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“He has a rather important engagement at present, but he told me to inform you he's looking forward to seeing you.”
That made Victoria feel good beyond her own expectation 'looking forward to seeing you', it had a nice ring to it. Was Philip now going to open up more to her, and be the man she wanted him to be? The chances looked good, she thought, as she watched the eighteenth century London buildings pass by. Perhaps after Philip had come inside her, his feelings had grown stronger toward her, or maybe they had already been that way, and that had been what had led him to spill his seed in her; she had no idea, but couldn't stop going over the moment in her mind. It had only been a couple of weeks previous, and if she was pregnant, there was no signs of such as yet. He must of known his actions could lead to her becoming 'with child', she concluded, so why had he done it? Victoria toyed with her shoe half way off her foot, feeling apprehensive of her meeting later with Philip. She knew she had to bring up the subject, but just quite how, was something she didn't yet know.
The driver pulled up beside the hotel and one of the doormen opened the door and greeted her. The driver called back and told her Philip had 'taken care of' the room and that he'd be back later to pick her up at 6pm. She didn't really know what he'd meant by 'taken care of' the room, but thanked him anyway, and got out. The girl on reception seemed to recognize Victoria, which wasn't exactly uncommon in her profession, but seemed more excited at seeing Victoria than a person usually would.
“Hello Miss Hunt.” The receptionist greeted her by name excitedly.
“Hi, erm, I believe you have a room already booked under my name, I guess it's my usual room.”
“Oh no Miss Hunt, we have the Cora Pearl suite booked in your name, we had to cancel some other bookings for it, as someone with some influence spoke to the manager.”
Victoria knew it must have been Philip, but just out of curiosity as to if Philip had revealed himself, had to ask her the question,
“Who booked the suite for me?”
The receptionist looked around making sure no one else was in earshot, and then leaned over the counter and almost whispered to Victoria,
“I've not actually been told, only the manager knows, but I can tell you we've never, ever canceled any body else's booking for the suite, except for you that is. So I don't know who it is that you know, but they must be someone pretty important.”
Victoria felt excited, she thought she had already experienced how it felt to be treated as a V.I.P in her life, but this was a whole new level for her, and the secrecy that seemed to go hand in hand with it, she couldn't deny, made her feel a kind of thrill.
“OK, well, can I have the key to the room, I'd like to freshen up as soon as possible.”
“Miss, it's not that kind of suite. This suite comes with your own personal butler. I will get him for you right away.” Said the receptionist, and hurried away to make a call. 'A personal butler', thought Victoria, for a hotel room? Suite or not, that was some kind of accommodation, she thought, raising her plucked eyebrows.
Victoria looked around and from one of the side doors came a tall immaculately dressed man in his mid-forties, wearing what looked to be the kind of suit a butler would wear in the previous century. The man approached Victoria and told her he'd take her bags up and unpack them for her right away, and also have her clothes pressed and ready for her.
“It's OK, just take me to the room.” Said Victoria, a little embarrassed at all the fuss.
“Miss, please follow me to the executive lounge. You can relax there while I take care of everything.”
“But I want to go to my room.”
“Of course you may... I'm sorry, in fact you should have been taken to the executive lounge directly, and we would have taken care of all the checking-in in requirements. But well, there was some confusion over your time of arrival and we were unable to get in touch with you. So I really must apologize on behalf of the hotel.”
“Oh, it's quite alright. So you mean my room's not ready yet?”
“Oh it's ready Miss Hunt, but there is champagne waiting for you in the executive lounge, and it would be such a shame to waste it, don't you think?”
Victoria could only agree, she never liked to miss champagne if it was on offer. Victoria followed him to the plush executive lounge, were a waiter began to faun over her, and make sure she had everything she wanted. The butler told her he'd be back down to fetch her forthwith, but asked her one question before he left.
“Would you like me to prepare a rose petal bath for you?”
“Bath?” Asked Victoria, more used to taking showers, although she knew the English had a thing for lying around in bathtubs for hours on end.
“Yes, a bath. We place fresh rose petals in it for you, it's most relaxing I can assure you.”
“Well... OK, I guess.” Said Victoria, deciding giving into the whole experience was probably the best course of action.
“Very well. I'll be back shortly.” He said, and walked off after giving her a slight bow.
She put her hands around the chilled glass, watching the bubbles rise and pop; taking a sip she thought about what she was supposed to do, but realized most of the decisions had already been taken out of her hands. It was one of the few times she didn't feel pressured to make things happen herself. She had her agent of course, but she still actually liked to maintain control of the day to day things like hotel bookings and flights. A few of her previous boyfriends had commented that she was a 'control freak', but in her opinion, had done nothing to change her. They had in fact tried, only none had ever succeeded in wrestling control from her, and had simply ended up bending to her strong will. But this was all new to Victoria, Philip was taking control, had in fact, taken control, and Victoria was starting to feel more and more comfortable with it, for the first time in her life.
After some minutes of her taking in the ambient music and finishing another glass of champagne, the butler came back and took her to the room. Going inside, she realized the suite was like no other room in the hotel. It was styled in the manner of Victorian rooms from a bygone era. The butler seeing her surprise explained that this was what the rooms on the second floor looked like in the nineteenth century. The hotel had, he said, made this suite as a homage to one of its most notorious residents, a courtesan to the rich and royalty, Cora Pearl. He pointed out the portrait of her over the double bed, with ostrich feather cushions beneath.
“This is why this is called the Courtesans' Boudoir.”
“Courtesan?” Said Victoria, walking up to the portrait to get a better look, “you mean prostitute, right?”
