Chapter 47

My Master steps over the threshold, carrying me in his arms. My huge white meringue of a dress catches on the handle, and he struggles through the door with me and it together. I giggle, as he makes complex manoeuvres trying to get himself, me and the dress all through the door together.

"Welcome home, Mrs Haswell," he says.

Smiling, running his hand over the bodice of my wedding gown, his deep blue eyes are almost glowing. "You look beautiful in this dress, Elizabeth. But on the whole, I think I want to get you out of it."

Sucking my lips in anticipation, "Yes, um, I think you're going to have to help me." The dress is boned, buttoned, laced and cinched in tight.

He looks the dress over from all sides. "Er, yes, I see what you mean. Not so much a dress as a construction. How did you get into it?"

"Francis helped. She did up all the buttons at the back. And the laces."

He starts at the back, pulling at laces, trying to loosen the bodice. After several unsuccessful minutes,