She could tell he believed they were about to have another discussion about his attempted disruption of the running of the household, but it was equally clear he wasn't truly worried. After all, it was before the midday meal.
She allowed a slow smile to curve her lips.
His stride faltered.
Darias recovered almost immediately. He stopped in front of her, hands behind his back as he inclined his head with mock deference. “Bryta said you wanted to see me. How may I serve you, Supreme Chief?"
Riana ground her teeth together, refusing to give him the satisfaction of knowing just how irritating the appellation was becoming. He had taken to using the formal address at every turn. He did it just to annoy her and, blast him, it worked! The glint in the eye said he knew it.
Time to remove that smugness.
Riana put her hands behind her, crossed one leg over the other, and leaned back casually. She knew the position threw her breasts into prominence while her crossed legs hiked up her skirt to show a shadowed glimpse of her moist pussy.
His cock twitched.
"Unfasten your breeches."
He licked his lips, his gaze darting up to hers before being drawn back to that shadowed vee between her legs.
"Now!” Her voice cracked into the silence. His fingers shot to the fastening of the silken trousers. The material dropped to the floor with a sensuous rustle. All the while, his gaze didn't budge.
"Remove the thong.” His lips were parted slightly, and his breathing increased. He did as instructed and his cock sprang free, fully engorged and eager.
She paused to admire it; long, thick and pulsing with need. At the base, her hand would not close all the way around it.
"Riana, it is day and Nexarian tradition doesn't allow..."
"Silence!” The command hung on the hot and heavy air. His mouth snapped shut and his gaze finally met hers. Something he saw in hers filled his with wariness.
Rising, she strolled around him. She touched the tip of her finger to the bulbous head of his cock. It jerked. His chest heaved.
"You may not speak until I give permission."
"You're joking.” A scowl wiped some of the lust from his expression. “I refuse..."
"You have earned your first punishment."
His mouth opened and then snapped shut as her meaning penetrated. Was she talking about punishment like when they were doing love play, or was she referring to bent over the chair, ass-on-fire spanking of real punishment? Riana knew it was the uncertainty of the answer to that question that stayed his objection. She wasn't in a hurry to ease his mind.
Continuing her slow rotation around him, she trailed her finger over his hip, to the small of his back. She traced an intricate pattern there with the tip of her nail.
He shivered.
Power surged through her. She could make this massive warrior shudder with the touch of a finger and force him to obey against his natural dominant instincts. She continued walking until she was standing directly in front of him.
Her voice was firm, leaving no room for argument. “New rules. One, whenever we are private you will be naked at all times unless you are preparing to leave the room.” His jaw clenched, but his erection didn't wilt. “Two, when alone, you will not speak unless I give you leave. If you have a question or feel the need to talk, you must first ask my permission. I may or may not give it."
Riana could feel moisture seeping down her inner thigh. She pushed the knowledge of her arousal to the back of her mind and continued with laying down her rules. “Three, you will assume a respectful stance whenever I enter the room.” A dark flushed burned the high masculine curve of his cheek.
"Permission to speak?” The three words sounded dragged from the depth of his soul.
She repressed a grin and nodded regally.
"Permission granted."
"What do you consider a respectful stance?"
Defiance practically dripped from the carefully-phrased question. She let it pass for now. “You will clasp you hands behind your neck and widen your stance until your feet are spread further apart than your shoulders. Your gaze will remain lowered until I give you permission to meet my eyes.” Anger, raw and pure, flashed in his golden gaze at the instructions. Riana decided to push even harder. “If I command that you present yourself, you will spread your feet apart as far as they will go, bend over from waist and, using both hands, spread the cheeks of your ass so that I may see everything that belongs to me.
"Krel if I will!"
"You have now earned your second punishment.” She took a step back. “Remove your tunic."
His hands clenched at his sides. Riana lowered her voice until it was whisper-soft. “If you make me tell you a second time, you will receive a third, more severe, punishment.” She kept her expression stern with an effort, refusing to allow him to see her uncertainty. If he defied her on this, used his strength to back that refusal, she would lose. She wasn't a fool. She knew the only thing that had kept him in line up until now was his word. He'd rather die than break it. The question was, could she make him want to submit more than he wanted to defy her?
Not knowing the answer dried her mouth to the point she couldn't swallow and caused the blood in her veins to move with a slow, heavy pulse.
His hands went to the hem of the sheer tunic.
Her knees went weak with relief. Her gaze was drawn to his erection. Despite his very real fury with her demands, he swelled even more and a drop of pre-come clung to the small slit.
She ached to taste it.
Instead, she moved over and sat on the bed. “Across my lap.” Shoulders stiff, his movement lacking his usual warrior's grace, he laid himself across her thighs, resentment in every taut line of his back.
Riana took a moment to admire the breadth of his shoulders, the flex and play of work-hardened muscles, and the involuntary clenching of his buttocks. She smoothed one palm over the tight curve. The impulse to sink her teeth into that firm muscle, to taste him, made her withdraw her hand and fist it.
Keep your mind on the goal, his surrender.
"Do you know why I am giving you this punishment?"
"Because I spoke without permission, Supreme Chief."
The man had truly managed to turn those two, tiny words into the ultimate insult. She smacked his butt, hard enough to sting, but not hurt, to show she was aware of what he was doing. “Correct.” Without warning, she started to spank him. Each blow was seemingly random-placed. Some were harder than others, but always the intensity increased.
His cock jumped against his thigh and he buried his hands into the spider-silk comforter. Several minutes later, his ass was bright red and there was a growing wet spot on her thigh. Her free hand rested on his back and she could feel the thunder of his heartbeat. He was close to coming.
She stopped.
He shifted and for a moment she thought he might protest. “You may get up now.” He head spun around and she read shocked disappointment on his face before his expression hardened as he rolled to his feet.
Oh, yes. The man understood exactly what the real punishment was going to be. Riana stood, smoothed her skirt, and walked to door. Once there, she glanced back.
"You may return to your duties."
* * * *
"Darias?"
"What?” he barked, turning to glare at Gaith as the other man approached. His mood was foul. His ass still stung with an irritating persistence while his cock refused to believe it wasn't going to be buried in Riana's hot pussy.
Not that he blamed it. He was having trouble believing it himself.
"We have a problem.” Gaith shifted, his gaze somewhere over Darias’ left shoulder. Obviously his First knew of the punishment and was trying to spare him.
An equal amount of embarrassment and fury stiffened his features. Riana would pay for his shame. He shoved his chagrin away and glanced about them. Several people were in earshot. He motioned for Gaith to precede him into an empty room. Pulling out a
chair, he straddled it, allowing no sign of his discomfort to show. He nodded his head. “Sit."
Gaith's swarthy skin darkened and he stared at the wall. “I'll stand."
Darias looked closer. The other man shuffled his feet and couldn't quite hide his wince. A muscle in his jaw twitched and even more color seeped into his cheeks.
The signs were familiar.
A muscle began to jerk in his jaw. Krel, the woman was infecting the other women with her offworlder ways. With an effort, he brought his attention back to the matter at hand.
"What is the problem?"
"They discovered our stealth program."
"Did your Punishment have anything to do with that discovery?"
"No."
"Do they understand the program is designed to copy, then corrupt certain files?"
"Yes."
He ran his hand through his hair. “Krel. Can the day get any worse?"
Gaith met his gaze squarely. “Bryta knows I planted the program."
Darias went very still. “And?"
"Public Punishment tonight."
Darias exploded out of the chair. “No. You were under my orders."
"You can't stop Punishment.” He sounded resigned and that infuriated Darias even more.
"I will take your Punishment."
"You cannot. I told Bryta you were not involved."
"You should not have done that.” He slashed the air with his hand. “I am your commander."
"And I am a warrior. I knew the risk I took. Regaining control of Nexar is worth any Punishment."
"Is it worth your relationship with Bryta?"
A frown creased his friend's brow. “What do you mean?"
"Will you be able to forgive her a Public Punishment?"
Garth's hands fisted until the knuckles turned white. “I do not know."
* * * *
"Call Bryta off."
The door to his office slammed into the wall and rebounded. He caught it in one hand without looking and shut and locked it. He was pleased to see Riana jump at the explosive sound.
She looked perplexed. A slight frown creased her delicate brow. “What do you mean? Call Bryta off what?"
"Don't.” He stalked across the plush rug and planted both hands on the desk. “Play.” He leaned in until he was looming over her. “With me.” He enjoyed the flash of feminine fear in her green eyes.
She straightened slowly, her fingers gripping the edge of the desk. She licked her lips. “I'm not playing with you. What are you talking about?"
"Gaith and his Public Punishment.” Was that surprise in her eyes? He narrowed his own. “Make her call it off."
"The manner of punishment Bryta uses is between her and Gaith."
"You can stop it."
The green eyes suddenly gleamed like fireice. “I seem to remember a similar conversation between us. I also seem to remember punishment in the garden."
"Don't obfuscate this conversation.” He leaned in even closer. Close enough that he could smell the floral scent of her perfume, and the underlying scent of woman. Despite his anger, his cock reacted. “I demand you call a halt to the Punishment."
She stood and leaned in until they were nose to nose. “You demand?” she inquired, her voice very soft. “You do not have the right to demand anything.” A smile curved her lips, but there was no amusement in her eyes. Much to his disgust, a spark of caution flared to life. If he had learned one thing over these past weeks, it was that her will was every bit as strong as his. And that included the will to punish him for what she considered infractions.
"We are private."
The non-sequitur threw him. “What?"
"Do you need a reminder of the rules?” she purred.
Blood pounded in his temples. For a moment, Darias actually thought in his fury he might burst a vein. “We are not in the bedchamber,” he grated out.
One eyebrow arched. “Did I confine those rules to our bedchamber?"
"Yes! You sai...” Abruptly, he recalled her exact words. Krel. She said when they were private, not when they were in the bedchamber. He ground his back teeth together until his jaws hurt.
"What is rule number one?” Straightening, she crossed her arms under her breasts. His wayward cock didn't seem to recognize the danger in her stance.
That he'd be naked whenever they were private. Darias turned on heel. Krel if he'd play this particular game. His hand was on the door latch when she spoke.
"I do not give you permission to leave."
His grip tightened until the crystal and metal bit into his palm. He considered unlocking the door and leaving anyway before giving an imperceptible shake of his head. He still had to get her agreement to stop Gaith's Punishment. If that meant he had to abase himself, so be it.
The decision made, he walked back to the desk. Still, he couldn't help the tension in his shoulders, or the shudder in the pit of his stomach. His gaze went to the window behind Riana, its shutters thrown wide.
"What is rule number one?"
His gaze shifted from the unshuttered window, and its implication, to the icy green gaze of the woman behind the desk. Displeasure radiated from her slim form.
Was it her intention that someone see his humiliation?
He swallowed, a mixture of apprehension, fury and lust swirling in his blood. “Whenever we are private I am to be naked."
She again lifted that brow. The question it asked was explicit—why was he still wearing clothes?
The turbulent mixture of emotions caused a faint tremor in his fingers as they went to the fastenings of his clothes. That small, betraying motion stiffened his resolve as nothing else could. Defiant, his gaze fixed on hers, he stripped both the harness and tunic over his head and tossed them to the floor. His boots and breeches followed. Completely naked, he stood in front of her and gave a mocking, half-bow.
"Mistress, I bow to your wishes."
"I begin to think I am too lenient. I gave you only three rules to remember. After forgiving your lapse on rule one, how do you repay me? You flaunt your defiance of the other two rules. Perhaps you need a reminder?” There was an underlying note of real anger in the soft tones as she massaged the spot between her breasts. As much as he ached to test her, to see how far he could push her before her control broke, Darias knew he'd have to make amends or he'd have no chance of getting her to intercede in Gaith's Punishment.
His cock jerked in disappointment. He hid a grimace. What was it about the blasted woman? She'd loosed something in him that embarrassed him just to think of it. The orders, the rules, the—heat crawled up his neck—bare-butt spankings, he resented them with a fury that burned his gut, even as they aroused a need that scorched through each and every nerve ending. He was a warrior, leader of one of the most prosperous country-states on the world. He was born to rule, to dominate everything and everyone within his sphere of power.
Except Riana.
With an ease that was almost humiliating, she commanded his obedience and punished disobedience with a swiftness and thoroughness that brought a reluctant respect. Resentment burned to ashes under the fire that heated his blood and pooled in his groin every time she compelled his obedience or laid him across her lap.
Or when she fucked him, breaking every Nexarian rule or tradition there was.
He couldn't understand what had happened to him. Nothing was the same since he captured her.
Slowly, he clasped his hands behind his neck and widened his stance.
He had to make her listen.
"Mistress, may I speak?” His heart pounded and his cock throbbed when she trailed the slender tip of one finger from her full bottom lip, over the rounded curve of that stubborn chin, to the deep cleft between her breasts.
She came around the corner of the desk until she was standing beside him.
Darias kept his eyes glued on the sunlit patch of garden outside the huge double window.
She reached out and cupped his balls.
His penis jum
ped and a bead of fluid glistened on the bulbous tip.
"Your body doesn't lie. It knows who its Mistress is.” She tightened her grip.
Darias grunted.
"Unlike your mind."
Her same hand caught the bead of come before it could fall to the floor. Unable to help himself, he followed that glistening drop as she brought it to her lips. The tip of her tongue came out and tasted it.
He groaned, wanting to draw that finger into his mouth. Nibble on it. Suck on it. Until her feminine cream ran down her thighs.
"You may speak."
He blinked, unable to switch chelans that fast. He reran her words through his head. Struggling for control, he cleared his throat.
"Um, Bryta intends to Punish Gaith in the Great Hall tonight. I ask that you intervene and get her to change her mind."
"Why should I do that?” She traced idle circles on his flank, making it nigh impossible to catch a thought and hold it.
"Because the blame is mine."
The slow, sensual caress paused for the barest moment, before continuing. “And why is that?"
He clenched his buttocks together when her touch feathered the crease separating his haunches. “He was following my orders."
The tips of her nails dug into his lower spine. “And? What orders was he following?"
His hands flexed once, the only sign of pain he allowed himself. “I'm sure Bryta has already told you."
Silence.
He reminded himself that he needed her cooperation. “I told him to hack into the computer system and upload a stealth program."
Darias could feel the weight of her displeasure in the air. She was furious. Riana didn't have to say a word. He braced himself for Punishment. How severe would it be this time?
To his surprise, she walked around and sat in the chair behind the desk. Swinging the chair to the side, she indicated a point about a meter in front of her. Darias obeyed her silent command to stand there. The window was on his right side. The bright sunlight highlighted his raging erection. He did his best to ignore it.
"And what would you have me do?"
He couldn't tell her thoughts by her voice. “Allow me to take Punishment in Gaith's place."
She leaned back in the chair and crossed one leg over the other. Sunlight glinted off the leather of her boot as she swung one foot with idle contemplation.
Surrender Page 12