Discipline (20 page)

‘I’ll be in touch if I’m ever free,’ she promised him, and then she reached over and ran her fingers up and down the quickly swelling bulge in his trousers before sliding out of the car. She meant it. She’d thoroughly enjoyed herself with Rob, and knew that she’d enjoy dominating him as well. The whole evening had made her realise that she wasn’t totally dependent upon Carlos for sexual satisfaction.

However, good as it had been tonight, she hadn’t had
the same feelings as she got when she was struggling to obey Carlos’s demands. It hadn’t been as intense or arousing, and she knew that it wasn’t going to be easy to break away from him even if she wanted to.

After letting herself into the house, she went straight upstairs to change, and met Carlos on his way down. He eyed her thoughtfully, obviously taking in her dishevelled clothing and untidy hair.

‘Al fresco sex tonight, Chloe? That’s good. It should stand you in good stead for Saturday afternoon.’ Immediately, all thoughts of her encounter with Rob were driven from her mind, and replaced by images of what lay ahead in Mehrdad’s marquee.

CHAPTER

18

F
riday went by far too quickly for Chloe’s liking. Every hour that passed brought her closer to the garden party, and increased her fear.

The trouble was, it wasn’t only fear. If that had been the case, she could have told Livia she could take her place, and then walked out of Carlos’s life for ever. Unfortunately, the fact that she was also excited, and in a strange way looking forward to the event, meant this was impossible. It also increased her shame.

In order to distract herself, in her mind she replayed the sex that she and Rob had enjoyed the previous night. That cheered her, but did nothing to lessen the shame, because the old Chloe, the one who had walked so innocently into Carlos’s home in Brazil, would never have behaved like that. She was rapidly becoming a stranger to herself.

By four thirty she was finding it impossible to concentrate on her work. Sighing, she pushed all the paperwork into her drawer and started to clear her desk.

‘Finished?’ asked Lizzie, who was busy collating cheques.

‘No, but I think the rest will have to wait until Monday. I keep making stupid mistakes.’

‘Doing anything nice over the weekend?’

‘Nothing special,’ lied Chloe. ‘How about you?’

‘I wasn’t, but that nice Iranian man, the friend of Carlos Rocca, has invited me to his garden party tomorrow. I’m really excited about it. I bet his house is gorgeous. He told me that he holds a garden party every year, always for charity, and this year the proceeds will come to us. Isn’t that great news?’

Chloe felt as though someone had punched her in the solar plexus. ‘Yes,’ she said weakly.

Lizzie laughed. ‘You could sound more enthusiastic. We’re talking thousands of pounds here. Why don’t you come along with me? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. After all, he only got to hear of us through you. To be honest, I’m surprised he hasn’t invited you anyway. I imagined that the two of you must be quite close, considering the size of that donation he gave because of you.’

‘I haven’t seen him lately,’ said Chloe, realising that for once she was telling the truth.

‘Well, he does have a wife. Maybe it’s better that way. Would you like to come with me?’

‘Sorry, I can’t,’ muttered Chloe.

‘Why not? You said you weren’t doing anything special.’

‘I’d rather not, okay?’

Lizzie looked taken aback. ‘I didn’t realise he was a sensitive subject. I’ll tell you all about it on Monday. I’m quite sure it isn’t going to be anything like other garden parties I’ve been to!’

Chloe felt sick. ‘I’m sure you’re right. Look, is it okay if I go now? I’ve got a bit of a headache coming on.’

Lizzie looked across at her. ‘You are rather pale. That’s fine, you get off home. Try and get some rest before Monday too, you look exhausted.’

By the time she got home, Chloe was seething with anger. ‘Where’s Senhor Rocca?’ she asked Mrs Clarke.

‘He’s gone out,’ replied the housekeeper.

‘Out where?’

Obviously taken aback by her tone, the woman looked apologetic. ‘He didn’t tell me. I’m sorry.’

‘Did he at least say when he’d be back?’

‘Late, he won’t be eating dinner here.’

‘Damn!’ snapped Chloe, going into the drawing room and throwing her handbag on to the sofa.

‘Temper, temper!’ murmured Livia. ‘What’s the matter with you? A hard day at the office?’

‘No. Work’s easy, it’s my social life that’s becoming difficult.’

Livia’s eyes sparkled. ‘Carlos is rather hard to keep up with. Innocent young girls like you really shouldn’t try.’

‘He didn’t give me a lot of choice. I was caught in his net before I realised what was happening to me.’

‘Really?’ asked Livia, disbelief clear in her voice. ‘You mean you haven’t enjoyed yourself so far? In that case, you should have a career on the stage. As far as I can see, you’ve taken to your new life like a duck to water.’

‘Well you should know, you’re always around.’

Livia smiled, getting up from her chair and gliding across the room to pour herself a drink. ‘Does that annoy you? Carlos likes to have me around when he’s training you. I understand the rules, you see.’

‘It’s a pity Mehrdad doesn’t understand them better,’ said Chloe bitterly.

Livia stood very still. ‘Meaning what?’

‘I shall talk to Carlos about it when he gets back.’

‘Tell me,’ suggested the Brazilian girl. ‘I’ll pass the message on, I promise.’

Looking at the tall, bronzed beauty, Chloe knew better than to trust her. ‘I’d prefer to do it personally. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to shower and change before
dinner. Do you know when Carlos is due back?’

‘About eleven.’

‘Fine, I’ll talk to him then.’ With that, Chloe left Livia and went upstairs.

Over dinner that night, Livia kept trying to find out what it was that Chloe wanted to discuss with Carlos, but still Chloe refused to tell her. By the end of the meal, the atmosphere between the two young women was very strained, and Chloe was relieved when Livia drove away from the house only minutes after she’d finished her coffee.

When Carlos finally did return, it was nearly eleven-thirty and there was still no sign of Livia. ‘I thought you’d be in bed,’ he said to Chloe when he found her curled up in Livia’s chair in the drawing room.

‘I waited up to talk to you.’

His eyes swept over her, and she became acutely aware that the scooped neckline of her dress revealed the soft swell of her breasts. ‘I’m glad you did,’ he said with a smile. ‘Have you ever thought of pinning your hair up?’ he added, crossing the room and running his fingers through her tousled dark curls. ‘There, that looks wonderful. Perhaps you should have it up tomorrow afternoon.’

Chloe’s eyes had closed as his fingers moved through her hair, but now they flew open. ‘I don’t think I can go ahead with tomorrow afternoon. Mehrdad has invited Lizzie, my boss. That wasn’t part of the agreement. You promised me that no one I knew would be there.’

Carlos frowned. ‘Are you sure of this?’

‘Of course I’m sure. Lizzie told me herself.’

‘You have to go. I’ve told Mehrdad it will be you. Besides, you gave me your word.’

Chloe laughed bitterly. ‘It doesn’t seem that a person’s word counts for much round here.’

Carlos glared at her. ‘My word is important to me. I would never lie to you over something like that. I’ll tell Mehrdad that Lizzie must be kept away from the marquee, and that the pair of you cannot meet up. Does that satisfy you?’

‘Is that a promise?’ asked Chloe.

‘Yes, it is. I give you my word on it. You have to trust me, I’ve told you that before. Mehrdad will never go against my wishes; he can’t afford to upset me.’

It was obvious that Carlos meant what he was saying, that his word was sacred to him, and despite her misgivings, Chloe knew that she must accept his assurances. ‘All right,’ she conceded reluctantly. ‘But please ring him now.’ Carlos nodded and walked away to his study and his private phone.

Neither he nor Chloe noticed that during the course of their conversation Livia had returned, and had been standing in the hallway listening to every word.

‘Here we are,’ said Carlos cheerfully, bringing the car to a halt outside Mehrdad’s Hampstead home. ‘It looks as though some people are already here. I think we should take you in through the side entrance, Chloe. No one should see you before you’re in your costume.’

Chloe, whose mouth was dry with nerves, felt her stomach tighten. ‘What do you mean, costume?’

‘You have to look right for the exhibition. Don’t worry, Mehrdad has excellent taste. Livia, take Chloe round the side of the house while I go and tell them that she’s here. It’s a beautiful day for this, I must say.’

Chloe wasn’t in any mood to appreciate the warm summer sunshine or the cloudless sky. She thought that she would have preferred it to be raining, that way there would almost certainly have been fewer visitors. As it was,
she had a feeling that everyone who’d been invited would turn up, and that would include Lizzie.

As she walked in through the kitchen door and stood shivering in the cool of the kitchen itself, Mehrdad came in from a door on the opposite side of the room. He smiled at her. ‘How wonderful to see you, Chloe. I was afraid you’d change your mind, although Carlos said you were very eager to help make today a success. I’ll take you upstairs and you can get changed. Livia, Carlos said to tell you that he’d meet you in the herb garden.’

Livia gave him a warm, sensuous smile and nodded. She then gave Chloe a quick, indifferent glance. ‘Good luck,’ she said briefly, and with a thin smile she was gone.

‘Would you mind undressing for me?’ asked Mehrdad politely once they were upstairs, as though the two of them had never shared the intimacy of the night of Carlos’s dinner.

‘What do I have to wear?’ asked Chloe nervously.

‘Nothing extreme. Did Carlos explain the rules of the game to you?’

‘He hasn’t really told me anything about it.’

‘It’s quite simple. You masturbate yourself to orgasm three times in the first half-hour, which means that anyone who’s interested will have a chance to see what makes you come before the competition gets under way in earnest. After that, you have a brief break and then anyone who wants to touch you pays fifty pounds to charity. If they manage to bring you to orgasm in ten minutes, they win a small prize. The person who extracts the final orgasm from you wins a crate of champagne and has the opportunity of meeting you again at your charity’s dinner.’

Chloe stared at him in disbelief. ‘What if I don’t want to meet that person again?’

Now it was Mehrdad’s turn to show surprise. ‘Carlos said that you’d be happy to go along with this. He’ll be
with you when you meet up with the winner, so you’ll be quite safe.’

‘I find that very little consolation,’ she retorted. ‘I’m sorry, Mehrdad, but that’s not acceptable to me. I can’t just arrange to meet a stranger for sex, which is presumably what will be expected at some stage of the evening.’

Mehrdad raised his eyebrows. ‘Isn’t that what you did with Rob?’

She felt as though he’d slapped her round the face. ‘How do you know about Rob?’ she whispered. ‘Even Carlos doesn’t know about him.’

‘Chloe, you must try and understand that it isn’t possible to keep secrets from Carlos. Of course he knows about Rob. He has you followed wherever you go. How else can he keep control of you? He is meant to be in control of you, isn’t he? I understood that was the agreement between the two of you.’

‘Not exactly. Did he set Rob up for me?’ she added, as she stepped into a short white tunic dress with thin shoulder straps that was only just long enough to cover her buttocks.

‘No. When he talked to me about it, he was quite angry. Here, turn around, I want to put your mask on.’

Chloe began to back away. ‘I don’t think I want to wear a mask.’

‘It will add to the air of mystery, make it more exciting for everyone. Also, it helps to conceal your true identity. Fiona is going to put your hair up as well, as an additional disguise.’

His words reminded Chloe about Lizzie. ‘Has Carlos told you that I don’t want Lizzie seeing me in the marquee?’ she asked urgently.

Mehrdad nodded. ‘Yes, and I’m sorry that I didn’t realise it would be awkward for you when I invited her. Don’t worry, I will make certain that she stays away.’

‘She wouldn’t be interested in this sort of thing,’ explained Chloe, ‘but it could cost me my job.’

‘You’re worth far too much to her charity for that to happen,’ said Fiona, hurrying into the room. ‘Quickly, let me get your hair done. Lots of people are arriving, and we need to get you in place. You look wonderful like that,’ she added.

Mehrdad sat Chloe down on a stool in front of a full-length mirror, so that she could see herself as Fiona worked on her. The simple pure white dress gave her an almost virginal air of innocence, which was in sharp contrast to the white leather mask, with holes for her eyes, that covered the top half of her face.