Chapter 17: The County Ball

"George," Erica announced, "I need an escort for the County Ball."

George was immediately attentive. After the disastrous evening with Allison he'd had barely been out of the house.

He'd been busily checking the bank account for the business when Erica had walked in to the room. The County Ball was a major event and he had never had the opportunity to attend. "It will be my honour to accompany you, Mistress," he said.

Erica broke into giggles. "Not for me, you fool," she laughed. "Mistress Ruth has asked if I can supply her with an escort and it seems like an excellent idea to be paid for the use of your services.

George looked crestfallen. Ruth had seemed rather haughty and disdainful when they had met before. "But," thought George, "perhaps that had something to do with the maid's uniform I was wearing." He turned to Erica and said, "Of course, Mistress, I am sorry to have been so presumptuous as to imagine you would allow yourself to be seen in public with me."

"Very good, George, very good," Erica responded. "You are a very good slave, you know." George allowed himself a smile of satisfaction. "Now, you are to meet Mistress Ruth at her home tonight at seven o'clock. Black tie, of course. Don't expect to be home before breakfast. She's asked to rent you for the entire night."

George arrived at the house of Mistress Ruth exactly on time. He had learned the penalties for lateness well. His date for the evening ushered him inside. Unsurprisingly she was still wearing a cream silk dressing gown, evidently only half way through her preparations for the evening. "I assume you are used to doing as you are told," she said. "So go and find me a glass of wine while I finish dressing."

George managed to find some wine in the fridge and put a glass on a tray before going off in search of Ruth. He found her sitting at her dressing table in her bedroom. She barely looked up to take the glass as he offered it to her and then waved him away to a seat on the far side of the room. "You'll have to wait while I finish getting ready. Sit down there," she ordered.

Although Mistress Ruth was in her early fifties, George thought, she still presented an attractive sight as she fidgeted with her hair and her make up. From where George was sitting he had a clear view of one stocking clad leg where her dressing gown had fallen open to reveal nylon, thigh and suspender and, as she leant forward, peering into the mirror to apply her mascara, the sight of the swell of her ample breasts, constrained by her basque and revealed by the fall of her robe. George started as he realised she had caught sight of his interest in the mirror. "Dear me," she said, getting to her feet and striding towards him, "don't you know it's rude to stare." Without waiting for an answer she dealt George a hearty slap across the face with her open hand, leaving his cheek stinging. She returned to her dressing table without another word. George, not anxious to earn another slap, cast his eyes down at the floor where all he could see were her nylon clad feet and her pink, high heeled mule slippers.

Moments later, the phone rang. "Hello ... Oh, Julian," Ruth said. "What a surprise. How lovely. Well yes, I do have a date for tonight. Oh, really! You are naughty. Oh, Julian, Goodness! Well, I could stand him up, I suppose. Why not? It'll be fun ... Well, I'm virtually ready right now. And you're outside? You always did expect to get your own way didn't you?"

Ruth turned to George. "Well, I expect you heard that. I've got another date for tonight, now, but since I've paid for you I think you can stay here. Maybe I'll want to play when I get back, Julian does have a way of getting a girl all worked up, you know." She brushed aside George's spluttering protests with a brusque, "You'll stay here if I say so! And I'm going to make sure you do."

So saying she picked up a pair of discarded tights and proceeded to tie George's wrists together and then to one of the arms of the chair in which he was sitting. With George complaining about the unfairness of being left while she went off with someone else, she picked up some stockings and tied his ankles each to one leg of the chair as well.

"That should do," Ruth said. "Oh, and by the way, I don't want you bothering my daughter. She's here this evening with her boyfriend, so I'll have to make sure you stay quiet as well, I'm afraid." George knew only too well what that meant and pleaded not to be gagged but Ruth took no notice. "Don't be such a baby," she admonished him, picking up a scarf and knotting it several times to make a big ball of fabric in its middle. "It's only one of my scarves." She pushed the knotted ball between George's protesting lips, muffling his objections. "Now, I'd better get on," she exclaimed, "I don't want to keep Julian waiting!"

Ruth finished dressing quickly. She pulled on her long, red, strapless, silk gown, wriggling in an enticing manner as she pulled it over her head and then zipped it up. George could see that it was a little tighter than it should have been, a small roll of flesh bulged over where the dress swept down under her arms to the middle of her back. She fastened her earrings and took one last look in the mirror. Apparently satisfied with her appearance she turned to George. "Now, you sit there quietly," she said, "and don't struggle too much - you'll damage that chair and then I'll be cross." She picked up a pair of long evening gloves in the same red silk as her gown. She slid them on to her hands and her arms fastening the tiny buttons at the wrists carefully.

George gave a grunt intended to assure her that he had no intention of causing any damage.

"Well, that's understood then. Now, just so you don't get bored, here's a little something to remember me by while I'm out." With that she bent down to a pile of discarded clothes beside George's chair. When she stood up George saw that she was holding a large pair of white silk knickers. "I had these on all day," she said, draping them over his head so that his nostrils were filled with a pungent odour of her sweat and he could guess what else. "They'll give you something to think about. Have a fun evening."