Dirty (5 page)

Jilly's eyes widened. "You really mean
that?"
"Before you get too excited, let me give you some details," she
said and then heard her mobile ring. "Excuse me for a sec." She
frowned as she looked on the screen and saw Vanessa Newell's
private number, and then answered the call. "Marielle
Fairchild."

"Ms. Fairchild, I'm so glad I caught you."
The director's tone sounded uncharacteristically sweet. "I have to
apologize for the way I behaved toward you yesterday morning. It
was completely unconscionable. I hope you will forgive me for what
I said -- and did."

"Of course." Marielle felt a little stunned.
"I'm sorry about what happened, too."

"You're very kind," Vanessa said. "Now that
we've settled that, I would also like to rehire you to work on the
film. Would you be able to report to the set this morning?"

The prospect of working again for the
difficult director didn't hold much appeal but Marielle couldn't
resist the chance to see James Raven again. "I can be there in
thirty minutes."

"I'll see you in half an hour," the director
said.

As she switched off the mobile Marielle
became aware of her friends staring at her. She grimaced. "I spoke
too soon about that job being available. That was Ms. Newell. It
seems that I've been rehired."

"You better not screw up again," Jilly said.
"Or all of us really will hate you forever."

* * *

James Raven lifted his chin so the wardrobe
designer could adjust his silk tie. "So I'm to wear nothing but
black in every scene?"

"It’s got a long-rumored connection with
fear." The designed smiled as she removed a speck of lint from his
lapel. "How is the shoulder fit?"

Raven shifted his arms. "A bit tight. If I'm
wearing this when I lift Marielle, I'll need another inch of
two."

"Melanie," the designer said. When he gave
her a blank look she added, "The character's name is Melanie."

"Right." It was the third time that morning
he'd used the wrong name but he couldn't stop thinking about his
sexy little lover. "Sorry."

"No problem." The designer slipped off the
jacket and marked the inside shoulder seams with a piece of chalk.
"A bunch of us have worked with Marielle Fairchild on other shoots.
She's a sweetheart, and while it's great that you stood up for her…
No one wants to see her get hurt, you know?"

Raven smiled a little. "I understand."

"Thought you might." She winked at him before
she hurried back to her sewing machine.

Raven walked down to video village to see if
the director had contacted Marielle but paused when he saw Vanessa
having a conversation with the petite blonde. The director had
managed to get her back but whatever she was saying to her had
Marielle looking utterly bewildered.

He joined them and took Marielle's hand in
his. "Good morning."

"Hi." She almost stepped away from him before
she produced an uncertain smile. "Vanessa was just telling me I'm
not going to be working as her assistant."

"No. This time you'll be mine." Raven gave
her hand a reassuring squeeze. "Jess Carter is still in Europe.
Until she arrives you'll be standing in for her."

As Vanessa turned away to speak with a camera
man, Marielle leaned closer and said in a murmur, "Are you crazy?
You know I'm not an actress. Vanessa looks ready to rip off my head
and drop-kick it into the ocean. I can't do this."

He had intended to charm his way back into
her good graces but her fear aroused his dominant side. "I don't
care. I need you, Marielle, so you will do this -- for me."

Before Marielle could reply, Vanessa returned
and gave them both a decidedly phony smile. "If you two are ready
to begin you can use the library on the first floor. A couple of
riggers will also be working in there to align the lighting and
camera equipment."

Raven knew what the director hoped to do by
sending in a crew to watch him rehearse with Marielle. She wanted
to control him while humiliating his anxious little lover. What
Vanessa didn't realize was that he did his best work in front of an
audience. "We'll just stop by Wardrobe first so Marielle can dress
the part."

* * *

Once she had changed into the costume Raven
had picked out for her, Marielle checked her reflection in the
full-length mirror and frowned. She rarely wore anything but jeans
and t-shirts. The floaty dress he'd given her was made of thin,
twilight blue silk that clung to her skin. She tried loosening the
golden sash around the waist to see if that would help but the
fabric still hugged her curves.

"You look amazing," Raven said as he stepped
into the dressing room, closing the door behind him. He wore a
simple black t-shirt and trousers, which gave him a sexy, menacing
quality. "Just as I imagine Melanie would."

"In the book Melanie is statuesque brunette
with killer curves," she reminded him as she cinched the sash back
in place. "I'm a little blonde with a boy-body."

He bent his head to put his mouth next to her
ear. "Then I must have fucked someone else the other night because
I don't remember a single thing about that blonde that reminded me
of a boy."

The whisper of his breath against her neck
sent a rush of desire through Marielle. When he drew her back
against him and wrapped his arms around her waist, she almost
moaned. "Raven, we can't do this on the set. We have to be, ah,
professional."

"We have to be Maestro and Melanie," he
chided, splaying one hand over her belly as he cradled her breast
with the other. "He is sexually obsessed with her. She needs him to
release her slumbering passion." He stroked his thumb over her
nipple. "Trust me, Fairchild, the cameras would catch on fire if we
were any more perfect together."

She turned around to face him and braced her
hands against his chest to keep him from pulling her closer.
"Vanessa will be watching us every minute. If I'm to salvage my
reputation and my job we have to do this for real and rehearse the
script -- nothing else. Please, Raven."

"Of course." He pressed his mouth against her
brow and opened the dressing room door. "After you."

Marielle braced herself for everyone on the
crew to gawk at her as she walked out of the garage and around to
the front entry of the house. A couple of runners lugging an
equipment crate nodded to her when they crossed her path but no one
seemed especially interested.

"I was expecting everyone to have a good
chuckle over seeing me like this," she said to Raven as they
entered the house. "I must not look as silly as I feel."

"Everyone here likes you," Raven said as he
clasped her hand in his and led her through an open set of double
doors into an enormous library. "I've already been warned to watch
my step."

"With me?" When he nodded, Marielle almost
groaned. "They shouldn't have said anything like that. I'm
sorry."

"I was rather touched." He guided her over to
the center of the room, where a padded post fitted with handcuffs
at the top stood beneath a large crystal chandelier. "Since we've
already rehearsed the initial bondage scene, I'd like to begin with
the first of Melanie's punishments."

"Oh boy." Marielle eyed the post. "I think
I'm too short to reach that high. Can I just stand next to it?"

"We'll compromise." Raven reached for her
waist and removed the sash from her dress. "Stand with your back
against the post."

She took a deep breath as she stepped into
position and trembled as Raven looped the golden silk around her
wrist, pulling it back as he wound the sash behind the post. He
used the end to bind her other wrist.

Raven pulled the sash tighter and asked, "Is
this uncomfortable?"

"No." Oh yes, it was. Marielle glanced down
at her breasts, now thrust out in a very wanton fashion, with the
hard peaks of her nipples showing plainly through the blue silk.
"But like this I won't be able to look at a script."

"Melanie has no lines in this scene. She's
gagged." He came around and surveyed her from head to toe and back
again, his eyes lingering on her breasts. "All she does is respond
with small sounds and movements." He leaned closer and dropped his
voice to a murmur. "Can you do that?"

Out of the corner of her eye Marielle saw an
electrician and a rigger walk in the library with a cluster of
lighting tracks. Neither man stared but both gave furtive glances.
"Maybe you should gag me," she muttered, "so I'm not tempted to
scream."

Raven pulled a black bandana out of his back
pocket. "Open your mouth." He placed the middle of the fabric
between her lips and tied the ends behind her head. He stepped back
to inspect her. "Beautifully helpless. Are you ready?"

Marielle nodded.

"You knew the rules when you came to me,
Melanie." Raven pulled off his t-shirt, baring his muscular chest.
He stepped closer, placing his hands on her waist. "But I will
remind you of them."

More crew members carrying equipment entered
the library. A few paused to look at Marielle or listen to Raven as
he recited his lines before they went to work. Vanessa didn't make
an appearance but one of the camera men brought in a tripod with a
camera and set it up in the corner, adjusting the lens so that it
focused on the center of the room before he turned it on.

Vanessa is so jealous she's watching us
herself from video village. Marielle felt a pang of pity. But how
could she think she might ever have a chance with him? How could
any woman?

He grabbed her and turned her face. "Look at
me." Raven's copper-colored eyes seemed to be glowing, thanks to
the overhead spotlights someone had switched on. "Don't pay any
attention to Vanessa's brand of torture," he murmured. Then, in a
louder, stern tone, "No one exists for you but me, my darling."

Marielle nodded but flinched as she felt him
nudging her knees with his. When she parted them he pressed his
thigh in, using it to spread her legs. When she glanced over his
shoulder, she saw most of the crew was now ignoring their work to
watch them. She shifted her gaze to Raven's face. His expression
had darkened.

"There is no one else for you but me,
darling," he said. "Your body knows it but your heart resists. So
we will use your body to teach this lesson."

He disappeared behind the post. Marielle felt
him untie her wrists. Before she could lower her arms he came
around to stand in front of her. He spun her around so that she
faced the post and tied her hands higher, this time running the
sash through the handcuffs.

"Let us begin with what you understand best,"
he said and moved away from her.

Marielle turned her head to see what he was
doing. When she saw him coming back to the post with a riding crop,
she frowned. He can't really use that on me. She tried to shriek as
he grabbed the back of her dress and ripped it open to the waist.
Even muffled by the gag the cry seemed horribly loud, especially
when she realized no one else in the room was making a sound.

"This is called a keeper," he said, showing
her the thin, square-shaped leather tress at the end of the crop.
"It inflicts pain without leaving any marks." He stepped back and
stroked the keeper down the length of her spine. "Like you."

Marielle heard murmuring from the crew and
leaned against the post, closing her eyes as she braced herself for
the first blow. But instead of striking her with the crop, Raven
flicked it against the small of her back, almost tickling her.

"Do you have any idea what I can do to you
with this instrument?" he said as he slid the crop over her hip and
used it to trace the length of her thigh. "Can you imagine how it
will make you feel when I employ in earnest? The dark beauty you
will come to know?"

No, I can't. The terror that had bolted
through her at the sight of the crop now spread through her like a
dark wave, changing her fear into something she didn't understand
at all. She looked over her shoulder and saw the same darkness in
his expression. She felt herself go instantly wet. But you want me
to feel it… and God help me, so do I.

Raven continued to caress her, trailing the
crop across the backs of her knees before he moved it under the
skirt of her dress. She caught her breath when she felt it stroke
over the crotch of her panties before he removed it and held it up
to his face.

His eyes burned into hers as he licked it
slowly. He tugged down her gag before he pressed the damp leather
to her lips.

Everyone was watching him dominate her and
expecting her to respond like Melanie, who never challenged
Maestro. That seemed wrong to Marielle. No woman made herself into
an instant doormat for the man she loved, especially not one she
wanted more than anything else in life.

Acting on instinct, she pressed a kiss to the
keeper and then bit down on it, jerking it out of his hand before
she let it drop to the floor. "You talk too much."

"I do." Raven cradled her face with one hand
and pressed a hard, fast kiss on her lips. "But that's my job.
Let's get some lunch."

All around them the crew began laughing,
applauding and whistling while Raven untied her wrists and draped a
jacket over the torn back of her dress. Marielle grinned at her
co-workers as she followed Raven out of the library but stopped
when she saw Vanessa at the other end of the hallway striding
toward them.

"Maybe you should have beaten me with that
thing," she muttered as she took in the director's ominous
expression. "At least then Vanessa would be happy."

Raven threaded his fingers through hers. "Let
me handle this," he said. When Vanessa reached them he released her
hand. "What did you think?"

"I'm sure Marielle did her best, but she's
obviously inexperienced and unfamiliar with the script." The
director sounded almost smug. "Melanie does not bite the crop or
take it away from Maestro. Her little challenge was entirely
inappropriate."