“A woman with a stubborn nature like yours who refuses to see the truth and beauty about herself needs the right man to come along and conquer it. She won’t ever be able to do it herself. I am more than willing to help and drape you over my knee and spank you myself. I am the one to conquer your temper, Scarlett,” he finished firmly.
My breath caught in my throat as I stared at this handsome young dominant man imagining him dragging me to a sofa before sitting down and pulling me kicking and screaming forcefully over his knee. Let’s be honest I would never quietly relent to such a punishment. Then pulling up my skirt to tug and rip my panties down my legs to bare my bottom and spank my pale flesh hard until it flushed red and stung like hell. I winced at the very thought and brought myself back to the present shuffling in my seat when I noticed I was damp between my thighs.
Lucien was sitting elegantly lounging in his chair watching me intently again, his sensuous lips curling with a devilishly smile as though he had just seen the mirror image of the vision I had witnessed reflected in my eyes.
“The offer is there, if you want it,” was all he said. I looked out at the dark countryside not sure of what to say next or how to feel.
“Now, what did you mean about being ill?” he asked with genuine concern.
“I have dizzy spells and fits. Non-epileptic ones,” I said grateful for the diversion to another topic even though I did not like talking about my health condition. “It is some sort of neurological condition the doctors can’t do anything about. Nothing to worry about. It just stops me from driving and doing some stuff. That makes me angry too.”
“Ok. Why don’t you drink your champagne? We can talk some more about this later? Tell me about your books instead.”
We chatted and found we had a lot more in common than I had envisaged possible. Same favourite TV shows, books and more but I had a hard time not thinking about his offer or the vision I had experienced. We were so engrossed chatting, I hadn’t even seen the lady put the meal down in front of me on the table. I grimaced at the tray of food in front of me.
“I don’t want to eat. I just don’t feel like it, haven’t for weeks now. Eating makes me feel sick. Guess I am just too stressed out.”
“Try.”
“No. I don’t think so.”
To my surprise, Lucien Delon leaned over the table and picked up my fork. He scooped up a piece of chicken covered in Djon sauce and held it up to my mouth.
“Eat,” he commanded. “As a doctor, I insist or I will feed you like a baby if I have to,” he warned. “You look pale and tired. I wouldn’t be surprised if you are anaemic. You need food and I won’t take no for an answer.”
A tad annoyed with his forthrightness I moved to snatch the fork from him but he pulled it back and shook his head. “Open wide,” he insisted.
With a growl, I found myself obediently doing as he wished and allowing him to insert the food in to my mouth.
“Good girl. Let me give you some more.”
It was hard to swallow in my dry nervous mouth and throat but I gulped and managed it. Lucien cut another piece of chicken and smothered it in sauce to make it easier and held the morsel up to my mouth again. I quietly opened my mouth and allowed him to feed me like a child with another two pieces horrified I was enjoying the experience before snatching the fork from him when a woman in another seat frowned at me. He grinned and sat back letting me steal a look at his gorgeous enticing tall lean athletic form lounging in the seat, his white shirt and black waistcoat underneath his suit jacket clinging tightly to his body to frame every muscle..
“I want to see your plate cleared or I will start feeding you again until it is all gone and I don’t care if she over there likes it or not,” he ordered.
Confused why I was responding to the authority in his voice and feeling nurtured and protected by his firm fatherly tone, I nodded. He continued to encourage me to eat chatting about all sorts of subjects, my work and his own throughout our duration in the Channel Tunnel. I began to feel as if I had known him for a lifetime. He poured me a glass of water as the train sped along the track out of the Tunnel in to the French countryside.
“I have a proposal for you, Scarlett one that will change your life and allow you to begin again if you choose to accept it. It will take great courage to leave your anger behind but I can help you heal and feel safe once more. I hope you will let me help you.”
.
Chapter Three
“I meant what I said about spanking you, Scarlett. I think it is necessary for you. You need taking in hand by a strong steady male presence in your life. Coming to Paris without having a place to stay is risky. Paris isn’t actually that safe at the moment with the riots and terrorist activity. You should be spanked for that alone. I don’t tolerate women being reckless with their safety.”
“That is not for you to say and . . .”
“Hush and listen to me. I haven’t known you for long but I know enough now to realise you need taking in hand,” he said taking a sip of his tea after dinner. “As a Doctor, I can tell you are depressed and having some dark moods. I am worried about you. I will conquer that temper and tame you with ease. All I need you to do is to try and trust me. I want you to come and stay with me at my chateau in the Loire where I can keep you safe while you rest and recuperate.”
“I can’t believe what you are saying. I don’t need your help or taming. Who do you think you are?” I demanded.
“I am not allowing you to walk off this train on your own and on to the streets of Paris without somewhere to go. The city is a dangerous place for a woman at night.”
I frowned even though my heart was leaping from his determination to take care of me. I had been alone for so long. Yet I still stubbornly said,
“I can look after myself.”
He gave a sigh and gently shook his head at me making me straighten my back that little bit more and tense with indignation.
“No. No, I don’t think you can quite yet. You are too hurt, angry and bitter at the moment,” he said heavily looking directly in to my eyes to communicate his absolute sincerity on the point. Even though I found his observation insulting, it was accurate.
Don’t give up on me. Conquer me like you said you would. Make me obey you.
But my ego didn’t want to hear it or admit the truth despite the whisperings in my mind. I had been using my anger to carry me along and propel me forward in to taking some kind of action but I was being foolhardy.
“You think I should have stayed back home and stuck it out. I couldn’t. If I had done. I would have . . .” I felt guilty and in the wrong again.
I stopped feeling angry that tears were gathering in my eyes. I didn’t want to tell him what I might have done if I hadn’t acted and left. He didn’t understand and I couldn’t tell him, especially a doctor. He might send me to a hospital. But the way he looked at me told me that somehow this clever man knew everything without me uttering a word. That made me nervous and the urge to shut myself off from him and the world riled its ugly head again.
His heavenly black eyes softened and he reached across the table to caress my cheek. Despite my resolve not to warm to his caress, I did feeling the simple touch soothe my aching body and mind. A small reprieve granted from the turmoil and confusion. But I couldn’t let him any further in to my world. I would be risking too much and I couldn’t face rejection again. I pulled away from him as the train pulled out of a station we had stopped off at before reaching Paris.
“I think this conversation is over, Monsieur Delon. I will move to another seat now there isn’t anyone here on the train.”
I stood up to reach up to the overhead rack for my suitcase but I was to find myself stopped. Lucien stood and placed his hand on my arm.
“This conversation isn’t over, Scarlett,” he said softly. “Please sit down. We still have a lot to discuss such as the fact that I am not allowing you to go anywhere without my company. I meant what I said and I will keep saying it until
I get through to your stubborn mind and you understand. I do not give up so easily. You need to be taken care of and there is no shame in that. I want to be the one to do that for you. Sit down.”
The authority in his voice was stark. I stared at him unflinching when he gently moved his hand up and down my arm to soothe the impact of his demand lulling me in to some sense of calm. I felt hypnotised and unable to pull myself away from his touch. Every time he swept his gaze over me I was his willing prisoner. The powerful authority in his voice carrying that intoxicating soft French accent made me want to obey without question. I was falling under his spell. So much for never trusting a man again or letting one near me. Here I was falling at the first hurdle.
My inner voice scolded me. I had to prove I could live on my own and make a go of my life even if I was just about to walk out in to nowhere and make an even bigger mess of my life. Why did this have to be so damn hard? My ex had run in to the arms of the first woman he could find because of a fear of loneliness and was now happy but as a woman I didn’t appear to be given a choice. I had to prove to the feminists and those patriarchal bastards that I could live alone even if it was the last thing I wanted.
But I have already tried that and it didn’t work. I have no one now.
And however, pitiful and pathetic it sounded it was the truth and now some stranger was offering everything I wanted to me on a plate. Why wouldn’t I allow myself to take it?
“No. I can’t,” I told him before I realised the words had come out of my mouth. “I need to do this on my own.”
Why do you want me anyway? I am not sure I trust this . . .
As I moved again, Lucien turned his hand on my own and firmly took hold of my wrist.
“Listen. Paris is a dangerous place and I am not letting you go out there tonight on your own. I am an old-fashioned man and at 11.00pm at night looking for a hotel on your own is no place for a lady. Sit down, please or I will make you.”
I should have been nervous when he held my wrist and delivered his ultimatum but I wasn’t I was relieved. I sat down immediately responding to the protective command in his firm even voice awed that that this stranger would care for my safety so much. For once in my life and I didn’t sense I was being naïve. His offer did appear genuine. I took my hand away. He sat back down on the other side of the table clearly content I wasn’t about to move again, watching me clasp my hands together in my lap like a naughty school girl being chastised.
“Now that is settled, Scarlett I want to know why you can’t accept my offer, little one.”
He sat back in his seat and watched me intently waiting for my response.
“I am afraid you will reject me,” I told him quietly loving the way he had called me little one. “Why do you want to help someone like me? You hardly know me and well . . . you could have any woman you want. I must be what? Twelve years older than you? Why do you look at someone like me? I am not tall, thin . . . I am not a model I . . .”
Lucien’s eyes darkened at narrowed at me. He leaned forward and put his hand up.
“Enough.”
He tucked his fingers underneath my chin and raised my face up to him. I felt my cheeks warm with the strength of his scrutiny.
“I want you because you are a beautiful desirable intelligent woman who intrigues me. I have been looking for a woman like you for a very long time, Scarlett. You are a diamond amongst glass. You need a man to take care of you whether you care to admit it or not. There is no shame in it and there is no reason to force yourself in to a mould because the world expects you to.” Lucien slid his thumb over my red glossy lips closely watching them part. He leaned closer. “It is my privilege to take care of someone so delicate and vulnerable. Besides, I am very good at it, little one and I will keep you safe.”
I found myself giving a small gasp of pleasure when he lowered his lips to mine and lightly brushed them with a kiss. He cupped my face with his hands and this time, more firmly caught my lips against his and probed his tongue deep. The action was unmistakably dominant and I felt weak against the possessive force he used to kiss me, wrestling my tongue to take complete control. My body and mind cried out with passion after having been denied such an intimate connection for so long. My lips trembled with the ferocity he used to kiss them. Every nerve ending in my body cried out demanding more. My starved heart and body were being nourished with desire once more, something I hadn’t believed myself capable of every feeling or even needing again in my cold dark world of loneliness and anger. But here it was reminding me of how I could feel again.
Lucien’s hands were so tight around my face pulling me closer across the table. I clung to the shoulders of his black suit jacket for dear life wanting as much as he could give me. We were both panting when he pulled away and rested his forehead against mine. He gave me that intoxicating smile that disarmed me so easily as he ran his hands through my hair.
“I don’t care if we have barely met. I don’t think I have wanted any woman more than I do you,” he confessed. “Do you still want to leave on your own, Scarlett or are you willing to take a chance on a stranger who will help you change your life for the better?”
“I want to so much but . . .”
“But you are afraid it is the wrong thing to do. You shouldn’t be allowing yourself to rely on a man anymore,” he finished for me. I remained silent letting him know all he needed to.
Lucien kissed my lips once more and sucked on my bottom lip before nibbling at it making me shiver with need and feel the dampness he had already created between my thighs increase and blot my panties. My body was already preparing me for his entry had he desired to take me there and then on the train for his own pleasure.
“What if I didn’t give you a choice? Would that make it easier, little one? What if I carried you out of here in front of everyone a conquered woman? Is that what you need me to do? Because I will even if you want me to or not. I am not giving you a choice anymore.”
He caught my lips and possessively kissed me deeply again leaving me breathless.
“Now do you want to walk out of here with your dignity in tact or do you want me to throw you over my shoulder and carry you out kicking and screaming while you fake your protest just to satisfy everyone around you?”
He knew me far too well already. It was as though he had flipped through the pages in my mind and stolen all of my secrets and laid me bare. He sucked at my bottom lip again waiting for my response but I gave him none. It was all the answer he needed. He smiled once more.
“Good girl. But first there is something I want you to do first.”
“What’s that?”
He moved his fingers underneath my chin again and raised it. His eyes poured in to mine and I knew then I was his captive and there was no escape.
“Learn the first of Daddy’s Rules, little Princess.”
“I have to call you Daddy?” I asked anxiously a little perplexed.
“Yes,” he grinned. “Always, but that isn’t the first of my rules.”
I held my breath.
“You must trust Daddy and allow him to protect you and take care of all your needs. Daddy will always keep you safe no matter the danger. Do I make myself clear, little one?”
He searched my eyes as tears stung the backs of them. He was giving me everything I had wanted for so long, something I thought I was incapable of getting from a man ever again.
I nodded like a child but he frowned.
“I need you to confirm it, Scarlett.”
It was the first time I was going to have to use the word Daddy. Using that term was going to have some issues not just because it made me sound like a vulnerable submissive child and asked me to trust but because of the connotations of the trust issues I had with my own father who had failed to protect and love me. But eager to please Lucien, I took a breath and answered,
“Yes, Daddy. I understand.”
I was surprised at how soft and childlike my natural voice had now become. I was letting
down my guard a little. I watched Lucien’s eyes light up as I spoke knowing he had come to the same realisation. Instinctively I lowered my eyes, fluttering my eyelashes unintentionally.
“You are so very beautiful and vulnerable, little one. Now, I am going to give you a task.”
I waited with bated breath to see what he wanted me to do and prayed it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.
“Take off your panties and give them to me,” he said seductively.
My eyes widened.
“What? Right here and now?”
“That is what I said.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.”
“But someone will see.”
Daddy's Rules Two: Conquered (Series Book 2) Page 2