Orphan Bride

Chapter 5

Felisa dragged her feet as much as she dared, which really wasn”t much, unfortunately. Even if she had, he was definitely strong enough to just drag her, or worse, pick her up and carry her as he”d once mentioned that he wanted to.

They ended up in his study. The fire was nearly embers but still going, so he had been in here until he”d found her. If she”d only been a bit more careful, she wouldn”t have been caught!

The first thing he did was to go to his big desk and put the small tools he”d taken from her into one of the drawers, locking it afterward, then giving her a rueful look before asking, ”Do you have any other of those kinds—or any other kinds—of nefarious tools, Miss Heath?”

”No,” she answered truthfully, not feeling in the least obligated to tell him that she could probably improvise what she needed from other things.

”It would not be at all wise of you to lie to me.” His warning was given almost matter of factly, but she was able to answer it with a clear conscience.

”I”m not lying.”

”Good, because I will have no more of that kind of willful and defiant behavior, Miss Heath, and I can assure you that I shall endeavor to make certain that you remember that the next time you get it into your pretty brain to disobey me.”

With that, he pushed his chair back from his desk and took a seat, pointing to a spot on the floor right next to his chair.

Felisa was still just inside the room, a reasonable distance from him. The door was right there. She could probably make a run for it.

”I would suggest that you don”t try to escape, Felisa. I would catch you before you”d gotten five feet away, and I won”t cane you, but I won”t hesitate to take my belt to your backside, either.”

He saw her shudder at that and almost regretted frightening her with that threat, but not quite, especially if it had the desired effect of making her less likely to misbehave.

Felisa was astonished that he had remembered her reaction about the cane! She was shocked by the idea that a man such as himself—who certainly had much more important things to think about—could recall such a minute detail about an insignificant member of his staff at home, whom he hadn”t seen in nearly a year.

”Come here,” he ordered, more softly but still firmly.

Felisa fidgeted in place, desperately wanting to be able to say no and get away with it. But she knew she couldn”t. She had no power at all in this situation, just as she hadn”t that time before he”d left.

He”d punished her then, and it had turned out all right—if distinctly embarrassing. He”d left her to cope with feelings she didn”t want to have, but that haunted her the entire time he was gone. Now he was home, and they had blossomed again, as if he had never left. She didn”t know what to do with them or what to do about them, although she knew that this—more and closer contact with him—was probably not it. They were an annoyance and an inconvenience, just like he was.

”Felisa, I”m not going to say it again,” he chided, chin down, looking out at her from under darkly drawn brows, tone heavy with warning.

* * *

She beganto walk to him, just about as slowly as was humanly possible, and Rune had to suppress a grin at that. She would fight him to the end, and he would relish every second of it. That would only make her eventual taming all the sweeter.

Finally, she was standing where he wanted her to be, although she was staring at the ground as if he was going to execute her rather than just spank her, looking uncharacteristically submissive, and he didn”t like it.

”Look at me,” he commanded softly.

Felisa raised her head and met his eyes. ”Can I be sure that other things around here that have locks are safe from your mischief? That you just did this tonight because you”re angry that I”ve prohibited you from going into the library by yourself?”

She looked downright insulted. ”Yes! I have never stolen anything from anyone!”

”It”s a strange skill to have learned and not have used to your advantage, you must admit.”

The floor at her feet was suddenly fascinating again, and he hated her looking like that, all cowed and submissive, when he knew her as strong and feisty—and that was the way he liked her.

Rune reached out and tipped her chin up till she met his gaze. ”A skill from your past, I take it?”

She nodded, swallowing hard, and he thought he could see tears shining in her eyes, but they were gone before he could be sure they were even there.

”Do I want to know why you felt you had to learn it?”

She shrugged. ”Sometimes, they locked us in rooms—our room, the classroom, whatever room we were in at the time—for a very long time.”

He knew that he didn”t want to know how long, and the hand that had held her chin up cupped her face instead. ”I”m sorry, little one.”

She got all starchy and offended at that. ”I don”t want your pity.”

Rune almost smiled, but he didn”t want to offend her further by doing so. ”I know. And, although I am sorry—any decent human being would be—it”s not pity; it”s admiration.”

Felisa snorted at that. ”There”s nothing to admire about me, m”lord.”

It was the first time he actually sounded angry at her. ”Don”t you believe that, my girl. Not for a minute. Look at where you are, what you”ve made of yourself! And all by your own grit and determination and hard work, I would wager.”

”It was just luck. I”m here because your mom had a spell in front of me.” She shrugged again. ”Just luck.”

”No, because there are a lot of people, and I”m sure you”ve met more than your share, who would have taken advantage of the situation—of my mother, a rich woman at her most helpless—and stolen whatever they could and said to hell with whether a toff lived or died, and run out the front door with whatever they could carry. It would be no skin off their nose. Instead, you took care of her, made her as comfortable as you could, and got help.” He forced her to look at him again. ”You are better than you give yourself credit for, Felisa.”

He saw her swallow, and he could feel the heat of her blush beneath his fingers.

”However admirably you”ve behaved on that occasion—and more, I”m sure, that I don”t know about—there is still the little matter of you being willful and disobedient while under my roof, and I will not put up with either of those behaviors. You should know better than to try to circumvent my rules for you, whether it”s trying to get into my library, or continuing to enjoy food and drink to which you have been told—by the master of the house, no less—that you are not entitled.”

She frowned deeply at the second part of that, but he merely grinned up at her.

”Didn”t think I”d noticed that, did you?”

”Hoped not,” she replied ruefully, making him chuckle.

”So, you”re going to get a spanking for each of those things.” Rune took hold of her arm, positioning her in front of his lap but also looking at her carefully, searching for any signs of fear and not finding any, for which he was grateful. ”Now, I want you to gather your skirts around your waist as best you can—most importantly in the back, of course—and then I want you to lay yourself over my lap.”

She shifted nervously back and forth on her feet for a few long seconds then sighed—as if she hoped something or someone would swoop in and save her from having to do this—but then she gathered her skirts as he asked, although she couldn”t seem to convince herself to place herself in such a compromised position.

”Would you like some help, Miss Heath?” he offered gently, recognizing her plight.

”No!” came her unguarded answer, then, blushing, she corrected, ”But, yes, please, sir.”

Although he would eventually not offer to help her with such things, expecting instead that she would recognize that she should be punished and place herself in the correct position to be so, Rune knew that this was a very new experience for her, and she was, understandably, quite shy and hesitant. And he didn”t want her to be frightened, so he felt that it was a kindness to offer to assist her.

When Felisa was over his knees, he laid hands on her in order to adjust her to the way he preferred, with her head a bit further over than her legs, leaving her—deliberately—slightly off balance and, thus, less likely to fuss physically at the punishment, for fear of falling. He also noted that doing so made her quite tense, but he put that down to not being used to being touched by a member of the opposite sex.

Or touched at all, he extrapolated, at least not in a way that wasn”t meant to cause pain, apparently, judging by what she”d told him about her early life.

Of course, he would never allow her to fall off, but still. She didn”t necessarily know that. He didn”t mind a certain amount of wiggling or shifting, even some kicking up was to be expected, but he didn”t want her to do anything that might hurt her, and he felt that keeping her at that slight disadvantage would discourage her from more overt histrionics in regards to her spanking.

He had a strong arm around her, in a tighter hold than he”d had before, if he was remembering correctly, and he was pretty damned sure he was since he”d replayed that scene with her in the library almost every night—in excruciating detail—since he”d been gone. It was a form of self-torture, but he tried to recall every single thing he could about that night, even the uncomfortable things he”d learned about her.

Now, here she was, lying over his lap again, but in what he considered to be a better and more realistic setting—honestly, it was where he had fantasized about having her while he was away, too. Rune hadn”t been expecting to be able to fulfill this particular desire quite so quickly, but he wasn”t one to look a gift lock picker in the mouth.

There were many—much more interesting—places he would much rather see of her.

”So, Miss Heath—Felisa. I don”t ever want to discover you picking locks again. Even if I had forgotten to lock the doors, young lady, I would expect that you would abide by my rule and not go in.”

She chuckled at that but stopped when she realized that he wasn”t laughing, himself. ”Really?” she said, her tone revealing just how utterly absurd she found that idea.

”Yes, Felisa,” he intoned firmly. ”I have told you that you are not to be in the library without my permission. That goes for if you should find it wide open one day. I would still expect you to come and get me before you entered.”

He heard her sigh in exasperation.

”Yes?” he prompted.

She chafed visibly at that, fidgeting around and delaying her response.

So he began to spank her. Her bloomers were still up, but it didn”t matter in the least. Each smack was sharp and stinging.

”All right, all right, all right!” she yelled, kicking her feet.

”All right what?”

”I won”t go into the library without you.”

”Why?” he shot back, surprising her with the question.

She wanted to answer that even less and earned herself another round of very painful smacks.

”Because you told me not to!” she yelled, finally.

”You”d do well to learn to answer me quickly, Felisa. None of this is counting toward your actual spanking,” he informed her.

”What!” she exclaimed in such obvious outrage that he was glad she couldn”t see how he was smiling.

”And how else did you disobey me, hmm? For what other reason do you find your naughty self over my lap?”

She knew exactly what he meant. ”You were gone!” she defended herself.

”Oh, no. When I”m gone, does that mean that you”re free to smoke my cigars? Use my study? Sleep in my bed?”

”Of course not!”

Rune countered, ”I look at you ignoring my rule for you in exactly the same light. I told you not to eat my food or drink my liquor without asking me.”

”I couldn”t ask you; you weren”t here!” Felisa fumed.

”You could have written to me and asked my permission. I probably would have told you that it was fine while I was away.”

She snorted again derisively at that and was rewarded by another round of heavy swats.

”Instead, you took it upon yourself to ignore my rule for you,” he scolded while still spanking. ”So here you are. Hopefully, this will teach you to obey me, or I can promise you that you”ll find yourself right back here if you don”t, as many times as it takes for you to learn.”

With that, he relieved her of her bloomers, despite how she did her best to thwart his intentions. She still ended up in exactly the same spot, with his arm across her lower back, his hand holding her far wrist clamped to her side.

This time was different. Felisa didn”t know why, but it was. It seemed as if she was more sensitive to him, to his touch—to the hand that was devastating her bottom, much to her disgust—than she had been the last time. And as he began to spank her in earnest, it became quickly quite unbearable.

It wasn”t at all the same as what she”d endured at St. Mary”s. In some ways, it was much worse. She shouldn”t have reacted to it at all—or as little as she had to the first spanking he”d given her, at least. But, for some reason she couldn”t put her finger on, it felt much more painful.

When she was punished as a child, she learned to take it quietly and steadfastly—thrashing around and crying loudly only made things worse.

But now, it seemed that she couldn”t stop moving! She was doing everything she could to avoid each swat, shifting her weight violently this way and that, raising her hips, lowering them, kicking her feet up and contorting herself as if she belonged in a circus. Not that it helped her at all, but that didn”t dissuade her in the least.

Rune noticed that she was reacting much more normally this time, too, and he liked it. It was much better than her just lying there, as if he wasn”t doing anything at all and was just wasting his time with her. He calmly and carefully subdued every attempt she made to avoid the just punishment he was administering, and none of the smacks he intended for her backside landed anywhere else other than where he intended, despite her energetic efforts.

After several long moments of considerable anguish for her, he stopped. ”Well, that”s it for raiding my pantry. Now we”ll deal with your even more larcenous tendencies.”

”That”s not it?” She managed to sound both astonished and affronted again, which only amused him mightily.

”No, this is just an intermission,” he informed her much too gleefully. ”And as such, there”s something I want to do before I continue.”

Before she knew it, his hand was between legs that had already been long since separated by her scissor kicks and the way she was throwing her heel back to try to knock his hand out of place when he brought it down to swat her. So it was very easy for him to slip his fingers between them, up into her cleft.

She drew her breath in so quickly at that, she actually ended up coughing and choking as he very carefully, very gently explored her nether regions.

”Stop! No! Don”t!”

He paused immediately. ”Are you afraid? Scared?”

”No, annoyed and embarrassed!” she countered, not realizing until after she”d said it that she was an idiot for not agreeing with him! ”Stop!”

”Am I hurting you, Felisa? And don”t lie to me,” he cautioned in a voice that had her hastily reconsidering the fib that was on the tip of her tongue.

Again, he found that she wasn”t gushing, but she was definitely aroused, as he proved to himself—and to her—when he dragged his dampened fingers up to the source of her pleasure. Her anguished gasp—especially when it settled into a raw moan—was just what he wanted to hear. But then, after a few more teasing strokes, Rune withdrew his hand abruptly and began to spank her again.

Knowing she was bright red and not just from her own exertions, she began to buck and writhe again. ”No! Stop! M”lord! Sir! Please!”

”I”m sorry, Felisa.” He didn”t sound sorry in the least. ”But I won”t have you flaunting my rules. I expect obedience from you, and this is the way I”m going to ensure that I get it.”

She didn”t know how long he kept her there, over his lap, on the receiving end of many very long moments of painful smacks that, toward the end, left her gasping, her flesh swelling and stinging more so with each vicious descent of his hand.

The end wasn”t clear cut, either. He began to rub her bottom a bit between slaps but not enough to give her any true relief from the pain, and she was in mid-kick when he finally turned her over to cradle her against his chest.

”Poor baby,” he crooned against her temple. ”Got a thoroughly smacked bottom from the master.”

He was holding her so tightly that she had no choice but to bury her face against his chest. Her bloomers were no longer, having long since been frantically kicked off to land somewhere on the far side of the room, and within seconds, he had her corset unlaced, the parts of it separated, and her breasts bared to his avid gaze.

Rune pressed her back over his arm, which presented those beautiful mounds to his eager mouth. But he sought her eyes first, wanting to make certain that she wasn”t scared by what he was doing.

Her eyes were slightly unfocused, and they met his without hesitation, but he could see that there was a bit of trepidation there, too. ”Do you remember the pleasure I gave you the last time?”

She nodded breathlessly.

”I”m going to bring you more of the same.”

It was a statement, not a question, although she knew that she could object to it if she wanted to. Felisa looked at him hesitantly, then nodded.

”It will be just like before, only I”m going to drag it out more. It might be more powerful than before, but you”re just as safe, okay? I won”t do anything you don”t want me to.”

More nods—more enthusiastic nods.

And, when he took her nipple into his mouth, she cried out.

Unlike when they were in the library, they were well away from everyone else, and he didn”t try to stifle her responses in the least. In fact, it was one of his goals to make her scream if he could, although he didn”t dare to think that it might happen tonight.

Tonight, like the last time, he would be quite content just pleasuring her. Well, not content, perhaps, but he would take what he could get. He would end up having to take care of himself in his own bed, but that was all right. He would be patient. She would be worth it; he was quite sure.

”That”s it. There”s no one to hear us, Felisa. I like hearing you groan and cry out when I do something that makes you feel good. Don”t try to suppress the sounds you want to make. I want to hear every one of them.”

She couldn”t have done so even if he”d wanted her to. He would have had to gag her. Somehow, somewhere along the line of this terribly indulgent thing they were doing, she had lost complete and utter control of herself. The only other time in her life that she had done that was the last time he had touched her.

And she had liked that. She had liked that very much—probably too much. Her memories of that incredibly acute bliss was making her careless, but she didn”t care.

She wanted more of that from him—whatever he would be willing to give her. She craved him, craved what he could do for her.

It was wrong. It was very, very wrong. But she couldn”t seem to manage to marshal her morals—her usual code—in any way. She”d given herself over to him, come what may. She”d deal with the consequences, whatever they may be, later. Much later. For now, she simply wanted to drown in the pool of ecstasy with which he was surrounding her.

Rune had thought she might object to him doing this to her again, but he was wrong, and, for once in his life, he was very glad to be so. She seemed much more relaxed than she had been the first time they”d done this, for which he was very grateful.

Perhaps she was beginning to trust him a bit, and he would do everything he could to make sure that she felt nothing that wasn”t amazing while she was so disposed to gift him with her body.

While checking in on her frequently to make certain that she was still enjoying what he was doing—although her frequent vocalizations, that started out softer and more demure but grew to be quite loud—were also a good clue, he indulged himself in her lush body. Her breasts were exactly what he would have chosen for himself—generous and firm, the tips hardened even before he got to them, and when he left them, they were bright and glistening from his efforts.

Rune put his tongue to work on skin that tasted faintly of roses and was the softest he”d ever encountered, each perfect inch urging him to explore the next, until he”d lifted her onto a desk he”d cleared with one mindless sweep of his arm, so that he could make it all the way to her tiny, delicate toes.

When he suckled gently on one of them, she giggled and tried to jerk her foot way.

”Ticklish?” he asked, pressing his mouth to her instep.

”Yes! Very!”

”I”ll remember that,” he promised, kissing his way back up the insides of her thighs as he used his body to cause her legs to part around him.

Felisa knew, in the back of her mind, that she should have been trying to stop him, but she just couldn”t find it within herself to do so. Her life had been so bereft of pleasure that what he was bringing to her was just too much for her to resist. She wanted to luxuriate in it, for once, to stop worrying, stop fretting, and just enjoy herself. And that was exactly what she did, with his wholehearted encouragement.

But, when he knelt down to press his mouth to her crease, she started and rose up, trying to get away from him.

Rune gently subdued her. ”Felisa, stop.”

He didn”t go any further, just held her down without hurting her, and eventually, she lay still.

”No, please, sir,” she begged.

”Do you think I”m going to hurt you, darling?” he asked, hoping she could hear the sincerity in his tone.

He could see that she was biting her lip and knew that her objections were cultural and societal, rather than anything that actually related to what he wanted to do to her.

She was naturally modest, and he knew that his desire to taste her there flew in the face of everything she”d always been taught.

”N-no,” she admitted with severe reluctance.

”Good, because I”m not.”

”But you shouldn”t!” she whispered, as if it was a terrible scandal.

”Why not?”

She wiggled a bit but couldn”t actually get anywhere. ”Because.”

He gave her a chastising look and used a scolding tone. ”Felisa, you know that is not an acceptable answer.”

She actually contracted, and he knew he would have to remember that she was quite sensitive to being chided. ”B-because it”s not right.”

”According to whom? It”s something I very much want to do, because I know that it will make you feel even better than the last time I touched you.”

”Y-you do?”

He smiled to himself. ”I do. And you want me to, too, in your heart of hearts, I know. You”re a little budding sensualist, and that is a wonderful thing to be.”

”No, I—you—we can”t!” She was whispering again, looking distressed.

Rune leaned forward and put his lips to hers. ”Why not?”

She groaned in frustration—several kinds, unless he missed his guess.

”Can you give me a real reason why I shouldn”t? Like, you think it”ll hurt, or you”re scared?” he asked, much too reasonably for her comfort.

”N-no,” she had to concede—with severe reluctance—a minute later.

”Well, then, unless you can provide me with a valid reason not to, then I”m going to do it.”

She balked at that again, but he held her in place.

Then he moved his hands to hold her wrists, where they were lying next to her hips, capturing them and not allowing her to reclaim the use of her hands.

”Now I”ve removed the choice from you,” he pronounced. ”I”m going to do it to you, and there”s nothing you can do about it, so you bear no responsibility for what”s going to happen to you. If you don”t like it, you can blame it all on me.”

He paused a moment, and she seemed to be thinking, but she didn”t say anything or continue to struggle against him.

He took that as assent and pressed his open mouth between her lips, so that it landed over her clit, which he immediately surrounded by gently suckling lips and a flicking tongue.

Felisa literally spasmed in his mouth, once, in reaction to what he was doing. She halfheartedly tried to reclaim her hands, but he wouldn”t let her. Rune just continued to do what he most wanted to do—bring her off with his lips and tongue.

He kept his ears peeled, listening carefully to the sounds she was making and adjusting his technique to suit what made her moan the loudest, settling on pressing his flat tongue over that swollen pearl and dragging it relentlessly over her.

On impulse, when she was very close, amidst those delicious gasps and moans, he ordered in an urgent whisper, ”Use my name when you come, Felisa. Call me Rune. I want to hear you say it as you reach your climax in my mouth.”

He wasn”t necessarily sure she”d even heard him, but her moans started out again, low, but they rapidly began climbing the scales, until, at last, she exploded beneath him while giving him the uncontrolled, uncontrollable scream of his name that he craved from her.

Rune kept his own mouth full of her, attached to her like a limpet, never letting up, never leaving that overly sensitive bud alone, never granting her a second”s respite from that overwhelming bliss.

He wanted to determine if she was capable of having more than one orgasm. He had a hunch that she was, and that hunch was proven correct more times than he could count.

He didn”t ease off her until she was as limp as a rag doll, simply lying there, panting and groaning and moving restlessly as he continued to hold her still.