The Man of the House

By Evelyn Ellis

Set in 1879 London, England. The Man of the House is an erotic retelling of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Orphaned at a young age and raised in workhouses and foundling homes, nineteen-year-old Molly Knight takes a position in the household of Dr. Jekyll and his wife, Felicity, as governess to their two young children. Molly senses something is not quite right in the Jekyll household and is soon drawn into a sensual forbidden relationship with the evil Mr. Hyde when she discovers Dr. Jekyll’s hidden laboratory. When Felicity Jekyll goes missing, Jekyll must choose between his secret lust for Molly and the rescue of his wife.
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Man of the House is part of Evelyn Ellis’s Victorian Seduction and Surrender Series, erotic romance novellas and short story collections of villainous Victorian men and the young virginal women they seduce. This novel is an erotic romance—a love story written for adults. It contains scenes, language and themes intended for a mature audience. Sensitive readers are strongly cautioned.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Writewood Creations Publishing
• Release date: Jun 26, 2017
• ISBN: 9781988003467

Evelyn Ellis

Evelyn Ellis has had a passion for historical romance from an early age. She liked the spicy ones best, but they were never spiced in the right way (or enough) for her taste, so she began writing her own erotica. She particularly enjoys writing erotic short stories and novellas. The shorter format allows for deeper character examination over the course of a very hot erotic story. Her stories are standalone and serial short fiction with themes that explore taboo sexual subjects from Medieval time to the Swinging Sixties, in settings all over the globe.

Book preview

THE MAN OF THE HOUSE

Victorian Seduction and Surrender Series

EVELYN ELLIS

A Victorian Erotic Romance Novel

Copyright 2016 Evelyn Ellis

Electronic Edition 2017

Writewood Creations

261 Lac Bernard Road

Alcove, Quebec

Canada J0X 1A0

[e-mail]

www.writewoodcreations.blogspot.com

ISBN 978-1-988003-46-7

All rights reserved.

This publication remains the copyrighted property

of the author and may not be redistributed for commercial

or non-commercial purposes.

Cover image by Carlo Dapino

Cover design by Writewood Creations

Table of Contents

Copyright Page

Also by Evelyn Ellis

From the Publisher

The Man of the House

About the Author

Historical First Time Forbidden Series

Victorian Seduction and Surrender Series

Free Samples of Evelyn Ellis Titles!

Also by Evelyn Ellis

Victorian Seduction and Surrender Series

Simon Graystoke’s Niece

Victorian Games

The Storm and Doctor Dixon

Forbidden Passion Obsession

Historical First Time Forbidden Series

His Wife’s Little Sister

The Taboo Club

Cherry Pop

Forbidden Fruit

From the Publisher

Set in 1879 London, England. The Man of the House is an erotic retelling of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Orphaned at a young age and raised in workhouses and foundling homes, nineteen-year-old Molly Knight takes a position in the household of Dr. Jekyll and his wife, Felicity, as governess to their two young children. Molly senses something is not quite right in the Jekyll household and is soon drawn into a sensual forbidden relationship with the evil Mr. Hyde when she discovers Dr. Jekyll’s hidden laboratory. When Felicity Jekyll goes missing, Molly must choose between her secret love for Dr. Jekyll and the rescue of his wife.

§

The author acknowledges that the Grand Guignol Theatre was in Paris, not London in 1879 and that many of the literary and historical characters named have been jumbled together for dramatic purposes and not historical accuracy.

§

Man of the House is part of Evelyn Ellis’s Victorian Seduction and Surrender Series, erotic romance novellas and short story collections of villainous Victorian men and the young virginal women they seduce. Mad doctors, evil landlords and nasty uncles—men we shouldn’t give our hearts to, but we do! The Man of the House is an erotic romance—a love story written for adults. It contains scenes, language and themes intended for a mature audience. Sensitive readers are strongly cautioned.

THE MAN OF THE HOUSE

Chapter One

London, England ~ October 1879

THE RUMORS about Dr. Jekyll had been rife in London for several weeks before Molly Knight joined their household as governess to his two children. What these rumors alluded to no one could say, least of all the nineteen-year-old orphan who had only just graduated from Miss Beasley’s Academy for Young Women, and was eager to make her way in the world.

The Jekyll house on Harrington Street had a dark and gloomy aspect, though it was one of the newer buildings. The ceilings were high and every room was paneled in exotic woods that had been polished to a high gloss. There were potted palm plants, tapestry carpets and fires blazing in the library and dining room. Molly had been invited to dine with the family the first evening but after that she asked to take her meals in her room on a tray. She was welcome at the table but Mrs. Jekyll understood the young governess’s need for respite from the charge of their beastly infants.

Molly’s days were ordered according to the lessons she set out for the children. Dr. Jekyll was adamant that Peter and Millicent have a well-rounded education that included Latin and French. Her daytime duties kept her too busy to wonder at the odd atmosphere in the house.

Nighttime was a different thing altogether.

After everyone had gone to bed, a presence could be felt in the Jekyll home that Molly found unsettling. She could not identify its source. Doctor Jekyll was brilliant, respectful and thoroughly good. His wife, Felicity Jekyll, was a vivacious woman with a wickedly marvelous curiosity. There was nothing odd about the man or his family that Molly could see. In fact, she had made up her mind that Dr. Jekyll epitomized all things desirable in a man. Her employer was serious, interesting and handsome, as well as being clever.

Molly had just begun to celebrate her good fortune in landing such an agreeable situation when she was awakened out of a sound sleep by a disturbing sound.

She tiptoed downstairs to investigate. There was no one in the hall or in the study or library. The sound was persistent, a choking, strange growling sound. Molly followed it below stairs to the kitchen. The vast room was empty. The small bells used to summon the servants were silent. The huge table at which the household staff took their meals was spotless and the chairs were pushed in. The sound was coming from behind the kitchen fireplace. Fifty years ago, cook would have prepared the meals here but now the hearth was cold and blocked by a screen. Molly approached cautiously and the sounds became louder.

How she came to be roused from sleep and no one else was due to the construction of the house. The kitchen chimney ran up the wall where her room was situated. The warm red brick was hidden by wood panels in her bedchamber. Whatever was making that unearthly sound was directly behind this fireplace.

Molly removed the screen and stepped inside the yawning maw of the hearth. The moan rose to a growl. Was an animal trapped behind the wall somehow? She ran her hands over the blackened brick and touched upon an iron lever. Hesitant to pull on it, fearful that a chimney full of decades-old soot would come cascading down upon her head—Molly took a breath, closed her eyes and yanked.

The lever moved surprisingly easy, and the brick side wall slid open wide enough to admit her inside. Molly eased around the brick wall and entered chamber lit with sconces; an iron spiral staircase curved downward into a peculiar laboratory. Peculiar because the science practiced here did not resemble the science she had studied in school. Tall shelves lined the walls that were filled with beakers of multicolored chemicals; a series of Bunsen burners were stewing vials of noxious liquid. The air reeked of formaldehyde and blood. Molly’s eyes darted to the dissection table. Whatever had been cut open there was long gone, but its blood remained, dried in long brown streaks over the cloth.

Dr. Jekyll was wearing a long white lab coat and bent over a counter. He looked up at her approach.

Doctor—sir?—are you quite all right?

Aside from the white coat, Dr. Jekyll’s appearance had dramatically altered. His eyes, which had always been startling blue, were now brilliant and almost navy in color. The man was not Dr. Jekyll. At least, he did not appear to be at first glance. This man was ruddy, handsome. Virile. His eyes glinted like steel at her approach. Molly wore a white night dress of thin material and her hair was unbound.

What have we here? He growled in a sinister undertone. A vestal virgin has come to sacrifice her maidenhead to me.

Dr. Jekyll, are you all right, sir? I heard noises and came to investigate, but I see you are working. Forgive me, I have disturbed you.

She turned to leave, not liking the look in her employer’s eyes. Her gown was transparent. She was sorry she had not brought her shawl with her.

Disturbed me? Not at all, you’re just in time to help me. Come closer. I can’t see you properly in that light.

Molly obeyed with great misgiving.

I have been conducting experiments on rats but the result was unsatisfactory. The formula has been altered slightly since the last time I dosed myself. I am monitoring its effects and I’m rather pleased with the result. What do you think?

She drew near. Dr. Jekyll’s light brown hair had darkened, grew longer and thicker, his kind blue eyes were now steely pewter. His jaw line, neck and shoulders had grown heavy and stronger.

I don’t understand, she said. You look like yourself, only different. You are taller, I believe. What has happened to you?

His voice had changed too, from the cultured polite cadence of Dr. Jekyll to the deep savage tone of this incarnation.

The serum seems to have accelerated the male hormone in my body. An unexpected side effect that is distinctly pleasant. It has given me quite an appetite. He loomed over her, a wolfish look in his eyes.

An appetite for what, sir? Molly took a step back, watching him warily.

For the sweet young pussy of a governess, he said seductively. Now, where might I find such a person?

I must return to my room, Dr. Jekyll. She turned to escape him but he caught her by the arm.

Call me Mr. Hyde.

He bent her back, kissing her roughly on the mouth. His tongue tried to push between her lips but she fought free of his grip.

Sir! she gasped. What has gotten into you? The worst part about her employer’s behavior was her shocking response to it. Her nerve endings were tingling with terror and pleasure.

You don’t like it? he murmured, and licked her earlobe seductively. Are you pure, Molly?

Yes! No! I don’t like it at all. Your wife and children, sir! Think of them. She tried to push him away. You lured me down here by claiming you needed my help. You tricked me.

Oh, but I do need your help. I am quite desperate for one thing in particular. This craving will not release me until I act upon it. I shall be driven to do terrible, dark deeds if you do not help me, Miss Knight.

What is it that you need me to do?

He bent over her, his hot breath was in her ear. Open your gown and let me fondle your firm young tits. There is not much time. The serum will wear off soon. The laboratory rats resumed their natural dispositions within hours of being dosed. He lifted her in his strong arms and carried her to a narrow chaise lounge. My cock needs relief tonight or I shall get up to mischief.

She struggled with all her might against his grip but his arms were like a vise. "Stop this, sir! Dr. Jekyll, whatever has happened, this is not you! You will regret this act when you come back to your senses. Listen to me! I—I shall sit with you—I won’t leave you, but you must control yourself."

He lowered her to the lounge and held her fast. Do you know the story of Saul and David? His voice was rough and impossibly deep. King Saul would have fits, beset by a demon. The only relief he found was in listening to David play his lyre.

I don’t have a lyre. Shall I sing?

His laugh rumbled from the back of his throat. You miss my point. Dr. Jekyll—the man you so admire—can only be saved by a maiden, pure and forgiving, who will allow the monster he has created to take her. If you want Jekyll back, you will spread your legs for Hyde. Hyde pressed his face close to her ear, panting and snapping against her tender neck. Is that you, Miss Knight? Will you make love to the monster?

A shiver of something unusual and exciting rippled through her. Molly thought of Felicity Jekyll who had become more than an employer—she was also a friend. She did not want to hurt anyone, but Dr. Jekyll was dangerously unbalanced from the serum he’d ingested. If she did not help him, there was no telling what he might do. The rumors about him had hinted at violent mood swings—could the serum be the source? Her employer seemed convinced her surrender would return him to his right mind.

These thoughts passed through Molly’s consciousness but she knew what she was going to do from the first. Dr. Jekyll was more than just an employer to her. He was a brilliant man of science and Molly admired him deeply. She would do anything to help him. And tonight his eyes were on her—aroused to a fever pitch—he desired her. She was the only one who could save him.

You may open my gown, she breathed. Her chest rose and fell. If you think it will help, sir.

Oh it will, it will....

Hyde pressed her back until she was under him on the lounge. He tugged at the ribbons with his teeth. The neckline parted and her breasts spilled out. Molly closed her eyes, mortified.

Perfection, he grunted and fell on them, greedily.

He squeezed them heartlessly and she winced in pain. Hyde thumbed and pinched each nipple, rolling them between his fingers. The sensation was awful at first and then a slow, smoky fire ignited between her legs.

You are a virgin, the creature moaned. It will take hours of foreplay to awaken your sex drive. I will enjoy this experiment too much to share you with Jekyll.

Whatever her employer had taken, it had transformed him into a different class of man. Still of her species but of a supernatural variety, like a mutation. Molly could only pray the effects were not permanent and Dr. Jekyll was stronger than his creation.

Hyde bent over her breasts and tongued one of her exposed nipples; a newly popped blossom that she had only just begun to notice was extraordinarily sensitive to the touch.

Instantly, Molly’s back arched and she shoved her fist in her mouth to stifle a cry of pleasure. Moisture collected between her thighs, pumped by a throbbing sensation in her nether region. Molly didn’t know the anatomical term for that part of her body, but she felt strongly that she wanted Dr. Jekyll to touch her there.

But it was not Dr. Jekyll fondling her—her seducer was Mr. Hyde.

As though reading her mind, the creature’s huge hand was already moving up between her legs. His lips and teeth were fastened to her breast, nibbling and tonguing her puckered nipples until she was half-mad with sexual fever. Molly could not summon the will to stop the trajectory of his hand though she was petrified of the consequences.

Mr. Hyde neared his target. His fingers were within feather strokes of reaching the downy pillow of pubic hair between her thighs.

Molly squeezed her eyes shut. She uttered a sound that was a cross between protest and surrender and gripped his shoulders. His extraordinary muscles bunched under his lab coat. Molly tensed, her thighs shook. She prepared for the penetration of his fingers and her subsequent defilement.

Instead, another transformation took place. Mr. Hyde’s hand was jerked away as if by an unseen force. He groaned and gnashed his teeth, then lifted his face from her bosom with a bellow of pain.

Lunging away from her, the monster stumbled to the middle of the room, clutching his hands to his head. "Get out, get out, get out!"

Molly hastily drew her nightgown around her and raced to the circular staircase. Tossing a look back at the tortured soul, she saw Dr. Jekyll’s handsome face twisted with pain and black with shadow. He was battling some deadly force and Molly was terrified of what he might become if he lost.

She gripped the iron railing and raced up the staircase as fast as possible. She darted behind the hearth wall and pushed it closed. Molly leaned against it, her pulse racing.

What she heard coming from the man trapped inside was too foul to repeat. She ran to her room and locked her door behind her.

Chapter Two

MOLLY COULD not stay in the employ of Dr. Jekyll after what happened. She woke the next morning, got through the lesson with the children and made up her mind to speak to Mrs. Jekyll before the lady left on her afternoon visits. Dr. Jekyll must be out of his mind to take that potion. Real scientists did not conduct experiments on themselves. He was a monster. Molly feared a greater evil would befall her than what happened last night if she remained under his roof.

I am sorry to do it, but I must hand in my notice.

She stood in front of Mrs. Jekyll, nervous, ashamed and guilty, but also determined. She’d a horrible night’s sleep, tossing and turning replaying Mr. Hyde’s hands on her body. Risking a repeat of the scene would only lead to disgrace and disaster.

You will do no such thing. Felicity Jekyll stared at Molly, appalled. The children have come to depend on you and so do I. What has brought this on?

Nothing in particular, madam—only I’m not sure this is the best situation for me.

What on earth does that mean? What is bothering you? Come on, out with it.

Molly seized upon the one excuse she knew would be understood. Before I accepted this position, some rumors reached my ear regarding the doctor and his work. I paid them no mind, but perhaps I was too hasty. Where there is smoke there is fire, as they say.

I am aware of the rumors. I thought a sensible girl like you would know better than to credit gossip. But while we’re on the subject, what specifically have you heard?

The doctor keeps irregular hours. He has no patients. And one story has placed him at the centre of a violent crime in Hyde Park. Witnesses claim to have seen a man of his description running away after a brutal attack on another man. I don’t believe Dr. Jekyll would ever harm anyone on purpose but I am judged guilty by association. I realize I’m a terrible coward but as a single young woman I must take care with my reputation.

Felicity Jekyll sat back in her chair. She pressed her fingertips to her forehead, smoothed her curls and sighed. Of course you must. It is true the doctor keeps odd hours but that is due to the nature of his research. His daytime hours are better suited for working on his papers in his study and writing up his findings. In the late hours of the night he is able to conduct his experiments without interruption. I had not heard of the attack in Hyde Park. Obviously the assailant bore a resemblance to Dr. Jekyll. If the police found any merit to the report they would have interviewed my husband in connection to the crime, and they did not. Felicity lifted her pretty eyes to Molly’s face. There are many, unfortunately, jealous researchers in the scientific community who delight in discrediting Dr. Jekyll. I suspect the story of an assailant matching my husband’s description is the concoction of a jealous rival. Is that enough to reassure you?

Molly blushed. If only it were that simple.

Molly, you won’t get far in life if you allow yourself to be driven out of good jobs by spiteful gossip. Now, can I count on you? If you mean to go, then I will not hold you back.

I shall stay. She did not have the strength of will to argue the point. She was nervous of what she might let slip.

"Wonderful! That’s