Lady Amanda Anderson was gone. She’d died in a car crash when away, leaving her house and its ‘contents’ without a keeper.

Delphi was puzzled, though, when she was assigned the case.

“I deal with animal problems”, she said. “She didn’t have any pets on our books, did she?”

“Yes and no”, said Toby, her boss. “She was one of our special customers. You’ll need that small box of keys when you visit; you are also down as the caretaker for the property until a new owner is found.”

“What?”

“It’s a ‘live in’ job. Some of the ‘pets’ need regular care, and they’ve already been without it for 48 hours, so you’d better pack a bag and get moving, pronto!”

“I can’t just up sticks and go!”

“You can if you want to keep your job…!”

That effectively ended the argument, and less than an hour later Delphi found herself on the road to Anderson Manor…

She got to the manor at nightfall, as it was a long drive from the city. As soon as she opened the door, though, she was surprised by a young woman frantically digging through drawers. She completely ignored Delphi; also, her uniform shone strangely in the light, and she was wearing a matching hood…

“Hey! Who are you, and what are you doing!”, Delphi cried. Lady Anderson was supposed to have been living on her own. If this woman was here, she’d come all that way for nothing, as she could have looked after the ‘pets’…

“Hey!”, she cried again, tapping the woman on the shoulder. The woman immediately froze, then spun round. Delphi’s mouth dropped open in disbelief.

The woman was covered from head to foot in latex; it was in the design of a maid’s uniform. She was also wearing an attached hood, with a visor, and a muzzle. Delphi then saw that the muzzle was locked on with a padlock…

The woman was also wearing a set of chains, collar to wrists to ankles. Her eyes went wide, and she motioned to Delphi, showing her the padlock and tugging at it, miming that she was looking for the keys.

Delphi suddenly realised what the box of keys that she had been given were for. There were multiple keys. Did that mean that the ‘pets’ were actually slaves…?

In shock, Delphi beckoned the woman over. She then tried each key in turn from her box until she found one that fitted the woman’s padlock. With a click, the padlock was off, and she took off the woman’s muzzle.

“Thank you!”, the woman cried. She then dashed to the kitchen and got herself something to eat and drink. As she was a maid, she still asked Delphi if she’d like something as she did so.

“Just a tea, please”, Delphi said, still in shock.

“I’ve had that damn muzzle on me for days!”, the woman cried. “Mistress Amanda usually unlocks me to eat at least once a day.”

“I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news for you, in that case”, said Delphi. “Lady Amanda Anderson is dead. Car crash.”

The maid dissolved in a heap. “Mistress… gone…!”

Delphi hugged her as she cried.

“Who’s going to look after us all now…?”

“All…?” asked Delphi, mystified.

“Yes. She has a secretary, two other maids and a gardener. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen any of them today…!”

Delphi realised what the other keys were for…

The maid, who Delphi learned was called Ginny, took Delphi to Lady Andersons home office. They both gasped when they got there…

Another young woman was slumped, unconscious, over a desk. Her ankles were chained to the legs of the desk, and she was also firmly muzzled.

She stirred, weakly, as Delphi managed to find the keys that fitted her padlocks.

“I’ve been alone here for ages!”, she said quietly. “I thought no-one was coming. Are you from the insurance people?”

“Yes, I am”, said Delphi.

“Good; Mistress had me send the papers off, just in case something happened to her. I take it something has…?”, she said, apprehensively.

“I’m afraid so”, said Delphi. “Car crash…”

Tears came in the secretary’s face.

“She was always good to me. I knew something was wrong…!”

Delphi and the maid hugged her as she cried…

Once Ginny had brought some food and drink for Anne, the secretary, she felt a lot better, so she joined them on their search for the other residents.

The two other maids were found unconscious in their bedrooms, as they hadn’t been called to serve since Lady Anderson had left. Ginny gave them food and drink and they recovered quite quickly.

The only real problem was the gardener. She could be anywhere on the grounds…

In the end, she was found unconscious in the vegetable garden. All the food and water around her, and she’d been unable to touch any of it because of her training and her muzzle. She was more of a problem; she’d literally worked herself so hard, as no-one had been there to tell her to stop, she was totally exhausted. She had to be taken back to her quarters and hand fed by the recovering maids.

The next day, the entire staff managed to gather in the living room to meet Delphi properly. To her amazement, the first thing that they did was all kiss her and thank her for saving their lives. They also thanked the secretary for sending the paperwork off.

Delphi then got a phone call from her head office…

“I’m afraid you’re going to be there longer than you thought”, Toby said. “They’ve found a replacement for Lady Anderson and, believe it or not, it’s you.”

“What?”

“Lady Anderson left specific instructions. I’ve got them all in writing, right here. They are quite specific. The person that goes to her property and rescues her ‘pets’ gets everything, including the pets. Whatever you’ve found there is now yours. I don’t really care what it is, I’m just incredibly jealous. However, as I’ve got too many commitments here, I won’t try and take it away from you. They’re all yours. Have fun! It does mean, however, that you won’t be able to return to your job here, as caring for the estate and pets is a full-time job.”

“But… I was enjoying my job!”

“I think you’ll find that you don’t need to work anymore…!”, said Toby, with a laugh, hanging up.

Almost as soon as Toby had hung up, Delphi received another call.

“Is all Lady Anderson’s staff with you?”, the voice asked. “Can you put me on speakerphone, please?”

Delphi did.

“Transfer Code Tango 01. Delphi Masters. Holding this phone.”

“What?”, Delphi asked, puzzled. The staff all bowed to her…

“You are now their mistress”, the voice said. “All food and other deliveries will be carrying on now as usual; all bank accounts and share accounts are under your control. Current balance, £4tn, roughly.”

“Four Trillion pounds!?”

“Yep. However, there is a condition; you must live at the manor, and you must keep giving a home to all the pets; you might know them as the staff.”

The staff gathered round her and knelt, eagerly looking up at her…

Delphi was in a state of shock. She’d gone from practically broke to a trillionaire, and an only child with no family to a large group…

Ginny nudged her.

“Please, mistress! Stay with us!”

Anne nodded as well.

The two other maids just chose a leg each and started rubbing up and down her.

She was still thinking as the gardener leaned over and kissed her.

“We all owe you our lives”, she said.

“Ok. I’ll do it.”, Delphi said.

“Thank you, Ms Masters. You won’t regret it. You’ll have the paperwork today.”

“I’ll go monitor the email for it!”, said Anne, almost sprinting off to the office.

“Tea, mistress?”, asked Ginny.

“Yes, thank you, Ginny”, said Delphi.

The two other maids offered to get the main bedroom turned down for her, which Delphi agreed to, and the gardener started asking about the flowers for the house.

Everything settled into a rhythm…

Delphi’s next surprise was at bedtime. The staff/pets had a ‘rota’, in that each took turns to sleep with their mistress on weeknights. Delphi was expected to choose her sleeping partner at weekends as a reward for good work…

As it was Tuesday, it was Anne’s turn that night. Delphi was just getting ready for bed when there was a quiet knock on the door…

In her nightdress, she opened the door. Anne was there, similarly dressed, with a smile on her face.

“Can I help you?” asked Delphi, confused.

“Oh, no, mistress, it’s the other way around, actually. I came to help you”, Anne said. She then explained about the sleeping rota…

Delphi chuckled.

“Far be it from me to turn down hospitality”, she said, with a smile…

None of the staff were unattractive. The oldest was the gardener; that was purely from practical reasons, as she needed the most strength of all of them. They were all in their twenties, however, and any one of them would have won a beauty competition. They all had regular styling appointments booked for them; the stylist came out to see them all one day a month.

“She’ll be glad to see you your needs, too, mistress” said Anne, when she told Delphi all this. “She’ll see you first, then the rest of us in turn. She occasionally has to stay over if she overruns.”

“Where can she sleep?”, said Delphi, as if she didn’t know…

“With you, of course, mistress”, said Anne. “She just takes the place of whoever is on the rota that day. You are of course expected to choose them on Saturday to make up for it.”

Delphi chuckled. “You lot are sex mad…”

“Not really. Sometimes, it’s just for company.”

“That reminds me”, she continued. “The two maids that you met after me are sisters, and very protective of each other. Try not to tell them off unless you really have to; they’ve got a bit of a temper. They were taken unwillingly to start with…”

“How about if I offer to let them go?”

“They’d refuse. They love it here, now. I think they’ve even taken a fancy to you. You saw the way they rubbed up and down your legs. They’ve never done that to anyone before…!”

“I suggest that you keep them busy. They actually love the work; being idle when we hadn’t got a mistress drove them batty. Possibly start the spring cleaning a little early, or how about an inventory of food and supplies? Ginny won’t mind them around the kitchen.”

“Good idea”, said Delphi. “I can see why you work in the office. You’re more of a PA than a secretary.”

“Emphasis on the ‘Personal’”, said Anne, with a chuckle, sliding into bed with Delphi…

As Delphi had started on a Tuesday, she felt Ginny had missed out, so she got to sleep with Delphi on Saturday. Anne was overjoyed when Delphi said she had earned Sunday night because of her good work…

As a treat to the sisters, so they didn’t feel she was treating them unequally, Delphi let them both sleep with her together on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

“We thought we were right about you”, one of them said.

“Love this idea”, said the other.

The sisters were very careful to leave each other alone, but they really enjoyed having Delphi sandwiched between them. It got quite warm at night…!

To the pets’ amazement, Delphi removed all the chains and locks and packed them away, including all of the muzzles.

“I’m not going to need them, am I?”, she said to all of them, meaningfully, at one of the weekly staff meetings that she had organised.

“No, mistress!”, all five chorused together.

It made it all the more shocking when Ginny came up to Delphi and asked her to chain her up…

“Please mistress! Chain me up, muzzle me and lock me in the kitchen! Please!”

“Why? You’ve not done anything wrong?”

“Please! I don’t want them to take me away! I love it here! I love you!”

“Who’s going to take you away?”

“My parents. They want me for an arranged marriage…!”

“Don’t worry, little one. You’re not going anywhere. When are they coming?”

“In about half an hour…!”

Delphi took Ginny through to the kitchen. She then chained her up but couldn’t bring herself to muzzle her.

“Mistress, please…!”

“I can’t…!”

Ginny snatched the muzzle out of Delphi’s hands and put it on herself. She then angrily pointed at the padlock in Delphi’s hand, motioning for it to be put on. Delphi still couldn’t do it, so she did that herself as well. She then turned round and got on with her chores.

Ginny’s parents turned up shortly after.

“We’ve come for our daughter”, they said.

Delphi thought for a second.

“I’m afraid that’s quite impossible, for two reasons”, she said. “One, she’s part of the inventory of the property that I took over, and two, she hasn’t worked off her debt yet.”

Delphi had had a long conversation with Anne as soon as the problem had arisen.

“I’ll tell you what; I’ll give you your daughter back if you give me your mansion. After all, it’s the only thing that you have left of any value.”

“So, you’re refusing to give us our daughter back?”, Ginny’s mother asked.

“Yes. It’s a legal issue; if I was going to get rid of her, I’d have done it already, as she’s fairly useless in the kitchen. I’ve even had to chain her in there to get her to do her work and muzzle her because she keeps snacking. It’s as much an inconvenience to me as it is to you.”

“You’ve got her in chains?”, her mother asked, aghast.

“Of course; how else do you treat an unruly slave?”

Her mother flew through to the kitchen. Ginny, fully uniformed, ignored her completely.

She came back into the living room.

“She’s just ignoring me, Richard!”, she said to her husband. “She’s just as much trouble as she was before. She’s going to be more trouble than she’s worth. Lord Faversham won’t thank us at all for tying his son to her.”

Ginny’s father looked at Delphi.

“I’m sorry to saddle you with such a problem”, he said. “However, there’s no way I can afford to take her off your hands at the moment. Would you consider keeping her on?”

“Only if you give me notice in writing that this ridiculous arranged marriage is off”, Delphi said. “I don’t need any further liabilities at the moment. I may get displeased…”

“Oh, yes, of course”, said Ginny’s father, “I understand completely. I’ll arrange that right now.”

He stepped back and spent a few minutes on the phone. Delphi and the parents were still talking when Anne came through from the office.

“The paperwork you were expecting has arrived, Madame”, she said, all efficient.

“Ah, thank you, Anne.”, said Delphi. She looked at the parents.

“We have an agreement”, she said. “I’ll carry on taking care of Ginny, and you’ll forget about trying to lay claim on her life.”

“Thank you for your understanding”, Ginny’s father said. “I hope you have better luck domesticating her than we did.”

“Would you mind showing them out, Anne?”, Delphi asked.

“Of course, Madame”, she replied. She then escorted Ginny’s parents out.

Delphi immediately went to the kitchen and unchained and unmuzzled Ginny.

“You shouldn’t have made me do that!”, she cried. “However, it worked. Your parents won’t bother you again.”

She showed Ginny the paperwork.

Ginny went pale.

“What’s wrong?”, asked Delphi.

“Did you read this? They haven’t just cancelled the arranged marriage; they’ve disowned me completely. I’m an orphan, now…!”

Delphi held her as she cried her eyes out.

“No, you’re not. You’ve got me…”

Delphi discussed Ginny’s ‘problem’ with Anne.

Anne like Ginny as well, so she suggested a solution.

“As you’ve got that letter, stating that the family has disowned her, how about adopting her? She’s young enough to be your daughter, and I’m sure you feel protective about her and love her that way.”

“Good idea. However, let’s do it quietly. It can be a nice surprise for her.”

Ginny found out on her next scheduled sleep in with Delphi.

The squeal of delight woke everyone up…!