Discipline (15 page)

After he’d released her, Carlos looked at her with a fleeting expression of surprise on his face, but then he turned away. ‘It’s a pity Mehrdad wasn’t here to see that. He’d have enjoyed it,’ he remarked, sitting down in his chair again. ‘I think we’ll have coffee in the drawing room now, Chloe. We can discuss the charity dinner while we drink it.’

Sitting in one of the large armchairs in the drawing room, Carlos studied Chloe as she perched on the edge of the sofa, her knees together and her hands in her lap like a dutiful schoolgirl. It was a picture strangely at odds with how she’d looked the previous night, when she’d twisted and turned in the middle of the vast bed, her hair tousled and soaked with sweat as she’d reached peak after peak of pleasure while Livia, Mehrdad and Mike had played with her deliciously sensual body.

Even now, after taking her so swiftly in the dining room, Carlos still wanted her. He wanted to possess her body and soul, to turn her inside out, watching her force herself through every new sexual boundary that she met until finally she decided that she could no longer discipline her body in the way he wanted. Only then, when she failed, would he cease to want her.

‘I need five more tickets for the top table at the dinner,’ he explained. ‘Mehrdad will be making a significant donation
to the Street Children of Brazil fund tomorrow. He also wants to buy tickets for himself, Fiona, Chris and Natasha for the dinner, and we’d better have a ticket for Mike, otherwise the numbers will be wrong.’

Chloe frowned. ‘No they won’t. You and Livia plus Mehrdad, Fiona, Chris and Natasha is fine. It’s Mike who makes the numbers wrong.’

‘You forget that you’re coming with us,’ he reminded her gently, knowing full well that she hadn’t forgotten.

‘I’m going to be sitting at the top table, but I’m not there with you,’ she explained carefully.

‘You’ll be alone?’

‘Of course. It doesn’t bother me. I’m only at the top table because you want me there. It’s made things quite awkward with some of the other girls.’

‘That’s interesting. Why does it affect anyone else?’

‘They don’t think I should be with the VIPs. I’m only a very junior assistant; there are a lot of other people working there who are far more entitled to sit at the top table than I am.’

‘But they wouldn’t interest me,’ he said with a laugh.

‘I can hardly tell them that!’ retorted Chloe. ‘Now you’re saying that if I’m with your party, we need Mike as well, but I don’t want a partner. I shall have lots of things to do that evening.’

Carlos shook his head. ‘I don’t think so, Chloe. I want you by my side, sitting on my right hand, in fact. I also want Livia sitting next to your chairman, Sir Lionel. She should give him an interesting evening and I shall enjoy watching her seduce him with her charms.’

‘But his wife will be there!’

‘Precisely. As for you, I shall be choosing your dress for the evening, and I don’t want you wearing any underwear. Is that clear?’

Chloe shook her head. ‘I’m sorry, Carlos, but I can’t do that. I’ll be sacked if I step out of line at the dinner, and the job means a lot to me.’

He was faintly touched by her anxiety, but it also increased his excitement. ‘Nothing will happen to endanger your job, I promise you. Only you and I will know what happens to you at the dinner.’

‘I can’t do it, Carlos, and I don’t think I can sit Livia next to Sir Lionel either. It wouldn’t be right.’

Carlos was pleased she was resisting him. There would be no fun in teaching her his kind of discipline if she didn’t kick against it. Most of the pleasure would come from forcing her to go against her natural instincts. That was why he was growing tired of Livia; she would probably have chosen to do most of the things he made her do anyway.

‘There’s no choice,’ he said quietly. ‘I’m ordering you to do this, Chloe. You have to obey my rules, just as you used to obey the rules of your religious order, remember?’

‘But I thought that was only here, inside this house,’ exclaimed Chloe.

‘You know better than that. Remember the pub at Richmond?’

‘That was different. It wasn’t with people I knew, people I had to work with every day.’

‘Of course not, because it was in your early days. You were a sexual novice then, but after last night that term hardly applies to you any more. Be honest, doesn’t the idea of sitting next to me half-naked and aroused, without knowing what’s going to happen to you, intrigue you?’

‘I don’t know how I’m going to get through the night,’ she muttered, hanging her head.

‘I notice you’re no longer refusing.’

When Chloe didn’t reply, he got up and went over to her. ‘Arrange it all,’ he commanded her, running his fingers
through her hair and massaging her scalp lightly with his fingertips. As she gave a small sigh and moved her head back against his hand, he bent down, kissed the nape of her neck and then walked out of the room.

In his experience, combining firm authority with just a slight reminder of sensual pleasure was the best way to lead a reluctant but natural sensualist like Chloe further down the road of his choice.

He was amazed when Chloe ran after him, and caught up with him on the first-floor landing. ‘What is it?’ he asked sharply.

‘It doesn’t seem right that Mehrdad is giving the charity money because of last night.’

‘Why not?’

‘The things that we did were very private and personal. This makes it all seem like a business transaction.’

‘Nonsense. You gave pleasure to Mehrdad and now he wants to thank you. I told him how much the charity meant to you and he sees it as a nice way of showing his gratitude.’

‘I see,’ she said thoughtfully, and for a fleeting moment he wondered exactly what she was thinking. ‘Are there more tests for me to undergo after this?’ she added.

He nodded. ‘Naturally, several more.’

‘And what happens if I pass them all?’

Carlos shrugged. ‘I haven’t thought that far ahead. What would you like to happen?’

She smiled sweetly at him. ‘I haven’t thought that far ahead either.’

Carlos was intrigued on two counts. First, no woman had ever said that to him before, and second, he had a feeling that she wasn’t telling him the truth. That was good. Disciplining Chloe would be even more satisfying than he’d originally anticipated.

CHAPTER

14

W
hen Chloe arrived at work the next morning, Lizzie was already at her desk. Glancing up at Chloe, she started to greet her, and then frowned. ‘What’s happened to you?’ she asked.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Have you changed your hairstyle or something?’

‘No.’

‘Well you look different. New make-up?’

Chloe began to feel uncomfortable as Lizzie continued to study her. ‘I’m two days older than when you last saw me, that’s the only difference I can think of!’

‘Something’s happened,’ declared Lizzie firmly. ‘You’ve got a glow about you. I know; you’re in love!’

‘Of course I’m not in love. Heavens, is that list of phone calls for me? I’d better make a start on it.’ With that she made her way past the still thoughtful-looking Lizzie and sat down at her own desk. ‘By the way,’ she added casually, ‘Carlos would like some more tickets for the dinner next month.’

‘Carlos?’

‘Carlos Rocca.’

‘I knew who you meant, I was just surprised to hear you calling him Carlos.’

‘I
am
renting a room in his house, Lizzie. I can hardly call him Senhor Rocca all the time.’

‘I’d have thought he was the kind of man who’d demand formality. Anyway, I’m afraid you’ll have to tell your Carlos that the tickets are sold out. Sorry.’

‘They can’t be!’

‘Why not? Thanks to some free advertising that Annabel managed to get out of a contact in the magazine world last week, the final few were snapped up late Friday night after you dashed off.’

‘But Mehrdad—’

‘Who?’ asked Lizzie abruptly.

‘He’s one of Carlos’s friends. His name’s Mehrdad and he wanted to come to the dinner. I think Carlos virtually promised him a place at the top table.’

‘Is that Mehrdad Kervani?’

‘I’ve no idea. Why, do you know him?’

‘I certainly do! He brought in a cheque for ten thousand pounds this morning, but he didn’t ask for any tickets for the dinner.’

‘That’s probably because Carlos had said he’d get them for him,’ explained Chloe.

‘Well, for ten thousand pounds I think we can make the top table a little bit bigger, don’t you?’ said Lizzie with a laugh. ‘You know, for an ex-nun who didn’t know anyone in this country, you’ve made some very rich and useful contacts since you joined us. What’s the secret of your success?’

‘I don’t know Mehrdad personally,’ lied Chloe, trying not to remember the way he’d placed the vibrator deep inside her as her frantic flesh throbbed and longed for stimulation.

‘Really? You know Carlos Rocca pretty personally though. Is this Mehrdad guy coming as his guest?’

‘Yes, along with his wife, another couple and a male friend.’

Lizzie smiled. ‘I see, a spare male. Would this be someone to keep you company?’

‘No it would not!’

‘Doesn’t matter to me,’ said Lizzie reassuringly. ‘One word of advice though. I should keep a bit quiet about your closeness to our esteemed patron. Some of the other girls might read more into it than you claim exists. I suppose Senhor Rocca has very definite ideas about where he wants his new guests seated as well, has he?’

‘Some,’ admitted Chloe. ‘He wants me to sit on his right and his partner Livia to sit next to Sir Lionel. Will that be possible?’

‘I don’t know what Sir Lionel will make of an exotic Brazilian beauty sitting next to him. She is beautiful, I take it?’

‘Yes, very beautiful.’

‘In that case, why does Senhor Rocca want you on his right and not his mistress?’

‘No idea,’ said Chloe abruptly. ‘I’m going to do my phoning from the small back office. It’s quieter there.’

It was obvious that Lizzie knew something strange was going on, but Chloe hoped that her own apparent naïvety would stop the other woman from guessing the bizarre and shaming truth.

As usual on a Monday there was a lot of work to do, and Chloe was able to keep out of Lizzie’s way until the end of the day. Aware that the older woman was concerned, she was anxious not to get into any kind of deep conversation with her.

Usually Lizzie left promptly on a Monday night, to go to badminton, so Chloe waited until six o’clock to go into the main office and collect her things. However, Lizzie was still there.

‘Where have you been hiding yourself all day?’ she asked Chloe.

‘I haven’t been hiding, I’ve just been busy. You saw how many phone calls I had to make and—’

‘Didn’t you even take a lunch break?’

Chloe shook her head. ‘Not today.’

Lizzie frowned. ‘What’s happening to you, Chloe?’

‘Nothing’s happening to me. It isn’t a crime to be busy, is it?’

‘I didn’t mean that, and you know it. Why is Senhor Rocca so determined to have you sitting next to him at our charity dinner? And why did this Mehrdad man give us such a massive donation, when as far as I know he’d never had anything to do with us before?’

Chloe shrugged. ‘I’ve no idea.’

‘I don’t think that’s true. I didn’t mention it earlier, but he said it was in memory of you. For one dreadful moment I thought you’d died over the weekend. I started to ask him what had happened, and he laughed. He actually laughed, as though I’d said something incredibly amusing. What was funny about me thinking you were dead? When people give money to charities in memory of another person it’s usually because they’ve died. Since you clearly didn’t die, what did you do to make him think so highly of you?’

Chloe’s mind went completely blank. ‘What do you think I did, Lizzie?’ she asked at last.

‘I have absolutely no idea.’

‘Then why are you sounding so accusing?’

‘Because he’s a handsome, sophisticated man, and so is Carlos Rocca. They’re men of the world, Chloe. They’re intrigued by innocent young women like you, but they discard them when they get bored. I don’t want you hurt. You don’t have any family to advise you, and in a way I feel responsible for you. There is something going on, isn’t there?’

‘No, there isn’t, but I understand what you’re saying and
I’m not completely stupid. Believe me, there’s nothing for you to worry about. I’m fine. I met Mehrdad over the weekend. He and his wife were staying with Carlos and Livia. I talked to Mehrdad about my time in Brazil. I explained how I’d come back to England feeling totally disillusioned, but that working for the charity here had proved very satisfying. He was interested, and I suppose he wanted to do something to help. Although ten thousand pounds is a lot to us, to a man like him it’s nothing.’

‘Rich people are usually less willing to part with their money than poorer ones,’ said Lizzie drily. ‘What was this memory he mentioned then?’

‘I suppose he meant he remembered talking to me. I expect he expressed himself badly. His English isn’t that good.’

Lizzie clearly didn’t believe that. ‘He’s got an English wife, Chloe! I thought his English was excellent.’