Chapter Fifteen
When I woke, it was past three, and the air was redolent with the fragrance of a late summer afternoon. Longer shadows made strange patterns on the bed, and a musty warm breeze scented the air. He’d be coming at five and I needed to bathe. Rising from the bed, I began my routine in the bath taking great care with each step. I wanted to be perfect for him. How did he want me? Dressed? In my robe? Made up? He always used the simplest words when speaking to me, if he wanted me dressed he’d have said so. As five o’clock approached, I donned my robe and sat in the one chair in the room.
He entered just as I heard the clock from the library chime the hour.
“I see you’ve rested,” he said as he closed the door behind him. He smelled of coffee, combined with an earthy stable sme
