.

The exchange came to an end and Karen must have stormed out. Hearing her footsteps approaching the maid ran down and drug me swiftly back to the kitchen. We stared at each other in wonder.

“What were they falling out about?” I asked.

My companion looked mysterious. “She threatened to leave. I wish she would. I’ll tell you later.”

As we worked to clear up after the breakfast and started on preparing lunch I caught Consuela regarding me seriously. Eventually she seemed to have come to a decision.

The maid looked around her to make sure we were alone. “I feel bad about the fix you’re in. You know, I agreed to help mistress in this, only because I knew exactly how she felt when you jilted her. Something like that happened to me too.”

I winced at the severity of the expression she used. There were mitigating circumstances which I would have liked to enumerate but Consuela ploughed straight ahead.

“It completely destroys a woman’s confidence to be publicly rejected like that, so I thought she had a right to pay you back, but now I’m not so sure. Trying to force you to do things you don’t want can’t be right.”

She smiled. “I like having you here. It’s nice the way that you’ve been helping me.”

I could hardly believe what I’d been hearing. I gave her arm a grateful squeeze. Now I didn’t feel quite so forlorn. “I enjoy working with you too. I think we make a good team.”

“I so wish you could stay permanently” she said. “It would make life so much better for me, but from what I overheard just now, if that Karen gets her way, I may not be here much longer.”

She shook her head dismissively. “In reality, I’m quite sure mistress wouldn’t part with me. She needs me.”

“I thought she had threatened to fire you. After the drink got spilled.”

Consuela laughed sheepishly. “Well no. That was just an act. Sorry!”

“That was for my benefit!”

“Please don’t be mad. I really am sorry.”

I turned away. Her apology didn’t help much, considering the mess I was in.

Consuela took my hand. “Listen. I’d like to make it up to you if I can.”

I regarded the maid doubtfully.

“I think I know a way to get hold of those photographs for you.”

I was all attention. “Oh, if you could. I don’t even know how many of the wretched things there are.”

“Don’t you? Well, that’s easy. When I took out the trash in the room you slept in, I counted the spent flash bulbs.”

Now that the uncertainty about the extent of my difficulty would be removed, the world seemed a brighter place.

“There were six.”

“Six?”

“That’s right, and the same number of used backing sheets to the photos, so that confirms how many pictures she took.”

“That means I could have four of Madeleine’s ‘punishment’ tasks ahead of me. That will take me forever” I exclaimed in dismay. My world had gone dark again.

“Perhaps with your help I can get through them all.” I doubted.

“I can do better than that. I am pretty sure I know where she will have put them… either in her desk drawer, or if you’re very unlucky, her safe. I know where she keeps the key to the desk, but not the combination of the safe.”

“Oh please. I would be so grateful. But won’t you be in trouble?”

The girl shrugged bravely.

I thought for a moment. “This isn’t a good place for you to be. If you want to leave here and make a fresh start, you are welcome to stay with me, until you find somewhere more permanent.”

Consuela’s eyes lit up and her face shone with pleasure. “Perhaps I might. I don’t know whether I will have to leave here, but it’s comforting to think I could.”

We shook hands on it.

“Come on then!” declared my co-conspirator. “Let’s do it.”

She put her head into the hallway to listen. “Madame is in the drawing room” she whispered. “You keep lookout in here while I check in the office. Whistle a tune if she comes this way.”

I followed the maid and armed with a servant girl’s badge of office, a feather duster, I loitered while my partner in crime slipped inside Madeleine’s business room. After a moments the girl’s triumphant face appeared in the doorway.

“I’ve got the keys” she mouthed silently.

I nodded encouragingly, wishing she would hurry. I found the tension unbearable. I didn’t need a blow-by-blow commentary on her progress. The head disappeared again.

Five minutes later I thought I heard Madeleine moving about in the adjoining room. Sure enough, next moment the woman herself appeared. Fortunately, Consuela emerged from the office at the same instant, before I had time to give a warning.

Guilty as I was feeling, I didn’t know how to look. Fortunately, my fellow servant had more presence of mind. “Haven’t you finished the hallway yet, Jennifer?” she scolded. “I’ve dusted a whole room while you have been dawdling in here! And where’s your headband?”

The absence of the latter served to distract Madeleine. She looked her approval at the rebuke, and retrieving her reading glasses from the side table, returned to her lair to my intense relief. However, in response to my enquiring look, Consuela shook her head. “I found the camera” she breathed “but the photos weren’t there. They must be locked in the safe.”

It was hard to say who was more disappointed. We were back to square one and there was no knowing how long my subjection to Madeleine’s whims would continue. Time was passing and I hadn’t spoken to Rachel for days. I knew she would be worrying, but guilty as I felt, I couldn’t face talking with her, and that made me feel guiltier still. Outside the sun sparkled among the trees, but it did nothing to lift my spirits. It was as if I were at the bottom of a deep well.

Everything in my world looked black.