Bound To Him

"Could I offer either of you a drink?” Daniel asked, taking a seat on the sofa across from them.

“No, thank you.” Eleanor let him speak for her. “I really must be going. My flight leaves in three hours.”

“Back to Rome again?” Daniel asked.

“Again,” he said, sounding tired of it all.

“I’ll walk you out.”

Usually he would never leave her without a long and intimate goodbye. But this time he merely stood, brushed a finger gently across her cheek and chin, and left her alone in the room. She waited on the floor although she desperately wanted to run after him and beg him to take her with him. But she was far too well-trained to break a submissive posture for the sole purpose of engaging in what she knew would be a futile emotional outburst.

After a few moments, Daniel returned to the drawing room. He said nothing at first and Eleanor could only keep her silence and her eyes lowered.

“Please, sit,” he said, his voice kind and quietly amused. “In a chair.”

“Oh, a chair. How extraordinarily