Darker Than Love by Kristina Lloyd

Author:Kristina Lloyd
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, historical
ISBN: 9780753533253
Publisher: Virgin Books
Published: 1998-09-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

CLARISSA HESITATED IN the doorway, fingers linked over her groin, and gazed upon the small room before her.

It was a windowless octagon, its ebony-panelled walls inlaid with tall plate mirrors. Sconces, carved into naked figures, held purple waxlights in outstretched arms, and a patchwork of dead animals, sleek and black, covered the floor. The only item of furniture was a low couch, its frame scrolled silver, its upholstery midnight satin.

Lord Marldon put a hand to the small of her back. A shiver started there and chilled through her body.

‘Go on,’ he said, easing her forward. ‘There’s much to admire.’

Her bare feet padded soundlessly across the silky carpeting. The room ran to infinity in the depths of the mirrors, and so did Clarissa. She saw her every movement, her nervously darting eyes, her fruitless attempts to turn from her reflection. Somewhere in the distance she was a tiny thing, a fluttering insect trapped in a confusion of candle flames.

Marldon closed the door. In the glass Clarissa saw the ebony panel beside it. She whirled to look, hoping it was an illusion, a trick of the light. It was not.

Hanging from the wall at six points were sturdy leather plaits attached to broad leather cuffs. They dangled limply, the lower two trailing across the floor, patiently awaiting their next captive. Clarissa drew a sharp breath and cursed herself silently. She should have known better. When Marldon said he would indulge her desires, he meant the desires he read in her, not the desires she knew.

She turned to him, full of trepidation. ‘What do you intend?’ she whispered.

Alec began folding back his shirtsleeves and smiled. In the mirrors, a hundred cruel faces gave a hundred cold smiles.

‘You have too much control,’ he replied evenly. ‘No, let me correct that. Too much self-control. At times it deserts you, but that is nothing special. It happens to us all. Ecstasy and desire are great equalisers. Everyone is overwhelmed; everyone is debased to mere carnality.’

He paced the room, hands clasped behind his back, addressing an imaginary audience. ‘You see, I do not wish to have a woman who governs herself. When I see such a person, I want to strip her of that protective shield. I want to remove everything mankind has toiled to develop, the things we believe elevate us above the animals: dignity, self-possession, the revered intellect, the sacred soul. I want to reduce her, degrade her to nothing but flesh and appetite. Strange, isn’t it, the way some things appeal?’

He turned to Clarissa. ‘Sit there,’ he said. He nodded to a mirror which ran from ceiling to floor.

Clarissa knelt before it, her guarded eyes following his reflection.

‘On your arse, miss,’ he ordered. ‘And open your legs.’

Clarissa acquiesced. Her compliance dismayed her but rather this, she thought, than be shackled. Marldon crossed and knelt behind her. His hands moved around to cup and fondle her breasts.

‘Look at yourself,’ he urged.

Reluctantly, she did so. The subdued orangey light tinted her pale skin, and her crinkling nipples peeped through Alec’s caressing fingers.

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