The knock had surprised Regina as she lay in bed and let her mind drift. When her employer opened the door before she could stand, Regina thought she’d conjured her.
No, I would have evoked her naked.
Then Helen had insisted on bringing her food and eating with her. And questioning her on what needed doing. When the headmistress filled their wineglasses a third time, Regina shot her a surprised glance. Helen was flushed, and Regina suspected that with the demands of her work, the headmistress did not indulge in three glasses of wine too often. Nor did she, and she could feel her blood rush and her body heat. Or was that simply Helen’s proximity?
When the headmistress fumbled out a comment about rubbing oil into her husband’s skin, Regina could only stare silently, mouth agape. Was she offering what Regina thought she might be? She’d like nothing better than this woman’s hands on her body, but she needed to be certain she understood correctly.
The other woman was staring at her empty plate and fidgeting with her silverware.
Ready to sit up and beg, Regina nonetheless remained silent.
“I would be happy to do the same for you…” Helen said to her plate.
Yes, please!
No, Helen was clearly uncomfortable with the idea. Also, Regina was not sure she could be responsible for her actions, employment or no, if Helen caressed any part of her. She’d yearned for Helen since meeting her, but she’d also dreamed of a place of work like this one, safe among open-minded people and away from the world’s condemnation of her dress, her height…her preferences in lovers.
She gulped. “’Tis a lovely gesture, ta, Helen. But not necessary. I shall be fine.”
Helen stood and strode out to the stables, without so much as a farewell.
Regina tilted her head at the odd behavior, but within a minute Helen was back with camphor oil from the tack room.
Regina leaned back a little, her eyes widening.
“Nonsense. We are both women, our bodies are the same—well, other than mine being older and heavier.” She smiled at Regina.
Regina blinked. Helen’s shyness of moments before was gone. In the face of indecision—apparently, even her own—Helen was always the one to step in and take charge. Regina hadn’t thought much about their ages, but apparently Helen had. She wanted to reassure the headmistress that her curves were beautiful and lush, the gray streaks in her blonde hair a sign of maturity and responsibility, but she daren’t.
“Come now. Why don’t you change into your nightclothes? Have you a wrapper?” Helen glanced around. Her voice was high, her speech fast.
She’s still nervous. But so determined. Regina moved one shoulder in a lopsided shrug. Who was she to interfere with Helen’s decisions, or to miss an opportunity like this. If nothing else, it would provide self-pleasure fantasies for ages. Thank goodness she had something to cover herself. She did not own any nightrails, as she slept naked.
Helen moved to clean up the remains of their meal, giving her a modicum of privacy.
Regina shucked her dress, worn stays that provided gentle support without being restrictive, and camisole, and threw on her wrapper. As she bent to lie on the bed, an unintended groan slipped out.
Helen whirled around. “Let me help you,” she said, rushing to Regina’s side.
“I’m there.” She’d managed to stretch out face down and sighed in relief when the prone position rewarded her with fewer twinges of pain. Turning her head against the pillow, she watched Helen grab the vial.
She stood hovering by the bed, biting her lip, her fingers white around the oil.
Regina searched for a way to allay her boss’s nerves, but came up blank.
“Er, you said lower back?” The headmistress’s eyes were narrowed, flicking from her shoulder to her calf where the hem of the wrapper lay.
Regina realized Helen wasn’t sure how to bare the area and still offer her some modesty. She held back a snort of laughter. If only she could strip off the robe and entice her lovely employer. She was not shy. But sadly, her figure was quite different than George’s and therefore unlikely to tempt Helen.
With careful movements, she shrugged one shoulder out of the wrapper, then her arm. “Does this work? You can peel it back to where you need it.”
“Oh, yes. Thank you.” Helen tugged the muslin down to Regina’s waist.
“You can sit. Or kneel. There’s no need to injure your back too, leaning over me.”
“Right, then.” Helen perched on the bed, hip to face-down hip with Regina. Her deep purple skirts spread around her.
The stopper of the vial popped and Regina closed her eyes. An oil-filled hand slid down one side of her spine and she shivered in pleasure.
The hand withdrew. “Did I hurt you?”
“No, ’tis a bit cold,” she lied.
Please, put your hand back.
Just that touch had her pulse racing and perspiration breaking out under her arms. She hoped Helen wouldn’t feel the pounding of her heart shake the bed.
Regina chastised herself. She needed to stop acting like a silly, untried girl.
Forcing herself back to stillness, she tried to calm her breathing. Helen’s hand returned on the other side of her spine.
“Where does it hurt?”
“There and a bit lower.” Regina barely stopped herself from snorting at the unintentional innuendo.
“Right. I shall need to pull your robe down a little farther.”
Yes, please. Regina gave herself a mental eye-roll at the repeated begging. She needed to stop dreaming. Just because Helen talked about how much the school had opened her eyes to the joys of less traditional relationships did not mean she was suddenly romantically, or even physically, interested in women.
Helen drove her thumbs into the dimples at the top of Regina’s buttocks.
Regina groaned, long and low.
“There?”
“Yes. Yes. My word, that feels wonderful.” She would have named several other places she’d prefer Helen’s thumbs—her mouth, her breasts, her now-wet sex. But that was before she’d felt the marvel of them unraveling these knotted muscles. Now, she might happily live without orgasms for this relief.
“’Tis very similar to George’s ailment. I am going to manipulate the muscles around it as well.”
Lower. Definitely lower.
As though she’d voiced her request aloud, Helen’s hands moved downward and toward her sides a little, working up in an inverted vee back to the base of her spine.
Regina panted. The removal of pain and addition of sensual desire were potent. Her folds grew more damp, and her breasts swelled against the sheet. She wished Helen to lie alongside her, to finish the rubdown and change her touch to long strokes along her back, her bottom, between her legs for more intimate caresses. On the other hand, she dreamed of reversing their positions, so she could reward this nurturing woman who took care of everyone before herself.
Helen shifted. “My back does not enjoy this twist. If you do not mind…” She rose, turned, and knelt, one knee between Regina’s legs, one on the outside where she’d been sitting.
“You won’t hurt me if you sit on me.” I might die from ecstasy, but you won’t hurt me.
“I’ll sit on my heels, but you might get a bit of my weight. This way, I can rub as well as knead.” Helen placed her hands so her thumbs nearly met on Regina’s lower back, her fingers on the sides of her waist.
Regina sighed and tried to relax. Her eyes drifted shut again, committing every aspect of this interlude to memory.
Helen’s hands inched lower, her thumb pressure firm but no longer digging.
She was nearly cupping Regina’s bottom cheeks and it took everything in Regina not to bow up—to beg. Helen’s hot center rested on her left thigh, making Regina twitch with the desire to flip over, to touch, to lick. Pinching the skin of one hand with the other where they rested under her head, she reminded herself this was her employer.
Helen’s firm touch slid upward slowly, compressing the long muscles on either side of her spine.
Regina’s breath caught as fingers grazed her ribs, then the sides of her breasts where they bulged against the bed. Another spurt of heat flared in her belly, liquefying her insides. To have those fingers pluck her pebbled nipples would be paradise.
Helen reversed direction, scaling up and down twice more.
Each time, Regina fought rigidity, afraid Helen would ask her about pain. Afraid she’d blurt out a plea for a more sensual touch.
Finally, Helen ceased her torture, withdrawing her hands after a last gentle pat.
At the sudden absence of touch, Regina jolted out of her daydreams.
“How does your back feel?” Helen asked, kneeling up to allow her to test it.
“My word.” Her voice was awed as she twisted gently. “I am almost ready to run to town.” The pain was still present, but it was a shadow of its former self. “You are a miracle worker, Helen. Thank you ever so much.”
“I am happy to help.” Helen tugged her wrapper up to her shoulder and climbed to standing.
Regina suppressed a shudder of disappointment.
“Right, then. Get a good night’s sleep and I’ll be out tomorrow morning. I shall bring breakfast for us so you needn’t walk up to the dining hall.” With that, the headmistress was gone.
Regina fell asleep within minutes, too relaxed to even take herself over to the memory of that warm mound against the back of her thigh.
Helen rose early the next morning to leave Grace a note regarding her absence from the office. Eager to see the stablemistress, she told herself she wanted to see how Regina’s back fared. But her brain kept thinking of ways to have more conversations with the engaging woman.
Surprised to find her assistant already at her desk, Helen apprised her of her plan to assist Regina in exercising the mares.
“Shall I help today whilst you review some of the letters applying for the additional assistant role?” Grace cocked her head toward a specific pile on Helen’s desk.
The school’s growth had brought new programs and new students, faster than any of the board members had anticipated. She’d obtained permission from the overseers to hire a second aide, the position she’d been trying to fill.
“Yes. I should work on that, but I promised Regina I’d bring her breakfast so she could rest and recover, so I’ll pop down with that and return. I shall help as needed with rides tomorrow then. I’d dearly love to spend some time out in this spring weather anyway.”
Grace hummed, which Helen took as agreement.
After grabbing sweet buns and tea, she navigated the path to the stables. Spotting Regina pouring buckets of water into the trough, she hurriedly set the teapot and basket on a hay bale. Helen shook her head. The woman clearly had no care for her person; she should not be carrying heavy buckets around.
Angry, she strode closer. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Regina blinked and dropped the second bucket to her side.
“You should not be carrying those!” Helen did not wait for an answer. “Give me that!”
Regina held out the bucket, relinquishing her grip once Helen grasped the handle. The bucket dropped, splashing both of their skirts.
Lud, that was heavy!
Even if she’d been prepared for its weight, she would not have been able to carry it far. She stared down at it, then up at her stablemistress. “My goodness, how on earth do you lug that around?”
Regina had hunkered down and was using her own skirt to try to dry Helen’s.
Helen reached for Regina’s arm to tug her upright. That crouch could not be any better for her back than carrying those ridiculously heavy buckets. When her hand slid around the other woman’s upper arm, Regina’s head snapped back to stare at her. At the same time, Helen registered the muscles under her hand. There was no softness like in her own arms.
Regina held her gaze, unmoving.
For a long moment, Helen too was frozen. Those dark eyes and the surprisingly taut muscles held her in thrall. A flash of Regina’s firm back, paler than her arms and face, but as taut as the arm she gripped, came to mind. Her stomach twinged in a way it hadn’t in years. She took a steadying breath and licked her lips.
Regina’s eyelids dropped to half-mast.
The stablemistress’s preference for female lovers was suddenly foremost in Helen’s mind. A twist of warmth in her belly shocked her. ’Twas a thrum of attraction. She’d never consciously been sexually drawn to a woman before.
Living at the school, she’d come to value women and her relationships with them more than she ever had in married life. Intelligence and independence were qualities she looked for in every hire.
Staring at Regina’s tall, fit form, the puzzle pieces fit together. Those traits combined with physical beauty invoked desire. She simply had not put them together in the context of a relationship with a woman until now when she literally held them in her hands. She hastily dropped Regina’s arm and stepped back.
Regina stood, taking her time.
Helen watched her, but Regina did not meet her eyes. She might have been attempting to avoid back pain, but she also could have been taking a moment to gather herself after the strangely intimate moment they’d just experienced. Helen gave herself a mental headshake. She was being fanciful, letting her imagination get away from her. Regina was an employee and excellent at her trade. She would not overstep. If anyone had, it had been Helen herself.
“I’ll get another bucket of water, shall I?” Regina murmured.
“No. Please do not hurt yourself. A man is coming from the village, at least today and tomorrow. Nor should you be bending to worry about a spill I created.”
The stablemistress shook her head. “I cannot sit around and watch people work. D’you think their food is any lighter than this?” She grinned at Helen’s shocked gape. “These do not feel heavy to me, I assure you. I’m being careful. I am watching where I walk and not turning or bending too quickly. As much as I enjoyed the rubdown—” she choked and turned red “—I do not want to take you from your duties again, nor do I wish to waste your efforts.”
Regina’s blush fascinated Helen. The stablemistress had her share of awkward moments, but blushing was new. It was so…feminine, when Regina did not make many efforts toward that characteristic. Her thumb and fingers of the hand that had held Regina’s arm rubbed against one another. Tempted to reach for her and explore both of their reactions to her touch, Helen stepped back and reminded herself of the school rules. Mumbling her assent, she excused herself and made her way back to her office.
Already behind, she made little progress the rest of the day. Her brain kept returning to Regina’s tall form, laid out under her. She should have expected arms that were fit after feeling all the lean muscles in the woman’s back. Indeed, even the woman’s bottom had been toned and round under Helen’s fingers. She called up Regina standing, hair tied back in a simple tail, face tanned a deep honey color from her outdoor work, lush lips slightly parted.
The stables had never required much oversight on her part, as Regina kept them running smoothly. Only the occasional request for new supplies needed approval. The stablemistress’s independence and capabilities in her role had always impressed Helen. Now she almost wished more time had been necessary, so she might have gotten to know Regina. Perhaps she’d feel less awkward about these sudden yearnings.
Lud, it’s been too long since you’ve been intimate with anyone other than your hand. Now, you’re conjuring interest from your staff. Stop being ridiculous.
It wasn’t as though she could simply trot down to the village pub and proposition a man.
Or a woman.
The words slid into her thoughts like Regina’s oiled skin had against her hand. She was surprised she hadn’t considered it sooner, given where she lived and worked. It simply hadn’t occurred to her—until Regina. But now that it had, it wouldn’t leave her alone.
She shook her head. The school taught the girls command of their own bodies and sexuality, but promiscuity was not a leadership quality. Besides, she was more interested in sharing a life with someone than sharing a bed for a night or two. Well, most of the time. Today might be the exception.
She stared at the mess on her desk waiting for her attention. A deep sigh escaped. This was her life right now. She needed to focus on hiring another assistant before she and Grace were completely overwhelmed.
She’d been contemplating returning to the stables to check on Regina after the evening meal, but her workload kept her at her desk well into the dark, with a second oil lamp borrowed from Grace’s desk to avoid eye strain.