Dark Perception: The Corde Noire Series (33 page)

She sat up on her elbows. “Did you
learn to do things like that from that society you belong
to?”

“
The Corde Noire Society?
Hardly.” He zipped up his jeans. “To be a member of our
organization, you have to already know how to train a submissive
like you. Our group is for Doms with particular tastes.”

“
What kind of ‘particular
tastes’?”

“
Doms who like to play
without restrictions.” Nathan wiped his hands together. “So many
clubs nowadays advocate safe limits, either with elaborate
contracts or supervised playrooms, keeping most Doms, like me, from
enjoying the experience.”

“
What does that mean,
Nathan?”

He stooped down to her, flaunting a
pompous grin. “It means that members of the Corde Noire Society can
do anything they like to a sub. No rules, no limits … no
repercussions.” He stood up. “It was Julie who introduced me to the
society. She and I spent a lot of time in this room …
playing.”

Melinda froze. “I thought you said she
used this for storage.”

“
No, I built this to be our
playroom. You would never have guessed it by looking at her, but
Julie was into all kinds of fun games.”

Melinda’s eyes darted about the room.
“Where is Julie, Nathan? Did you … do something to her?”

“‘
Do something’?” Nathan
chuckled. “Really, Melinda, don’t be so dramatic. Julie’s alive and
well and living with her mother in Philadelphia. I shipped her back
home after I found out she and Doug Curtis, my former head of
security, were planning on sneaking away together.”

Inwardly, Melinda sighed with relief.
“Then why do this to me? I’m not her.”

He knelt beside her. “I truly believed
you were different from Julie … and then Jack appeared. If given
the opportunity, you might leave me for him. I can’t have
that.”

She boldly gazed into his eyes, hoping
to add conviction to her statement. “No, I wouldn’t. I told you
before, I can never go back to what I had with Jack.”

He stood up, wiping his hands on his
jeans. “But you care for him. More than you’re willing to
admit.”

“
I cared for him, Nathan.
But Jack means nothing to me anymore.”

He glared down at her, scowling. “I
don’t believe you, Melinda.”

“
I don’t know what else I
can do to convince you.” Melinda scrambled to her feet and held out
her bound wrists. “Take these off, so I can get
dressed.”

Sneering, he stood back from her. “You
don’t give me orders, Melinda. I’ll keep them on for a while
longer, until you learn your place.”

She shook her wrists at him. “Please,
Sir. I won’t do it again.”

He took another step back. “You need
to be broken, Melinda. This is the first step.” He turned toward
the storage room door. “I’ll be back in time for dinner.” And then
Nathan slammed the metal door closed.

With the
thud
still reverberating
in the room, Melinda ran to the door. She banged her fists against
the cold metal. “Nathan, let me out of here. Come on, this isn’t
funny.” She listened, but heard nothing from the other side. As the
seconds ticked by, and then minutes passed, there was still no sign
of her tormentor.

She paced to keep warm in the frigid
room. Occasionally, Melinda went to the door and tried the silver
handle, but it was apparent that Nathan Cole had her right where he
wanted her—locked away and safe from the eyes of any other
man.

Numb with fatigue, she sat on the
floor and a vision came to her. A naked woman with shiny shackles
on her wrists was coming toward her. Melinda saw her reflection in
the mirror of her mind.

“
Run,” her image
whispered.

Melinda became sick to her stomach
when she realized the shadowy figure she had seen in the storage
room had not been a ghost, but a glimpse into her
future.

Chapter 19

Melinda was curled up against the wall
and shivering when the storage room door flung open. Nathan held up
a pizza box, smiling at her.

“
Dinner,
darling.”

Melinda stiffly got up from the floor
and limped to the door. “You son of a bitch. You left me in here
for hours.”

Nathan dropped the pizza box and
grasped her bound hands as they attempted to take a swing at him.
“Talk to me like that again and I will take a strap to
you.”

Ignoring his threat, she was about to
rush past him and out of the room when he yanked at the black
collar around her throat, pulling it tight. “You will do as I say,
Melinda.” His mouth moved closer to her ear. “Can you see what I
have planned for you?”

She pawed at his hands, and then she
saw his thoughts. Images of violence floated across his
mind—violence he planned on inflicting on her if she didn’t
cooperate. Knowing there was no way she could physically overpower
him, Melinda nodded her head.

“
Good girl.” He let go of
her collar. “Then we understand each other.”

She rubbed her neck. “I know you like
your games, Nathan, but why lock me up like this?”

“
Because you belong to me.
You are my submissive … my slave. I will treat you just like the
Southern plantation owners treated their slaves. I will beat you
when you’re bad, and when you try to run away, I will lock you up.
I need to make sure you stay loyal to me, and that no man can ever
steal you away.” He picked up the pizza box. “Let’s eat.” He walked
out the door and headed into the living room.

When Melinda stepped into the hall,
she made a beeline for her bedroom door. Unfortunately, Nathan
stopped her by putting his arm around her shoulders.

“
Come sit in the living
room. I’ve opened a nice bottle of pinot noir for us.”

“
I need to put some clothes
on, Nathan. I’m cold.”

His eyes swept up and down her body.
“I like you this way. Come.” He urged her forward into the living
room. After seating her on the sofa, he placed the pizza box on the
coffee table in front of her. “I’ll get the wine.”

She held up her bound wrists to him.
“Untie me.”

“
I don’t think so,
Melinda.” He flipped the lid open on the pizza box.
“Eat.”

Melinda took an unsteady breath and
reached for a slice of the loaded meat pizza. She hungrily took a
bite as she watched Nathan in her kitchen pouring deep red wine
into two crystal glasses.

“
I want to hear you play
your music again after dinner,” he chirped, sounding very
pleased.

“
Play?” Melinda questioned
as she swallowed down a gulp of pizza. “You expect me to play with
my hands tied like this?” She held up her bound wrists.

“
Don’t be silly. I’ll will
untie you for brief intervals. When I know I can trust you, we
won’t need the chain anymore.”

“
Is that why you’re doing
this? Because you don’t feel you can trust me?”

He picked up the glasses
from the bar and set out across the living room. “I can’t trust
you. Your little moment
with Jack proved
that. You were considering going away with him, weren’t you?” He
took a seat next to her and placed her wineglass on the coffee
table.

“
No, I wasn’t, Nathan. I’m
committed to you.” She peered down at the pizza in her hands. “But
how can you expect me to love you if you tie me up and leave me
locked in rooms?”

His cold, contemptuous laugh sickened
Melinda. “Don’t bargain with me, Melinda, it won’t work. I know
what it will take to make you mine, so just go along with the game
plan. Once we’re married, I promise you will be free to do as you
please.”

She dropped her unfinished slice of
pizza back in the box. “Any idea when that will be?”

He took a sip of his wine. “When the
Market Street deal is inked, I will get a justice of the peace up
here to marry us, and after that we can plan a formal wedding.” He
picked up her wineglass and handed it to her. “I just need to make
sure you’re legally mine first.”

Melinda took the wine and stared into
the glass. On the inside, she was panic-stricken, but she could
never let Nathan see that. She had to remain calm and keep her wits
about her. She couldn’t let him win.

“
How will marrying me
change anything?”

Nathan tasted his wine. “When I’m your
husband, I will have a say in your affairs. If you try to run away,
I can claim to the authorities that you’re a danger to yourself.
All the things you’ve told me about seeing ghosts and talking to
the dead will make it pretty easy to have you committed for
psychiatric observation.”

“
No one will believe
you.”

“
Yes, they will. I’ve done
it before.” A jolt ripped through her. “Yvette tried to leave me,
so I had a physician friend I knew agree to put her away for a
while. At least until I could get most of my assets out of her
name. Not everything, unfortunately, but enough.” Nathan rolled his
red wine about in his glass. “I can do the same with you. I know a
lot of very influential people in this town. Do you know what I
could have done to you if you even thought about leaving me?” He
pointed to the pizza box. “You need to eat more than
that.”

“
I’m suddenly not very
hungry.”

He thumped his wineglass down on her
coffee table. “Then you can play your music for me.”

She glanced down at her trembling
hands. “I’m cold, Nathan. I need a hot shower and some warm
clothes. I’ll be no good to you if I get sick, will I?”

He looked her over and then nodded his
head. “I will allow you to shower.”

Leading her by the silver chain,
Nathan took her to her bathroom. Pulling her to the shower, he
turned on the hot water.

While he was unbuttoning his shirt,
Melinda held up her bound wrists to him. “Please untie me …
Sir.”

Instead of untying the silver chain,
he removed the tennis necklace and black collar from around her
neck. “I’ll wash you,” he said, setting the black silk cord and
necklace on the vanity.

She opened her mouth to object, but
his withering gaze silenced her. “I will wash you and feed you,
Melinda. That’s my job.” He dropped his shirt to the floor and
removed the rest of his clothes. “I promise you will like me taking
care of you.” He opened the shower stall door and reached in to
check the water temperature. “Get in,” he ordered.

She stepped into the cascade of hot
water. Wiping her eyes, the silver chain rubbed against her
wrists.

Nathan came alongside her and removed
a few strands of hair from her face.

“
Nathan, you can’t keep me
like this forever.”

“
Not forever, darling.” He
lifted a bottle of lavender-scented bath wash from the shower
shelf. “Just until I own you … body and soul.”

* * *

After bathing her and drying her hair,
Nathan dressed Melinda in her white nightshirt and blue terrycloth
robe. Before he led her from the bedroom, he secured the black cord
around her neck.

Once he had seated her behind her
keyboard, Nathan removed the silver chain from her wrists. “Play
for me, Melinda.”

While he took a seat in the wingback
chair across from her, Melinda’s hands hesitated over the keyboard.
She had no idea what to play, and then she recalled something she
had written after Josh had left her.

Her hands felt slow and clumsy moving
across the keys, making the tune sound distorted.

“
That’s very sad,” Nathan
commented. “I only want you to play happy tunes.”

She slapped her hands down on the
keyboard, filling the air with the harsh cords. “I can only play
what I feel.”

Nathan got up from the chair and came
around to her bench. He caressed the black collar around her neck.
“Do you remember that first time you played for me? You played a
beautiful melody. Play it again.”

Her hands glided over the keys,
fulfilling his request. But again, the tune sounded distorted. It
was as if the passion behind her music had been erased, leaving the
notes bereft of any feeling. The melody began to sound vaguely
familiar. She was reminded of the eerie song she had heard floating
in her bedroom weeks before. It was not the tormented tune of some
spectral visitor she had heard; it was her music coming from her
misery in the future.

She silently berated her stupidity.
All the visions she’d experienced since moving into the apartment
had been warnings of what was to come, not impressions of what had
been. Melinda wondered what Jack would have made of her mistake.
He’d always liked to challenge her readings. She wished she could
hear his deep voice arguing with her, longed to see his pale hazel
eyes glaring at her, and desperately wanted his graceful body
walking beside her after a long day of catering to tourists at
Jackson Square.

“
There, that’s it,” Nathan
proclaimed. “Now your music sounds happy.”

Melinda listened to the notes and
realized Nathan was right. The music had once again found its
passion. She knew the reason for the change in feeling; it was
because she had been thinking of Jack. He had always reminded her
of some haunting melody she could never place. It seemed her heart
had finally found the right music to describe him.