Untitled (24 page)

    "She's free to go. You might want to call her a taxi. I'll pay."

    Edmund laughed. "You think I'm not good for taxi fare?"

    "Not the point, Eddy."

    "I enjoyed myself. Would have enjoyed myself even more, but I tire so easily now. Still, the party in my rooms was first rate. Lots to see. I'm sorry you weren't here."

    "Me too. But I do have a lot going on, in fact, we'll have to continue this conversation another time."

    "Just one thing, Alain. I laid it on pretty heavy with your submissive. Told her you sold her to me for the night."

    "Really?" Alain's brows lifted. "And how did that go down?"

    "She didn't want to believe that you'd sell her. Perhaps I went too far?"

    "Oh, that's nothing I can't take care of. I'm sure she deserved everything she got, the little miscreant." Alain was actually feeling quite affectionate towards his Meri. It would have been a great night if they'd been together for the Masquerade. As it turned out, however, a few lessons might have been learned, and he could thank Edmund for that. Not that the matter of her sneaky behavior was over. He was looking forward to their next meeting, one that would be particularly awkward for her and enjoyable for him.

    "She'll have one sore ass, I'm afraid," Edmund added. "I caned it hard, first time in a while and I was really getting into the mood. What a pleasure! And that was right on top of what Giles did to her in the dungeon."

    "Wish I could have been there to see it."

    "Well, then, maybe you'll give me another chance."

    "I'd like that Edmund. For now, though, let her go home when she awakens." He thought a minute. "You really said I sold her?"

    "I did. For five hundred dollars."

    Alain chuckled. "I'm sure you had her terrified."

    "Should I correct her misconception?"

    "No. Please don't. Like I said, she's getting what she deserves."

    "And I tell her what now?"

    "That she'd better spend her Sunday nursing her sore behind and thinking about the consequences of her bad behavior. She'll be answering for that Monday morning."

    "That I can do, Alain. And, let's get together soon."

***

Meredith woke to find herself having slept for some hours in a huge bed in one of Edmund Thorsby's many bedrooms. She hardly remembered being taken from the tiny closet. She had remembered the noises in the outer room in the hours after she was so stringently confined: the voices, the laughter, the steamy play. Sex. There'd been lots of sex with enough groaning, grunting, moaning and screaming to have her madly masturbating to the provocative sounds. Getting off wasn't particularly easy under the circumstances. Not only did her flesh ache from the raw wounds she'd suffered at Edmund Thorsby's hand, but the space was unkindly cramped and the hard wood insufferable. Her bound hands didn't help. But she played with herself as best she could for what seemed like a good long hour, changing positions slightly when her body started to ache too much. Finally, as some Dominant male in the outer room was screaming with climax, his female submissive whimpering, no doubt in pain, Meri climaxed hard on her furiously rubbing fingers, soaking her hand in the pungent juices. Some time later, as she was dreamily dozing, the closet door opened and a pair of strong hands lifted her into the room. Still masked, her rescuer remained anonymous, and by the time he laid her on the mattress and chained her to the bed frame, she was practically asleep. By then, she'd awakened enough to look at her surroundings, but the light in the room was off and she'd been plunged into darkness once again.

Waking came on Meredith suddenly. Her eyes popped open to the sounds outside the bedroom door. Then the door rattled and Edmund Thorsby appeared. He went immediately to the bed and unlocked the chains and the collar.

    "So, my naughty one, did you sleep well?"

    "I think I slept. I suppose it was well," she smiled weakly. "Better than the closet."

    "Oh, you didn't like your confinement?"

    "Well, not particularly. Is Alain here?"

    "Alain Danvers? Don't you remember that you were sold last night?"

    "I do remember that," something ugly gripped her in the gut, "but I thought it was just the night…"

    "Indeed. And the night is over," he said. His eyes twinkled just a bit. "I was instructed to call you a taxi that would take you home."

    "So, Alain's not coming?"

    "Why would he? As I understand it, your presence at my Masquerade was in direct defiance of your master's wishes. Is that wrong?"

    "No, not really. But it wasn't meant to be defiant."

    He chuckled, "Ah, girl, you're like all the others. Ready to defend yourself against the truth, splitting hairs, I call it. Is there any defense for your behavior?"

    She hung her head now, shamed to even be in this conversation. "I suppose not," she conceded, although she was still not completely convinced that her attending the ball was all that wrong.

    "Good. Then, it's time you were going home," he moved toward the door, still speaking, "Your master suggests that you get well acquainted with your sore bottom while you spend your Sunday alone at home. I have a hunch that your tender behind has a good long while to suffer before Alain's sense of justice is finally satisfied. As I remember my friend, he's never been easy on submissives who twist the facts for their own personal gratification."

    
Twist the facts for their own personal gratification.
Meredith gulped, guiltily. Was that what she'd done?

    "I guess he's not going to see me today?" she called after him.

    "I have no idea. But I really doubt it. I think he had something to do with work that required his attention. There are some clothes there, if you'd rather wear something a little more suitable for daywear than your Snow White costume. I'm not sure it means anything to you, but you really made my night, Meredith. I'm sorry it was over so quickly." He smiled again and left the room, leaving Meredith to suffer with a fresh dose of remorse.

    Only then did she gaze around the room. It was hideous, she thought, with its dreary browns and burgundies, and very antiquated furniture. It wouldn't have hurt to have a little lace here and there to cut through the somber mood. The only romantic feature was its location in the house's round turret. At the moment she felt like a captive princess awaiting her prince to kiss all the misery away. If only she were so lucky.

    Just Alain's face would have been welcome, even as furious as he was sure to be. But she didn't even have that.

S
CENE
N
INETEEN

"In the cage, doll."

    Lording himself over her, Perry gently tapped the cane on her punished ass cheeks, which were still quite tender from the hard beating of the previous night. It was sometime in the middle of the afternoon. They'd awakened around noon and Perry had gotten up and disappeared to wherever he went, to do whatever he did when he wasn't making her suffer. As usual, her shackles had been tethered to the mattress chain so there wasn't any question that she'd be staying in bed. She'd drifted off to sleep again and now looked up at him through foggy eyes trying to make sense of what he said. "What?"

    "You heard me; in the cage." "Now? Why?"

    "Because I said so, doll."

    "But…" Her heart was crushed to see him so cold and ruthless after the affection and good fun they'd shared. She'd actually thought they'd turned a corner. That Perry was finally easing up her restrictive life. But what then?

    In the back of her mind she'd been praying for rescue so long that it seemed second nature to hope for a peaceable parting.
If
that's what she truly wanted. As he'd carried her away from the Masquerade she couldn't imagine being anywhere else but with Perry Livingston. This life seemed solidly fixed, but she could still hope for a little more physical freedom. Suddenly ordered back in the cage?

    Her mind rifled through these thoughts between the first tapping at her thigh and the hard cut that landed when she didn't obey Perry's order quickly enough.

    "You heard me, bitch!" he snapped.

    The next cut of his cane got her moving fast, and the cage door slammed behind her, while white hot tears of rage began to form inside her eyes.

    
"You can't do this!" sh
e screamed, though all that was heard was the screaming voice inside her brain. Good judgment silenced her protest, yet it did little to turn off her fermenting anger.

    Satisfied, Perry left the room and minutes later the piped in music began to play, setting off the mantra she'd been repeating constantly for months.

    
"I am my master's slave. I live only to serve his every need, his every wish, his

    The words alone had the power to turn her on, and turn rebellion into humble submission. She quickly retreated into herself, into the powerful noise that continued in an endless loop, into the chains that still clung to her flesh, and the wounds that made every moment another reminder of her captivity and enslavement.

    She lay suspended peacefully in this dreamy state, wondering to herself where the anger and agitation had gone. How quickly she'd surrendered.

As Alain drove toward the tiny town of Quinton, he had plenty of time to mull over the events of the last twenty-four hours. Funny. He'd had a hunch about Perry Livingston and the Sherwood Hill stable weeks before, but had written it off almost in the same breath. Too quickly, it seems. He was still baffled by the risk Perry took bringing Kat to the Masquerade, unless…unless she came willingly, which would mean that she was no longer a captive. If so, he'd have no business intervening in a consensual relationship. This was exactly why he'd gone by himself to confront the rogue master. There was back-up readily available, he'd made sure of that, but in his own mind, he couldn't imagine apprehending a kidnapper and rescuing his victim on this trip. It simply did not make sense.

    The Maid Marian he'd experienced the night before didn't need rescuing. If she had, if she'd been forced to play her role, the astounding bdsm scene would have looked far different. But the kind of mortal dread and quaking fear he'd expect to see from a sub in a nonconsensual situation was completely absent in the interactions between Perry and the chained slave. He would have guessed that the drama of Robin Hood and Maid Marian was entirely consensual. Still, she was chained. The man had made sure that there was no way she could have escaped.

    Hours later, the scene still perplexed him. Who knows what he'd find when he arrived at the stable and announced himself.

    Once the subject of Perry and Kat had been thoroughly reasoned out, Alain's mind returned to Meredith. At the moment, he had no idea how he'd handle his submissive once he was in the office Monday morning. She'd been punished once by Edmund Thorsby, which was intended as just a warm-up to the real thing. But apparently she'd suffered a good deal. Another punishment on top of that? Was it overkill or appropriate? No doubt she expected him to come down on her hard. He stewed about that for sometime, being uncertain how, or if, he wanted to advance their relationship. And that was the question, wasn't it? A lot could change if he chose to make a big deal out of her showing up at the Masquerade. Considering her egregiously disobedient behavior, he'd have an excuse to bail out of their agreement. Was that what he wanted? Or was ending things now just another instance of Alain Danvers avoiding his real emotions? Janis certainly would have said that. She was usually right. He had much to think about. But as he steered the car into the rutty dirt path, he had to turn his attention back to the matter at hand.

Alain stood in front of the odd structure staring up at the second story. He'd already peeked inside the stable and found little there but some old equipment and the truck he assumed belonged to Perry. Perhaps some renovations had been made to the upper floor since he was there nearly twenty years before. At the time, it had been too structurally unsound to be habitable.

    Deciding to proceed, he gave the locked stairway door a firm rap. He waited, cooling his heels, then rapped again.

    "Looking for someone?" The voice came from behind him and he turned.

    "Perry…" Alain recognized him instantly. He looked about the same as he remembered him, with his signature smirk and aloof detachment.

    "I should have known it would be you coming after me."

    "And why is that?"