Cassandra's Conflict (3 page)

'Keep still,' the baron ordered. 'Haven't you learnt anything here?'

She groaned, trying to muffle the sound behind clenched teeth, and knew that she must keep still and endure everything because at least this was the last time. A drop of moisture fell from the tip of the baron's engorged penis and Abigail's nerve endings were so tightly stretched that even that made her jump. The baron laughed and abruptly pressed his hand harder against her. This time it was unbearable, but he seemed to know that because his hand quickly moved and his fingers parted her silky outer lips and fluttered delicately along the damp flesh beneath her clitoris.

Abigail felt her bud of pleasure begin to swell. The baron hadn't touched her himself for over two weeks and her treacherous body had missed him. Now the pressure of her full bladder and her screaming nerve ends were desperate for the release he used to give her.

Slowly he trailed his tongue down between her breasts, moving over her stomach and then descending to her thighs. She was frantic now for him to suck on the tiny button, to put his tongue deep inside her and move it in that unique way of his that drove her out of her mind with pleasure, but he lingered between her thighs and she could only wait for him to choose his moment.

Half mad with longing and pleasure she suddenly felt a tiny hand insert itself beneath the plump cheeks of her bottom and she struggled against the long-nailed fingers scratching lightly at the delicate skin round her second entrance, but Katya could never be denied and the pain distracted Abigail from the pleasure of the baron's attentions.

Suddenly the baron decided to move, and the delicate point of his tongue darted between her inner lips and inserted itself inside her, just as she'd wanted and if anything it was even better than she'd remembered. The initial pain of Katya's fingers began to fade, a heavy fullness seemed to fill her bowels and bladder and the baron's hands continued to work at her breasts, gripping them harder now until the pressure was too great, but his tongue was still doing incredible things to her and her whole body began to tremble on the brink of a huge orgasmic spasm.

For what seemed an eternity she was suspended on the verge, and then he quickly moved his tongue from her inner warmth and swirled it round her swollen clitoris. There was a flash of red light behind her eyes, her body jerked up off the bed, stretching the silken cords to their limits and just at the moment that her body was shaken to the core by her orgasm, Katya pushed three fingers into her tight anus while the baron's fingers dug hard into the soft flesh above her pubic bone.

Abigail lost all control of herself as her body thrashed in ecstasy against the constricting cords and her bladder finally emptied itself of its own volition. Realising with horror what had happened, she screamed her feelings of hatred and degradation aloud in a long agonised sobbing wail.

Katya's busy fingers ceased for a moment as she turned to smile at Dieter, who had now drawn back from the writhing girl and was looking from one woman to the other, his face entirely expressionless.

As the last shudders of Abigail's climax died away, Katya bent her head and began to lick the girl clean between her thighs. Abigail shut her eyes against the indignity, but Katya was in her element.

The baron put out a hand. 'It's enough. Untie her.' Reluctantly, Katya obeyed him. 'Look at me,' the baron said softly to the weeping girl.

Experience had taught her that it was best to obey while his voice was still gentle and slowly she lifted her eyelids. He stared at her, and she wanted to hate him, but she couldn't.

'You see,' he told her. 'It was good for you. If only you had been willing to play the game properly I think there is much you would have learned about yourself. Who knows, perhaps there would even have been a permanent place here for you.'

Abigail couldn't bear to think that she might have missed the chance of spending her life with the baron. 'You mean I could have stayed with you?' she whispered, imagining life here without the hated Katya.

He brushed a strand of auburn hair off her sweat-soaked brow. 'Of course not with me! I think there could have been a place here for you with Katya.'

'But she's perverted!' Abigail sobbed. 'Can't you understand that love doesn't have to be like this.'

'It's such a waste, all this talk of perversion and normality. Pleasure is all that matters, but you never understood that, did you? It wasn't your fault; Katya chose badly. As for love ...' His voice tailed off in amusement.

Still sitting between Abigail's limply spread legs, Katya had been casually caressing the younger woman's reluctant flesh, but at the baron's words her head lifted as she felt a premonition of danger.

'It wasn't my fault!' she protested.

'You sound like one of the children.' His words were light, but the rebuke was clear enough. She must not use her little-girl voice any more and she must accept responsibility for her own mistakes. Except that the redhead hadn't been a mistake, not really. If only Dieter had given the girl more time, but he was bored and so they had to move on to a new game. Abigail hadn't given him enough excitement. At least if Cassandra failed to titillate his jaded palate, it would be his own fault.

'I don't want to leave you,' Abigail suddenly exclaimed, sitting up and kicking out at Katya who jumped off the bed. 'I know I could make you happy. You could do anything you liked to me. You could ...'

'Go away.' His voice was colder than she'd ever heard it. 'You are beginning to annoy me. Don't you realise that what you are saying is the worst thing imaginable to me? I don't want a woman who will let me do anything. Where's the excitement in that?'

'But ...'

'Get out! Peter will drive you to a hotel as soon as he gets back. And remember the contract you signed – absolute discretion. You've been amply compensated financially, although I'm sure I can trust you anyway. After all, you'd hardly want people to know how you've been living for the past few months would you?'

Abigail glanced at the huge TV consul set in the corner of the bedroom and then up at the ever active camera high in the corner of the room. 'No,' she whispered, her head drooping.

'I thought not. Now go.'

After she'd left, Katya put her arms round the baron, pressing her naked breasts against his broad back. 'Let's watch a replay of that on TV,' she suggested. 'It should be exciting. She was out of her mind there for a moment.'

The baron reached round behind him and pulled Katya onto his lap, running a hand absent-mindedly over the nape of her neck as she took his still erect penis in her mouth and sucked lightly on it. 'I don't think so. I have other things to attend to now. Besides, there is tomorrow to look forward to.'

'But I want you inside me,' Katya murmured, lifting her head for a moment. 'I want you to ...' He pushed her off him, hard enough to make her tumble back onto the floor and she felt another flash of unease. He wasn't only bored, he was irritable as well. If this next game failed to please him she might well lose her place here.

'Then perhaps you'd send Peter up this afternoon,' she suggested, picking herself up from the floor. 'I'm sure he'd like to see it.'

The baron nodded, hardly glancing at her as he began to dress. Katya wanted to scream at him to be jealous, to protest, or at the very least to say he'd stay and watch with them, but that wasn't his way.

'I think Cassandra Williams will give us a lot of fun,' she assured him.

At last the baron's bored expression lifted and he nodded. 'So do I. Already she's constantly in my mind. It's rare to find such innocence these days. I doubt if her husband gave her one moment of pleasure in their dull marital bed, and later on Rupert will be enchanted.'

'Perhaps she's frigid,' Katya teased.

She was delighted when Dieter laughed. 'Have I ever been wrong about a woman before?' Katya shook her head. 'Of course not. She's a deeply sensual young woman who daren't admit it to herself. To force her to face the truth, and to pit her intelligence against mine in the game will be a source of great pleasure.'

'I'm looking forward to it too,' Katya agreed.

'There is one difference to the game this time,' the baron said as he pulled on a lightweight jacket. Katya listened attentively; his games were always so complicated. 'It will add a little excitement for you as well I think.'

'What is it?' she asked eagerly.

'This time there can only be one winner.'

'One winner?' She didn't understand him.

The baron nodded. 'Either you or Cassandra, my darling.'

Katya swallowed nervously. 'What happens to the loser?'

He shrugged. 'I'm not sure. Perhaps the loser goes to Rupert, or perhaps she just disappears.'

'You mean if I lose I'll have to go away for a time?'

'I mean that if you lose I don't ever want to see you again.'

Panic welled up in Katya. Only through Dieter could she fulfil all the complexities of her sexual makeup. Her cruelty, her love/hate relationship with other women, her increasing desire for young men, none of this bothered the baron. Where else would she find a lover so understanding and willing to indulge her.

'But I need you!' she blurted out, and then wished she could bite her tongue off. Dieter couldn't bear to be needed.

'I know that, which is why you'll try all the harder to win.'

'What are the rules this time?'

The baron moved towards the door. 'This time, Katya, even you won't know the rules. However, since you've played so many games before I think you still have a distinct advantage over Cassandra, don't you?'

Shocked, Katya stared at him. She wanted to cry with despair. First of all he hadn't laid a finger on her the entire day, and now he was telling her that there was a chance she might be banished from his house for ever.

'It's not fair,' she said faintly.

He frowned, and reaching out a hand caught hold of her right nipple, pinching it very hard between his thumb and forefinger. 'I decide what's fair, remember?'

She squirmed. He was hurting her. Normally she liked that and he knew it, but this time it was different and she wanted him to stop. 'Remember?' he repeated. Katya nodded.

His whole hand closed round her breast and he squeezed it brutally, at the same time bending over her and kissing her fiercely, his tongue thrusting into her mouth angrily, while his fingers continued to tighten their hold until at last the pain in her breast and the force of the kiss combined to give her a brief orgasm. As soon as he felt her body jerking he released her breast, removed his mouth from hers and walked out of the room. It wasn't enough, and Katya knew he knew that too, but for now it would have to do.

From tomorrow there would be much more and already her self-confidence was reasserting itself. After all, she knew Dieter intimately. Knew all the secrets of his dark soul. How could an innocent like Cassandra Williams possibly win any game devised by the baron? She couldn't. Dieter had only said that to make her uneasy, but she would make sure she played the game well.

Dieter's world of dark, bizarre eroticism was the only world she'd ever felt at home in. She doubted if she could exist outside the house in Hampstead.

Cassandra was both excited and nervous as she watched the young driver take her two shabby suitcases out of the boot of the sleek black Daimler and carry them in through the front door of the baron's house. It was wonderful to feel needed, to know that someone actually wanted her to work for them, but it was also frightening to cut herself off from everything that she'd ever known before. She knew it was ridiculous, but in some ways this house in Hampstead seemed like a foreign country, and she had never had the courage to travel abroad.

At last she took a deep breath and followed Peter inside. There was no one in the hall. Her two cases had vanished; she assumed they'd been taken upstairs, and once again everywhere was silent. After a few seconds she heard light footsteps on the upstairs landing, and briefly remembered the strange cry that had come from that direction just as she was leaving after the interview. At the time she'd thought it was one of the children, but later, with time for her imagination to run riot, she'd convinced herself it was more like an adult's cry of pain and the thought had worried away at her like an intermittent toothache.

'I thought I heard the car!' a woman's voice exclaimed, and Cassandra looked up to see a young woman with a mass of silver-blonde hair that fell to her shoulders in a cascade of curls, coming down the stairs.

She was tiny, only a little over five feet tall, with delicate bones and her face glowed with a golden tan which accentuated her startling green eyes. To Cassandra she was like some wonderful exotic bird and the clinging minidress that she wore outlined the kind of figure that usually indicated hours of aerobics and swimming and a dedication to perfection that Cassandra always found unbelievable when she read about it in papers or magazines. However, looking at this young woman and guessing that she was the baron's fiancee, she couldn't help but realise that for women with enough time and money it undoubtedly made sense. A man like Baron von Ritter would only be drawn to beautiful things, and this young woman was definitely beautiful. It was the first time Cassandra had ever studied another woman's body so objectively, and as she realised what she was doing she quickly averted her eyes as she felt a blush spreading up her neck.

Katya had spent a considerable amount of time that morning getting ready for her meeting with this woman who, without knowing it, was her adversary in the game that was about to begin, and she felt a glow of satisfaction as she saw Cassandra's blush. She smoothed her hands down over her hips, as though straightening out some invisible wrinkles in the dress but actually emphasising her curves, and then held out her right hand in greeting.

'You must be Cassandra Williams. I'm Katya Guez, I live here with the baron and his adorable little daughters. They're such fun, but far too energetic for me I'm afraid. I'm a night owl, and they're a couple of larks. Now that you're here at least I'll get my beauty sleep again!'

She gave a girlish giggle, and Cassandra smiled back, totally unaware that Katya had never got out of her bed to see to either of the girls in her life, and that if she had her way they'd both be sent off to boarding school as soon as they were eight.

'I'm quite good in the mornings,' Cassandra responded.

'But not at night?' asked Katya, her voice suddenly soft.

'I'm usually in bed by ten,' Cassandra admitted. 'My parents always said you couldn't burn the candle at both ends.'

'How boring they sound. My parents hardly ever found time to sleep. They couldn't bear to waste a minute of their lives.'

'Do they live in England?' Cassandra asked.

Katya's eyes filled with tears – the baron could have told Cassandra that she cried crocodile tears more easily than any woman he'd ever met – and her voice dropped to a whisper. 'They died in an aeroplane crash three years ago,' she confided.

'How dreadful!' Remembering the death of her own parents, Cassandra's easy compassion was instantly aroused.

Katya, who'd never known who her father was and whose mother had died from venereal disease shortly after she'd finished educating her twelve-year-old daughter in all the ways it was possible to please a man, let her mouth droop for a moment and then gave a brave smile. 'Well, we mustn't dwell on the past. Everyone has sadnesses in their lives. Let me take you upstairs and show you your room. It's been thoroughly spring-cleaned since Abigail left yesterday and we've changed all the curtains and bed coverings so that it fits your personality better. Dieter didn't think you and Abigail would share the same taste in interior design.'

'I really didn't expect ...' Cassandra's voice tailed off. She found it hard to imagine a man who was interested enough in his employees to change the decor of his rooms for their convenience.

'But the bedroom's so important to a woman, isn't it?' Katya said, putting one small hand lightly on Cassandra's elbow as she guided her up the stairs and round to the right along the landing. 'I think it's so important to have the right kind of bedroom. Of course you've got your own little living room and bathroom, but I expect you'll be with us a lot of the time. Abigail was. She was such a success at our little dinner parties. After a few drinks she became very vivacious!'

Cassandra felt her stomach tighten a little. 'I'm afraid I'm not a dinner-party kind of person. Besides, I'm here for the children. I'm sure the baron won't want me mixing with his friends.'

'You're one of the family now,' Katya insisted. 'Don't look so nervous, dinner parties are one of the highlights of life here. Dieter knows such interesting people.'

Cassandra wished that the other woman would take her hand away from her elbow. She realised she was only trying to be friendly but the effect was rather overpowering. She felt relieved when they stopped in front of one of the heavy oak doors and Katya pushed it open. 'Here we are, your bedroom.'

Cassandra stared about her in astonishment. The bedroom was larger than the whole flat she'd just left, and it was dominated by a huge four-poster bed with apricot-coloured curtains pulled back and fastened to the posts with large oak rings. There was no quilt but instead an embroidered tapestry bedcover in gold and beige shot through with threads of the same apricot colour as the curtains. The floor was covered by a beige wool carpet so deep that you sank into it as you walked and the heavy drapes at the windows, similar in texture to those she'd seen in the drawing room during her interview, picked up the gold thread of the bedspread. The luxurious beauty of it all distracted her from the fact that the windows were covered by heavy vertical iron bars.

Katya watched the way Cassandra's eyes lit up at the sight of the room, and she remembered that Abigail had been totally disinterested in it the day she'd arrived. Of course the colours had been different, vibrant and more obviously opulent, but her indifference should have told Katya something. As a sensualist herself she knew how important the right surroundings were, how much easier it was to be sensual in a room that pleased the eye. She had a feeling that Cassandra's slim body would also appreciate the pure silk sheets that would be changed every day, and she felt a moment's excitement as she pictured the almost boyishly slender figure sliding into bed, brushing the innocent flesh against the caresses of soft, arousing material.

'It's really lovely!' Cassandra enthused turning to Katya. She was a little surprised to find her hostess somewhat distracted and breathing unevenly, but realised that the room was hot.

'I think I'll open a window,' Cassandra said quickly.

'They don't open,' Katya interjected.

Cassandra frowned. 'Why not?'

'Well, Dieter's obsessed with the girls' safety. He's always worrying that they're going to fall off their ponies or out of windows, so most of the windows in the house are shuttered and barred. There's a fan above the bed. It works very well, we've got one in our room too, and there's also air conditioning but I'm afraid we don't use ours much. It seems to dry your throat out after a while.'

'But it's stuffy in here,' Cassandra persisted.

For a moment Katya's eyes flashed angrily, then she gave a quick smile and putting out a hand tugged gently on what Cassandra had taken to be an out-of-date bell pull. At once a huge wooden fan in the ceiling started to rotate silently, and cool air moved around them.

'See! I told you it was marvellous. When I'm hot I often lie on the bed quite naked and let it cool me down that way. You can't imagine how good it feels.'

Cassandra, who was hot and sticky by now, could imagine it very well. She found that she could also imagine Katya without her clinging micro-dress lying spreadeagled on the bed, and this made her so uncomfortable that she didn't know what to say.

Katya watched the younger woman and smiled to herself. This wasn't even going to be a contest. There were no depths to Cassandra. She was simply a surprisingly naive and as yet unawakened young woman, but there was nothing in her that would hold the baron's attention for very long. After all, it could only take a certain amount of time to spoil the innocence, and after that she couldn't imagine he'd find anything of interest in her. No, she, Katya would be the winner of this game, and she should never have lain awake half the night worrying about her opponent. From now on if she stayed awake at night it would be to plan the girl's degradation and downfall, then when the game was over she'd persuade Dieter to hand Cassandra over to Rupert for safekeeping. That way Katya would know the degradation would continue and could even, if she found a lot of pleasure in her over the next few weeks, pay the occasional visit herself. Rupert wouldn't mind.

'I'm so glad you like it,' she said brightly. 'Lucy will be up to unpack your cases in a minute. The baron will be home shortly after lunch and he'll explain what your duties are for the rest of the day. If I were you I'd have a little rest before you come down for lunch. The bathroom's through that door there; be careful, there are a couple of steps it's easy to miss.'

'Where do I go for lunch?' Cassandra asked.

'When it's nice like today we usually eat out on the back terrace. The children will join us. Their manners don't matter in the garden!'

'I thought their manners were amazing,' Cassandra protested. 'They were the politest little girls I've ever met.'

'How sweet you are.' Katya smiled again, but only with her mouth, and Cassandra took a small step away from the other woman. Suddenly she had the feeling that Katya didn't really like her, but she knew she must be mistaken because she'd been chattering away like an old friend until then and anyway Katya didn't have any reason to dislike her.

'Thank you,' Cassandra murmured.

'Oh, I didn't mean it as a compliment,' Katya replied, but before Cassandra could reply Katya had turned and left the room, letting the heavy oak door swing shut behind her.

The baron was sprawled face down on the bed, resting his chin in his hands as he kept his eyes glued to the TV set in the corner of the room. When Katya came in he didn't even acknowledge her presence, and although piqued she knew better than to try and force him to speak.

The silence in the room grew heavy with anticipation as they watched the unsuspecting Cassandra begin her exploration of the bathroom with its sunken whirlpool bath, and the baron smiled as she looked in astonishment at the wall behind the bath which was totally covered by a vast mirror. He watched as she studied herself in it, leaning forward to remove some speck of dust from her face, which was entirely free of makeup. The movement brought her so close to the concealed camera that she seemed to be looking straight into the baron's eyes and his lips parted slightly at the tranquil innocence of her gaze.

'Surely she'll take a bath,' Katya said urgently.

'Be quiet!' the baron hissed furiously. He didn't mind if Cassandra did or didn't use the bath; the very fact that only she could decide what they would see was half the excitement and Katya's voice was an unwelcome intrusion into his thoughts.

Cassandra buried her face in her hands for a moment, as though weary, and then straightened her back and stared critically at herself in the mirror. After a brief hesitation she removed the band holding her thick dark hair back off her face and shook her head. As her hair fell in a dark curtain the baron let out a tiny breath while Katya, sitting on the window seat in sullen silence, began to nibble on a carefully nurtured fingernail, a sure sign that she was agitated.

Again there was a pause, this time while Cassandra examined the taps and tried to work out how the various combination of jets worked, and then she lifted her hands and started to unbutton her safari-style cotton dress. Once the buttons were undone she shrugged it off her shoulders and let it fall to the ground behind her, then bent forward to unclasp the soft cotton bra. She then extended her arms at an angle so that this time the garment fell in front of her, leaving the secret watchers with a perfect view of her tiny breasts, their creamy pallor emphasised by the rose-coloured nipples, small tight buds more like a child's than a woman's.

The baron swallowed hard and gave a sigh of satisfaction. Katya yawned. 'She's almost flat-chested, Dieter! How boring.'

'I admit she isn't as over-ripe as your Abigail, but I'd scarcely call her flat-chested. Besides, look at that tiny waist, and her stomach. So inviting! I can just picture you with her, Katya. You'll certainly be the first woman she's ever made love with. Don't you find that exciting?'

She did, but she didn't like the look in Dieter's eyes as he stared at the screen. Abigail had never had that effect on him, and Cassandra looked so young for her twenty-three years while Katya was well aware that she looked old for her twenty-nine.

At last Cassandra stepped out of her touchingly childish white cotton panties and stepped into the bath. As she lifted her right leg, Dieter and his mistress gained their first sight of her most secret place and this time they were equally hypnotised by the screen. She had an abundance of very dark pubic hair, while the outer lips of her sex were small and tight, so that they only caught the briefest glimpse of the soft pinkness within before she sank down into the water and laid her head back against the edge of the tub.