Mastered By Love

by Tori Minard

  She hung back, looking over her shoulder at Baso. “What excavations? What are you doing here?”

  She had a lot to learn about the proper behavior of a Saturnian female. She dragged her feet, like a child who didn’t want a nap. Dario gave her arm a sharp tug as he kicked the tent flap open. Tariza sent him a searching look, just the kind of look he might receive from a male cohort. Her boldness made him grind his teeth, especially with Baso looking on to witness her impudence.

  But what did he expect? What did any of them expect from a woman raised in such an unnatural environment as Concordia? It was up to Dario now to instruct her in feminine comportment and obedience.

  If she learned her lessons, she’d have a good chance at happiness. If she resisted too vigorously, her behavior would make her unsafe. There were many other men in Saturnios who were far stricter than he. Brutal men, some of them closer to him than he liked, who would delight in harming the former heir to Concordia and would use her disobedience as an excuse to do so. Her safety rested on Dario’s ability to train her.

  “Saturnios, what’s going on here?” she said as he let the tent flap close. “What are you excavating?”

  He brought her to his table, where he poured a generous cup of wine. He took a long swallow of the drink.

  Tariza’s dark eyes widened. “You’re building a fortification, aren’t you? To guard this valley and the pass so you can hold onto this land against us.”

  “Questions of this kind are inappropriate for a woman to ask.” He offered her the wine.

  “Horseshit.” She tossed back a gulp, just like a man. “I have a right to know what’s happening here.”

  “No. You don’t. You’re a prisoner, a slave, and a female. You have very few rights and they don’t extend to questioning your master.”

  She glared at him with mutiny in her eyes. Of course, he hadn’t seen much else from her from the moment he’d snatched her from her tent. Tariza Concordia was going to challenge him at every turn. She had a face and body that called to every male instinct in him – possess, protect, cherish – and a mouth that made him cringe every time she spoke.

  “Don’t expect me to abide by your grotesque and barbaric customs,” she said.

  “I don’t expect it. I demand it. If you cannot or will not comply, you will suffer. Even I won’t be able to protect you if you continue in this manner.”

  She laughed. “You? Protect me? That’s a good one.”

  “If you need proof, I can reverse my order and turn you over to another man. There are many here in this camp who would welcome the chance to discipline a Concordian bitch.”

  Her face lost its color, but her chin rose. “I am a warrior. I’m prepared to suffer and die for my country.”

  Dario sighed and shook his head. “You’re going to make this as difficult as possible, aren’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “All right. In that case, you’ll need –”

  “Not a collar,” she interrupted.

  “No. Not a collar.” He picked up the brown leather harness he’d left on the table in preparation for her arrival. “These are much more effective than collars.”

  “No.” She shook her head and tried to pull away from him. “No. I won’t wear that. No.”

  “Tariza –”

  “Don’t you dare.”

  He yanked her hard against him, the finely woven wool of her dress billowing around their legs. “You can cooperate with me, or I’ll call Paolo and Baso in to help me. I’m afraid you’re outnumbered, little girl.”

  “I am not a little girl.”

  “In Saturnios, you are. Now what’s it going to be? Me alone or me plus a handful of other men who are probably waiting eagerly outside this tent for me to call upon them?”

  Her shoulders slumped. “I’ll cooperate.”

  He could almost hear her unspoken words – for now. She didn’t fool him in the least – she wasn’t done fighting him.

  That was acceptable. At this point, he’d take whatever he could get from her.

  Dario unbuckled the belt that circled her tiny waist. “Remove the dress.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you can’t wear the harness over it. Are you going to obey or shall I call Baso?”

  She swallowed hard and for an instant he thought her lower lip trembled. Then she tightened her jaw and stripped off the dress in one defiant motion. The full breasts he’d so admired earlier jiggled enticingly as she tossed the garment to the floor.

  “Good girl.”

  Tariza sneered. “Fuck off.”

  “Perhaps later. Raise your arms.”

  He arranged the straps around her shoulders and waist. The harness had a d-ring between the shoulder blades, one at the back of the waist and another at the front of the collar.

  As he settled the soft brown leather on her body, she began to quiver. Her nipples tightened to hard little buds; her breath quickened, drawing in on a gasp when he brushed his fingers along her waist. She wanted him as much as he wanted her.

  Her gaze would be hot with lust. His cock twitched eagerly at the thought. Dario fastened the last buckle and tipped her chin up to reward her with a kiss.

  Her eyes glistened with unshed tears.

  His heart thumped painfully in his chest. How could he have been so stupid? His own desire had blinded him.

  She was a feral creature, as untamed as the horses that ran wild in the mountains of Argelia, brought to the Galactic outpost untold generations ago by Dario’s own ancestors. Like those horses, she wouldn’t take easily to the saddle and bridle. She’d fight and rage and cry until he managed to earn her trust.

  “Don’t fret, sweetheart. You’re safe with me.” He brushed his lips across hers.

  Hot color stained her face and throat. She tightened her lips. “I’m not fretting,” she said in a hard voice.

  His thumb caressed her chin, almost unconsciously. She might be unwilling to admit to her fears, but he could see them in her eyes. He would have to find just the right touch, the right balance of gentle reassurance and firm guidance – tempered with plenty of the sexual passion that flared between them – to tame her.

  Chapter 5

  The tent flap opened, startling Dario and causing Tariza to jump in his embrace.

  Baso entered. “Your bath, milord.”

  A long line of soldiers paraded in and out of his tent, first with the tub and then pail after pail of hot water. Damn. He’d forgotten all about the bath in his eagerness to get Tariza into harness. The water would do the leather no favors – but he’d chosen an old and worn piece anyway, knowing it would be subjected to hard use on the trail.

  When they got home, he’d find her a better one. Or perhaps by then she wouldn’t need one at all.

  At last the tub was full and the last water-bearer left the tent. He nodded toward the bath. “Get in.”

  Tariza shook her head. “No, thank you.”

  “That was an order, not a request. Get in.”

  “I don’t take orders from you.”

  He glowered at her. “You’re not in a position to argue. Get in or I’ll put you in.”

  She lifted her shoulders and let them drop. “No.”

  Gritting his teeth, Dario picked her up and set her in the hot water, keeping a grip on her arm to prevent her from climbing out again. Unfortunately this left him fully clothed and unable to let go of her without risking loss of control. He muttered a curse as he fumbled, one-handed, with the lacing of his leather breastplate. Poor planning, this.

  If he’d possessed any sense, he’d have ordered Paolo to help him with the armor, but common sense seemed to desert him every time his gaze fell on Tariza Concordia.

  He jerked again at the laces. The knots had tightened and his large fingers couldn’t seem to get any purchase on them.

  “Need some help?” she said dryly.

  “Yes. Are you offering?”

  She smirked. “No.”

  “Luckily, I don’t
need the consent of a slave. Unlace me.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “What if I say no?”

  “I would take great pleasure in spanking you.”

  For a moment, her mouth hung open. “You really mean that, don’t you?”

  “Indeed I do. Better get started before I decide to chastise that lovely ass of yours regardless.”

  A crimson flush spread from her cheekbones downward across her throat and upper chest. She’d been doing a lot of blushing. Was that usual for her?

  With her jaw clenched tight, she reached for his laces. Although he couldn’t feel her fingers through the leather armor, the mere fact she was touching him made his cock stand at attention as she tugged at the knots. A few moments later, she had the lacing undone.

  “Good work.” He shrugged out of the breastplate and let it fall to the floor.

  “I’m overcome with gratitude for your praise, Master.”

  He grinned. “I’ll bet you are.”

  His shirt laces were easily undone singlehandedly, as was the waistband of his trousers. He made quick work of them. The boots, though. Why hadn’t he remembered the boots?

  She’s turning your brain to mush.

  He glanced down at his footwear, then looked at her with a raised brow.

  Tariza crossed her arms over her bare chest, her expression as stony as ever. The woman had no sense of humor. Dario lifted one booted foot and propped it on the edge of the tub.

  “Again.”

  With an aggrieved sigh, she bent to the task. A thick lock of hair, gleaming gold in a stray shaft of sunlight, fell over her forehead. He stuck his hand behind his back to prevent himself from brushing that hair off her face. She was the enemy. She didn’t deserve tenderness.

  Yet hadn’t he just planned to gentle her as if she were a wild horse? She really must be turning his brain to mush. He couldn’t decide which tack to take with her, whether to humiliate her as a cast-down enemy or lovingly coax her into submission as a beloved pet.

  Concordia and Saturnios were busily trying to tear each other apart while the rest of Argelia watched, eager to pick at the corpse of the loser. He should be focused on the war, on defeating Tariza’s crazy society of man-women. Instead he stood in his tent, naked except for a pair of dusty boots, lost in lustful fascination for the worst man-woman of them all.

  The man-woman in question yanked his boot-laces as loose as they would go. “I live to obey your every wish.”

  “Your sarcasm is inappropriate.”

  “Sarcasm? I didn’t think you knew the meaning of such a big word.”

  He gave her arm a sharp shake. “The next disrespectful word out of your mouth gets you the spanking you deserve.”

  “You really think I should respect you after what you did to me?”

  The hard look in her eyes, the proud tilt of her chin irritated him beyond reason. “It’s no more than you and your girl-soldiers would have done to me if you’d had the chance,” he growled as his grip tightened on her arm. “You should thank that Goddess of yours that I got to you first, instead of –” He broke off, scowling.

  “Instead of whom?”

  Anyone who’d deliver her to his uncle. “Never mind. Just know there are many worse masters than I.”

  Tariza stared at him, her gaze uncomfortably perceptive. No woman had ever looked at him that way, boldly, shamelessly, as if she had as much right to think and examine as any man did. He opened his mouth to order her to look modestly down, and thought of the wild horses. He shut his mouth.

  “Shall I unlace your other boot?” she said, her voice dripping with silky sweetness.

  Dario took his foot off the tub rim and replaced it with the other. When she bent over it, the same lock of hair fell, this time even farther over her eyes. He gave in to temptation and lifted his hand to tuck the hair behind her ear. For all her un-feminine demeanor, her skin felt as silky smooth as any woman he’d ever touched.

  She stilled when his fingertips brushed her face. Her fingers paused in their work. Her lips parted, soft and pink. His cock stirred and his mouth went dry.

  Dario swallowed. “Finish the boot, Tariza.”

  She undid the knots, yanked at the laces. He kicked the boots off, along with his trousers, and stepped into the water. His rampant cock brushed against her naked belly and his breath caught.

  Tariza gave him a startled glance. Her dark eyes darkened further and her lips parted, her breath quickening.

  He took her head in his hands and captured her mouth with a groan of pleasure at the hot, sweet taste of her. For an instant, she remained rigid against him, straining away from him. He persisted in kissing her, pleasuring her mouth with soft bites and caresses of his lips and tongue.

  She gave a little, sobbing moan. Her body melted against his, skin to skin – the first time he’d been in full unclothed contact with her. She opened her mouth and met his tongue with her own. Slender arms looped around his neck. Lush breasts crushed against his naked belly, making his cock jump.

  God, the feel of her against him. Dario slipped one hand between them to toy with a breast. She whimpered as he plucked at the eager point of her nipple and rolled it between finger and thumb.

  He lifted her with both hands, cupping her tight little ass. “Put your legs around my waist.”

  She complied, her eyes dilated and heavy-lidded with desire. Dario positioned himself at the opening of her cunt, rubbed his cock head along her wet folds. She gave another little moan. He brought her down, shoving her, impaling her on his cock.

  Her head fell back with a loud cry. Another groan escaped him at the hot, slick tightness of her sheath. He clasped her hips, working his cock in and out of her, groaning again at the perfect grip of her on his sex.

  Tariza’s eyes rolled up, lashes fluttering. The rhythmic waves of her orgasm began almost instantly. He bucked wildly against her. His hair fell into his eyes. She wailed, her nails digging in to the skin on his shoulders.

  Ecstasy broke over him in a blinding wave. He shouted and shook as he spilled himself inside her, as he lost himself in her. Tariza clung to him with arms and legs, holding him through his climax.

  And after, when the last shudders had ceased and he clutched her, panting, she kept her arms around him. Strange. He’d half expected her to slap him and instead she held onto him like the most faithful slave.

  She put first one foot down and then the other. Dario pressed her to him. He bent his head and kissed her on her crown.

  “You please me very much,” he whispered.

  She didn’t answer. But her arms remained around him, her body pressed tightly to his, still quivering in the aftermath of what he’d done to her.

  Dario reached for one of the cloths piled next to the tub. He wet it, then rubbed it over the cake of soap. When he slid the soapy cloth between her legs, she startled with a squeak of surprise.

  “It’s all right. I’m just washing you.”

  “Why would you do that?” Her voice sounded shaky.

  “It pleases me to take care of you.”

  He carefully stroked the folds and crevices of her sex with the cloth, then worked the suds between her ass-cheeks. She trembled. He murmured to her, replacing the cloth with his fingers, and she leaned against him, shivering. At least she wasn’t fighting to get away. They were making progress.

  Dario moved the cloth up her ribcage to her armpits. She tried to take it away from him.

  “I will wash you,” he said.

  She turned her face away as he continued to clean her body.

  “Don’t be embarrassed.” He moved to her other arm. “You’re mine and I enjoy caring for you.”

  “I’m not yours,” she whispered. But she didn’t sound very sure of herself.

  He put some soap on his hands and gently cleaned her face before using a fresh cloth to wipe away the soap. She stood quietly as he worked, her eyes closed, her body shivering ever so slightly. Dario finished removing the soap and bent to kiss her lips.
/>   “All done.”

  With quick, efficient movements, he soaped his own body and wiped away the suds. Tariza stood waiting, her eyes downcast. Finally she looked like a proper female, like a slave.

  Why was she refusing to look at him? The bathing seemed more upsetting to her than anything he’d done previously, except perhaps the tattoo. It made no sense.

  He wanted her to lift her chin and look him in the eyes. But that would be impudent. A punishable offense, according to some Saturnian men.

  Make up your mind, Dar. Either you want her submissive or you don’t.

  It seemed that where Tariza Concordia was concerned, he didn’t know what he wanted ... except for the sex. He wasn’t conflicted in the least when it came to fucking her.

  He set aside the cloth he’d been using. “Now, we soak.”

  They settled into the water. Dario tugged her against him, with her back to his front and his arms around her. She sat upright, her back straight and tilted away from him, her arms clasped around her knees.

  “This is a time to relax, Tariza.”

  “I can’t relax.”

  “Yes, you can. Lean against me.”

  “No, thank you.”

  Dario sighed. So, they were back to this, were they? He took her by the elbows and pulled until she reclined stiffly against him, his legs bracketing hers. Then he wrapped his arms around her to keep her there.

  “As your master, I’m ordering you to relax.” He smoothed her hair from her forehead, the gesture pushing her head gently back against his chest.

  “As you wish.” But her body remained stiff and tense.

  He continued stroking her – first her forehead, then her shoulders and arms. Slowly, slowly the tension left her body until her shoulders stopped resisting the soft pressure of his hands and her head rolled slightly to the side.

  “You must be pleased with yourself,” she said in a flat voice.

  “I must?”

  “You did what you said you were going to do. Capture me.”

  “I don’t remember saying I planned to capture you.” He bent his head and pressed his lips to the side of her neck.

  “At the banquet, you said I’d be yours someday.”

  “Ah. Yes, I did.” But that had been more of a wish than a plan.