The Lady of Dencotte House
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The Dalton Family Saga: Book Two: The Lady of Dencotte House ©Jenny Frame 2011 Disclaimer - The characters in this story are mine. Any resemblance to any fictional characters is purely coincidental. This is an uber story and so the two lead characters may be familiar. Some locations contained within the story are real and some are fictional. Love/Sex warning/Disclaimer - This story depicts loving consensual sexual relationships between women. Some BDSM references and scenes are contained in the piece. If you are under 18 years of age or if the themes of these relationships are illegal in your country then I suggest you skip this story. Song/Music Disclaimer - The Songs mentioned in this piece are used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended. Thanks to my Beta reader AC. Your help and hard work has been invaluable. Thank you to The Xena Library for providing ebooks. Visit The Xena Library at - http://xenalibrary.com/ For my partner Lou. Your help, love and encouragement are my inspiration. Ambleton - January 1951 Ada Bentley rushed, as fast as her stocky body would allow, down the garden path to the shabby cottage she shared with her husband Jim. "Jim? Jim!" She shouted. She went the back door of the cottage, and entered the kitchen to find her husband Jim slouched in an armchair by the fire. The tall, silver haired, man was lightly snoring, his head resting in his hand. Ada marched over and shook her husband by the shoulder. "Wake up you drunken old fool!" "What are doing woman! Leave me to sleep! Unless you've worked out how we're going to pay the rent this month." He grumbled. "I think you'll want to hear this Jim. It's about Beth." Beth Bentley was the daughter of Jim's late brother, Edward. At his brother's funeral they had offered the young girl a place to live, thinking she would arrive with an inheritance for the couple to manage. When they found out that such an inheritance didn't exist, they were furious but were stuck with her and so they made Beth earn her keep in more ways than one. The girl took on a cleaning job with the at the village rectory and well as being responsible for all the household tasks at the cottage, and the sewing work that Ada took in, leaving her Aunt and Uncle to indulge in drink and idleness. The girl's life was miserable and she dreamed of the day she could get away and make her own life. With the help of the church rector, she had saved enough to leave for London and start a new life. One morning, at the end of last October, Beth Bentley had left the cottage, and never looked back. Her Aunt and Uncle had never heard of her since. "What? Does she want to come home with her tail between her legs? Ungrateful little bitch!" Jim asked angrily. "No. When I was in the post office I overheard Mrs Carter talking to Miss Johnston. I couldn't hear every word but I heard the gist of it. Mrs Carter was telling her about young Elizabeth Bentley, who used to live in the village, marrying a Lord Dalton. She said he owned a great estate in the North Country and how shocking it was. I don't know why they thought it was shocking but do you know what this means? We're related to aristocracy, rich aristocracy!" She exclaimed. Jim's mouth hung open in shock. He jumped up and grabbed his wife by the shoulders. "Oh my god! Our prayers are answered!" The husband and wife twirled round the room in delight. "How are we going to get what's owed us Jim? Not only does she owe us for taking her in but she's family, your brother, God rest his soul, would want her to look after his family." "Your quite right my dear! He would. I think first of all we need to find out all we can about this Dalton family before we make our move. Don't worry Ada. We will get what we are due." Jim said coldly. ******************************************************************************** Beth Bentley sat at her desk, busily going through her paperwork. It had been a week since she and Alex had spent the Christmas holidays at the Dencotte estate. A week since Alex had proposed marriage in the garden with moonlight overhead and snow falling around them. Since then she had been on cloud nine enjoying the rest of the Christmas break, taking romantic walks and sharing stolen kisses with her intended Lady Alexandria Dalton, better known to all who knew her as Lord Alex Dalton. Beth had come to London looking to start a new life, after her father's early death and the miserable time she had living with her Aunt Ada and Uncle Jim in Ambelton. Beth became Alex's secretary and even though there was an instant attraction it was very hard for them both to admit their feelings, but with the help of Alex's good friends Poni and Lotty Woodward, they got through it and since then were devoted to each other, with Alex proposing on Christmas Eve. This was their first week back after Christmas, and the work had piled up over the holidays. They had been working hard catching up, but Alex had left at lunch time to attend to some business at the bank, promising to pick her fiancé up at finishing time. The phone rang on Beth's desk. "Good Afternoon, Dalton Foundation. How can I help you?" "Hello, my dear. How does it feel to be back at the coal face?" Beth smiled at the sound of her best friend voice. "Hello Lotty! Good to hear from you. It's alright, I enjoy my work but I do miss the peace and quiet of Dencotte. "Who wouldn't? But before long you'll be mistress of all you survey there." Lotty took great joy in her young friend's happiness. "I know! Can you believe it? I'm so happy!" "I can hear that, you deserve it. Now to more serious matters, we need a planning meeting." Lotty said seriously. "Planning? Whatever for?" Beth said puzzled. "The wedding!" "Oh, but what's to plan? We've decided on the date, 6 weeks time at Dencotte with our good friends, the staff and some of our friends from the Alley Cat. Alex has already spoken to the Rector at the church and he's agreed to give perform the ceremony. Alex said not to worry. What else is there?" "Oh my goodness! I do have a lot to teach you. There's the reception, all the food, your dress, my dress since you asked me to be bridesmaid. You need to pick a couture designer for not only your wedding clothing but you need a full wardrobe of clothes for the season and to be suitable for your honeymoon. Need I go on? Don't listen to anything Alex or my Poni might tell you." Beth's heart began to pound uncontrollably. "I had no idea." panic was beginning to set in. "The food! I never thought, I suppose I thought Alex would get Mrs Mcklusey to organise the reception." "No my dear. Your housekeeper needs instruction and if you left it up to Alex we'd be having champagne and fish paste sandwiches! But don't worry, we'll sort it out. That's why we need a planning meeting." The older woman reassured her. "I never considered that when I said yes to becoming Alex's wife, I was also agreeing to become mistress of her household as well. How am I going to learn? Most women marrying into Alex's sort of family would have been brought up in the same so would know everything that was expected of them. I wasn't, I'm the middle class daughter of a Professor. What am I going to do? How do I handle servants, how do I organise the house? I don't want to let Alex down!" Beth panicked. "We'll sort it out, calm down. Come over to Grosvenor Street on Friday night. We'll have a nice dinner then pack our loving partners off to the billiard room so we can sort things out. We don't have much time but I promise we will make this a special day for you." "Thank you Lotty. I don't know what I'd without your friendship." "Not at all. Shall we say Friday at half past seven?" "We'll look forward to it. Goodbye then." Beth was overwhelmed. There was more to being the Lady of Dencotte than she first thought. ******************************************************************************** Lord Dalton jumped out her car and took two steps at a time as she bounced up the stairs of the office building, whistling to herself. Her business of this afternoon was successful and she'd never been happier since her girl had agreed to be her wife. She quietly entered the office door to see Beth with her nose in a pile of papers. "Knock knock!" announced Alex. Beth looked up to see the tall, dark, imposing blue eyed figure that had stolen her heart. "Alex!" She jumped up and threw herself into her beloved's arms. The older woman bent down and gave her Fiancé a light kiss which soon deepened and became more passionate as Alex teased the girl's lips with her tongue, gently seeking entrance into her mouth.