“You think that the hotel employs women to dress up as maids? For what reason?”
“Ellie, have you seen the women? They look like every man’s fantasy,” he confided, and Ellie’s smile drooped slightly. It was the only part of working at the hotel which she hadn’t liked, but she’d gotten used to it. She hadn’t liked it, but she’d dealt with it.
“Because of the outfits,” she surmised, and he nodded.
“They strut around in French maid’s outfits, complete with heels and that little hat with the ribbons that hang down the back,” he said, and Ellie withheld a sigh at the man’s enthusiasm. “You can’t seriously tell me that that was the standard uniform.”
“I can. Because it is,” she confirmed and watched as he stared at her in shock.
“How did you work in that?”
“Carefully,” she said with a smile playing around her mouth. “You learn not to bend forward very early on,” she explained and smiled when he laughed.
“Did anyone ever …?” he started and looked at her knowingly.
“Treat me as though I was more than just a maid?” she asked, and he nodded while she shrugged.
“Like you said, it’s an outfit designed for any man’s fantasy. It was never intended that way,” she explained. “Originally they just wanted to give the hotel a more historical feel, but then it just seemed to become ingrained into the way the thing was run. Now it seems to be a feature of it,” she elaborated.
“So the women are just maids then,” he clarified, and Ellie wondered how to answer that.
“The maids at The Palatio are hired on as maids, that’s what the hotel employs them as,” she said. Although true, she knew what Oscar was referring to. Many of the maids were propositioned by wealthy clients of the hotel, wealthy and attractive clients, probably much like Oscar himself. And a lot of the women had no qualms about being with an attractive, powerful, wealthy man, and finding themselves better off because of it.
She’d known plenty of girls who had left their jobs on the arm of a visitor to the establishment. She’d known others who just got what they wanted as and when they could. But even more of them were true to their jobs, true to their positions. The hotel didn’t approve of the staff fraternizing with their clients, the last thing they needed was to be branded as some sort of high class brothel. So if management ever discovered that a girl had given anyone extra ‘services’, so to speak, she was faced with immediate dismissal.
It didn’t stop reality though. And the reality was that plenty of men had propositioned the maids, and plenty had been accepted. Not her though. Never her. Regardless of the fact that her parents had raised her to value her body and instilled in her a core belief about the sanctity of marriage, she would never behave in such a manner.
“Were you ever –,” he started but stopped abruptly when a voice from Ellie’s left cut in.
“Oscar. I see you’ve met my wife,” it said, and Ellie nearly jumped at Zachary’s voice. She’d almost forgotten her husband’s presence, and she’d certainly thought that he’d forgotten hers.
“I have, Zach,” the man beamed. “She is charming, isn’t she? You must tell me where you found her and how you managed to snag her for yourself,” the man replied, and Ellie looked between the pair in confusion. The words were polite enough but she could feel the undercurrent passing between the two. Clearly there was some sort of old rivalry or bad blood between them.
“Are you telling me that the great Oscar Langley needs my help?” her husband said with a raised eyebrow before his arm landed across Ellie’s shoulders.
“If the prize is one like your wife here, then I’ll take all the help that you can give me,” he said, and Ellie blushed before shifting uncomfortably. She didn’t like the tension between the two men but didn’t dare get herself involved any more than she already had in it all.
“I can well imagine,” Zachary mumbled before smiling at the other man. “But I’m sorry to tell you that it won’t do any good. No matter how much help I give, you still won’t have what it takes to end up married to a woman like my wife,” he said with that insincere sweetness that he often used with her, and Ellie looked up at him briefly to see the icy eyes that were so characteristic of her husband. It appeared as though Oscar Langley was a man who Zachary McCormack didn’t hold any respect for either.
“Pity,” Oscar said with a smile. A very predatory smile, in fact, that had Ellie leaning closer to the man on her left. An action that surprised her at her natural inclination to do so. “But I’d be careful if I were you, Zach,” he said suddenly, and Ellie felt Zachary tense next to her. “Word is that you’re turning into your father. All work and no play, and look how that turned out for him,” he added before casting a lingering glance on Ellie herself.
Pulling even further into her husband’s embrace, Ellie found her eyes widening slightly at the other man’s manner. She’d spent the whole of the meal so far talking to Oscar Langley, but this man was someone very different to the charming and cordial man that had occupied her time. This man she didn’t like, and she didn’t trust.
Shooting a glance up at her husband’s face, Ellie took in his clenched jaw and waited for what would happen next. When a wolfish smile spread across his face and his arm pulled her in more tightly to him as his other arm came up to wrap around her waist, Ellie gasped at the action.
“Thank you for the advice, Oscar, but I wouldn’t worry if I were you. I find plenty of time to play,” he said provocatively, and Ellie found herself blushing at his intimation.
“And you leave your wife with even more for herself as well,” Oscar put in. “If you can’t even take the time off to go on a honeymoon with your new bride do you really think that you’ll give her the sort of time and attention that a woman like her needs in the long run?” he asked with a quirked brow. “And when you don’t,” he added as he leant forward, “there will be plenty of men willing to pick up your slack,” he added with a malicious smile before standing up and heading out of the room.
Trying not to sigh and deflate in relief, Ellie kept herself still in her husband’s arms. She could feel the tension in the man and was worried about how it would manifest itself. Holding her breath, Ellie waited for whatever would happen next and found herself surprised when Zachary let go of her and just turned back to the other man on his left.
Left feeling confused and unsettled, Ellie stared blankly down at the tablecloth in front of her. She might look the part, but she knew full well that she was most definitely not cut out for this new life that had been forced upon her.
What she would give for the problems she’d had in her old life, instead of this new set that she was having to deal with.
Chapter Eight
Dinner had finished, the speeches had been given, and the band had started up. And yet Ellie was still sitting in exactly the same spot she had since first sitting down at her assigned place at the table. Sitting there alone and completely bored out of her mind.
Her husband had spent the whole evening talking to one businessman after another. He’d spent all of his time next to her but very much not with her. The last time he’d actually spoken to her had been when they’d first entered the room. The last time he’d shown that he was aware of her presence was when he’d had his interaction with Oscar.
Since then she could have been invisible, he hadn’t even noticed when she’d gone to the ladies’ room, and nobody had spoken to her out of all the people around. The only person who had even shown any interest in her had been Oscar Langley. As much as the man’s exchange with her husband had unsettled her, it was indicative of how desperate she was that she was almost wishing the man back to her side, just so that she had something to occupy her time.
With all of the quiet and solitude available to her, Ellie had taken the time to analyze a few things. One of which was Oscar Langley and his relationship with Zachary McCormack. At the time she’d been left feeling unsettled by his abrupt change in manner, but E
llie had come to the conclusion that it was nothing to do with her and all to do with her husband instead.
She had a very strong inclination that if she could ask anybody about it they’d explain some sort of rivalry between the pair. Most likely one to do with business. It seemed as though Oscar was taking the opportunity to rile up her husband, and using her as the means to do so. She was just a casualty of war, as it were.
With her mind settled that the man didn’t actually harbor any ill-intentions towards her specifically, Ellie had relaxed and stopped berating herself for liking the man and his company so much. Unfortunately it hadn’t made him reappear to aid in the passage of time at this dreary event.
So with nothing else to do, Ellie had taken the chance to observe her surroundings and the people in it. It was definitely an experience, and an education. Everyone was elegant, but there seemed so little warmth passing between them. Everything was showy, but there seemed very little sincerity and substance to it all.
She knew that that was a sweeping generalization, but most people really did seem so intent upon making the right impression on everybody else that nothing seemed to be real. Conversation was polite with no real depth. Smiles seemed plastered on without conveying any sort of warmth. Laughter was forced with no genuine amusement behind it. It was so very foreign to the real nitty-gritty world that Ellie had grown up in that she had to repeatedly stifle a sigh at this new environment that she’d found herself in.
“Well, McCormack,” a voice said from behind her, and Ellie cast a glance over her shoulder to see a friendly looking man standing there, disproving all of her previous assertions that everyone here was about as genuine as a three-dollar bill. This man seemed to emanate sincere warmth and pleasure, and Ellie’s attention was caught because of the fact.
Plenty of other people had come up to address her husband, but Ellie had taken one brief glance at them before realizing that she wasn’t going to trouble herself with the effort of making their acquaintance. This man, however, might be worth the trouble. He seemed like he might be somebody real in this sea of fake.
“Clive,” her husband replied with one of his own warm smiles. One that Ellie found distracted her as well. She’d seen that smile once or twice since marrying him, in particular tonight when he’d spoken to specific individuals. The difference it made to him was amazing, and Ellie couldn’t help but study him closely because of it.
Instead of the icy and cold demeanor that his face usually held, it was warm. And open. Responsive. Kind. She honestly hadn’t thought that he had it in him, this beast of a man, but somewhere in there, Zachary McCormack had a gentleness, and a tenderness, buried underneath his frosty exterior.
“I heard tell that you’d brought your wife along with you,” the newcomer said. “Thought I’d come over to introduce myself to her. Where is she?” he asked as he looked around, completely bypassing Ellie herself.
“Clive Greene, meet Ellie McCormack,” her husband replied and gestured towards Ellie herself. She noted the surprise on the other man’s face before he shot a confused glance between the pair. Shaking his head slightly, he removed the look and instead smiled warmly at her while extending his hand in greeting.
“A pleasure to meet you, Mrs McCormack,” he said cordially.
“And you, Mr Greene,” she replied with a welcoming smile.
“Clive,” he said in response, and Ellie nodded in return.
“As long as you call me Ellie then.”
“Of course,” he replied before releasing her hand and focusing back on the man to Ellie’s left. “So, McCormack, would you be adverse to me asking your wife to dance?” he said as he looked out at the dance floor. “Seems such a waste to have her sitting here while you busy yourself with business. Especially when I have none to conduct myself and have been left thoroughly bored this evening,” he added with a small wink her way which had Ellie smiling. Seemed that the pair of them were both having to endure the tediousness of the evening.
“Plus,” Clive added, “you’d be doing me a great favor yourself. If I have to fight off yet another inappropriate advance from a bored married woman I might just end up doing irreparable damage to my reputation.” When Zachary quirked an eyebrow at him, Clive explained, “I’ll have to just get up on that stage to tell all of the husbands that they need to control their wives and their wandering hands, and I won’t hesitate to name names.”
“And you’re not worried about my wife?” Zachary asked in amusement.
“Your marriage is too new, McCormack, she can’t be that bored yet. And besides, she’s just discovered that it would be fruitless anyway,” he added with another wink Ellie’s way, and she couldn’t help but warm even further to the man.
Looking between the pair, Zachary just shrugged before waving at the dance floor. “If she wants to dance I have no objections.”
“Thank you,” Clive said with an audible sigh of relief. “Come on, Mrs McCormack,” he added as he extended his hand to Ellie, “save me from those predators out there, will you?”
With a smile of gratitude herself, Ellie rose from her seat and headed out onto the dance floor with the man. As she got there she realized that although she’d danced at her high school prom, and a few other occasions, she wasn’t exactly trained, and she found herself suddenly nervous and unsure.
“Is everything alright?” Clive asked in concern, and Ellie tried to smile in reassurance as she observed everyone else moving together so gracefully.
“I’m afraid this is all new to me,” she confided to him. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a formal dance, and it was never this formal,” she added, and the man smiled in understanding at her before pulling her into a dancing hold.
“Don’t worry, Ellie,” he said gently, “it’s all a matter of appearance. If a true dance master was here he’d be despairing at the quality of footwork on display. Just be confident and go with the flow and you’ll be fine,” he encouraged, and Ellie smiled up at him as she placed one hand on his shoulder and the other in his hand to the side.
“Well, it’ll be on your own head then,” she teased. “If I make an absolute mess of it all and embarrass you you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.”
“I think we’ll be fine,” he said with a smile. “If anyone’s going to embarrass somebody else, it’ll most likely be me embarrassing you. And I will apologize in advance if I step on your toes at all.”
“I wouldn’t worry about my toes, Clive, they’ve had much worse happen to them than a gentleman’s foot on them. I once dropped an industrial carpet cleaner on them. And I was wearing stiletto heels at the time,” she said and watched as the man looked at her in surprise.
“Alright. I’ll bite. Why exactly were you carrying an industrial carpet cleaner while wearing such footwear?”
“In my job. I used to be a maid at The Palatio,” she explained. “You’d think that the type of person who’d be able to afford to stay in a five-star hotel would behave well enough not to leave the room in a complete mess,” she said with a shake of her head. “Unfortunately, what you tend to find is that they feel like they have the right to do whatever they want because they’ve paid so much to stay there.”
“I can well imagine. Privileged people who accept no responsibility for their actions.”
“Something like that,” she smiled ruefully. “And of course, you’d have the high school prom parties. The guys who would book the expensive room for a night hoping to get lucky at the end of the year. That was pretty awful as well.”
“A lot of vomit to clear up, I’d guess,” he said with a smile, and she smiled in return.
“Oh yeah. Overindulging on their first night of freedom,” she said with a shake of her head.
“It must have been an experience,” he mused, and she nodded at that.
“That’s one word for it. But in all honesty it was a good job. And the general clientele were well-behaved and respectful.”
“I presume that you
often had a lot of famous people staying there,” he remarked, and she nodded.
“Of course. Actors, musicians, writers, politicians, all manner of high-profile people.”
“What were they like as clients?” he asked in interest.
“Most of them were nice enough. I was just a maid so it wasn’t like I interacted with them. But you did see them moving around the place and they were mostly respectful of the place and the staff. The entourages they travelled with weren’t quite so cordial but we only had one or two truly horrendous occasions with high-profile figures while I worked there.”
“Anyone I’d know of?” he asked with a smile, and she smiled back.
“Most definitely. But I won’t name names. Needless to say though that there’s a whole hotel full of employees who won’t be going to watch a certain actor’s movies any time in the future.”
“Or listen to a certain musician’s music?” he asked, and she laughed.
“Quite.”
“Do you miss it?” he asked as he looked at her intently, and Ellie was taken by surprise at the seriousness of the question.
Initially inclined to lie, she found herself faltering and breathed in deeply as she replied honestly. “Yes. I do. It was hard work, but it was honest, and the people were genuine. What you saw was what you got. I had a whole group of people who genuinely cared about me. Who would be there for me. I don’t have that anymore.”
“You haven’t stayed in contact with them?” he asked in concern.
“They’re so busy that naturally they haven’t got the time to spend on me in their free time, they have other things to occupy it. I know that if I needed help, if I needed someone, there would be plenty of people there for me to turn to, but to do so and interfere in their busy lives would be selfish when I’m not in need of anything major.”
Bonds of Matrimony Page 10