Lord & Master (10 page)

That was informative, I thought.

“Did he come?” I asked, the word not yet comfortable for me.

“He wouldn’t let himself. Despite trembling with longing, he said it was more exciting to ejaculate together. With my permission—admittedly, I was crazed for release by then—he yanked down my drawers and pushed me forward across the arm of the chair I’d been sitting in.

“When he lubricated my bum hole with his finger, I growled like an animal. He rubbed the lube in and out, making the secret nerves I had in there sing. Though I was no virgin, I’d never experienced stimulation that ecstatic. I hadn’t guessed my body would enjoy it.”

“You did, though.”

Damien nodded. “I learned later men have a special gland between their rectum and their bladder. It produces some of the fluid that comprises semen, along with containing muscles that help propel emissions. When this gland is stroked through the rectal wall, the sensation is quite exquisite, especially when the stroker is as adept as Jake.”

I’m sure this clinical description would—and perhaps should—have put many women off. I seemed incapable of responding the way I ought. My body felt as if it were in that bedsit with Damien: bent across the chair, weak with unfamiliar yearning and hot with lust. A guess sprang into my mind as if it were knowledge. “He spanked you then.”

“He did,” Damien confirmed. “Though I discovered afterward that Jake owned many instruments for the purpose, on that night he used his hand. I don’t think I’ll ever forget what he said to me before he began.”

“What did he say?”

“He said, ‘I am not your parent, and this isn’t punishment. I spank you because it arouses me, and because I believe it will arouse you. I want desire and not fear to be your reason for surrender. I want you to pay attention to my palm as it strikes your flesh, to savor the heat its stinging drives into you. Only when you’re ready to weep with need will my rock-hard prick fuck you.’

“Understand, I’d had sex many times. I thought nothing could cause me to weep for it. In this, I was mistaken. The basting Jake gave me was liberating. Doing so many things the world disapproved of cut through my inhibitions as if daring were a sword. I longed for him profoundly, no matter how unprecedented the act he proposed to perform on me. Finally, I begged him to take me.

“‘You’re not ready,’ he declared perversely.

“‘I am,” I said, my bottom arching to meet the next hard blow of his falling hand. “I want you to sodomize me.” I twisted in my bent position on the chair to see him. “Look how hard your erection is, how it pulses viciously before you. You’re dripping with lust for me. If you don’t take me soon, you’re likely to weep yourself.

“I suppose Jake’s partners didn’t often defy him. Perhaps they were more naturally submissive than myself. Fury darkened his face at my rebellious words. He drew his arm back and then dropped it. ‘I won’t strike you in anger,’ he said flatly. ‘Or fuck you that way either.’

“Instinct clicked in my mind. ‘Make love to me then,” I challenged. ‘Let your heart master me. God help you, though, if you don’t do it hard. You may be the better fighter, but I’m no nancy pants!

“In any other situation, I expect he’d have laughed. We’d gone beyond that, both of us too desperate for our pleasure to achieve its crisis. With a curse worthy of a sailor, he kicked my feet apart, bent himself around my body, and shoved his pulsing prick all the way into me.”

My hands flew to my mouth at the thought of that. I shouldn’t find this exciting. The things Damien described were incredibly unseemly.

“Women can take men into their bodies the same way.”

I jerked. This comment came from Jake. He’d been watching me react to Damien’s account.

Seeing my shock, Damien took my hand between his and caressed it. “You needn’t worry about that. I’d never do anything you didn’t want me to.”

What I
might
want was my concern. Preferring not to dwell on that, I returned my attention to Damien. “He brought you . . . to your crisis.”

“Yes. And took his too. He held the rope that bound my wrists with one hand—caressing it obsessively, I thought. He used his other hand to steady my thrashing hips. I was crazed by then, and he must have feared my bucking would throw him off. I sensed the power of our encounter took both of us by surprise. As he drove me closer to the finish, my voice grew hoarse from my cries. His hips lunged into me so deeply, so energetically the chair was scooting across the floor.

“‘Go,’ he urged burningly in my ear. “Go first and then I will.’

“To know he was holding back almost drove me mad. My body strained. Ironically, I was feeling too much pleasure to let go in orgasm. Sensing this, Jake shifted angles so that the head of his cock knocked and slid across my prostrate.

“At last, the massaging of my hidden gland sent me over. I went like a solar flare, my ejaculate spuming from me in long hard bursts.

“Jake choked out a groan a second later. His arms became bands of iron from which no escape was possible. Fortunately, I wanted no such release. The feel of him plunging completely into me and shooting was one I won’t soon forget. The girth of his cock expanded—once, twice—before flooding me with cum. His seed was hot and wet inside me. For one strange moment, I wondered if I’d gained a new understanding of women.

“I didn’t get a chance to dwell on this possible threat to my masculinity. I was only twenty. My body was too enthralled by the wonders it had just experienced. Jake had barely pulled out of me before I had a fresh hard-on.

“He did laugh at me then, but he wasn’t far behind me. The newness of our union, and the fact that our pleasure didn’t diminish through repetition, made both of us hard to sate. We copulated numerous times that night and well into the next day. Jake nearly lost his job for failing to show up, but the college had no one as good as he was to replace him.

“Unsurprisingly, we continued meeting throughout my stay at school. While other people’s prejudices necessitated keeping our bond concealed, such heightened experiences weren’t easily forsworn. Bit by bit, we renounced other partners. Jake and I liked each other—more than liked, perhaps. We reasoned it was a waste of our energy to maintain ties with less satisfying lovers. The only exception we made was the occasional shared female. Though our tastes were obviously broad, women had been our first interest. We missed them if we didn’t take them now and then—like an itch one forgets that nonetheless always simmers in the background.

“Our single regret was that we never found a female we felt as connected to as we did to each other. That, we thought, would make our lives perfect.”

Damien smiled, playfully tapping my nose with one finger. Was he suggesting
I
was this paragon? I wasn’t convinced that idea complimented me.

I drew back and studied him. “What happened after you left Oxford?”

“I left Jake as well. Began my career in railroads. Assumed my ‘experimenting’ was behind me. Business engrossed me. And rewarded me. I threw myself into it.”

“But you missed him.”

“Even as I’d miss a vital body part. I had a hole in me nothing and no one else could fill. Two years passed, and the hole grew larger. I remembered Jake’s interest in training racehorses. I devised a scheme to start a stable in which he might partner me. When I wrote him to suggest it, I was as nervous as a suitor proposing marriage. I bit my nails to the quick in the week it took to get his response.”

“I said ‘yes,’” Jake put in drolly.

Both men were watching me, waiting for me to say something. My new husband had given me a lot to take in—too much, probably. The romantic pictures I’d begun to spin following our wedding hadn’t included this.

I tried to force my brain to focus on the most central issue, at least from a sensible perspective. I didn’t think my body was safe to listen to right then.

“You married me to . . . complete your relationship with your male lover.”

“I married you because you appealed to me.”

“And because you thought me in no position to refuse.”

Damien’s eyes widened. “You
were
in no position. In any case, why was it wrong of me to hope this arrangement would benefit you as well?”

“It makes it seem as if you’re buying my compliance.”

“It already seemed that way when you thought there was only me in the equation.”

I crossed my arms. “Having only you in the equation is the same as every bride faces.”

“I’m not coercing you to accept Jake, only inviting you to entertain a new possibilities for pleasure. Our contract stands as you signed it. In six months you can walk away financially secure. All I ask in return is that you keep an open mind.”

“You’re asking for a
lot
of openness.”

“You’re not appalled,” he retorted, sounding utterly sure of it. “You were shocked at first, but I could tell my tale aroused you.”

I wished I could deny it. Because I couldn’t, I crossed my arms harder. “What do you think of all this?” I demanded of Damien’s friend.

Jake’s unfathomable eyes were hooded, his sneaky mouth curving into a smirk. “I think I can hardly wait until he convinces you to try me out.”

“Jake,” Damien said in a scolding tone. “Be serious for once.”

“I am serious.” He laughed, then lifted his hands in apology. “Fine. I ‘seriously’ think Damien chose wisely. You’re beautiful and passionate and not without spirit. I
believe
you have an independent mind, but I guess we’ll see how much of a slave to convention you actually are.”

“My mind can be independent even if I say ‘no’ to you!”

Jake didn’t take offense at my defiance. Seeming to enjoy it, his sapphire eyes gleamed brighter. I confess I bridled. I didn’t like being treated as a joke.

Sensing I was about to lose my temper, Damien rubbed my folded arm soothingly. “Perhaps we could attempt a small experiment.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, which caused Jake to snort in amusement.

“Only yea big,” Damien said, his thumb and finger pinched close together. “Without sufficient data, one cannot reach a well reasoned decision.”

“I’d need to know what you’re suggesting before I answer.”

Somewhat to my dismay, both men broke into grins.

“Let him watch,” Damien said, clearly ready for this question.

“Watch,” I repeated suspiciously.

“I shall bare your legs and massage them, as we already planned to do. Then, if you are comfortable enough, I’ll make love to you on his bed.”

Warmth rose into my face. “Have you made love to him here?”

“I have,” Damien said calmly.

I stared at him. My desire to flee warred with my craving to fling myself at him. Maybe the worst dilemma was that I didn’t hate the idea of Jake watching. “Other people really do this? Really make a show of private activities?”

“Some do,” Damien said.

“Why haven’t I heard of it?”

“You were sheltered, Mia. The people in whose care you were didn’t want you knowing.” He lifted my hand to softly kiss its palm. The brush of his lips sent a delicious frisson down my spine. “Jake and I can teach you lots of things you didn’t know before.”

“
That
I believe,” I said.

Jake and Damien laughed.

“May I massage your legs in front of Jake?” Damien asked politely. “And remove your riding trousers first?”

I bit my lip. “Yes,” I said before I could stop myself.

Chapter Nine

DAMIEN
removed my garments from the waist down. He took my hacking jacket too—claiming it hung past my hips and would hamper his access. I was left with my crisp white shirt, my stock, and of course my corset and underthings.

“That shirt will crease,” Jake predicted. “She’ll look dodgy when she returns home.”

I exhaled noisily at him. Were Damien’s servants capable of shock? I gave in regardless. “Fine. Take off the shirt as well.”

I remembered too late I could have unbuttoned it myself.

Damien smiled as he undid it, dropping soft little kisses to the new parts of me he bared. How hungry I was for those indicators of affection! My reasons to be wary nattered at me unheard. My arms were soon naked, and my legs, and my bosom where my hastened breathing made my breasts swell above the tight corset.

“You are so tasty,” Damien praised. The way he wet his lips lent sincerity to the compliment.

Distracted by that, I wasn’t prepared for him to suddenly grip my legs and tug me onto my back on the mattress. I panted then from more than surprise. Damien loomed over me on his knees. He was less undressed than I, though he had taken off his coat. His sleeves were rolled to his elbows, his collar unfastened. His corded neck seemed extremely male.

His hot gaze trapped mine like a magnet.

“Where’s that liniment?” he asked without turning.

“At the foot of the bed,” Jake replied. “Right where you left it.” He lifted a ladder-back chair by its topmost rung. “I believe I need to sit for this.”

He sat on the chair backwards, so close to me I felt waves of heat beating off his body.

“It’s all right,” he said, seeing my nervousness. “I’d never touch you without your permission.”

“Or mine,” Damien added.

Jake’s lips slanted as if this claim weren’t necessarily accurate.

Damien doesn’t rule him
, I thought.
Not the way he assumes
.

Did this awareness cause alarm to ripple through me, or delight? Damien’s hands drove the question from my mind. Slick with lavender-scented unguent, they slid warmly up my thighs. I gasped at their strength and the pleasure that spread like wine into my sore muscles. He kneaded me so well he tugged more parts of me than he touched. Between the folds that protected it, my clitoris swelled and pulsed.

I squirmed, too conscious of the bareness of my bottom. I didn’t know what to hold onto. If I caught Damien’s wrists, I feared what I’d urge them to.

“Perhaps you’d like to reach up and grip the headrail?” he suggested.

This seemed acceptable, though it pulled my painfully tightened nipples to the brink of my corset’s top.

“Jesus,” Jake swore underneath his breath.