Under the Lash (2 page)

But despite her fervor, after her first untrained attempt at skewering the man through the middle, she found herself relieved of her weapon after only having gotten a few steps into the room, and now both she and her mother were at his mercy as he chuckled and hefted the lance once or twice, before turning to place it carefully against the wall behind him, well out of Cassie’s reach.

Putting her ignominiously quick defeat behind her, she nevertheless stormed up to the man whom she considered the usurper of her mother’s affections, to say nothing of an abusive lout who seemed to take great pleasure in inflicting pain on weaker beings, and spat in his face, shouting for him to stop beating her mother and let her go.

But again, the Don was too quick for her, and he captured her forearms and held them well away from him, neutralizing this threat as well, without much thought, holding her until she’d exhausted herself physically, although she continued to rain invectives down on his head.

“Enough!” he roared, and Cassie flinched, finding herself unexpectedly turned loose while the Don produced a pristine handkerchief with which he wiped his face. Instead of renewing her attack, all she could think to do was to rub her arms where his hands had restrained her, as if his mere touch had sullied her, somehow.

During all of this, a very distraught Lysette had tried to stand up, but one look from her new husband had her back in place seconds later. She couldn’t hold her tongue as her face blushed nearly as furiously as her backside. “Cassandra! Go back to your room this minute!” she ordered.

Cassie wasn’t listening. All of her attention was focused on the man in front of her. She was determined to rescue her mother from his lascivious clutches. But when she opened her mouth again to let loose with another stream of invectives that called not only his own honor but that of his ancestors’ into question, he cut her off merely by taking a step forward.

Despite her inward castigation of herself as a coward, Cassie couldn’t prevent herself from snapping her mouth shut and taking a corresponding step back at the same time, although she did manage to keep her eyes locked with her opponent’s.

The Don was to be commended for keeping the vitriol that Cassie knew had to be lurking somewhere within him from showing in his calm, almost but not quite soothing tone. “I know we don’t know each other very well yet, Cassandra, but you should know better than to come bursting into your mother’s room uninvited. To say nothing of the fact that you should have been taught to think twice – and then twice again – before deciding to interfere with what transpires between a man and wife,” he said, surprising her by taking several steps back himself. “Do as your mother suggested and return to your room. And don’t go venturing out of it again once you’ve gone to bed or you might find yourself even more appalled at what you discover happens between men and women in their bedchambers.”

Cassie swallowed and stood her ground although she could see how tightly his jaw was clenched the longer she remained in place.

Seeing that his more gentle speech was not having any effect, Gregorio said almost off handedly, “Not that it’s any of your business, but you might consider the fact that your mother isn’t bound or restrained in any way. What does that tell you about her part in this little tableau, hmmm?”

“Gregorio!” her mother gasped, looking up at him as Cassie began to back away, not in obedience to her mother’s – or the Duque’s – order, but because the reality of the situation was just hitting her: her mother was a willing participant in this horrifying pursuit.

As much as she didn’t want to, after a few backward steps, Cassie simply turned tail and ran. She couldn’t possibly get away from that bedroom fast enough, but before she made it to the safety of the hallway, she heard her stepfather say, “Maybe we need to find you a man who can do the same for you, Cassandra – keep you firmly in line, where you belong.”

Cassie refused to listen to what he was saying, although the words seemed to seep in despite the fact she was doing her best to ignore them. “Your parents have spoiled you; and like your mother, you are sorely in need of a husband who’s not going to be anywhere near as indulgent.”

Although she had already turned the corner and continued to run as fast as she could away from that disturbing scene, her keen ears could still pick up her mother’s indignant squeak of “Gregorio!”, as well as what she was rapidly coming to recognize as the crack of something unyielding against flesh, which prompted her to continue her sprint with her hands firmly over her ears, lest they hear anything worse than they already had.

With the abhorrent visions of what she had just witnessed racing through her mind, Cassie did exactly what she had been expressly told not to do. First, she changed into her rattiest dress, knowing she wouldn’t want to sully any of the nicer ones, and filled the largest valise she thought she could carry – and not with the most practical of items at that, preferring to take remembrances and mementos from her father rather than the warm cloak and more sturdy shoes she was feeling the acute absence of right now.

Luckily for her, as the Don lived a more countrified life here, away from civilization, and her maid, Mary, hadn’t made the long voyage yet, there was little need to sneak around as she slipped boldly out the front door, although she still did her best to make sure that no one saw her, especially as she was out in the open as she crossed the courtyard.

Once she found the entrance to the path she sought at the edge of the jungle–like woods, she started at the sound of some wild animal or bird, plastering herself against the side of the tree. She knew she would end up somewhere near the beautiful beach she’d found while wandering about on her own one day. But she had neglected to bring a lantern, and she wasn’t really sure that that wasn’t a good thing, since she had neglected to notice that the night was intermittently overcast and she was only given occasional glimpses of the shoreline as she was headed down a steepish hill. At least she could smell the water and knew she was headed in the right direction.

The problem was that she didn’t really have a plan as to what to do once she got there. She headed there because in the short time that she had been on the island, it had become her haven away from the house she was rapidly coming to hate, but she only knew the one way in or out. And regardless of where she ended up, she was trapped on an island that her stepfather governed. Her only hope was to stow away on a ship bound for somewhere – anywhere – but she knew that none was in residence at the moment because Duque Gregorio had mentioned that they would have to wait for the next ship to arrive to post the letters with instructions for the staff at both of their houses that her Mother had written recently.

For the moment, once she felt sand shifting beneath her feet, she stayed relatively close to the path that had lead her here, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness. But as soon as she realized that she’d been staring at more than the empty cove, she turned as quickly and quietly as she could, knowing that it was even more important that she remain undiscovered, considering what she’d already had the misfortune of seeing.

A large ship – larger by half again than the one on which they had sailed from England – had slipped silently into the unprotected cove and a boat had already landed not three hundred feet from her, its men scurrying about like rats, whispering harshly to each other only when it was absolutely necessary. Not a light was lit on the entire vessel, and this behavior had even the innocent Cassie alarmed. Her fears were confirmed when a large party of ruffians gathered and lit huge torches, then began marching towards what she was concerned was the exact path she was standing next to. It was then that she could see the skull and crossbones flying high and proud at the top of the mast of the ship where it lay anchored just off shore, and she knew that her worst fears had been confirmed: pirates were raiding the town, and she was the only one who seemed to be aware of that fact. And if she could see them, they could probably see her, as well.

She knew she had to get to the church to send up the alarm, but she wasn’t even sure she knew the way there, especially not in the dark and not from this tiny cove. She’d only ever seen it that one time when the Don had shown it to them, and she certainly hadn’t been expecting that she would ever need to find her way back to it. But despite what she’d seen transpire tonight, Cassie had absolutely no interest in losing her mother so soon after watching her father waste way, so she headed uphill, remembering that the church was on a high point, overlooking the harbor.

She didn’t question her luck, however, when minutes later she ended up exactly where she needed to be. The doors to the church were enormously heavy but unlocked, and she just managed to pull them open enough to slip inside, then felt her way across the altar to a set of stairs that must lead to the bell tower.

The chamber was small enough that, once she’d climbed to the top of the stairs and taken two steps, the bell pull brushed the top of her head. Cassie reached up to grab onto it, then pulled with all her might, feeling a tremendous sense of relief when the old bell clanged to life, even though she felt herself lifted entirely off her feet as it swung back.

Until someone’s alarmingly strong arms closed tightly around her midsection, and she found herself relived both of the rope and the ability to do what she wanted most in the world to do at this time – scream – as a huge hand clamped itself over her mouth.

“Move and I’ll kill you,” came the rough promise from lips that were pressed much too intimately against her ear.

Chapter Two

Whoever he was let the rope back up very slowly and gently, so as not to allow the bell to sound again, all the while maintaining a rib cracking hold on Cassie, who despite her earlier bravado had been thoroughly frightened into obeying his rough command, at least for now.

Seconds later, they were out of the church and she recognized that she was being taken back in much the same direction she had come – although much less tentatively than she had been traveling, as if the person who held her captive knew his way around the island without much thought. Now she was even more terrified than she had been before, and she knew she was in grave danger. If this pirate managed to get her onto his boat, she would be lost forever, in more ways than one. Her reputation would be in ruins. Even if her mother was able to find her somehow, which was highly doubtful, she wouldn’t be considered much worth rescuing by anyone in their society. It would be assumed by all and sundry that her virtue had been compromised, and there would never be any hope of making a good match for her with any gentleman.

So despite the threat he’d issued, Cassie began to fight for her life, only to find that all her kicking, punching and wiggling got her was a sharp swat on her backside that had her positively howling indignantly from behind that massive hand. His attempt at childish chastisement only encouraged her to redouble her efforts, at least until they were again on soft sand.

She expected that he would simply cart her over to the boat she had seen them beach. But instead he surprised her by taking a seat on a large boulder that was conveniently situated at the end of the path. Before she could say or do anything, she found herself flipped quite expertly over his lap, her skirts over her head and her bottom bared to receive the righteous correction of his platter sized hand connecting with her bare, ample flesh so fast and furious and exquisitely painfully that it stunned her into a long silence, during which she could only manage to breathe in until she thought her lungs would explode with it.

And then they did. Her indignant screams ripped through the night, getting her what she thought she wanted. The spanking stopped almost immediately, and she was once again half dragged, half carried by the behemoth at her back, that almost suffocating hand firmly back in place across her mouth.

It was then that Cassie realized – although her struggles to be released hadn’t gotten her anywhere yet, there was another avenue that she would more than relish pursuing. And that was when she sank her teeth ruthlessly into the only portion of his anatomy that was readily available to her – the tender heel of the hand that had been thrashing her seconds before. And she didn’t let go until he dropped her and she had no choice but to release her painful grip on him, or she would still have been holding on to him.

“Why you little!”

Her tangled skirts hampered her efforts at getting away from him although she’d tried to get up to start running as soon as her feet hit the sand. But before she could even begin to get away, he reached out and hauled her back to him by her slim ankle, dragging her through the sand until he could reach under her skirts to her petticoats, easily ripping a long section of the ruffled material from the well–worn dress with his bare hands while she still tried desperately to scramble onto her feet. Then he casually reached down just as she thought she might have eluded him and had a chance to escape, grabbing a much too intimate hold of her leg just under her knee to drag her back towards him, then standing to tug on her upper arm until he’d lifted her up onto her feet and turned her towards him, smashing her up against his marble slab of a chest and nearly knocking the wind out of her.

Cassie opened her mouth to give him a thorough verbal comeuppance and announce to him exactly who she was, but she didn’t get a word out before he used the rag he’d relieved her of to shove into her mouth, binding it expertly at the back of her head, rendering her at once both silent and much less deadly.

When she was turned away from him, he also dealt with her flailing hands, binding them behind her and then pushing her down onto her butt in the wet sand so that he could make embarrassingly short work of doing the same to her feet.

When he rose, he leaned down and scooped her into his arms, but when she continued to struggle as best she could, he simply shifted her to a very uncomfortable position over his broad, muscular shoulder, where she was most conveniently positioned so that any time she made any movement whatsoever, he could simply reach up and give her a hearty whack on what Cassie considered to be an already well tenderized bottom.