IV. Indulgence
The following day, Blair was braiding Ruby's hair when Ruby's bedroom door was unceremoniously banged opened and Chuck strode through carrying two packages.
"Here my little twirling ballerina," said Chuck to Ruby, handing her one of the packages. Ruby's eyes lit up. She eagerly tore open the pearl coloured box and from the nest of matching pearl tissue paper, she pulled out a lace white dress with a giant satin bow. "Daddy!" she squealed. "This is exactly what the princesses in books wear!"
Chuck nodded absent mindedly, his eyes on Blair only. While Ruby twirled and pirouetted around in heavenly delight with the dress against her, he held out a scarlet red box that was the size of a child's coffin to Blair. "For you, Miss Waldorf," he said in a quiet voice.
Blair kept her hands folded in her lap. "What's that?"
"A gift," he said as if he was speaking to a slow-witted child.
"I can't accept it."
He glanced to check that Ruby wasn't paying attention. "Do you want to enchant Nathaniel?'
The barest shade of pink tinged her cheeks. She did not answer.
"I haven't laced it with arsenic," he snapped. "Take the damn thing before Ruby makes a big scene about this box!"
Blair reluctantly took hold of the box as if it was an explosive device.
"Nathaniel will be enraptured by you when you wear it—believe me," he said, his eyes harsh.
"He will know that I could never afford whatever is in this box. He will doubt my morality," murmured Blair, careful to not let Ruby overhear.
Chuck shook his head. "No he will never know. I have expounded your virtues of frugality and modesty, so he will merely think you carefully saved money for this purchase."
Blair levelly met his eyes. "What extra services do I have to do to repay you for this dress?"
Chuck's face darkened and something unidentifiable flashed through his eyes. "Nothing. All I ask is that I see you wear it tonight at Lysander. Our agreement hasn't changed."
Blair nodded, her expression deliberately blank. She did not want to open the box, fearing what kind of gift was inside. Was he planning to make her into an object of ridicule?
"Aren't you going to open it? Most people love presents," he asked, his eyes glittering like a predator circling his prey.
Blair was about to reply when Vanessa stepped into Ruby's room and announced Mrs. Bass' arrival. Her eyes flickered to the gift in Blair's hands and Blair did not miss the disdain in Vanessa's eyes. Chuck snatched the box back from Blair just as Vanessa wheeled Penelope in.
Penelope was adorned in a fuchsia gown with hideous feathers around the neck. Her hair was curled into tight ringlets and her face was slathered in make-up.
"Charles," she greeted him breathlessly, holding out her translucent hand to him.
"Darling, I have a gift for you," said Chuck, his face inscrutable as he crossed over to her and kissed her hand in what seemed to Blair a perfunctory way devoid of real feeling.
"For me?" she asked like a vain teenage girl with her first beau, fluttering her eyelashes. Blair inwardly cringed at Penelope's dog-like affection for Chuck.
"Of course, darling. Who else?"
From her position behind Penelope's wheelchair, Vanessa sent Blair a pointed look.
"Daddy was showing Miss Waldorf your present before you came in, mummy," added Ruby.
Blair stiffened.
"What?" Penelope asked, her voice rising several octaves.
"Darling, I was merely asking for a woman's opinion. I wanted to ensure that I had purchased the right gift," Chuck smoothly countered. "There's nothing sordid going on."
Blair fought down the image of Chuck's hands gliding over the swell of her breasts in the darkness of Lysander and chastised herself for even thinking about it.
"Why would you demean you and me by showing a gift to a servant of all people who would never be able to afford luxury!" Penelope shrilled. "How do I know this gift isn't for that whore over there?"
"For Christ sakes, Penelope! How many times do I have to tell you that I am not diddling with the hired help! You will apologise to Miss Waldorf and cease to make such wild accusations that will only embarrass you, and by connection, me."
Penelope shrieked and threw down the box, causing a silky black gown to half escape from its encasing. "You heartless bastard!"
Somehow, Penelope found the strength to launch herself from her wheelchair at Chuck, clawing at his face. Chuck swore, gripping her wrists in attempt to subdue her while Blair gathered a terrified Ruby in her arms. Vanessa attempted to aid Chuck but Penelope kicked out at Vanessa's gut, causing her to double over. Blair watched in horror as Penelope howled like a banshee, madly attempting to inflict some sort of harm upon Chuck, her body thrashing while foul abuse fell from her lips. Chuck's forehead was bleeding and his face was flushed with exertion.
"In the name of God, get my daughter out of this room!" Chuck roared to Blair as Penelope spat in his face and kicked hard at his leg.
Blair did not need to be asked twice. She scooped up a sobbing Ruby and immediately whisked her out of the room.
About half an hour later, Blair left Ruby sleeping in the library (who exhausted herself from crying so hard) and found a cloth that she dampened so she could clean Ruby's room and set right the furniture again.
To her surprise, she found Chuck sitting on Ruby's baby stool with his back slumped.
He stirred at her entrance and she made move to leave the room but he said in a dead voice: "Stay."
She reluctantly obeyed, feeling an unusual pang of pity for him.
Silence fell.
"You're bleeding," she observed, finally breaking the silence. The left side of his face had a line of blood trickling down it, which stained his stark white collar.
"Very well observed," he sarcastically responded.
"Here, let me fix it," she said, ignoring his barb. Standing over him, she tipped his head to the side and dabbed at his wound with the cloth she was originally going to use for the furniture.
"It's not life threatening wound," he muttered. "Her bloody diamond ring took a chunk from my forehead."
"I'd say a chunk is a little dramatic, sir," Blair mildly returned.
"Would you now?"
"Yes."
Chuck's lips twitched and Blair was unsure as to whether it was from grim amusement or annoyance. However, he did not reply and merely closed his eyes as she cleaned away the blood.
Her eyes drifted to the gown that still lay untouched on the floor.
When she turned back to Chuck, his eyes were now open and he was observing her intensely. "The dress is still yours, Miss Waldorf."
Blair withdrew the cloth from his face. "I can't take it after all that's happened today."
"You can and you will take it. Don't let some momentary scruples prevent you from your ultimate goal."
"Pardon me, sir, but I think—"
"Do you want to marry Nathaniel?"
Blair nodded.
"Do you want wealth, power, and prestige?"
"Yes."
"Then take the damn dress. Penelope certainly won't wear it and for all his gushing sentiments, my dear friend Nathaniel would not give you a second glance if you turned up in one of your cheap frocks at a formal occasion. He may talk sentimental, but he acts like a practical man."
"And this is coming from you who is known for his moral principles?" sardonically asked Blair.
Chuck snatched her left hand in his own which caused Blair to nearly fall on him, his gaze unnervingly intense. Her body was now a hairbreadth away from his. "I have arranged for Nathaniel to take you out tomorrow evening to one of the private restaurants that I own. The gown is especially for that occasion. You will receive a card from him by this afternoon."
She unconsciously licked her lips. "Why are you helping me?"
She saw his eyes focus on her mouth and her face heated up.
"My motives don't matter, do they?"
"They do to me," retorted Blair, annoyed at herself for her unintentionally breathless tone.
His thumb started tracing slow circles on her hand. "As long as you get what you want, it doesn't matter what my motives are."
Blair jerked her hand away from his and stepped back. "That still doesn't answer my question."
Chuck stretched his legs out as if he was not bothered by Blair's questions. "By the way, you need not worry about my wife stalking the corridors—she's heavily sedated."
Blair blinked. So focused she had been upon Chuck and their bargain that she had almost forgot about Penelope's horrific display. "I'm sorry that she suffers."
Chuck's face contorted. "It will be a blessing for us all when she dies," he said savagely.
"That's horrible!"
"Don't you dare play the saint to me! You have no idea what I have endured."
"Oh, it must be so hard for little rich boy to palm his unstable wife off to some nurses while he beds other women, increases the dominion of Bass Industries and drinks Scotch! What hardship."
Chuck shot up, his fists clenched. "I have given that woman a comfortable house, beautiful clothes and a powerful place in society. I never wanted to marry her but our fathers insisted upon the match. I never flaunted my affairs in front of her and I never beat her—"
"But you don't treat her with respect or love! You treat her has if she is a pesky pet that you have to shower with treats in order to keep her obedient. You have no respect for her and the servants have told me that you and your father used to laugh together at her for her lack of education in front of guests—even when it was just the three of you dining at home, you and your father would also speak in Latin, German or French together because you both knew she could not understand any of the languages—"
His whole frame shuddered. "Try being married to a woman, who on our wedding night, tried to attack me with a pair scissors because she forgot where she was and thought I was some stranger wanting to rape her. I spent my wedding night watching her being sedated by a doctor and realising that my father-in-law had deceived me by attributing her moods to high spirits and a passionate nature. I now knew why he never let me talk to her unchaperoned—I thought it was because he was worried for her virtue—" he bitterly laughed, his face looking as if a bleak winter had enveloped it in its dark and twisted grasp, "—when in fact it was because he feared her unstable nature would prevent my father from agreeing to the union!"
Blair could not speak. Inexplicably, her heart twisted.
He was breathing heavily. 'Now do you see? I know that my soul is as black as Satan's cloved hoof and that I will be punished for my wrongs, but I will not have my wife's decay be completely attributed to me! I could have sent her off to an asylum where she would undergo unspeakable things, but I kept her here in this house…"
"But some compassion would have helped her greatly."
Chuck turned his back on her and went to the balcony door. "I know my weaknesses, Miss Waldorf, and I'm bitterly paying for them. Whatever else I am, I'm no humbug."
Blair's heart thudded.
"Take the dress and go, Miss Waldorf. Don't worry about righting Ruby's room—you're a governess, not a housemaid."
Blair did not want to touch the dress. She thought it tainted.
Chuck remained unmoving, looking out the window. "I'll not ask again—take the dress."
Blair picked up the gown, feeling as if it was a great weight and something dirty.
"I'll not need to see you tonight, Miss Waldorf—something of which I'm sure you will be glad."
"But—"
"Don't worry. Your precious Nathaniel will still see you tomorrow evening," interrupted Chuck, devoid of emotion. "Leave me now."
Blair did not wait around to be told twice. She quickly left the room, shaken by Chuck's unexpected divulging of his marital history.
She did not see Chuck for the rest of the day.
Yet that night, she dreamed of Chuck's mouth and hands feverishly worshipping her body, making her awake bathed in a sheen of sweat and her senses pleasurably tingling. Even though it was a dream, it appeared as if Chuck had transcended the boundaries between reality and fantasy, and was making his stamp upon her.
At the thought of him, Blair was filled with a combustible combination of loathing and lust. She could no longer tell the difference between the two. She was drawn to his power, his darkness, intellect and confidence. She simultaneously abhorred his calculation, moral flexibility and power hunger. She loathed the way he could pierce her very soul and gauge her weaknesses and strengths.
Yet she did not quit her job. She easily could have resigned and gone to teach at a school. She did not deceive herself that it was because she loved Ruby and could not bear to part from her. It was because of the tantalizing promises of power and prestige that compelled her to stay on. She was more like Chuck than she cared to admit. She longed to throw off the shackles of servility and assume the mantle of governor. She wanted to make society fall at her feet and demand absolute fealty from her supplicants.
At those thoughts, Blair attempted to suppress them. She did not like to dwell upon how similar she was to Chuck. It was too disconcerting and she liked to think that she was morally superior to him. But then, what virtuous girl would allow her employer to compromise her self-worth in the darkness of an empty restaurant in return for social advancement? Not a very pious one…
The next evening, Blair was fully dressed in the black gown with only twenty minutes left before Nathaniel's arrival. Ruby sat on the edge of Blair's bed, enraptured by Blair's fairytale dress. Blair was twirling around at a giggling Ruby's behest so she did not hear Chuck enter.
"The dress is magnificent, Miss Waldorf," smoothly commented Chuck, "Nathaniel will be enthralled."
Blair abruptly stopped twirling at Chuck's words, realising his presence.
"Doesn't she look pretty, daddy?" asked Ruby.
Chuck did not reply. His eyes seemed to be devouring Blair and Blair could not tear her gaze from his. She felt as if he was consuming her.
"Daddy?" prompted Ruby, tugging at his hand.
"Yes. She looks fine," shortly replied Chuck.
Ruby snorted. "Daddy. She looks like a princess! You're so mean. Why can't I go with her tonight?"
"Because, little one, Miss Waldorf is having a night off—that means no precocious five-year olds who disrespect their fathers are allowed to hamper her evening."
Ruby pouted. "That's so unfair!"
"Life's unfair, Ruby. That's one unfortunate fact that you'll have to learn," Chuck answered, his eyes briefly flickering to Blair and then back to his daughter. "Besides, your grandpa is returning from Boston tonight and expects you to greet him."
Ruby immediately brightened. "Has he got a present for me?"
"He might not have one if he hears about your unruly behaviour."
Ruby hugged her father around the middle. "I'll be good," she wheedled.
Blair was not sure if Chuck was grimacing or smiling. "We'll see, little one, we'll see. Come, let us give Miss Waldorf some peace so Nathaniel will not see her in evil spirits."
"Thank-you, Mr. Bass," quietly returned Blair.
He reached out and clasped her hand in his, sending an electric jolt through her. "Have an enjoyable evening, Miss Waldorf."
She was sure that he felt it too, because he immediately dropped her hand and his normally cynical and laconic composure was briefly unsettled.
"I plan to, Mr. Bass."
"Good," he said as if he had not used his voice for a millennia.
"Good," echoed Blair.
Chuck gestured to the door. "After you."
Like an imperious queen from one of Ruby's books, Blair swept out of the room and down the silent stairs, ignoring Vanessa's disapproving look.
Nate was waiting at the foot of the stairs. He widely smiled. "Blair, you look…well, I'm sure you know how radiant you appear tonight."
He held out his hand and Blair gracefully clasped it when she descended the stairs, chastising herself for feeling momentarily disheartened that she did not feel a jolt in her heart at the union of their hands.
"Chuck, you were right—this one is a beauty!" called Nate up the stairs to where Chuck stood on the landing.
Chuck's face was a picture of lazy detachment. "I think you're exaggerating, my friend-you're infusing your own sentiments with my own less flowery ones."
Nate amusedly rolled his eyes. "If it wasn't for you, I don't think I would have ever met a beauty such as this!"
Blair was rankled by the way Nate talked about her as if she was a silent entity. Against her better judgment, she found herself glancing up at Chuck. His eyes glinted at her. It was obvious he was taking perverse amusement in the exchange. In response, Blair glared at Chuck as Nate turned his back to open the door.
"Make sure you guard Miss Waldorf, Nathaniel. I should hate to see my daughter deprived of her governess," drawled Chuck.
Nate chuckled. "I promise, Chuck. You won't hear any complaint of my behaviour, right Blair?"
Blair smoothly smiled. "Of course, Nate. You're a gentleman of impeccable pedigree and morals." As she spoke, she shot Chuck a pointed look, and was secretly gratified to see his face darken in displeasure.
"See that, Chuck! Blair has taste—I think I have found my perfect mate," Nate declaimed, raising Blair's hand to his lips with a grand flourish. "I think it's time we departed before we spend our whole evening in the entrance hall of the Melusine's penthouse!"
"I couldn't agree more," conceded Blair, boldly sliding her arm around Nate's elbow.
Just as Blair was about to walk out of the door to the elevator that was to take her and Nate to the ground floor, she glanced back and saw a solitary Chuck standing on the landing of the steps. He was practically engulfed by shadows and an elaborate ceiling light made of sharply cut crystal made the shadows dance around his face. When he saw her look back, he simply inclined his head to her and then departed from the landing without any further ado.