Master (4 page)

"I'm here, sweet thing." Athol walked across the
room and enveloped her in his usual effusive bear hug. "I had to sort out
some dickhead who thought I would turn a trick for a
tenner
.
Cheapskate.
I told him not for a thousand, I have my
standards." He roared with laughter, a deep belly laugh so at odds with
his persona. "Oh and who's this?" He looked
Cade
up and down.

Anna grinned at him. There was no way she could project her
nerves onto Athol. "Ask
Linsey
to explain. I'm
away home."

 
Caden
put the pen down and looked up at her. For the first time since he'd walked
through the door, he was focused on Anna, and she felt the familiar tingle of
arousal as the flames of need began to flicker through her.

"I thought perhaps you would show me around."
Cade
spoke to her, and his deep voice filled her, focusing
all her attention on him.

Outside a car horn sounded, and Anna blinked and jumped, her
concentration broken. She could only think she'd had a lucky escape.

"Sorry, I'm finished for the day.
Oh,
and
Linsey
?"
She looked at her boss who
smiled, although it didn't reach her eyes.

"
Linsey
, I'm just mentioning
this and please accept it's not a threat, it's a promise. If I find that
somehow, someone has told
Caden
where I live, or I'm
visited or bothered by him, you can take that as my notice."

A guilty look flickered over
Linsey's
face, and Anna knew her suspicions were correct. This visit was no accident.
And she was certain
Cade
knew where she lived. That
was it; she was leaving, and not just the club.

"Understand?"

Linsey
nodded, as her eyes flickered
from Anna to
Cade
and back again. Behind her, Athol
stood as still as a statue.

The telephone broke up the tableau. Anna looked at it and
then at Athol. He took the hint and lifted the receiver.

Anna flexed her fingers to relieve the pins and needles in
them.

 
"Good, I'm glad
we all understand each other." She keyed in the password of the closet,
retrieved her handbag and coat and walked out.

Chapter Three

Cade
watched the only woman he
could say he loved walk away from him again and swore under his breath.

"
Fuck, that
went well."

“Oh god, I'm so sorry. I was sure it would be okay."
Linsey
sounded as if she was going to cry. “After Anna
explained everything and then you did…" She stopped and shook her head.

Cade
touched her arm, pleased that
all he felt was compassion. He was conscious of Athol standing silently beside
them. Not that anything needed to be explained to the other man, but he still
wasn't prepared to talk in front of him.

Linsey
took a deep breath. "Ah,
er
yes, so um would you like to look round?"

He shook his head. "I would, but I'm not going to, not
now. Don't worry, I'll not renege. I hope to hell I'm not about to lose you a
P.A., but I'm going after her. I'll ring you." He strode to the door and
then turned abruptly. "Shit, I've not got my car. Where can I get a
taxi?"

"There's one outside." Athol spoke to him.
"It's obvious there's more to this than it seems, and I'm guessing you’re
her ex. Yes, she told me ages ago when we both had a drunken confess-fest. I
think you need to listen to her, make her talk." He grinned. "Tell
her it’s the will of the tribe. She'll understand."

Cade
nodded. He'd no idea what the
other man meant but decided it was words of acceptance of sorts.

As Athol had said, there was a cab outside the door. The
driver, a burly Glaswegian with an accent so thick
Cade
only understood one word in ten, drove as if he was
Scotland
's latest Formula One
champion, and covered the miles across the city at a rate of knots. As they got
to the suburbs he slowed, and once they reached the last streetlight, his speed
decreased to a snail pace even though it was only twilight.

"
Isthenae
a motorway
roon
here?"

Cade
tried to split the words.

“Oh." He deciphered the sentence. "Hey, I'm a
visitor, but I guess this is the best way."

 
"Ach, I wiz
affraido
that."

"Sorry, but it's not far now." He'd studied the
map several times, so he was able to give directions. Within a few minutes the
cab stopped outside an elegant gatehouse. It was in darkness.

"Wait there a minute."
Cade
got out and knocked on the door. The noise echoed inside the building.
Somewhere close by a dog barked low and deep.
Cade
hoped it was confined. He didn't fancy having to explain a dog bite to anyone.
Apart from the barking, there was nothing. It didn't take long to realize there
was no one at home.

He went back to the cab.

 
"Back to the
city, please."

 
The driver nodded,
obviously used to strange visitors who decided to take a jaunt into the
countryside and back again. As he pulled away,
Caden's
phone bleeped that he had a text message.

'Wait there. I'll be five
minutes.'

"Sorry, I'm staying after all. How much do I owe
you?" The cab jerked to a halt, and
Cade
didn't
even bother to try to understand the driver's muttered words. An oath was an
oath, and recognizable in any language. He paid the man, adding his thanks and
a substantial tip, and got out. The cab sped away, no doubt back to
civilization and the streetlights, and
Cade
leaned
against the house wall under a security light. She'd either turn up or not, and
if she did he didn't want to freak her and appear out of the darkness. If not,
then he'd need to put his breaking and entering skills into play.

His attributes as a burglar weren't tested as a few minutes
later a silver sports car pulled up alongside him.
Cade
straightened up and watched as the car door opened and Anna got out. She
slammed the door and walked across to stand within a few feet of him. Not too
close, he noticed in disgust. What the hell did she think he was going to do to
her?

A light breeze caught the ends of her hair, and it fanned
around her like a cape of red silk. The sight reminded him of seeing it spread
over her pillow, as she writhed beneath him, chanting his name like an
incantation, her body flushed and waiting … and…

Shit. Calm down, there's as
much likelihood of making love with her … or anything remotely like it as there
is of me joining the priesthood.

"
Linsey
and Athol both know
that I know you're here, and that I'm here as well." She stood in front of
him, legs apart and her back straight, obviously with the intention of her
stance conveying strength and belligerence. "So, I've got to phone them
every half hour, or the police will arrive. I'm talking to you because I want
to, not because I've got to, because no one can make me, and I'm guessing
you'll bug me until I do, but once I have then you're to leave me alone, or
I'll be the one calling the police, and they're big on crushing stalkers up
here. Do you understand?" She gulped in air. It was no wonder, after such
a long sentence.
Cade
doubted she drew breath as she
said what she'd obviously been rehearsing all the way to her house.
Only someone so attuned to read people as he was able to would have
noticed the trepidation she felt.
It wasn't in
Cade's
mind to worry or scare her. Excite and arouse maybe, but not here and not now.
His mind processed her somewhat complicated sentence, and he nodded.

"Say it," Anna demanded. He decided not to mention
he was the one who demanded in a relationship. This exchange of words could in
no way be described as such.

"I understand. You're here with me because you want to
be." And if either of them believed it was what she wanted, there was a bridge
somewhere for someone to sell them. "Athol said to tell you it's the will
of the tribe."

"No, you asshole."
Her voice wavered and
strengthened. "The last place I want to be is with you. But I've decided
that you'd be a pain in the ass until we spoke, and
Linsey
is so excited you're going to demonstrate or tutor or whatever it is you do, I
thought I'd listen to you, and then you can go and do what you have to do, and
I can do what I have to. And as for Athol and his will of the tribe? Not in a
million years, so you can forget that, buster."

He shook his head to relieve the ringing in his ears.
"Fair enough.
Do you always talk in such long and
convoluted sentences?"

She flushed, and he saw her hands firm into fists.
Cade
tightened his muscles again, but she just gave him a
look of such contempt, he was hard pressed to hold back his grin. His
feisty-only-in-bed redhead had turned into one hell of a woman. He decided not
to ask her anything about Athol's cryptic statement.

"No."

Well, that was short enough.
Cade
stood back and watched Anna unlock the door. A scrabble of paws across the
wooden floor he glimpsed beyond the threshold had him stiffening. So it wasn't
a recording of a dog's bark she used to repel invaders, it was the real thing.
 
A big ball of black and white dog careened
out of the doorway, and with an excited bark, rolled on its back in front of
Anna. She giggled and bent to rub the dog's tummy, giving him an unexpected
peek of her thighs and a hint of firm buttock. He half thought he saw a flash
of red thong disappearing between her butt cheeks, but decided it was wishful
thinking. His Diana would never wear anything like that. It had been one of
their sticking points.

But she's not your Diana now,
is she?
Cade
waited patiently until she
straightened up and glared at him over her shoulder.

"Were you looking at my ass?" Anna demanded. He
noticed the tell-tale blush on her cheeks and did a mental high five. So she
might sound annoyed, but her body was showing different. Maybe this was going
to be an interesting meeting.

"Oh yes. Nicer than I remembered."

"Bastard."
There was no anger in her
voice. "Dickens, meet
Cade
. Friend, Dickens,
he's a friend. Well, until I tell you otherwise."

Cade
held his hand out, hoping the
Old English
Sheepdog
understood what friend meant, and
that Anna hadn't taught the dog that when she said friend he attacked. Luckily,
she hadn't. The dog padded over to him, sat on his haunches and offered a paw,
which
Cade
took, before he scratched Dickens behind
the ears.

"See, he likes you." The unspoken words
for now
hung in the air. "Okay,
you'd better come in. Shut the door, please."

Cade
did as she asked and followed
her and the dog across the hallway and into another room. He looked around him,
surprised at what he saw. When they'd lived together, their home had been all
cool, calm colors,
minimalistic
and modern. This was
the very opposite.

"
Er
." He waved his hand
towards the soft
squidgy
-looking settee. "It
looks comfy."

Anna turned to him and smiled. He'd bet his new
Shibari
cord she had no idea what her smile did to him.
Every fiber of him wanted to grab her, hold her clit to cock, and kiss her
senseless. Before he used that new rope on her and showed her how beautiful she
would look dressed—or undressed—only in that. His body shook with the effort of
remaining where he was and having the poker face he was famed for.

"It is. Try it out while I get some coffee."

 
The way she spoke, as
if his input into the proceedings was irrelevant, made him grit his teeth. Her
next words made his blood boil.

"Then you can tell me why you felt you had to come and
stalk me at home."

****

The waves of anger that emanated from
Cade
were enough to make her tremble, but Anna managed to walk into the kitchen
before her hands started to shake and her legs wobbled. He hadn't changed.
Still all Dom and
masterful,
and still exuding power
and sex appeal. The first three she could cope with. Anna knew even after all
these years
Cade
was honorable, and if she chose to
say no he might question exactly what no meant, but would accept it, if it was
meant. The sheer magnetism of him was not so easy to ignore. Anna could tell
from the very first glimpse of him that he still had the ability to arouse her.
However her body might want him, her heart wouldn't allow it. Once was enough.