High Stakes Chattel (9 page)

“Put your hands behind your back.”
His voice was hoarse.

She complied slowly, once again feeling vulnerable, like an exposition for him to explore.

“Now kiss me,” he ordered, losing all semblance of the aristocrat and falling completely into
what she was quickly coming to believe was his true, passionate self.

She gave him a quick, embarrassed peck on the lips.

He gave her nipples a little pinch, sending heat throughout her body. “I really am going to spank you if that's the best you can do. Kiss me fully.”

She leaned into him and gave him a long, slow kiss, enjoying every moment. As the kiss grew more passionate, and his hands freely roamed her body, she found herself reaching for him again.

He lifted his head, giving her a chiding glance. “Hands behind your back, Mrs. Blake. Must I tie them again?”

She shook her head, chagrined.
He certainly liked ordering her around while she was helplessly naked on his lap. The whole game was very erotic. She hoped he couldn’t feel the wetness between her legs through his pants. If only she could get him to take his clothes off also. She wanted to see his naked body and have him as vulnerable as she was. She wanted to touch every inch of him. She reached out for the buttons on his shirt.

Before she could
unbutton anything, he grabbed her hands, holding them forcefully behind her back as he flipped her over his knee. “I warned you that I would give you a spanking if you did that again,” he growled, as she stared down at the ground in confusion, her bottom sticking up in the air in a most undignified manner.

To her utter surprise, his hand came down upon her bottom in quick succession, spanking her two times, before he ran his hand tenderly across the burning skin.

“You can’t do this to me,” she yelped. “I will yell for Joseph.”

“Go ahead.
He won’t be coming. My servants are very obedient, unlike you.”

“I don’t have to be obedient. I’m not your servant.”

“Careful, Samantha. You have such a beautiful bottom. It's very pink now. It would be a shame to make it all red.” He caressed her bottom very tenderly, and it felt strangely sensual, though she was still confused and wary about the spanking he’d given her.

She hid her face against his thigh, feeling completely exposed and off balance in more ways than one. Shocking her even more, he parted her thighs, until her most secret areas were undoubtedly exposed to him.
She squirmed on his lap against his erection.

“Be still,” he told her,
softly caressing the wet little cleft between her legs.   

She moaned against his leg,
shamefully sure she should not be enjoying this so much.

“Do you think you deserve more spankings?” he asked as he continued to torture her with
his strokes.

She gasped and pressed against his hand. “No, I most certainly do not, you bully,” she said breathlessly.

She could feel his hard erection
throbbing and wanted him to put it inside of her. She’d never had such intense feeling of longing before. He continued to rub her until it felt like she could no longer bear it. 

“Nico, please…” she sobbed, clutching his leg as he kept on stroking and teasing her. Then suddenly she cried out, convulsing around him with an earth shattering release. She had never felt anything so exquisite.

“I think you have had enough for today,” he said abruptly while releasing her hands. “You may get up and put your clothes on.”

It took a minute for his words to sink in. He wasn’t going to be making love to her? She knew he was just as aroused as she was. Had she done something wrong? She stood up, picked up her dress and held it in front of her, glaring at him. She didn’t know whether to be angrier because he’d spanked her, or because he’d abruptly finished with her.

“I assume this
unusual evening will send you packing like the scared little girl that you are. Chattel is a man's game dear and you are most definitely not a man. The carriage can take you home. You’ll find a driver out by the stables.”

S
amantha stared at him, speechless and unable to comprehend why he had turned so cruel. She fought back the tears beginning to form behind her eyes and gathered up her clothes, not bothering to put them on. She didn’t want to spend another minute in this room, fumbling or even worse, crying. With as much dignity as she could muster she turned and walked out of the room.

Once
Samantha was in her room she struggled to hold back the tears, focusing on her anger instead while putting on her riding pants. The task was made difficult because of her trembling body. She stopped to take a few calming breaths. She wasn’t going to think about this right now. She wasn’t going to cry. She needed to get out of the house.

Finally clothed, Samantha ran
out to the stables and saddled up her stallion, not bothering to wait for John to discover her presence. Midnight could sense her energy and began to move his feet anxiously. “Come on, boy. We are going to run tonight. Don’t you want to see how fast you can go?”

She didn’t care that it was
night time and that this was dangerous. She didn’t care that this was the horse that had killed her husband. She wanted to escape. With Midnight saddled, she gave him a kick and took off toward the lake at a thunderous pace, glad for the full moon. Both woman and beast delighted in the speed as they tore across the park.

Nico watched Samantha tear off from the barn, his blood pulsing with
fear. She shouldn’t be riding so recklessly at night. If anything happened to her, he’d never forgive himself.

The moment he’d watched her walk away like a queen and elegantly close the door behind her, he’d been furious with himself. He was a bully. How could he have lost control like that and taken the game so far? He’d only been a few short moments away from tearing off his pants and plunging his cock deep inside of her. He wasn’t exactly sure why he hadn’t except that something told him it was utterly wrong to continue taking advantage of a woman who’d come here to seek his help. And whom he would never marry.

He knew his behavior had hurt her and made her furious, but the ramifications of what he’d been doing had suddenly become very clear to him, and the only way he’d been able to stop was to drive her away. He half-hoped that she wouldn’t come back. Ever since she’d climbed over his wall, she’d been confusing and distracting him.

With a sigh, he headed out toward the barn to make sure she came back safely.

When he entered the barn, John was waiting too, obviously as worried about Samantha as he was. “
I’m sorry I did not see her until she had already saddled her horse and taken off. Shall I go after her, sir?” the lad asked.

Nico shook his head, unwilling to risk them both. “She’ll come back when she’s ready.”

John gave him a speculative glance. “She must have been upset. Beat her again, sir?”

Nico laughed at the
young man’s choice of words. “Yes, I suppose I did.”

“How are the Chattel lessons coming?” John asked curiously.

“She’s not half bad,” Nico admitted. “I think she might have a shot at winning the contest, if she can pull off her disguise.” That was the problem though. He still didn’t believe she could make anyone believe she was a boy.

“
That will be a trick. She’s quite lovely,” John said, obviously love struck. “I never met anyone like her.”

“Neither have I,” Nico said, realizing how true that was. Samantha was unique, to say the least. She had more fire and spirit than any woman he’d ever met. Perhaps that was why he was so drawn to her. Perhaps he wanted to capture some of her fire for himself.

“You don’t have to wait,” he told his groom, realizing he was a little jealous about the young man’s interest in Samantha. “I’ll stay here and help her unsaddle her horse when she returns.”

John nodded reluctantly and faded into the night, and Nico settled in for what could be a very long wait.

At first he kept himself busy examining the tack that John kept so clean and organized. Next, he paced the floor of the barn, using the time to figure out what the hell he’d been doing with her. Nearly two long hours later, she finally returned, looking calm and satisfied. Nico eyed her warily as she dismounted, then moved forward to help her unsaddle Midnight and rub him down. They worked together wordlessly, giving the black horse a much needed brushing on his sweat covered back. Nico no longer sensed the anger that had driven her out into the night.

“Are you hungry?” he asked. “I had
Mrs. Lotte leave us a snack in the kitchen.”

“Yes,” she said woodenly. “That sounds good.”

Samantha followed him silently back to the house, wondering why he no longer seemed to want her to leave. When they reached the kitchen, Nico laid out the meat pies and lemon tarts Mrs. Lotte had left for them.

She ate
a pie in silence, then sat back in her chair, giving him a piercing look. “Why didn’t you make love to me tonight? Why did you embarrass me that way?”

He
looked surprised at her direct question. Probably most women that he knew would never dare ask such a question. “I’m sorry. I never expected you to take your clothes off and then once you did, I let things get carried away.”

This made Samantha feel even more embarrassed, as if she had done something wrong.

“No matter what you may think of me, I don’t want to ruin you,” he assured her, looking guilty about his behavior.

Samantha focused her attention on the delicious meat pie loaded with buttery mashed potatoes.
My goodness, she loved this food. She finished the pie, slowly licked her fingers, and then looked up to find him watching her.

“
Can you please not do that? It’s hard enough for me to control myself around you.”

She gave him a questioning look, but stopped. “You don’t act like it’s hard.”

“It bloody well is… which is unusual for me. I’m not the kind to chase every beautiful woman who comes before me.” He wiped his mouth and set down his glass of ale. He looked frustrated and exhausted. She longed to reach out and move the hair that fell into his eyes.

“
I’m sorry I’ve taken advantage of your situation.” He brushed the black hair back. “From now on, I’ll restrain myself and devote as much time as you like to finishing up your lessons.”

“Thank you,” she murmured, not feeling as victorious as she should have at that moment.

He frowned and took his leave of her. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

***

During the next few weeks, Lord Chattel remained true to his word. He behaved like a perfect gentleman and played Chattel with Samantha every night. He made no more scandalous bets with her. In fact, he was such a gentleman; it made Samantha want to scream.

She missed the man who had gone riding with her and talked to her as though she meant something to him. Now, he acted so very pleasant she feared he’d stopped caring for her at all.

At last, three days before the contest, he deemed her ready. During dinner, they discussed the logistics of the contest and Samantha’s main competitors. “Watch out for last year’s winner, Douglas Wright,” he told her. “He’s the only one who will prove a challenge for you.”

“Why is that?” Samantha leaned forward
, intrigued.

“He is a cool cucumber. Nothing puts him off of his strategy. He has ultimate control over himself and after you play with him a while you’ll feel he has control over you too.
” Nico stabbed at his meat with his fork. “The best thing you can do is ask him questions – about his life, about his horse, about anything. Just don’t let him ask questions of you.”

“All right, I won’t. Thank you,” she murmured, moving her food around her plate. Finally, she put forth the question that had been on her mind for days. “Will you come and watch me play?”

He shook his head, not meeting her pleading gaze. “I’m leaving for Paris in two days to visit the
new Pasteur Institute in France.”