Elsie had admonished him to leave the serving on the sand covered beach to the younger and more agile footmen but he had taken her remark as a slight to his abilities as Butler and insisted on being in attendance the entire day. Charles performed admirably but at the very end of the day, he was hot and tired and took a misstep in the sand. They both heard a loud popping sound followed by a crack as he collapsed into a heap on the sand. What happens next?

Elsie was already on her way over to him to once again attempt convincing him to stop for the night, when she saw him collapse to the ground she broke into a run and hurried towards him making a quick scan of the surrounding area to check for blood or anything sharp he could have hurt himself on.

Kneeling beside him, she placed a gentle hand on his arm,

"Mr Carson are you alright?"

Groaning slightly he pushed himself up into a sitting position,

"Yes Mrs Hughes I'm fine, everything in tact but my pride."

"Well, lets get you up and take you back," she hooked her arm under his, "you could do with a rest."

"Yes Mrs Hughes." He was too hot and tired to argue, not to mention he knew better than any where the cut off point with an argument with Elsie was.

They managed to manoeuvre themselves back to tent built for the servants and into a chair. Elsie knelt in front of him and began to untie his shoe laces.

"Mrs Hughes! What on earth are you doing?!"

"Untying your shoe what does it look like?"

"I know that but…why?" He was becoming incredibly flustered, just the sight of her knelt in front of him made him blush profusely but to have her undress him? This was highly improper.

"Your ankle gave way and you fell on it - I need to check it is not injured."

"I think I would be able to tell, you really don't have to."

"Let me check anyway Mr Carson!" Placing his shoe to one side she pushed down his sock a little to take a look at his ankle. Holding it between her hands, using her thumbs to softly press at it gauging his reactions. Whenever he occasionally winced she would trace a circle around the area as if cataloguing it to memory.

"Well I don't think it's broken, or sprained…" she used her thumbs to rub at the most tender area, massaging the knot that'd formed.

Charles leaned back his head and sighed, never in his life had he been given a foot massage, and he was certainly glad his first came from the woman in front of him.
The woman in question was watching him, smiling at the expression of pleasure he wore. Moving her hands down to his foot, smoothing her thumbs up the base and back down to his heel.

He found himself relaxing, the heat, the exhaustion, the massage and the light wiff of lavender he could smell. Even she could tell he was beginning to drift off as his ankle was becoming more limp in her hands. As his breathing became heavier and his head lolled to the side, she caught four words;

"Thank you my love…"