Those kisses between them didn’t last long though, as the sun soon rose, causing Claire to drift off in his arms. “Like clockwork” he stated, more to himself, “at least we’re finally on the same sleep schedule though” he added with a smirk.

Now that she was asleep though, he had a moment to think. He began running all the events of the night through his head again while continuing to hold her cool, naked body against his own much warmer one. He allowed his eyes to once again move down over her bare breasts, and lower still, once again taking her all in as he took a deep breath.

Just as his brain once again began replaying the sight of Aidan making love to her less than an hour earlier, he was soon shaken from such thoughts as the door to her chambers opened again. Eliot quickly yanked the covers up over both of their naked bodies as he sat up to turn his eyes to the door.

“Can I help you?” he asked the young blonde servant girl who entered the room, more than a bit of annoyance clear in his tone.

“Apologies, my lord” she curtsied slightly, "I didn’t realize you’d be... with her” she decided on.

“So you planned to come into her bedroom unannounced as she slept and find her alone?” he asked suspiciously.

“I’m here to watch over her, as she sleeps” she stammered slightly, not having been prepared to be questioned about what was more than routine there in Hollister’s home each day.

“Well as you can see, I’m already doing that, so you can run along now, uh...?”

“May, my lord” she offered.

“All right, aurevoir May” Eliot told her, trying to keep the suspicion out of his voice at such odd behavior from a servant girl.

She looked a little thrown as she tried to find a response, “Hollister insists, my lord.”

“Insists on what?” Eliot returned, finding it hard to believe that she hadn’t just scurried off as most servants did when given a directive. At least in his limited time interacting with them at his father’s home.

“On one of us watching over any guests each day, my lord” she answered slowly.

“From inside their rooms?” he raised a brow.

“Safer, my lord” she told him in that unsure tone again.

“Safer from what?” he asked, his volume raising slightly.

“From others I suppose” she attempted.

“Others?”

“Yes, my lord” she stated in a whisper.

Eliot just shook his head again, “well, she’s safe with me. So, that means you can go” he stated again.

“I wasn’t aware that anyone else would be sleeping in her quarters, my lord.”

“Well, you’re aware now, aren’t you?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Ok, goodbye May.”

“Hollister would not like....” her voice trailed off.

“Hollister knows very well that I am in here with her” he assured, still finding her insistence unbelievable.

Not sure how to proceed, as he did appear to be there as a lover rather than a threat, May looked around warily. “I suppose I could wait right outside the door, my lord” she stammered again.

“Yes, do that” he shook his head again.

She simply gave another uneasy curtsy before leaving the room once more, hoping that her decision to do so wouldn’t be deadly for Claire, or herself.

Shaking his head one last time, Eliot waited until the door shut behind her before moving to lie down next to Claire’s body once more. As his eyelids began to get heavy, he wrapped his arms tightly around her, despite their nakedness, and despite how much she did feel like death whenever that deep sleep overtook her each morning. Each morning, he thought again... his suspicions never having truly left him. They had only been supplanted by other matters in recent nights. Though his brain soon quieted as sleep finally overtook him then as well.

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Eliot woke at around one that afternoon, still wrapped around Claire’s deathly cold, and still body. As he came to, he pushed himself up and quickly noticed that May had once more returned to the room since he had drifted off. She now sat upon the couch Aidan had claimed before their night took that extremely passionate turn. The young woman now looked more than a bit tense as he returned to consciousness and his eyes found her there once more.

“You don’t give up, do you?” he stated groggily.

“Hollister wouldn’t approve my lord” she repeated again, though in a small voice.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“And I thought Claire and her friends were strange enough” he mumbled, more to himself. He sighed as he looked around the room, and back down at Claire once more, before turning his eyes back to May. “Well, if you insist on being here, could you at least hand me my trousers?” he asked as he gestured to the floor where Aidan had tossed them after the two had eagerly undressed one another before their lovemaking.

“Yes, my lord” she said obediently as she pushed herself up to retrieve the clothing and awkwardly reach across where Claire still slept in order to hand it to him. “Would you like me to help you dress, my lord?” she offered.

Eliot just shook his head as he grabbed the clothing from her hand, “I think I can manage.” May simply curtsied again and returned to her previous seat then. With another sound of disbelief, he looked back at her, “so I don’t suppose asking you to leave while I dress would work either?”

“Hollister wouldn’t---”

“Yes, yes, I know” he mumbled as he awkwardly slid to the opposite edge of the bed, keeping his back to her as he moved to pull the material up his legs, and more awkwardly stood to complete the process by pulling them over his narrow hips.

When he looked back her way, she was biting her lip and watching him with obvious desire, which she quickly tried to hide as he turned back. He then tried to force away another blush as he moved around the bed to pick up his shirt from where it had been discarded on the floor the previous night as well. As he slid it on he noted that she still tried to hide the way her eyes still wanted to move over him.

“I can’t help finding myself wondering if there’s another reason why you don’t want to seem to leave this room” he made himself point out as he buttoned his shirt.

“Orders my lord. Hollister is very serious about his guests’ safety.”

“I’m sure.” he mumbled as he pushed hair from his face and gave Claire another glance before looking back at May, “I don’t suppose you can direct me to where to get something to eat, and a drink” he couldn’t help adding.

“The kitchen is on the first floor. Large double doors to the left of the staircase” she offered.

With another sigh he left the room, having too many thoughts racing through his brain after the previous night to deal with the strange servant and Hollister’s strange security policies right then.

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Eliot spent the better part of the afternoon out on the veranda with a bottle of wine as he took in London’s scenery. The entire time, he found himself consistently moving his eyes back to the glass patio doors, wondering if he was truly the only soul in the castle who was awake at that hour. Aside from the few servants moving around the place, at any rate.

Considering his first rather stimulating introduction to one of Claire’s friends, he was more than a bit curious to have a chance to speak with the other two. Especially when he knew for a fact that the quietest of those three beautiful men he had caught a glimpse of upon his arrival, Nicolas, was also one of Claire’s former lovers. But alas, not one of them, even the infamous lord of the house, made an appearance at all that day. And that fact was more than a bit curious in and of itself.

It was nearing five when his distaste for the cool winter air put an end to his watching of the London streets below that day. Eliot then returned to the guest wing, hoping that just possibly Claire would wake before sunset for once, as futile as that hope may be. When he arrived at her room once more, he poked his head inside, only to receive a startled, look from May, as Claire still slept soundly.

“Tell me when she wakes, I suppose” he stated, receiving a nod in return before closing the door once more.

His eyes then moved to the door across the hall, and he couldn’t help wondering if perhaps that was where Aidan was staying. Or possibly even the quiet young man who she had been seen boarding the ship with, Nicolas. On that thought, he glanced back at her door once more, before tentatively knocking at the nearest other door.

“Who is it?” a young woman called from inside, her tone tense as she greeted him.

“I was just looking for Aidan, is this his room?” he made himself ask.

“He’s still asleep, my lord” she returned through the door.

Eliot just shook his head, “so this is his room then?” he pressed.

She finally moved to the door to open it a crack as she looked up at him, her face just as pretty as May’s, “he probably will be awake soon, but he isn’t yet” she repeated.

Standing nearly a foot taller than the girl, he easily glanced over her head into the room behind her. There Aidan was indeed as sound asleep as Claire. Eliot scoffed as he looked back down at the still rather tense young lady, “is there anyone in this house, other than the staff, who are actually awake before the sun goes down?” he had to ask, though his voice seemed to trail off mid-question, as though something had begun to click in his brain then.

Seeming slightly startled by his question, the girl forced the first response she could, “Hollister usually never lets... outsiders” she decided on, “stay here during the day.”

“Outsiders?” Eliot’s look became even more suspicious at that particular word choice. “As in, from France?” he couldn’t help pressing with a slight scoff.

“Please my lord, you’ll have to wait until later to speak with Hollister or any of his regular guests” and with that, she closed the door between them, locking it behind her as she did.

With frustration, Eliot slumped into a seat upon a plush velvet-covered bench just outside the doors to their rooms. He sat there for nearly half an hour, pouring through everything that was still racing through his mind about Claire and those closest to her. Of course, now it wasn’t just the ever-so-hard to shake memories of the previous night, but all the memories of every little thing about her that was just a tiny bit off.

He was still seated there, running hands through those dark curls when the sun had just finished setting on that winter evening. Just a moment later, the door further down the hall was the first to open, and the very quiet, but very pretty one he had seen only briefly upon his arrival then stepped into the hall; the one that Eliot assumed must be her other former lover, Nicolas.

“Hello” Nicolas greeted him warily, obviously not having expected to find him there in the hall outside their rooms.

“Evening” Eliot said warily, his eyes not able to keep from moving over Nicolas as he took in the other young man’s beauty, shaken once more by that strange feeling of awe any time he had been in the presence of Claire or any of her rather nocturnal lot of lovers and friends.

“Were you waiting for Claire?” Nicolas made himself continue the conversation, as difficult as that still was around strangers, especially male strangers, but he was trying at least.

“You’re French?” was Eliot’s first response, then he continued, “and honestly, I was waiting on anyone to actually get out of bed. I swear, you’re all like a bunch of bloody vampires” he dared, which caused Nicolas to quickly look down.

Nicolas’ first reaction to that accusation was panic, but then he somehow caught himself, calmed himself as best he could, and let himself look inside the other young man’s head. After a long moment, as Eliot waited expectantly for any kind of reaction to what he had finally allowed himself to suggest out loud, Nicolas spoke again, “luckily, you love Claire enough to overlook all of those oddities though, don’t you?”