Voyage To Submission (10 page)

She brushed her hand over the spot a
little, fearful of making it worse. “Margrit, help?” She turned, hoping her new
friend could help.

Amalie spoke quickly, “It’s all right,
really.”

Margrit looked at the smudge. “I’m afraid
if we try anything with her still wearing it, we’ll only make it worse. We
could go into the bedroom—”

Amalie wiggled her hands, palms facing the
other two women, back and forth while she shook her head, very decisively. “No,
really, I can run downstairs and change if you wish and let the staff waiters
begin dinner.”

Ethan shrugged. “I can mix drinks, with
Jack’s help, so whatever works for you ladies.” He paused and glanced at Jack,
raising his eyebrows to question his approval.

Jack nodded.

Ethan continued. “Will be fine for us. We
can always skip a course if we need to be on time to meet your friends, Jack.”

“That is fine with me, Ethan.” Jack nodded,
patting his flat stomach as he went on. “A few uneaten calories are only going
to work to my advantage when it comes time to work off all these rich dinners
back home.”

Margrit groaned. “We don’t mention calories
until the ship disembarks at the end of the cruise. It’s a rule, isn’t it,
Jackie?”

Amalie nodded.

Andy could see the confusion, or maybe it
was consternation at the loss of control. From what she had seen of the young
woman so far, Andy had no doubt she was even more of a stickler for rules than
Rick. Clearing her throat, she reached out to pat Amalie’s upper arm.

“I can run down and help you change, if
that would help. I’d have to slip off these darn shoes because I’m not used to
walking, let alone running, in heels this high. I told Rick I wouldn’t embarrass
you and I have. I’ve also mucked up your shirt, ruined your perfectly planned
dinner plans and now I’ll probably sink the
Titanic
!”

Even Amalie smiled at Andy’s
self-deprecation. When Amalie stated she’d stay and work if they didn’t mind,
Andy felt a little better. Soon, they were seated and enjoying pre-dinner
drinks.

The rest of the evening was uneventful, and
they were in time to meet up with the others before the party doors opened.

Andy began to think she couldn’t be shocked
any more. The Dungeon party went on in the center of the room in addition to
circulating ‘round the perimeter. That’s where the individual scenarios had
been staged. Some were quite small, and people would stand and watch for a few
moments before moving on to the next.

A few of the exhibitions had chairs set in
a few rows, inviting passersby to sit and observe for longer periods. One very
elaborate play lasted about twenty minutes. By the time she came upon this,
their group had splintered completely. She was actually by herself. Jack had
been pulled off somewhere by Tony and Danny in response to “you just gotta see
this!”

An hour remained before the private party
was to start, and getting off her feet sounded like a spectacular idea. She
chose a seat from the mostly empty chairs, seeing the next showing began in
thirty minutes. Hopefully, there wouldn’t be anything else which caught her
off-guard. Several times, she had barely stopped the “oh my God” from popping
out.

Once she’d agreed to the cruise with her
publisher footing the bill, she had done some Internet research. Yet reading,
even looking at pictures could not prepare her enough to hide her naïveté. She
didn’t feel quite so bad when she heard a few other women gasping. Everywhere
she looked men could be seen nearly tripping over their lolling tongues, but
otherwise it was a controlled party atmosphere.

The guidelines had been clearly posted
outside the party area, and Ethan had reviewed them again before they went in.
He’d also pointed out the bouncers, all big, muscular guys, dressed in black
leather vests with masks obscuring the upper portion of their heads, leaving
only peepholes for their eyes. She had little doubt those men could quickly
remove someone not observing the rules.

She tried to file away things she saw into
separate files in her brain, but with so many different scenes she’d observed
it was confusing to keep them all straight. She wished her purse had been big
enough to hold her PDA. She did have a small recording device, but it wouldn’t
hold as much. Pulling it from the white bag, she lifted it to only a few inches
from her mouth.

“Separate areas for each display. The
torture things are the ones I just don’t get the appeal. I can understand the
prolonged sexual stimulation. But how can pain be enjoyed?” She paused,
thinking about it for a moment. “Maybe it is only people who have never truly
experienced real physical pain, either from disease, injury, or at the evil
hands of another that can derive pleasure from pain.”

“Perhaps it is because their emotional pain
is buried so deeply inside this is the only way they can find peace, or
arousal.” A deep husky voice spoke from directly behind her chair.

Andy gasped and twisted around. She saw the
sensual sound belonged to a slender man dressed in a tuxedo. Unlike many of the
others in the room, this man looked as if he were perfectly at ease in these
expensive clothes the same as he’d be in jeans. He had longish black hair, blue
eyes and that sexy one-to-two-day growth of beard. She didn’t know who this guy
was, but he looked European and perfect to star as her next heroic vampire!

“I apologize for eavesdropping, but it is
so rare to find an unattached beautiful woman at one of these things I had to
discover if you truly are by yourself, or merely been misplaced temporarily.”

Andy had to smile as the stranger’s mouth
turned up seductively at one corner. “That implies I belong to someone who
could then lose me,” she pointed out, in an exaggerated patient tone.

“Precisely.” The man nodded. He pulled the
chair next to her back a foot or so, and then stepped through and sat sideways
on the next chair. This allowed him to look right at her, she realized.
Immediately, a blush began moving up her neck. “While these things are not
exclusive to the BDSM lifestyle, it has been my experience the majority of
couples contain a male Dom. Most of the women at these things are subs, even if
they don’t yet know it.”

Andy bristled at his words, but stopped as
she saw the twinkle in his eyes. “I’ve met people like you before.” She pointed
her index finger at him. “You like to stir up trouble. You deliberately espouse
what you believe to be incendiary thoughts. I bet you then like to sit back and
watch the verbal and emotional fireworks.”

The stranger smiled, pressing his palm flat
over his heart. “Guilty as charged, but it isn’t trouble I seek.” He leaned
forward, resting his forearms on his thighs. He clasped his hands, interlacing
his fingers. “Sometimes it is good to nudge people, and play the devil’s
advocate.”

“You are probably one of those ‘out of the
box’ types. You love change, being on edge and the adrenaline surge you get
from the emotional brouhaha is your drug,” Andy replied succinctly. “Sir, you
are a bad boy. Or that is what my best friend’s mama called the boys who were always
in trouble and one step ahead of the law.”

“Madam, do you accuse me of being an
outlaw?”

Andy blushed even brighter. That’s pretty
much precisely what she’d just done. “I am sorry. I don’t even know you and
here I go accusing you—”

Immediately, the stranger stood, bowed
slightly at the waist and offered his hand to her. “Allow me to introduce
myself. I am Peter Waldron.”

Andy put her hand out to shake his, but was
taken aback as he turned it, and then leaned over further to press a light kiss
to her knuckles. As he straightened, she realized why she had thought he looked
familiar. “You’re that duke guy!”

Peter sat back down, nodding. “Guilty as
charged, but I don’t use the title much, when I’m traveling. It tends to draw
too much attention.”

Andy nodded. She decided not to sympathize
verbally because she didn’t want him asking why she chose to avoid notoriety.
Instead, she changed the topic. “Are you a Dom on this cruise with a sub?” The
minute the words left her mouth, she realized how impertinent the question
sounded.

Peter nodded. “I tend to the dominant
choice, but I’m woefully all alone on this cruise. Or rather I’m here with
friends from London. Now, back to you. Are you alone and why are you talking
into a micro-recorder?”

“I am on this cruise with friends from my
college days. It’s kind of a reunion, I guess. One of them suggested the cruise
instead of just meeting at some hotel or going to the infamous mouse park.”

“Hmm,” Peter paused, staring at her.

Andy fidgeted under his intentness.

“I should imagine visiting Mickey and
Donald would be rather fun with you,” he finally said. “Anyway, why the
recorder?”

Andy frowned. “I hoped you’d forget that
part.”

“Not likely. Also recording equipment is
not allowed in these things.”

“I know, but I figured since I wasn’t
recording the actual displays—”

Peter shrugged. “I won’t tell those big
guys in leather if you tell me why.”

“You wouldn’t really turn me in. I’m sure
you are too nice—”

Peter stood, craning his neck as he looked
around the immediate area.

Andy reached out and tugged on his sleeve.
“Okay, okay, I’ll confess.” She tucked the recorder back inside her purse. “I’m
taking notes so I can write a book.”

“Damn!” Peter had already resumed his seat,
but now he leaned forward. “Are you going to write one of those exposé books
that tell all and embarrass people, using their real names?”

Andy shook her head. “No, I write romance
novels.”

“I wouldn’t have thought the American
housewife was into BDSM.”

“That is the second time you’ve made an
assumption. Anyway, once my editor heard I was going on this cruise, he talked
to the publisher. They paid for me to have a better cabin so I could work.”

“How much working have you managed so far?
Wait! I told you my name, but you managed to skip telling me yours.”

“Sorry. Andrea Bond. Unfortunately, I
haven’t done anything concrete, which is why I thought if I recorded some first
impressions here tonight I might get a germ of an idea.”

“How about you and I work on a story
together? I bet between us we could come up with a few steamy scenes.”

Andy blushed as his words evoked a rush of
nervousness. Writing about sexual situations alone in her apartment was
definitely a different set of circumstances than talking about it with an
attractive stranger. Feeling on edge and too warm, she blew a puff of hair
upwards into her bangs. “What if I decide I need to be the one in charge? Could
you handle that?”

Peter shrugged. “I’ve wondered about that
myself. I think if it is the right woman, it will feel right.”

“Andy! I couldn’t figure out where you’d
disappeared to!”

Andy shifted on her chair and saw Jack had
indeed found her. His all-American appearance was almost the exact opposite of
the bad boy look Peter had. “Hello, Jack. I had to sit down and slip these darn
shoes off. I saw this show didn’t start for thirty minutes so I took
advantage.”

As Jack neared, Peter stood.

Andy introduced the two men. “Peter, this
is Jack Riley. He is part of the group I am traveling with. Jack, this is Peter
Waldron.”

She watched as the two men shook hands.

Peter turned to her a moment later. He
pulled a business card from his pocket, holding it out. As she accepted it,
Peter smiled. “Call me if you’d like to learn some facts from a pro.”

Andy watched as the smooth British lord of
the realm departed. She sat, aware of Jack straightening the chairs and then
sitting in the one right next to her. Opening her small bag, she tucked the
card inside.

“What’s he a pro at?” Jack’s voice caused
her to look up.

She told herself not to read too much into
his question or his tone. Undoubtedly, he was merely curious about a stranger.
“I think he referred to this lifestyle. He said he was a Dom, but has no sub
with him on this cruise.” Andy was sure she heard Jack growl low in his throat
before he spoke a second later.

“Was he hitting on you to be his sub?”

Andy shook her head, glancing sideways for
a second. She hated sitting like this because you always got a crick in your
neck trying to look at the other person. Instead, she faced straight ahead.
“English dukes don’t hit on women. And he certainly doesn’t look like he has to
hit
on any woman. I’m sure they are lining up wherever he slows down
long enough for a line to form.”

“Damn! Peter Waldron. I thought he looked
familiar. And any man, who isn’t gasping his last breath, will hit on a
beautiful woman.”

Andy had shaken her head before she
realized what Jack said. Was he saying she was beautiful? That certainly wasn’t
a way she’d ever felt comfortable thinking about herself. Most definitely her
friends would all be considered pretty or beautiful.

“How much longer do you want to stay at
this party?” Jack interrupted her thoughts.

“You want to leave?” Andy knew she didn’t
keep the surprise from her voice. She would have thought the guys would really
be enjoying this kinky kind of stuff. “I thought men enjoyed this kind of
thing.”

Jack shifted around in his chair so he
could look at her. The intentness of his gaze unnerved her somewhat. She
wondered if she should have just kept her last opinion to herself. Had she
insulted him?

“I was just asking a question. I didn’t say
I wasn’t enjoying this,” he replied tersely.

There was something in his voice, which
went up slightly at the end, revealing he’d been emotionally affected by her
remarks and questions.

“I keep imagining unwrapping you from that
dress.”