Her Beast

Chapter 4

Grace woke up to the sound of knocking on the door of her hotel room, she silently prayed that it wasn't the hotel manager coming to collect payment.  She found that her name had been enough to get her a room without having to pay up front but she wasn't sure how much grace that would give her.  Pulling on the complimentary gown that had been laid out on the bed, she made her way to the door.

She pulled the door open slightly and sighed in relief when she found Luke's driver standing on the other side.

"Good Morning Mrs Rykor." He said smiling down at her.

"Is Luke with you?"  She asked.

"No Ma'am."

"Then please call me Grace."

"Very well, Grace."  He handed her a overnight bag.  "I collected this from your house this morning.  As well as a rather insistent maid named Lucy."

"Oh do mind out of the way, Jeff!"  Lucy grumbled as she pushed passed him into the room.

"Lucy!" Grace exclaimed as she was swept up into a tight embrace. "What are you doing here?  Father will have your job if he knows you've come here."

"Don't you worry that little head of yours.  I am no longer in the employ of that god forsaken man.  The only reason I ever stayed these was for you girls and now that you two are no longer in his clutches, well... enough about that!"

"Mrs ...Grace, I will be waiting at the car for you."  Jeff commented as he laid her bag on the case holder for her.  "The room has been paid for so you don't need to concern yourself with that."  

"Thanks Jeff, is it?"

"Yes ma'am, and you're welcome."  he turned and left the room pulling the door closed behind him.

"How did you know I was here?"  Grace asked immediately after he left.  She unzipped her bag and pulled out a pair of jeans and a light sweater, fresh underwear and a toiletry bag. "Gosh Lucy, you do thing of everything." She added.

"Jeff, didn't say but does it matter?  I'm here now and I'm not going anywhere.  Mr Rykor will have to bury me six feet under if he thinks he's leaving you on your own with him."

"Oh Lucy, thank you!"

"Now off you go and get cleaned up, I may be willing to defy the man's house but let's not push it by keeping the man waiting as well."

Grace chuckled at the womans fretting but headed to the shower anyway.

"You can tell me all about yesterday, while you get dressed."

"Oh Lucy, it was fantastic.  I enjoyed every minute of it." Grace stripped off the gown along with her underwear and stepped into the shower.

"How is that child?" Lucy made her way into the bathroom and picked up the various items grace had discarded and set them back into the suitcase.

"Well I figured I was in a room full of strangers that my parents were trying to impress.  I can imagine the Luke was also on his best behaviour so there was no way they could stop me from enjoying myself while they had that many eyes on them. So I figured why not just let myself enjoy my last day of freedom."  Grace scrubbed her entire body clean and rinsed off before she made to step out of the shower into the large towel that Lucy was holding out for her.

"That's one way of looking at most certainly, however you don't know what the consequences of those actions may be today with Mr Rykor."  Lucy replied with concern.

"It was worth it, whatever may come, it was worth it."

"I certainly hope so, child!" Lucy patted her lightly on her cheek and left the room for her to get dressed.