Master (2 page)

Damn, I thought I'd stopped
doing
that ages
ago.
Anna looked at her boss and worried. No
one knew her real history.
Linsey
knew more than
most, and even her knowledge was sketchy, which was just as Anna wanted.
However, maybe now was the time to fess up? Perhaps the moment had come to tell
her boss just why she was shaking like a leaf? With the decision made, Anna
felt a great weight had lifted off her.

Her boss stared then gestured to the tiny room to one side
of their office. That, for
Linsey
, was unusual. The
snug was
Linsey's
oasis, and she'd told Anna that
from the start. When she retreated there, it was because she needed space and
time alone. No one, but no one, disturbed
Linsey
when
she closeted herself behind that door. In the eighteen months Anna had worked
for her, Anna had never ventured in. There had been no need. Everything that
had to be done happened in their office.
Even the hiring and
firing.
Not that there was a lot of that, as
Linsey
was a take-no-prisoners type of boss, but she was open and fair, and her staff
loved her.

Now she had a speculative look on her face.
 
"Whatever it is, we'll sort it."
Linsey
gave Anna a quick hug. "Damn, if you went for
me, I'd soon take those shadows out of your baby blues. Come on, a glass of
wine awaits us. The answering machine can pick up any phone calls. Nothing
drastic will happen if people have to wait for an answer to whatever they need
to know." She took hold of Anna's arm and led her out of the room and into
the snug.
That attitude alone made Anna realize
how
concerned
Linsey
was. Nothing but
nothing
took precedence over the running
of the club.

In spite of the fact she felt sick, Anna looked around with
interest. The room was tiny, with very few furnishings. A long wide sofa,
perfect for naps, with soft pale cushions inviting you to sit and relax was
placed along one wall facing an abstract picture of swirls of color. Next to it
was a table with a couple of books on and an
iPod
and
dock on it. There was very little else, except for a sink and a cupboard with a
kettle on the surface and a fridge below.

"Sit."
Linsey
pushed her
onto the settee and walked to the fridge. "What the hell, it's four p.m.,
and we're not open tonight. Thank goodness for Mondays." She poured two
glasses of wine without waiting for Anna's answer and walked back to Anna.
"Here, and okay, in your own time."

Anna took the glass and sipped the contents, even though she
felt like drinking it in one large swallow. Maybe it
was
time for her to be open and honest. The thought of what
Linsey
might say brought the weight of worry back with a
thump. In the true spirit of honesty, she hadn't been above board. Lies by
omission were still lies, and to her shame she'd done plenty of them. She put
the half full glass on the table before she drank it down. On a churning empty
stomach, that might not be a good idea.

"I'm not sure just where to start." She bit her
nail and realized what she was doing. "Damn. Okay, it's about a man."

"This man?"
Linsey
gestured to the file she'd brought through with her.

"Yeah."
Anna grimaced.
"That one."

"And?"
Linsey
prompted, when Anna fell silent again.
"Why him?
I know you don't like women in a sexual way. Hell, if you did, I'd have jumped
you ages ago. You're adamant you want nothing to do with the workings or
entertainments within the club, so … how the hell can you be so worried about
this guy? He's a hot, respected Dom. He can pick and chose any sub he wants and
they'd roll over and beg for him. So not your style, hon.
You
won't need to have anything to do with him." She patted Anna's hand.
"Not if you really don't want to.
However?"
She winked.

Anna groaned inside. The thought of that particular man made
her pulse race and her clit throb.
Linsey
had joked
to Anna she knew what Anna really wanted, and if it wasn't
Linsey
or her ladies, then she knew a man it could be. What if this man was whom
Linsey
meant?

"Who decided he'd come here? Did you ask, or did he
volunteer?" she asked
Linsey
.

Linsey
raised her eyebrow, but
answered readily. "That's the thing; he asked if we'd be interested in a
tutorial and demo. Our reputation is very good, but for him to come? Well,
that's almost like a royal seal of approval. He must rate us." The smile
on her face showed how pleased she was. "And you know you're part of the
reason we're so successful. You field all
the niggles
and annoyances and let me do my job. You're a true asset. And the result is we
have a club that someone like him wants to work in."

If
Linsey
believed that, all well and good.
However, Anna wasn't buttoned up the
back, and she'd bet her last pound he'd chosen this club for a reason other
than their success. Whatever
Linsey
said, Anna was
damned sure it wouldn't be beneficial to
herself
.

"
Er
, I think maybe after you
hear what I have to say, you might not be so sure I'm an asset." A thought
struck her. "
Linsey
, my name isn't mentioned
anywhere, is it?
In the brochures or anything."

"No, why?"
Linsey
looked puzzled. "You know it's not. If anyone asks me I just call you
Anna, and as we don't use surnames here, yours has never been mentioned."
She stared at Anna, and her expression was speculative. "Look,
hon
, you're freaking me out here. Are you going to tell me
what's wrong? I won't fire you, shout at you or even get too upset you've been
keeping secrets. Ah come on." She grinned. "I know you've kept stuff
back, but I reckoned as long as it didn't involve or affect
Dommissima
I wasn't worried."

"That's the problem. I've a horrid feeling it does.
Your
Dom,
Cade
McCourt." She
paused, snatched up her wine glass, took a healthy swallow, and put the glass
back down on the table before she spilled the contents.
Then
took a deep breath.

"My name isn't Anna,
it's
Diana."

"Well, I know that, it's on your application form. You
said you preferred Anna. So?"

"So, that's my birth name, Diana Jason. My name for the
last fifteen years or so has been McCourt. Diana McCourt.
Caden
McCourt is my husband."

****

Caden
McCourt checked he had his
bag of toys; his own personal goodies securely locked and put it in the
compartment under the car seat. It made traveling that bit harder when he took
it with him, but for this trip, it was, he decided, essential. He'd planned
this visit carefully, and not without a lot of heart searching. Did he really
want to open up that particular can of worms after all this time? He knew the
answer had to be yes. Completion or resolution or whatever you wanted to call
it was necessary.
Cade
thought it was a simple
question—why?

The phone call from his long time friend and partner had
come as a big surprise.
One that had his heart pounding and
his cock alert as memories bombarded him.

"
Cade
?
You
sitting
down?" Daisy had sounded agitated, something very unusual
for such a laid back person.

"I am now, why?" He sat down on his couch and
crossed one ankle over the other, stretching the denim of his jeans over his
long legs and flat stomach.

"Well." Now Daisy sounded flustered, which was
also not like her.

"C'mon, Dais, spill it out. You've crashed your car?
Lost the club in a card game? Decided you want to sub again for me?"

"No, you ass, none of that.
Hell,
Cade
,
I flew up here, don't play cards, and I'm happy playing around. Well until, you
know…"

He knew.

"So?"

"So I've seen Diana," she blurted out.
"In
Glasgow
.
At the club I was taken to."

He'd almost dropped the phone. Talk about a bombshell.

"No. Not my Diana, not in a club, hell, Dais…" He
stopped speaking, not sure how to go on.

"Yeah."
He could hear the sympathy in
her voice, and it hurt. "But seriously,
Cade
,
it's her. She's calling herself Anna Jason, and she's the owner's P.A. as far
as I can gather. Oh and evidently mans—or
womans
—the
reception desk on occasions. And before you ask, I'm damned certain there's
nothing between the two of them other than darned good friends. And I don't
mean that in a wink, wink, nudge, nudge way either. You could see genuine
friendship but not one spark of sexual awareness. But I'm sure it's her. She's
just like the photo you have. Older, of course, but it's her I promise
you."

As he locked the house and got into his car,
Cade
remembered just how his heart had pounded at Daisy's
words and her subsequent explanation. The photo she described was the only one
he dared keep out, and that was because every time he looked at it his
heart—and his cock—swelled at the remembrance of the day. They'd gone for a
long walk in the woods that were part of his property, and he'd
Shibari
-tied her before he took her photo. The sun had filtered
through the leaves, and she'd been bathed in the rays, her long red hair down
her back, and her beautiful body enhanced by the intricate patterns of the
design he'd dressed her in.
Cade
did his best to
banish the thought and deflate his prick, as he switched the car engine on. The
sooner he found out if it
was
her,
then the sooner he'd get answers—he hoped.

Daisy had often mentioned an old friend of hers who now
owned a very exclusive club that she'd been invited to visit and have a look
around. She'd flown up to
Glasgow
for a few days, and he'd received her phone call on the following day.

He still hadn't believed her until a somewhat blurred photo
had followed. Then he did accept that it was Diana. And irony of all ironies
she worked for a BDSM club. After all she'd said—or he thought—not said.

As he turned onto the motorway north,
Cade
went over his preparations. He had no false modesty about his talents, or about
the fact he’d known
Dommissima
would jump at the
chance of an exhibition from him in any of his preferred skills. They had, and
now he was hours away from meeting Diana again.

What am I looking for?
Answers?
Explanations?
Yes, he allowed as he overtook a long
distance coach and set the cruise control to the maximum speed limit, there was
that. Even deeper though was the need to find out whether or not she was happy.
Plus a thought he was reluctant to recognize: did she have a man in her life?
Or, more than that, a Dom who satisfied her as he hadn't been able to? That
would be his worst-case scenario. That somehow he as a Dom
and
a man had failed her, and she hadn't been able to tell him.

His car ate up the miles. The motorway wasn't over busy, and
with only a short stop for fuel
Cade
completed his
journey in good time. Finding the apartment Daisy had rented for him—even if
his visit was brief,
Cade
preferred the privacy of
his own space—was no trouble. By early evening he was inspecting his new
accommodation.

The penthouse overlooked the river in one direction and the
rooftops of the city in the other. Church spires vied with tenements, and
chimneys hogged the view. He thought it was a good idea the floor to ceiling
window was one-way glass. If, and it was a mighty big if, he found someone he
wanted to play with, and they were willing, he didn't think the good citizens
of Glasgow would be too impressed to see his sub
Shibari
-tied
and gagged and enjoying a flogging.
Cade
chuckled to
himself. Not that
that
scenario was
likely. As a teacher, he never played on his home turf with people he may be tutoring,
and the same went for displays.
Cade
decided he
didn't have a cat in hell's chance of anything other than his demonstrations
happening. He just hoped the club owner,
Linsey
someone, had sorted out the necessary for his evening's work. Otherwise she
could whistle. Not even to see if this Anna person was his Diana would he
compromise his reputation.

Daisy had organized everything in the apartment in her usual
efficient manner. He blessed the day when, even though they both agreed he was
not the Dom for her, and she was not the sub for him, she'd taken over his
business affairs and left him to concentrate on what he did best. Teaching
other
Doms
how to give their subs all they needed,
and more.