Haunted (11 page)

She came hard and fast, screaming into the cloth because she couldn’t do anything else. She was panting hard, her heart hammering, then the worst possible thing happened.

“How very bad she is this morning, Hunt,” a man said with apparent regret.

Zach had been watching? That realization had Caitlyn ready to go again.

“Please do ensure that all of her laces are tight, and that my gift is securely in place.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And Hunt, your suggestion of a riding crop is excellent.”

“I’ll see to it, sir.”

“Master,” Caitlyn moaned into the cloth, but she heard the door close behind him again. Her puss was cleaned up with brusque moves that left her quivering, then she was untied and Hunt helped her from the bed.

On the nightstand was a red latex toy that obviously fit over Hunt’s tongue, giving the tip soft nubs. Caitlyn sighed at the explanation of the mystery.

“It can be used on the fingertip, as well, miss,” Hunt said.

“I’ll have to get one.”

“I believe this one is now yours, miss.” Hunt bustled across the room and began to lay out Caitlyn’s clothes for the day, including the undergarments she adored. “You’ll want to relieve yourself, miss, and then I’ll wash you up before you get your gift.”

“Another gift?”

Hunt’s smile was wicked. She presented a box to Caitlyn, which Caitlyn accepted and opened. It was a harness of some kind, one with very thin leather straps and a pink latex butterfly in the middle. Hunt leaned over the box beside her and lifted the butterfly, showing its shape. “This fits over the clitoris, miss, and the straps hold it in place.”

“So it presses there all the time,” Caitlyn whispered.

Hunt grinned. “Even better, miss. It vibrates.” She displayed the bottom of the box, where it was clear there had been another part. “It is sold with a remote control, of course.”

Caitlyn’s eyes went round. The remote was missing.

Zach had it.

And he was going to torture her all day long.

She couldn’t take a breath she was so excited.

Then she hurried to wash up, moving so fast that Hunt chuckled beneath her breath. “It’s so naughty to want it, miss. Maybe you need a heavy chastity belt, as well as that riding crop.”

Caitlyn pivoted to face her maid. “I need to tie myself up for him tonight, for midnight,” she confessed. “Will you help me to be ready?”

Hunt smiled and there was something mercenary about her expression, something calculating that made Caitlyn’s heart skip. “It would be my pleasure, miss.”

* * *

Caitlyn looked radiant when she came down to breakfast. Zach could barely keep his eyes off her. He was feeling a little rough himself, having been unable to sleep after seeing Luke’s ghost. He’d spent the night reliving that last argument again, feeling guilty and wondering how to fix it all. He’d become convinced that any future with Caitlyn was doomed, as much as he might want otherwise. He’d been worried about his ability to keep his appointment with her on the night to come, seeing as the door had been locked after his return to his room.

His efforts to get a key had completely failed, which Zach didn’t like at all. It just added to his mood of uncertainty and frustration.

Caitlyn’s attitude was as opposite to his as possible. She smiled at him as she sat down at the table and accepted a croissant from the offered basket, then some fruit.

Zach turned up the vibrator and watched her catch her breath. Her hand shook a little as she buttered the croissant and he loved the sign of his power over her.

And her compliance.

It reassured him to see how responsive she was, and convinced him that there had to be a way. The two other couples were chatting softly with each other, the glances between them hotter than they had been the night before. There was no sign of Devon, but maybe he liked to sleep in.

“The rain isn’t stopping,” Zach said as mildly as he could and Caitlyn spared him a glance. There was a sparkle in her eye, and he liked that they shared a secret.

“No,” she said and smiled a little even as she shifted on her seat. Zach changed the vibrator setting so that it would pulse and Caitlyn flushed as she caught her breath. “How unfortunate,” she said, that wonderful strain in her voice that made him hard, fast.

“We could take a carriage ride, and explore the island if you like,” he suggested, needing to have her to himself. “Stapleton assures me that a picnic lunch could be prepared.”

“What a wonderful idea.” Caitlyn smiled with real pleasure, her eyes shining.

Zach hid his own pleasure with an effort. “I’ll see to it, then. Will you be ready in half an hour?”

* * *

Zach had something planned. Caitlyn knew it and she couldn’t wait to find out what it was. He was making her wild with the vibrator, changing the settings on it all the time so that she couldn’t get accustomed to its rhythm. Every time she saw him slip his hand into his pocket, she braced herself, but she was never ready for what he did.

She hoped he trussed her up and banged her at some remote corner of the island, somewhere he had her completely at his mercy.

But she wasn’t allowed to come.

She waited in the foyer of the great house, all laced up to go, trying to look demure. Zach strolled out of the library with a book, then tucked it into the pocket of his great coat. Stapleton opened the front door and Caitlyn saw that a carriage had pulled up to the steps.

Just like the previous day, when they’d arrived, the carriage was pulled by men harnessed like ponies. They were naked, their skin gleaming, and they wore high boots that had horseshoes on the bottom. They stamped and pranced, just like horses, and the driver cracked a whip over their heads. This carriage was pulled by a pair, and they looked both strong enough to haul the carriage all over the island and ready to go.

Caitlyn shivered, unable to imagine being in their place, with the rain and the cool wind. Their heavy leather harness was intriguing, though. Zach handed her into the carriage and she was surprised that it was both cozy and luxurious inside. She settled onto the velvet and arranged her skirts, her heart skipping when Zach climbed in.

He was so close beside her that his thigh pressed against her own.

The rain sprinkled on the roof of the carriage, and his hand eased into his pocket. Caitlyn nearly moaned aloud as the vibrator changed its pattern once again, becoming both seductive and insistent. She recalled the night before and thought of how bad she’d been in the morning with Hunt. She thought of his commands for the night ahead and had to squirm on her seat. She couldn’t take a deep breath. She couldn’t escape.

And she didn’t want to.

The whip cracked and the carriage pulled away from the house, the horses settling to a steady pace.

“Is there much to see?” Caitlyn asked, her voice sounding tight to her own ears.

“I don’t think so,” Zach said, looking out the window. He patted his pocket. “But I brought a book, if we get bored.”

“A book?”

He pulled it out and showed it to her.
The Story of O.
Of course, they would have erotica in the library at Windswept Manor. It was fat, and she assumed it included the book and sequels in the one volume.

Caitlyn licked her lips, easily able to imagine how hot it would be to have Zach read erotica to her, with his deep slow voice and his steady gaze. The possibility sent goose pimples over her flesh.

“Have you read it?” Zach asked, his voice low enough to give her shivers.

Caitlyn nodded, wondering whether she should confess how worn out her copy was. “Do you think she was naughty?” she asked and he smiled.

“I suppose she was. She certainly was disciplined repeatedly.” His hand slid over the book cover like a caress and Caitlyn wished he would touch her like that, right here and now.

The vibrator thrummed against her aching clitoris, and made her want to rub herself on the seat.

Or on Zach.

He spoke quietly. “I suppose that’s only reasonable for a woman who enjoyed being enslaved and used for her master’s sexual pleasure.”

Caitlyn could only nod agreement. Her heart was pounding so hard that she couldn’t think straight. She didn’t need to think, though. She just needed to do what she was told.

Zach glanced up and handed her the book. “Would you read it to me?” There was an edge to his voice, a hardness that told her it wasn’t optional.

Caitlyn caught her breath. “Would it be naughty to decline?”

“Yes,” Zach said crisply. “But more naughty to read it aloud. Nice women don’t know about books like this.”

His gaze held hers and Caitlyn didn’t think she could have been hotter. The carriage rocked over the road, and she wondered whether the driver would be able to hear her reading.

“But I do,” Caitlyn whispered.

“Naughty Caitlyn,” Zach said silkily and she thought she might come on the spot.

Caitlyn took the book, her heart pounding. It was particularly exciting to be dressed as primly as she was—in corset and petticoats, with gloves and a bonnet—yet be holding this BDSM classic. The thought of reading it aloud made her mouth go dry, never mind to Zach. If she read a word wrong, would she be spanked?

Would he punish her in the night for her taste in reading?

There was a bookmark in it and the book fell open to that page.

It was the part where O is branded with her master’s mark. Caitlyn eyed the words and felt a little dizzy at the idea of being marked by Zach as his possession.

Was this his plan for her? Was that why he’d given her this passage to read?

She couldn’t decide whether to be thrilled or terrified, but she was certainly wet. She saw his hand disappear into the pocket of his jacket and sure enough, the vibrator moved a little more demandingly against her.

She bit her lip so she wouldn’t moan aloud, then started to read.

“I can’t hear you,” Zach said, and Caitlyn raised her voice.

Again he urged her to read more loudly and she knew it was no accident that that driver slowed the horses. She could practically feel him listening. When she got out of the carriage, he’d know what she’d been reading. Caitlyn felt herself blush, but Zach only smiled.

It was the smile of a man who held her in complete thrall.

As O was held in thrall.

“Read the dialogue as if you’re acting it out,” he instructed and she shivered to her toes.

Caitlyn locked her ankles together and obediently read aloud, enunciating clearly so Zach would be pleased. Maybe he’d fuck her right in the carriage, if she got it right. Her puss was buzzing like a bee and she was keenly aware of him so close beside her. He looked out the window, as if disinterested, though she could tell by the line of his trousers that he was very interested.

When the rain started to drum on the roof of the carriage, she thought she’d lose it completely.

“What about you, Zach?” she asked impulsively when she got to the end of the chapter. “What’s the naughtiest thing you’ve ever done?”

Zach gave her an odd look. “I’m not naughty,” he said softly. “Though I have been bad.”

“Really.” She dared to lean against his shoulder, acting as if they were friends not wild lovers. “Come on, tell me.”

Zach’s eyes narrowed and he averted his gaze. “I betrayed my best friend, and sent him to his death.”

Caitlyn felt her mouth open in surprise.

She also felt the temperature between them change, and it wasn’t good.

He looked back at her, his gaze hard. “He haunts me, because that’s what I deserve.”

Zach blamed himself for Luke’s death?

“But you’re wrong,” she said hastily. “You have to be.” She put her hand on Zach’s arm, but he pulled away. The rejection stung as little else could have done.

“I don’t think so.”

“I do, because you have to be talking about Luke.”

Zach’s gaze leapt to hers and Caitlyn took a deep breath.

“And
I’m
the one who killed him.”

“That’s a lie,” Zach said with rare heat. Caitlyn stared at him, knowing she’d never seen him angry like this, never seen him lose his temper. There was no doubt that he was convinced of his own words. “I killed Luke. He was my best friend, and he’d had my back a hundred times, but we fought.”

“That doesn’t mean…”

“I
knew
he’d been drinking,” Zach interrupted savagely, his eyes blazing. “I knew he’d do some dumb-ass thing, but I told him to go. I let him drive away, even though he was furious. I might as well have driven that car into the concrete pillion myself.”

“But…”

“You can’t fix this, Caitlyn. You can’t make it better. I have to live with what I said and did for the rest of my life.”

“But…”

“We’re not going to talk about it,” he said with the force of command that should have thrilled her.

But Zach put as much distance between them as possible. He rapped on the roof and commanded the driver to take them back to the house.