"I hear you." Mercy mumbled.
"Mercy, I want you to actually show up for dinner on time instead of eating in the kitchen after everyone's already put the food away, do you think you can do that tonight?" He asked her.
"Fine." Mercy said, shrugging.
"See you tonight, don't be late this time, or there will be a consequence this time." He warned her with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, like what?" Mercy said, taunting him.
"You'll just have to find out." Vincent's voice sent a shiver up her spine, and then he gave her one final look and turned and left. Leaving her alone in the barn.
Mercy didn't move but brought her hands up over her heart in a reflexive gesture. It was pounding in her chest, and her lips still tingled from his kisses.
She was tempted to not show up for dinner, just to find out what he would do.
Chapter 6
Mercy hesitated. She was torn between not showing up to see how he'd react, and showing up because he asked her too.
No, he didn't ask her too.
He told her too and promised consequences if she didn't.
That irritated her. No one had bossed her around since her grandfather died, and she rarely even listened to him.
That settled it.
She backed away from the dining room door and moved to the kitchen. She grabbed an apple and some bread and cheese along with a bottle of wine and went to her room to eat by herself.
She'd barely bitten into the apple when she heard a knock on her door. She hesitated, debating on answering it. She bit into her apple again and the knock came louder this time, then the door opened.
Mercy was startled and fumbled with her apple, dropping it onto the floor at her feet.
Dang it, it was a good apple too.
She turned to glare at the person in the doorway and saw Vincent shutting the door and turn to look at her with his arms crossed.
He looked mad.
"Why?" He growled at her. "You deliberately didn't show up. Why did you do that?"
"Well, I told you I don't take kindly to being ordered around." Mercy said, shrugging.
Vincent walked over to her and grabbed her arm, pulling her off her chair. He dragged her over to the twin bed and put her over his knee.
Vincent swatted her on the ass, hard enough to sting through her pants.
He calmly spanked her a multiple times, until she was wiggling all over his lap trying to get away.
Mercy let out a strangled cry when he finally let go of her and she fell to the floor, with hostility she looked up at him.
"What the heck is wrong with you?" She asked him when he stared down at her.
Mercy stood up rubbing her butt cheek. It hurt her pride more than her rear end. Her ass felt warm and she didn't understand her physical reaction to it. That made Mercy angry and she lashed out at him.
Mercy had never been spanked before that she could remember, and the sensation was shocking. No one before had ever dared spank her before, let alone threaten her.
She glared at him.
"You are what's wrong with me." He growled.
"Vincent, you can't pretend you didn't know what I was when you married me." She reminded him. "I'm not a meek, obedient girl who does whatever her husband orders her to do. I make my own decisions."
"And you promised we'd have a real marriage. I had expectations that you promised you'd provide you are failing your part of the agreement. Companionship being one of them. Intimacy being another." He pointed a finger at her. "Are you really so childish you can't handle a grown up relationship?"
She stuck her tongue out at him, proving his point. Then backed up when she his gaze harden, not giving him a chance for a repeat performance.
"Next time, I'll use something worse than my hand." He warned her.
"You are rude, inconsiderate and don't care about anyone else. Someone needs to teach you some manners; I'm not going suffer my entire life, being married to a woman who can't even take the time to have a meal with me."
"I just wanted to see what you would do." Mercy said, glaring at him, the urge to kick him in the shins overwhelming.
"Why do you have to try to challenge me always? Can't you live with another human being and coexist peacefully?" He asked her, sounding frustrated. "Are you satisfied with the reaction you got? I'm nicer than most men would be to you, and I'm already letting you run a business, which is unheard of for a woman, without any interference. All I want is for you to show me a little respect in the privacy of our own home."
"Make me." Mercy said, not sure where it came from, but taunting him after he just spanked her definitely seemed stupid.
She did it anyways.
He stood up and Mercy turned to run from the room. He grabbed her arm and picked her up throwing her over his shoulder as she pounding on his back with her small fists.
Pulling open her door, Vincent took her down the hall to the room he'd been staying in. When they were married, Vincent had agreed to remain in a separate room until they'd gotten to know each other better, but Mercy avoiding him had made that impossible.
He'd expected her to move into the Master bedroom with him at some point.
He had a king sized bed with a frame of four posts that almost reached the ceiling.
He saw one of the maids in the hallway, and he nodded at her. The maids' eyes got large in her face and then she started to laugh.
Mercy froze, feeling humiliated.
Vincent opened the door to the master bedroom and shut the door before Mercy could react.
With her still over his shoulder, he walked over to one of his saddle bags and pulled out some rope. Carrying her of to his bed he dumped her on the middle of it. Then he grabbed her wrists together and tied them with the rope before she could even think of struggling. He fastened it to the bed post.
He stood back and looked at her.
"There, now you can't get away, you can't ignore me, and you have to spend time with me." He told her, raising a brow. "Do you still feel like sticking your tongue out at me now?"
"Bite me." She told him without thinking.
For a moment, she wondered if this game they played was something she could stop if she really wanted it too. He'd never acted like he'd truly hurt her, but she didn't really know him that well. A slight shiver of fear went up her spine as she stared at him and wondered if taunting him was a good idea.
It seemed like fun and games until someone got hurt. She wondered how far he'd take it. She wondered how far she could handle it. This was a game she didn't understand. Verbal sparring and words she could handle, but this bordered on something else.
Something dark.
Something exciting.
Pushing him was exhilarating, like riding a barely green thoroughbred on the track for the first time. Mercy just hoped she could handle the consequences of her choices. If you played with fire, sometimes you got burned. Or in the case of horses, a broken bone. She wondered what happens if she pushed him too far.
"Gladly." He replied, then leaned down and bit her breast through her blouse. Just hard enough to make her gasp, it hurt just enough that when he let go; it spread warmth that made her tingle all the way to her toes.
Mercy's eyes widened in shock and she just stared at him. For once in her short life she was speechless.
"I was hoping to have a conversation with you. I would have preferred to do it over dinner, but I think that maybe your mouth has better uses than talking right now. Should I suggest a couple?" Vincent murmured, then kneeled on the bed and kissed her, using one hand pressing against her chest to hold her still against the bed.
Mercy pulled against the rope that held her to his bed and then shut her eyes, relaxing into his touch. The firm pressure from his hand near her breast excited her. She heard a click and a second later she felt him cutting the sleeves of her blouse.
Mercy opened her eyes and looked down, in shock.
He used his other hand to rip open the buttons on
her blouse, and then took her shirt off.... he trailed the knife across her skin watching her reaction.
The cool steel blade against her heated skin made her shiver. The slight scratchy sensation was just stingy enough that it made her inside tighten up in a knot and she moaned confused by the physical sensations he was causing in her.
"Mercy, you are a bad, bad girl." He told her calmly. He continued to drag the knife slowly across her skin, down between her breasts, to her belly button and trailed it along the edge of her breeches.
He stopped and unbuttoned her breeches, rolling them down and over her hips, pulling them off. She didn't protest and he raised a brow at her and then shoved his hands roughly between her legs.
Mercy gasped. She'd never been so intimately touched before, let alone roughly.
Vincent stroked her through her undergarments, until she was grinding her hips up against him to the circular, motion, he was massaging her.
"Say you're sorry, and I'll show you how good I can make you feel." He ordered her.
Mercy glared at him. Despite how he was making her feel, she wouldn't apologize. She shook her head no, refusing.
He withdrew his hand and sat back for a second; making her almost cry out that his hand that was touching her in a way that had felt so good had stopped.
"You say you're sorry, and I'll give you what you want." He told her again.
This little power struggle they had going on became clear to both of them. One was going to win it, but if Mercy refused, would they both end up being the losers in this situation?
The realization startled her.
Was it worth being stubborn, and denying herself the pleasure he was offering her if she kept rejecting him. Would he eventually give up and resent her, or would they continue to play this little game between them until one of them ended up on top?
Mercy had all logical thought fly out of her mind when he pulled off her undergarments and the binding she'd wrapped around her breasts for when she rode her horses.
He tweaked one of her nipples, rolling it between his fingers, and then dug his nails into her skin, just hard enough for her to tense up. His other hand was working its way slowly up her thighs from her knee.
When his fingers touched her bare skin, Mercy did cry out and pushed herself against his hand. She didn't mean to, her body seemed to have a mind of its own. Her body liked Vincent's hands on it, and the sensations he was creating in her, even if Mercy wanted to be stubborn and refuse to give in to him.
"Don't deny yourself pleasure Mercy, that's just being stupid. You've never struck me as being anything but intelligent, most of the time anyways. You do seem to have a tendency to want to self destruct, just a little bit." Vincent whispered to her, as he continued to use his mouth on her breasts.
He spread the folds of her heat apart and rubbed a finger against her when it was slick with her moisture; he slowly inserted it, working it inside her, stretching her.
Mercy thrashed on the bed, as his palms pressed against the sensitive nub above her hole, moaning loudly. Mercy was so close to the edge, she just needed a little more to push her over.
"Please." She begged him, whispering softly.
"Nope. Say 'Sorry Vincent' and I'll give you more." He pulled his mouth off her skin and reminded her what she had to say.
Vincent blew lightly on her skin, cooling her as she broke out in a sweat. She shivered against him, the hot and cold sensations causing havoc in her brain.
"God, fine. I'm sorry Vincent." She barely muttered it loud enough for him to hear her. She'd make him pay for this later. She didn't know how, but she'd get revenge for making her say it.
"Good girl, Mercy. See, that wasn't so hard." He told her. Then he pushed himself down on the bed and nibbled on her legs with his mouth, as his palm pushed harder against her clit. His fingers stroked the insides of her womanhood until she was wiggling against him hard enough that she was almost pushing him back.
He took her over the edge, her release hitting her wave after wave, loud enough it made her scream.
Vincent watched her cum all over his hands and then wiped her juices on her stomach before leaning up to kiss her firmly on the mouth.
He untied her and gathered her in his arms.
"Now, I want to sleep. Stay with me tonight." Vincent raised an eyebrow as he told her, not really giving her a choice since he took his shirt off.
Vincent dropped it on the floor and then got into bed with her, pinning her to his side with his arm.
"That's all?" She asked, confused. She was pretty sure sex involved more than what he just did.
"For tonight, it's enough. If you want more, you're going to have to earn it." He told her, and kissed the back of her neck gently, making her tremble in his arms.
"Asshole." She told him.
"Shrew." He replied.
Chapter 7
After sleeping in Vincent's bed, they'd had breakfast together the next morning. Vincent had listened to her talk about her horses, and the negotiating part of the business.
She admitted that having an intimidating looking male around, made things go smoother, that since her grandfather died, she had been getting low balled for the most recent sales.
Vincent had agreed to come to the next deal and see if his presence could help though promised to keep his mouth shut unless she implied she needed him to talk.
Mercy was busy working with a yearling in the arena on a long lunge lead and a whip in her hand. She was having trouble focusing on putting the horse through its paces, as all she could think about was Vincent.
She realized that she actually liked his company, and she had trouble sleeping the night she'd spent in his arms, she'd been left wanting more. Wanting the whole experience and it had left her frustrated and sleep deprived when she'd gotten up.
He'd given her his robe and she'd snuck back to her room to get dressed. He'd left a small hickey on one of her breasts, and though no one else could see it, she knew it for what it really was. He'd marked her. To remind her that she belonged to him, even if she called the shots outside of the bedroom.
She wasn't sure if she was amused by everything, or slightly miffed. Her brain and emotions had left her in a tangled mess inside her own head.
The one thing Mercy did realize is she could lose her heart to him if she let herself. He made her laugh and made her mad at the same time. With one, glance, she felt like smacking him, and grinding herself against him all at the same time.
"Take him back to the field, you can work with the next one, I just can't pay attention today." Mercy said, as she walked over to the fence and talked to the stable boy who was waiting for directions.
She watched the horse walk off, prancing with high energy and smiled. These majestic creatures never got old to her.
Vincent snuck up behind her and startled her when he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him. Vincent whispered in her ear, softly, as he leaned down so only she could hear him.
"Your horses are beautiful, but that aren't nearly as beautiful as you. Have you ever seen two horses mating?"
Mercy had, she nodded.
"I'd like to ride you like that, bend you over a hay bale and take you from behind." Vincent told her, and nibbled on her ears.
"Empty promises." She told him.
"Just ask me nicely." He told her.
"Ask you nicely to do what?" Mercy said, feigning ignorance. She liked to hear him describe it in vivid terms to her. His bold language excited her.
"Ask me nicely to ride you. Maybe I'll even bring my riding crop." He told her, making her gasp when he gave her butt a pinch.
"What is with your obsession with touching my bottom?" Mercy demanded.
"You seem to like it." He replied.
Mercy blushed. "That's not the point."
"Sure it is, watching you get all fired up and react is exactly the point. I like watching you squirm, the way when I slapped my hand on your bottom, I could feel you lean into it, an
d you grew wet through your pants. Even your breeches couldn't hide your arousal from me, Mercy. You knew exactly what it did. For both of us." He told her.
"Pervert." She muttered half-heartedly.
"If I'm a pervert, you're a slut." He replied.
"I've never even had sex!" She said, not expecting his answer.
"You have in your mind." He told her.
"So? That doesn't count." She said, blushing again.
"You've never thought about touching a hard cock and stroking it with your delicate little fingers?" He whispered as he kissed the side of her neck.
"Maybe, but if I had, I'm not going to tell you." She told him.
"Wear a dress at dinner tonight. Don't wear any undergarments. We'll go for a walk after dinner." He told her, then pressed a final kiss to the side of the head, and let her go, walking away.
He left her to stew on his comments.
Chapter 8
She was insane. Mercy wanted to face palm. She hated wearing dresses. Why was she putting on a dress like he asked? It made no sense to her that she was doing what he wanted.
No, it did. He'd given her the best sensation she'd ever felt in her life, and she kind of hoped he'd repeat it. That's why she'd worn a dress.
Mercy walked into the dining room and sat down, feeling awkward. The lack of undergarments made her feel weird, she could feel the way the crinkles of the inner lining in her skirt rubbed roughly against her skin, itching.
The kitchen staff placed the food on the table, and left them to eat. Mercy picked at her food, not feeling very hungry. Thinking of what might happen on their walk, it put butterflies in her stomach and it made her nervous.
They ate in relative silence, though every now and then Vincent would ask her a question, and she'd give an answer.
It quickly became apparent to him that she wasn't going to eat much more than she had and he wiped his mouth off with a napkin and stood, offering his hand to her.
Mercy looked up at him and took it, letting him pull her to her feet off the chair.
He threaded her arm through his and took her outside. It was just light enough they could still see without any lanterns and he strolled towards the barn with slowly.
"You wore the dress." He said, sounding surprised.
Bought By The Highlander (Scottish Highlander Romance) Page 32