Kidnapped and Bound: Kidnapped, Book 2 (5 page)

“This is just about you and me,” Lord Drake whispered against my ear as he kissed it.  “Don’t look at the others.  Enjoy your pleasure.  Remember it is they who are enthralled and spell bound by you and your body.  You control their desire for you.  There is nothing to be afraid of.” His voice caressed and soothed my fear as he circled a nipple, extending and tugging it.

His other hand travelled between my breasts, trailing his fingers seductively down over the gentle swell of my stomach to my tight black curls.  He paused, pulling cruelly at them until I cried out, opening my mouth wide.  He turned my head to capture my lips, digging his tongue deep at the same time he plunged two digits inside my pussy lips.  He seemed unable to help himself and his passionate ardour had me responding.

I moaned with relief that my pulsing ache was to be satisfied even in front of all of the strangers.  At that moment I didn’t care.  I just wanted Lord Drake to take me more than I had ever wanted anyone or anything in my life.  I felt moulded for him alone.

His fingers were demanding.  They slipped upwards inside me, filling and stretching me to capacity yet careful not to break the sensitive membrane that kept my virginity intact.  I moaned against him, moving against his fingers.  His hand massaged my breast tightly, possessively, flexing, tugging and nipping at my nipple until I cried out.  Lord Drake pulsed his fingers in and out of me at a hard, rhythmic pace.  I was enthused and delighted by the sudden evidence of his own passion for me, feeling his cock harden against my back, throbbing with need to be inside me.

Desire built strong, and I panted.  I was close.  Lord Drake’s fingers stretched upwards, stroking deep inside me.  He was well versed in building need in a woman, knowing where to touch, to ease and coax.  As if to echo my thoughts, I heard the Viscount speak and looked up to find him spellbound by the scene in front of him.

“It is like watching an artist work,” he said breathlessly, his green podgy eyes satiated by arousal.  His own cock was hard and bulging with the rest of his body against his breeches, yearning to be free and inside a woman.

I ignored the man.  My pleasure was too potent to be distracted or denied by conscience or fear itself.  I writhed.  Forgetting the presence of the crowd, my hips bucked.  I was helpless to desire and trapped by the need my captor had created.

“You are ready.  I want you to come,” Lord Drake breathed against my ear.

Breathless, I nodded.  He bent to kiss me, and I reached up to find his mouth.  I held on to his neck as he took my mouth hard and pushed and thrust his fingers a little more cruelly inside me until I sobbed with pleasure against his lips.  With his tight squeeze of my breast and a sharp tug on my nipple, my desire began to spiral.  I had never felt an orgasm begin so deeply inside me.  The fire blew outwards, consuming my very soul, but Lord Drake was to take it higher.

His hand quickly left my breast and moved behind me to find my tight anal entrance.  With precision as my orgasm erupted, he moved a digit inside me, forcing me to sit up and face the men.  The orgasm felt as though it would force me to collapse with its strength.

The dual penetration was almost too much to bear.  My eyes flew open wide and my breath became shallow.  My pert breasts, their darkened peaks taut and pointing accusingly at my male audience, bounced heavily on my chest as I pushed down on Lord Drake’s fingers in my pussy.  I sobbed with the sheer strength of my pleasure, unable but to do anything else but to stare at the men as I rode my satisfaction.

Pleasure satiated their faces.  They were enthralled, riding it with me, holding their breath as Lord Drake mastered my will and brought me to orgasm.  Finally, the spiral descended and my eyes fluttered closed. I fell back against Lord Drake’s chest, spent, and a small silken sheen of moisture covered my body.  I was only vaguely aware of clapping from my audience.

But I was to be spared further comment or threat from my situation and the Viscount when there was a crash and one of the tall Georgian windows was broken inwards by a large stone.  Lord Drake stopped spanking me and leaned over to cover and protect my helpless naked body from the flying glass.  The room was in uproar, women and men scattered everywhere. Through the broken tattered glass, ten gentlemen stepped through, three of them soldiers.  As the Viscount jumped from his chair, the women screamed and the other men began to fight the intruders.

“It is about time,” Lord Drake pulled me up.  “I have been here for days with these scoundrels.”

The Viscount issued an order.  “Take the women.  Do not let them get my beauties.  I will never have a collection like it again.”

Lord Drake swiftly scooped me up in to his arms with extravagant ease and walked over the glass to one of the unoccupied beds.  He set me down next to it and pulled the velvet cover off the bed.  He threw it around my body and pulled it tight.

“We must leave,” he said, before calling out to one of the soldiers, “Constable, you have taken your time.  I trust it was well spent in rescuing the women from the stables and outhouses.  I have located more women.  One is being kept upstairs.  She has been whipped but not taken.  There are other women tied in beds throughout the house.  I must get this pretty damsel to safety, Lucas.  Make sure you find the women and round up the scoundrels.”

The man grinned and nodded.

“Always to the rescue, Alexander.  You have done well.  I could not have found the rascal without your help.  The Viscount and his club will be dealt with severely.  I will visit you later.”

Lord Drake picked me up and pulled me neatly over his shoulder.  He started to make for the door, punching quickly at a male club member who dared to step in his path and pull at the velvet cover to take me from him.

Lord Drake carried me out of the house as though I were a treasured possession.  Clearly he had been involved in a conspiracy to unveil the Viscount and his despicable rakish club in which helpless women were kidnapped, sold and used for pleasure in slavery to men.  Yet his confident conduct within which he bared, spanked and pleasured my body left me in no doubt he was a rake, albeit a one with a heart and some morals.

I was relieved my fate was not to be as a slave in the Viscount’s harem or to be sold on as common chattel.  But I had been exposed and pleasured by a man, Lord Drake, and I was in two haughty minds as to whether or not I was endeared to him because of his treatment of me or appalled.  All I could console myself with after my ordeal was with the prospect of returning home to my aunt and my bed.  I needed time to collect my thoughts and make sense of my feelings regarding what had happened and my strong attraction to Lord Drake.  I voiced my thoughts loudly.

“Thank you for my rescue, Lord Drake, but I wish to return to the safety of my home and my aunt.”

“Out of the question,” he said, surprising me with the swift directness of his discourse as he walked briskly to the stables to seek out a horse.

I was unable to express my indignation or ascertain why he would not allow me to go home when he began to engage in conversation with two soldiers outside about procuring a horse.

The soldier nodded and ran off to fetch one.  Lord Drake lowered me to the ground and my bare feet made contact with the cool, frosted grass.  He was to keep tight hold of my arm.  People were running everywhere.  Many were leaving the house hurriedly in carriages or on horseback.  Two men came out of the portico leading the Viscount to a carriage in irons.  Others were brought forward in a similar fashion.

There was sudden confusion.  Two men ran from the house chased by three others.  I recognised one of the men as James.  This was the man who had sat to the left of the Viscount and suggested I be brought to task with a mounting by one of the grooms in the stable.  He held a pistol in his hand.  Lord Drake did not see as he was talking to the soldier who was bringing him a horse.  The man turned as he spied us both and aimed his pistol at Lord Drake in anger. 

“You will not get away with ruining my business, sir,” he shouted.  Lord Drake turned to answer the rebuke but I knew the bullet would come for my rescuer.  I could not bear the thought.  I owed Lord Drake a debt and I found myself afraid I would lose him.  Quickly I pushed him away but I had made the mistake of putting myself in the way of harm and in the path of the bullet.  I cried out with pain when it dug hard in to my shoulder.

My whole body sank, but Lord Drake caught me before I fell to the ground.  He lowered me to the grass, his hands atremble.

“Lady Gerard, you are hit.  Why did you do that?  Why did you do that for me?” he questioned, frantically sliding the velvet away from my wound, which was seeping blood.

I could not answer him.  The pain was unbearable, tearing at my shoulder and insides without remorse.  I was faint despite my efforts to rally myself and sit.  Lord Drake knelt, cradled me against him and shouted for help.  As I began to slip out of consciousness, James managed to take flight in to the woods and evade capture with his accomplice, quickly pursued by soldiers and men.  Lord Drake replaced the velvet covering over my wound and pressed down in an attempt to ease the bleeding as he and the soldier yelled for a physician.  His handsome countenance and dark eyes looked upon me with heavy concern, and he stroked my forehead as he called my name in the hopes of reviving me.  It was not to be, and I fell into darkness in the safety of his arms.

I awoke to find myself in a four-poster bed.  The winter sun was streaming in through a tall window.  I felt comfortable, but when I turned to the side to view the room in more detail I heard myself moan with a little pain and closed my eyes tight.

“Hush.  Lay still,” a soft male voice told me from the side in a whisper.  I felt the touch of his fingertips upon my forehead, stroking and soothing my pain away.  Slowly I opened my eyes and looked up to find myself locked in the gentle gaze of Lord Drake’s beautiful dark eyes.  He smiled at me.

“Good, you are awake.  You must be hungry,” he said, moving to sit on the side of the bed next to me.  He did not stop his caress and I was more than thankful for it.

“Where am I?”

“You are at my home, Mallory House in Buckinghamshire.  I carried you here after you were seen by a physician at your aunt’s, three days ago.”

I tried to sit up.  I was confused.

He caught the back of my head, gently he laid my head back down on the pillow and held me down.

“You were shot, madam.  Luckily, the wound was not heavy and simply caused a fever.  You have been in and out of consciousness.  The injury is healing well but you are weak and need food,” he commanded.

I stared at him, fearful suddenly, remembering the events of what I mistakenly believed was the night before and then the last three days.  Vaguely, my memory had recorded his tender care throughout my delirium as he applied cool compresses to my brow through the days and night.  Each time I awoke, he appeared to be tending me, making me think he rarely left my side or allowed the servants to assist me.

“Why did you move me from my aunt’s?  All I wanted to do was to go home, sir, and you have denied me the right of comfort from my friends.” I was affronted and at that moment more than a little suspicious of Lord Drake’s motives in bringing me to his home.

“Shhh,” he ordered and put a finger to my lips.  “I will explain all to you, if you promise not to be afraid and to trust me without question.” He was whispering, and his amused expression turned to one of such seriousness I became anxious.

“There was news that the man who shot you, James, had not been found.  The Viscount was also rescued by club members on his way to the jail.  The Viscount’s club does a heavy trade in bride sales and we have disrupted his business by rescuing his stock.  Both the Viscount and the man, Mr. James Duncan, have lost a lot of money.  As a virgin, you were a rare prize and would have been the star of the auction that is to take place on Saturday, tomorrow.  All club members and the men who serve them, including Lord Grange, are searching for you.  When they find you, they will parade you for sale to the highest bidder and you will be lost in marriage.  I cannot let that happen, madam.”

I stared at him.  He sat up, clearly convinced I was too stunned to move, and folded his arms.  I could not help remarking to myself how handsome Lord Drake appeared in his light brown vest and shirt, although his clothing was somewhat creased.  His hair was ruffled and he looked as if he had been sleeping in his clothes.  As I considered my fate, I glanced past him to the side and saw a chair drawn up to the side of my bed.  My eyelashes lowered and fluttered as my heart melted when I realised Lord Drake had slept in the chair to watch over me in the night yet again.  But I wanted to be at home with my aunt.  I also craved privacy to lick my wounds from being so badly treated and hurt by my former fiancé.  Then there was my own behavior at the Viscount’s house to consider.

My reputation may have been damaged and now being made to stay at Lord Drake’s home made me appear suspect.  Angry tears gathered unseen at the backs of my eyes when I imagined the stares of disgust from my friends and for the shunning of polite society I would have to endure.  The situation was intolerable, and worst of all, it was a scandal.  I would be forced to leave.

Lord Drake frowned at me, obviously perturbed by my silence.

“What do you think of that disturbs you so much, Lady Gerard?  You appear distressed.  I simply had you brought here to keep you safe.”  He put his hand on his heart.  “I owe you at least that much after you saved my life,” he told me without emotion.

Unexpected anger stabbed at my heart.

“So it is guilt that motivates you to save me, Lord Drake?  Do not trouble yourself on my account, sir.  You owe me nothing.”

Lord Drake unfolded his arms and raised one surprised eyebrow.  I made to turn away, unable to meet his eyes, memories of that night and the way he made me orgasm so passionately entering my mind.  I was embarrassed and hurt that I now found myself in his power and unable to hide.  Now I look back, I know my real hurt was because I had felt something occur between us in that sordid room.  A connection I had not anticipated.  By the way Lord Drake continued to look upon me I believed it was still there, yet he spoke to me in a matter-of-fact voice that did little to soothe me or confirm our mutual attraction.

Lord Drake might have been my rescuer, but he was a rake.  There was no doubt about it from his skillful behaviour and easy acceptance at the Viscount’s home.  I would have to ignore my passions for the man and accept I should not entertain such a man in my life.  I was very easily duped by love.  My contract to be married to the scandalous Lord Grange was clear proof of my stupidity.

Turning over caused me pain but I was stubborn and determined to manage the feat.  No longer could I look upon the insufferable man without anger at my stupidity.  No other man would take advantage of me again.

I felt Lord Drake remove the bedclothes and slip his hands under my back.  He did not speak but simply and carefully lifted me up to sitting.  He repositioned the white and primrose silk and cotton covers, ignoring the way I sighed and pouted at him with annoyance. 

“What is it that puts you in so ill a temper?  I have not finished my explanation.  Kindly bear the manners to hear me finish it, madam,” he insisted, standing to arrange my pillows behind me for optimum comfort.

“It is not guilt that motivates me.  I genuinely desire to keep you safe.  I admire your courage and your fortitude.  That night at the Viscount’s home, you . . .” he trailed off and sat back down on the bed.  He folded his arms and for a moment glanced away.  It appeared I was not the only one in the room who found it difficult to talk about the intimacy we had shared in front of strangers at the Viscount’s abode.

“I want to leave,” I said. I could bear no more.  “I can’t believe my aunt would have allowed you to simply take me from my home.  She is a fierce woman and likes her family to be around her.”

“Yes, I received that impression very strongly.  She likes to control you.  Your aunt was very reluctant to believe Lord Grange was a criminal.  I am sorry, Lady Gerard, but I had no option than to abduct you from your bed while you were unconscious. Accompanied by the physician, I brought you here.  Until these men are rounded up and dealt with by the court, you must be kept safe.”

I forgot my injury and sat bolt upright in the bed.

“Are you to feel no shame for kidnapping me after the way I was so cruelly abducted and bound by Lord Grange?  You clearly mean to do the same to me.”

I sat firm and stubborn, refusing to allow him to help me back against the comfort of the pillows.

“Lady Gerard, if you do not sit back and rest, I swear you will vex me enough to spank your bare bottom soundly,” he informed me with a dark look, giving me no doubt he had every intention of carrying out his threat.”

“How dare you.  Just like you did in front of the Viscount and his men. You will not,” I said with sarcasm, truly believing myself safe.  “I mean to quit this house and make my way back home alone.  I do not wish to be under the power of any other man for reasons of safety or otherwise.  You are a rake, sir, and I will not stand your presence around me any longer.”

“I do not regret spanking you so publicly at the Viscount’s home.  Your conduct in aligning yourself with a cad like Lord Grange in the first place more than warranted the application of discipline.  I did not wish to manipulate you to orgasm in front of the men.  I prefer to make love to a woman privately.  My actions were to protect you, however strange they appeared.  If I had not continued to treat you as a bride for sale who required examination and assessment, the Viscount would have harmed you, and if you caused him enough trouble, he would have killed you without hesitation.  Examining you to prove you were a virgin and palpable to sexual arousal intrigued him and kept you safe.  It also helped to protect the other women held captive until help arrived.  I would do it all again.  I do not regret having the pleasure of making love to you such as it was.  It was a delight and I will not be sorry for it.  Your reputation is secured because I mean to marry you.  I owe you the debt of binding you to me as my wife.”

His manner was aloof and cold, his words direct and designed to give me no choice in the matter.  I stared at him with such anger.  I was merely to become his wife for saving his life and for the way he had made love to me.  I was not to be married for love.  I would not have it.

I am afraid my temper was to out rule my common sense.  I reached out my hand and slapped the man hard across the face for his insolence, verbal mistreatment of my feelings and his brash disregard for my right to make my own decisions.

A thunderous look crossed Lord Drake’s face.

“You have a temper that must be tamed.  You do not see when others seek to help you,” he told me harshly.  “You are a danger to yourself, Lady Gerard.  You will remain in this house, a captive if necessary, locked in your room if I deem it fit until the danger is passed.  During that time you will come to realise the folly of your stubbornness and you will consent to marriage.  You have no other choice but to accept my offer.  A scandal has been caused.  No other man or friend will come to your rescue for fear of being shunned by polite society.”

“I will not marry for protection and propriety alone.  The man I marry will love me and not simply wish to fulfill a debt out of guilt,” I said, close to tears.  “I will provide my own protection and procure my own money from my inheritance.  I will leave this house today,” I almost shouted at him, trembling with anger again.

Lord Drake still held me fast.  He would not comment on my tirade, but his eyes blazed.

“No.  You will remain here.  I must protect you both from those men and yourself.  I will not see you harmed.  You give me no choice but to carry out my threat.  You will remain locked in this room until you can control your temper and find reason in your mind once more.  A woman has no place protecting herself.  That is the work of men,” he said and shook his head with annoyed disbelief that I did not have a complete understanding of his role as a man and my own as a woman.  “I will not hear of such female obstinacy.”

My temper overwhelmed my senses and I raised my hand to slap Lord Drake across his face as hard as I could.  My heart pounded as I saw his face turn sideways with the strike and considered how he might react.  I hoped he would not show me violence.  I watched him rub at his jaw but he did not make any comment.

He studied my eyes and then my lips and his breathing appeared to increase.  For an odd moment I believed I could see arousal darken his features, making them even more handsome than when I had first set eyes upon my captor.  I wondered if he might kiss me.  I fancied I could see his memories of that night and my naked body writhing upon the firm penetration of his fingers, his lips entwined with mine as his tongue probed hard fast and deep in rhythmic unison with his fingers inside my sex.  I hardened my perspective.  Lord Drake had made no effort to hide the fact he had derived pleasure from my taking, but to believe his eyes were betraying a loving connection through it had to be pure fancy.  How could I expect a rake to love me?

Feeling even angrier, I took a breath and tried to move away from him across the bed, grimacing with the pain from my injury. I would not hit him again.  I would prove to him I could look after myself. But he held me fast.

“I like a woman with strength, Lady Gerard,” he said in a dark whisper, tracing the outline of my lips with his finger and then across my bottom lip, studying it with such depth I was hypnotised and lulled into obedient stillness.  My mouth swelled and moistened at his touch.  “It is attractive but when it threatens to place her in danger, then forceful action must be taken to tame it for her own well-being.  I am going to bare your delicious bottom and spank it every day and night until you accept your situation and my mastery as husband, my beautiful bride.”

He removed his finger and brushed his lips against mine before I could protest.  Outraged, I struggled to move away, but he held me tight and captured my mouth firmly.  I whimpered, but as his tongue probed my mouth with such dominant strength, I found myself soften and reach for him.  The kiss was long and was to make me feel as though Lord Drake was staking his claim and branding me as his own.  Yet he would not confess any loving connection to be part of the bond.  I reminded myself of this fact and pulled away sharply.  He stared at me hard.

“I won’t be joined to a man who does not wish to love me,” I reinstated with vigour.  “You ill use me again, sir.”

I tried to exit the bed from the other side, but Lord Drake was not to allow it.  As I valiantly struggled, he turned me over on to my stomach and placed a pillow under my wounded shoulder to support it comfortably.  My angry cries were muffled against the bed and my struggles futile as Lord Drake positioned one of his palms in the middle of my back to steady me.  Quickly his free hand lifted my nightdress, baring my legs and bottom.  I was as helpless as a babe in his hold.  I felt his hand smooth and cup a buttock.