It was only when she reached the entrance to the marquee and saw Lizzie, who was standing with Livia and Carlos, looking at her in incredulous disbelief, that embarrassment swamped Chloe as she finally realised what she’d done. Suddenly she longed for the safety of the house, and she quickened her steps.
At last, after what seemed the longest walk of her life, she was finally back in the bedroom, where she found Fiona waiting to help her shower and change.
CHAPTER
20
‘What did you feel like?’ asked Fiona half an hour later, as Chloe stood looking out of the bedroom window.
Chloe thought for a moment. ‘Initially I was frightened, but once it all started I felt strangely powerful.’
Fiona frowned. ‘You were on a leash, nothing more than a plaything, how could you feel powerful?’
‘I think it was because I realised that I was controlling their emotions. Without me there, there was nothing. I was the catalyst for all the excitement, and it was my sexuality which turned them on. You’d have to experience it to know what I mean.’
‘No thank you,’ said Fiona with a shiver. ‘I’d die of embarrassment. I’m all for experimentation, but not in front of an audience that size. Who won, do you know?’
This was the question that Chloe wanted answered, but she decided to feign indifference. ‘No idea. It was a man, that’s all I can remember.’
‘It was Taylor Woods,’ said Mehrdad, coming into the room.
‘Who’s Taylor Woods?’ asked Chloe, as Fiona gave an excited squeal.
‘A wealthy businessman who has quite a reputation with the ladies. Carlos doesn’t like him very much. He won’t be pleased to learn that it’s Taylor joining us for the dinner. He’ll have to take Mike’s place.’
‘I didn’t know you’d invited Taylor here today,’ remarked Fiona.
‘I didn’t,’ said Mehrdad. ‘I suppose one of the women must have brought him along as her partner.’
Chloe decided to risk a question. ‘Will he fit in with us all?’ she asked casually.
‘He’ll fit in with the ladies, that’s for sure. Carlos doesn’t like him because they’re alike in many ways: self-contained and difficult to get to know. I doubt if he’s got much small talk.’
Fiona giggled. ‘It’s not his small talk that the girls enjoy! What was he like today, Chloe? You must remember!’
‘I don’t,’ said Chloe, who could actually remember every detail of the way he’d brought her to orgasm. ‘He can’t have been that special.’
‘He won, that makes him quite special,’ Mehrdad pointed out.
‘He only won because you didn’t keep your word and Lizzie came into the marquee,’ retorted Chloe. ‘If I hadn’t been distracted by her, that blond girl might have won. She was very good. I can remember her.’
Mehrdad looked very uncomfortable. ‘I’m really sorry about Lizzie. Livia must have thought the competition was over. Carlos is furious.’
‘Not as furious as I am. Carlos doesn’t have to go in to work and face her on Monday. I do,’ Chloe pointed out. ‘Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to go home.’
‘Carlos thought you’d want to leave. He’s waiting for you in the car at the front of the house,’ said Mehrdad. ‘Fiona and I look forward to seeing you at the dinner. It should be a wonderful evening.’
‘I’m not quite sure what to expect,’ confessed Chloe.
Fiona kissed her on the cheek before showing her down the stairs and out through the front door. ‘Expect the unexpected,’ she said softly.
‘What do you mean?’ asked Chloe, but Fiona refused to say any more. She simply smiled and said goodbye before closing the door firmly behind the departing Chloe.
Carlos was already in the driving seat as Chloe got into the car. He glanced sideways at her. ‘I’m sorry that Lizzie somehow managed to get into the marquee. It was unforgivable, and Livia will be punished for it.’
‘I just hope it hasn’t cost me my job,’ said Chloe furiously. ‘What am I meant to say to her on Monday morning? Have you any idea what I felt like when I saw her there? It was—’
‘It helped to make sure that Taylor joined us for the dinner,’ said Carlos smoothly.
Chloe tensed nervously. ‘Who?’ she asked innocently.
‘Taylor Woods, the man who won the competition.’
‘And is it a good thing that he won, or a bad thing?’
Carlos took a corner too fast and swore under his breath. ‘From your point of view I’d say that it was a good thing. You enjoyed him pleasuring you, I could tell.’
‘I enjoyed everyone pleasuring me. I thought that was the idea of it all. You told me to enjoy it, and I did.’
‘Taylor was different from the others,’ he replied tersely.
‘He didn’t seem different to me.’
‘You should know better by now than to lie to me, Chloe. I know you better than you know yourself. He spoke to you too. What did he say?’
‘He spoke so quietly I couldn’t hear,’ said Chloe. Then, aware that Carlos was in a dangerous mood, she decided to go on the attack, something she’d never done before. ‘I don’t know what’s the matter with you,’ she continued angrily. ‘I thought that I’d done well, and you’d be happy. I really tried to please you, to do all the things you said, and I thought I’d succeeded, but you’re not pleased at all. In fact, you seem angry with me. Why? What did I do wrong?’
She saw Carlos’s hands relax their grip a little on the steering wheel. ‘You didn’t do anything wrong,’ he said after a brief silence. ‘You were wonderful. You exceeded my greatest expectations, and I was truly proud of you. I apologise. I’m annoyed with Livia because through her, I broke my promise to you. Stupidly, I’m letting that annoyance spill over on to you.
‘The control you displayed this afternoon was incredible. You’ve nearly mastered the discipline now, there is very little left for you to learn. Soon, after the dinner, you will have completed your apprenticeship with me. Then we must decide what the future holds for you.’
‘I can’t believe what happened myself,’ confessed Chloe. ‘As to the future, perhaps there will be things that you demand of me at the dinner that I can’t do. I could still fail you.’
‘I don’t think it’s likely,’ said Carlos smoothly.
‘No,’ confessed Chloe. ‘After this afternoon, neither do I, but I suppose it’s still possible.’
‘Oh yes,’ said Carlos with a slight smile. ‘It’s definitely still possible. Here we are, safely home. You go in and rest. I have to go back for Livia. We won’t be home until late. Mehrdad and Fiona have invited us to stay for dinner. Tomorrow I have to go to a business meeting all day, so I won’t see you before you go back to work. I wish you luck for your meeting with Lizzie.’
‘I’ll need all the luck I can get,’ remarked Chloe, getting out of the car. At the front door she turned to wave goodbye to Carlos, but he was already driving away and she was irrationally disappointed. For a few minutes it had seemed that she really mattered to him, that he was capable of a more normal relationship with her, but now she wasn’t so sure.
Although Chloe got in to work early on the Monday morning, Lizzie had arrived before her and was sitting behind her desk.
‘Morning,’ said Chloe casually, but Lizzie didn’t answer. Hoping that if she just kept her head down and got on with her work, nothing more would be said, Chloe began to sort through the morning’s post.
After a long silence, Lizzie turned and looked at her. ‘I’m surprised you had the nerve to come in this morning after what I saw at the weekend.’
‘What’s that got to do with my working here?’ demanded Chloe.
‘Quite a lot, since I understand that you claimed to be making such a disgusting exhibition of yourself on behalf of this charity. I don’t think I’ve ever been so shocked in my entire life as I was when I walked into that tent. I recognised you immediately, despite that stupid mask. It was disgraceful. You looked like some girl
in a sleazy nightclub in Soho. Heaven only knows what the nuns in Rio would have thought if they could have seen you. You used this charity as an excuse for a perverted, lewd exhibition and—’
‘That’s enough,’ said Chloe sharply. ‘I’m sorry you didn’t like what you saw. The show wasn’t intended to be open to everyone, only a selected few. Livia made a mistake when she brought you in, but—’
‘You’re the one who made a mistake,’ retorted Lizzie. ‘I still can’t believe what I saw. You’re here this morning, little Miss Prim as usual, and yet when you were up on that stage you were behaving like a cheap whore.’
Chloe took a deep breath. ‘I’m sorry you feel that way about it, Lizzie. I did it for a reason that I can’t even begin to explain to you, but I don’t regret it. I don’t consider I behaved like a whore, but even if I had, it certainly wasn’t a cheap one! However, since you’re so upset, I’ll make sure that none of the money we raised comes to this charity. I’d hate you to feel that the street children were being helped by tainted money.’
Lizzie’s cheeks were flushed, and she couldn’t meet Chloe’s eyes. ‘I don’t want Mehrdad to think I’m ungrateful,’ she muttered. ‘He was very sweet to me afterwards, and—’
‘And doubtless told you exactly how much money he hoped to be able to give you,’ said Chloe sharply.
‘He did mention a sum. It was very large. I realise that things probably got out of hand, and it certainly wasn’t his fault, so I shall accept his cheque. The problem is, Chloe …’
Chloe looked at her one-time friend in disgust. ‘You’re no better than the nuns were,’ she said slowly. ‘Well, I hope you do accept the money, but don’t be fooled by Mehrdad’s charming manner. Believe me, he’s no sexual innocent. He’s more decadent than you could begin to imagine.’
‘Even if that’s true, it’s different for men,’ replied Lizzie.
‘That’s a ridiculous thing to say, but I don’t want to get into an argument because there’s no point. Obviously the show was a shock to you and I’m sorry. I’m not sorry that I did it, but I’m sorry that you saw it.’
‘How could you do it?’ asked Lizzie. ‘How could you stand up there in front of all those people and let strangers touch you in such an intimate way? Don’t you have any shame?’
‘No one was hurt,’ replied Chloe. ‘It was just a bit of fun. Where was the harm in it?’
‘What about your self-respect? Don’t you realise what men think about women who behave like that?’
‘There’s a whole world out there that you don’t know anything about, Lizzie,’ said Chloe quietly. ‘I didn’t know about it either, until I met Carlos Rocca. Now that I do know, I understand that it’s a world that suits me, and believe it or not, it’s a way of life that’s going to set me free.’
‘You didn’t look very free to me, standing there like some slave girl in olden times while all the men fantasised about you,’ snapped Lizzie.
Chloe realised that, in a way, Lizzie was jealous of what she’d witnessed, and she suspected that this jealousy was going to make it difficult for them to continue working alongside each other for much longer.
‘Since you’re going to take the money that was raised, I think we’d better agree not to talk about this any more,’ she said firmly. ‘As soon as the gala dinner is over, I’ll look for another job.’
‘I think that’s an excellent idea,’ said Lizzie stiffly. ‘I’m sure you understand why I feel the way I do about it all.’
Chloe smiled to herself. ‘Yes, I certainly do,’ she agreed. The two women didn’t speak again for the rest of the day.
The weeks leading up to the dinner passed very slowly for Chloe. The atmosphere at work wasn’t good, and although no one said anything, she had a suspicion that Lizzie must have told most of the other people at work about what she’d seen at Mehrdad’s garden party. Certainly no one was very friendly towards her any more, and she kept searching through the evening paper for jobs that would suit her, but with no success.
‘I don’t know why you’re doing that,’ remarked Carlos one evening, when he came across her sitting at the kitchen table with the paper spread out in front of her.
‘Because I can’t stay where I am for much longer, thanks to Livia,’ snapped Chloe.
Carlos nodded sympathetically. ‘I realise how difficult she’s made life for you, and she’s been punished, but you don’t need to think about another job. Soon I’ll want you to be my English hostess, looking after this house and helping me entertain my guests. It will be a full-time position.’
‘But Livia does that.’
‘Perhaps, once you’ve completely mastered the discipline, Livia will not be needed here. She could return to my house in Rio, or possibly find herself a new life. You don’t yet understand the plans that I have for you if all goes well at the dinner,’ he added, stroking the back of her neck.
Chloe trembled with pleasure. Recently Carlos had been away a lot, and she was frantic for the heights of physical ecstasy that he enabled her to reach. Just thinking about the things he did to her aroused her, and her rigid nipples brushed against the thin silk of her blouse.
‘Are you missing me?’ he whispered, reaching round her and lightly caressing the tight little buds through the material. Chloe nodded. ‘That’s good. I want you to be needy for the dinner party. I want you frantic to be pleasured, desperate for sexual release. It’s all part of the training. Famine followed by feast is a highly rewarding experience.’
His fingers tightened round her left nipple and she gasped as a sharp pain lanced through her breast. He continued to grip the aching tip, pinching it even harder until she cried out with pain. Roughly he pulled her chair round until she was facing him, then tore her blouse open and closed his mouth around the abused nipple.
She felt his tongue flicking tenderly at the throbbing flesh, but then his teeth started to close around it and she tensed, waiting for the next wave of pain. As he bit slowly down on the nipple she arched her back as the pain deepened, causing her whole body to explode into a shamefully quick and intense orgasm.
‘Very good,’ he murmured. ‘You’ve learnt well. No more now, not until the night of the dinner. I’ve selected a dress for you to wear then, and just before we leave I’ll also tell you exactly what you have to do during the evening in order to complete the discipline. Think of it as your graduation night.’
Cupping her aching breast in her hand, Chloe longed for the waiting to be over.
CHAPTER
21
As Chloe looked at herself in the mirror for a final check, she hoped that Carlos would be satisfied with her appearance now that the big night had finally arrived. The dress, which had been delivered that afternoon, was dark red and black. The strapless red bodice fitted tightly, emphasising her gently rounded breasts, and the split at the front of the flared full-length black-and-red skirt nearly reached the top of her hold-up stockings.
His instructions to her had been clear. It had to be easy for her to be sexually available during the evening, which meant that she wasn’t wearing any underwear beneath the exotic dress. Apart from that, she still didn’t know what he expected of her during her final test.
As she turned to go downstairs, Carlos came into the bedroom. His piercing blue eyes narrowed as he studied her intently. ‘Excellent,’ he said at last. ‘I can hardly keep my hands off you myself. The car’s here, I just have time to tell you the rules for tonight, and then we must leave.
‘I’ve decided against the anal plug. Instead I’ve set you three tasks. If you succeed in them, then you will have completed the discipline. First, you must bring one of the other girls in our party to orgasm during the pre-dinner drinks—’
‘But that’s not possible!’ exclaimed Chloe. ‘How can I do that when—’
‘Second,’ he continued, ignoring the interruption, ‘you must experience two orgasms yourself during the dinner. Third, we will have a private auction at our table, with sealed bids. Yo
u will fulfil the sexual fantasy of the winner.’
‘And what happens if I succeed?’ she asked.
He gave her one of his rare smiles, and her stomach lurched with desire. ‘Why, then Livia returns to Rio, you will act as my hostess here and the game will begin again, with a new apprentice.’
Chloe frowned. ‘That would mean that if the new apprentice succeeded, I’d be like Livia, and find myself cast off.’
‘You’re being ridiculously melodramatic, Chloe. Come along, everyone is downstairs waiting. I do hope you weren’t expecting some kind of conventional ending to your sexual apprenticeship; that would be very boring.’
‘I was hoping for something rather more exciting,’ said Chloe sharply, and had the satisfaction of seeing an expression of surprise cross Carlos’s face as she swept out of the room.
Livia, Fiona, Mehrdad and Taylor Woods were all waiting in the drawing room, and when she joined them, Taylor’s eyes gleamed with appreciation. He was tall and well built, with a mass of thick steel-grey hair and dark-brown eyes. ‘You look very lovely tonight,’ he murmured, as Carlos helped her on with her wrap. She smiled at him.
‘The others have gone on ahead,’ Livia explained to her lover. ‘I told Chris that we’d meet up with them in the bar.’
‘Excellent,’ said Carlos approvingly. ‘Chloe, everyone at our table knows what you have to do tonight, and I’m sure they’ll all be eager to help you succeed. Now we must leave; we don’t want to be late and annoy Lizzie again!’
‘I wish Livia had never annoyed her in the first place,’ muttered Chloe, but Livia only laughed. Then Carlos put an arm round his mistress’s waist and soon they were all getting into the chauffeur-driven limousine that was waiting at the front of the house.
‘By the end of the night, you’ll know how well you’ve learnt all the lessons of the past months,’ said Mehrdad. ‘Are you excited?’
Discipline Page 17