Gentle Control

An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

www.ellorascave.com

Gentle Control

ISBN 9781419916298

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Gentle Control Copyright © 2008 Brynn Paulin

Edited by Helen Woodall.

Cover art by Syneca.

Electronic book Publication May 2008

With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/) This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

GENTLE CONTROL

Brynn Paulin

To Chuck—the hero of my story

Thanks to the great William Shakespeare for letting me borrow a famous line from one of my favorite plays,
The Tempest
. Hearing “we are such stuff as dreams are made on” will never be the same.

Author Note

Gentle Control
portrays some aspects of Domination/submission and BDSM but is not intended as a true-to-life account of this lifestyle.

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

Dumpster: Dempster Brothers, Inc.

Grizzly Adams: Sellier, Charles E.

McDonalds: McDonald’s Corporation

Oreos: Kraft Foods Holdings, Inc.

Oscar the Grouch: Muppets, Inc.

Pop Tarts: Kellogg Company Corporation

Starbucks: Starbucks U.S. Brands

Styrofoam: Dow Chemical Company

Taco Bell: Taco Bell Corp.

Strength

Dear Reader,

Strength. When some people hear this word, they think of physical power. Given this, a glance at the Strength card can be confusing. In most tarot decks, a maiden is shown with a lion. The lion is not overpowering her. She is gently closing its mouth.

This is because the card doesn’t represent brute strength—it signifies inner power.

When this card comes up in a reading, it means one may face a challenging situation, a family matter or a problem from the past. In
Gentle Control
, the hero, Josh Cress, experiences all three in the prim package of Tempest Montgomery, the challenging submissive from his past.

In this story, we are presented with both aspects of the Strength card. Josh represents the upright manifestation. Throughout the story, he exhibits inner strength.

A Dom by nature, he controls Tempest’s mind and body though gentle signals, eventually bringing her under his mastery. His quiet compassion breaks through her defenses and in turn gives her strength to face her own challenges.

On the other hand, Tempest’s father, John, represents the shadow side of strength.

A man full of pride, he prizes appearances and tends to lose his temper. He’s an emotional tyrant. He uses manipulation, fear and social power to control others, including his daughter.

Faced with both sides of the Strength card, Tempest must decide in which direction she will bend. Toward inner strength or toward fear and manipulation.

Gentle Control

There he was. The worst mistake of her life and she had to talk to him. Tempest Montgomery looked across the nearly empty restaurant to the area where Josh Cress sat with his family. She recognized his three brothers but not the women with them. Wives, perhaps? None was Josh’s wife. She knew that.

She wasn’t into stalking but it had taken exactly two phone calls to find out what she needed to know. Josh was still single, unattached and could be found having breakfast at Manolo’s on Thursday morning. His brother Max, who remembered her from years ago and apparently was sympathetic to her cause, had provided that information. She hadn’t needed him to tell her why the family was gathered. She remembered why. Josh’s birthday.

She’d left him on his birthday. Eight years ago.

And she’d never spoken to him again.

She needed to talk with him now.

For a moment she studied his profile. Thick brown hair fell to his wide shoulders framing one of the most masculinely beautiful faces she’d ever seen. A glint of a tiny hoop winked from one of his dark brows. That was new. Her fingers itched to flick over it then trace across his strong forehead and nose. He’d always closed his beautiful gray eyes while she investigated the smooth lines of his cheekbones.

His head tilted to the side as he gave the woman across from him a half-smile.

Beautiful
, Tempest thought again, remembering how self-conscious she’d been in public with him. Women had fawned over him and she’d gotten the look that said

“Why the hell is he with her?”. Perhaps it was that condemnation which had made it so easy to walk away. She bit the inside of her lip. It hadn’t been easy. At the time it had seemed she’d never recover but she’d had no choice. Her father had seen to that.

7

Brynn Paulin

With slow steps, she headed toward the party. She would have preferred to speak to Josh alone with no witnesses but she couldn’t wait for the opportunity to catch him off-guard and alone. Only Josh could give her the peace of mind and closure she needed before she took the next step of her life. He just didn’t know it.

Josh tried not to make faces while his sister-in-law Keera spoke. This was so hokey.

Let me spread out these tarot cards and do my woo-woo thing and I’ll tell you everything you don’t already know about your life. Right. A bunch of useless cards weren’t going to answer the burning questions that didn’t actually linger in his soul.

Trying not to look bored—his siblings and his three sisters-in-law were watching—

he rubbed his tongue piercing on the roof of his mouth and studied the odd cards.

Everyone had insisted he should have a birthday reading and as much as he’d tried, he hadn’t been able to get out of it.

“This is the most important card in the spread,” Keera said as she examined the tarot spread. “It’s what all the other cards were leading toward.”

“Okay…” he replied slowly. This was a bunch of crap. He needed to get home to finish packing for his trip to the Upper Peninsula and call in to the office to check on his team. Though he was on a two-month sabbatical, he couldn’t blithely take off without knowing his second-in-command had figured out the annoying glitch sending all the company’s spam into the CEO’s inbox. His father—said CEO—wasn’t pleased about it.

It had caused such a problem that he’d skipped this morning’s breakfast in order to sort legitimate business correspondence from junk. He’d insisted that Josh still go with his siblings.

He sighed. He couldn’t in good conscience leave town until he knew the email fubar was fixed.

“Oh, look it’s the Strength card!” Keera exclaimed.

Big freaking deal. He barely restrained a derisive snort. “Yeah. Cool,” he said dryly.

8

Gentle Control

“Josh, don’t be a big stick-in-the-mud. This is a great card. It’s not about physical power. It’s about gentle control and compassion. It’s about being freed from fears and discovering love is stronger than fear or hate.”

He stiffened, glancing around the table. “I’m not scared of anything, Keera.”

She sighed. “Everyone’s afraid of something. And even more, this card signifies digging deep inside yourself for inner strength to deal with a situation.”

“That’s the last card, right?” he asked. Time to leave. The insistence that he’d conquer his fears was beginning to make him uncomfortable. He only had two Achilles’

heels and the one that worried him most was far in his past. He’d put his weaknesses far behind him.

He stood. “Well, this has been fun. I need to go.”

“This may mean you’ll resolve a difficult situation from your past, using your inner strength.”

Josh froze, a brand of trepidation he hadn’t felt in eight years crawling up his spine.

The fingers of one hand fisted and he took a deep breath. All of his brothers were staring at him. It was his oldest brother, Theo, who spoke.

“Tempest.”

Josh’s teeth ground together. Yeah, she would be that worrisome Achilles’ heel.

From time to time, thoughts of her still woke him at night with a raging hard-on. It was damned annoying. Tempest was over and done with.

“Who’s Tempest?” Keera asked.

“No one,” he answered quickly.

“Gee thanks, Josh. It’s good to know how you feel right up front.”

Josh turned toward the soft voice and looked into a pair of the darkest brown eyes he’d ever seen. Eyes he’d never thought to see again. Hurt eyes.

9

Brynn Paulin

He was good at hurting her. Well that and being an ass, he acknowledged. Why else would she have taken off and never given him the time of day again? Still, he couldn’t stop his next words. “What do you want?”

Behind him, he heard Keera gathering up her cards and chairs sliding back. “I think it’s time to get back to the office, don’t you think?” Max said. The others agreed and in moments the three couples and his sister were gone, leaving him alone with Tempest.

His past. He needed to remember that. Tempest was his past.

“I need to talk to you,” she said.

He stared at her in disbelief.
She what?
“You’re about eight years too late.”

Her eyes momentarily dropped shut as she acknowledged her action. “I know. I had no choice.”

“You chose your family—your father—over me. I can’t accept that.” He swiped his hand through the air. “It doesn’t matter. It’s all ancient history. Which leads me back to…what do you want?”

She looked around and he suspected she was uncomfortable talking to him about whatever it was she wanted while they stood in the middle of a restaurant. It must be some doozy of a topic.

“Is there somewhere we can talk? Privately?” she asked. “Your car?”

He shook his head. “No. I’m on my way back to my apartment.” He lifted an eyebrow. “I’m sure you don’t want to go there. Probably the best thing for you to do is to get into whatever sporty car Daddy bought you and go back to your ivory tower. I have things to do.”

“I took a cab here.”

“You took a cab from Grand Rapids?” Grand Rapids was a good three hours from Brandywine, which was one of the reasons he’d never expected to see her here. Part of him wanted to know why she was here after all this time. Another part wanted to run 10

Gentle Control

like hell. The most powerful part of him, however, wanted to grab her into his arms and kiss her until neither of them could breathe.

“No. I’m staying with my brother for a few weeks—in Westfield. I’ve been doing some company business with Miracles and Hope.”

Josh frowned knowing “company business” was her way of describing charity work, which was a euphemism for slave work. Even while he and Tempest had been in college, her father had her chasing all over God’s green acre disbursing money and services to needy organizations on behalf of Montgomery Enterprises. Apparently things hadn’t changed. According to John Montgomery, her father, caring for the needs of their fellow man was the utmost priority. A worthy goal but Josh would beg to differ.

Basic care and nurture of self and one’s relationships should rank just as high, if not higher. Sure Tempest always looked perfectly coifed but the business owned her life and soul. It had pushed everything else out—including him.

He shoved aside his irritation. Tempest’s dysfunctional family commitments weren’t his problem anymore. It unsettled him that she was apparently staying a mere twenty minutes from Brandywine. He’d rested easier knowing she was hours away.