The Duke's Bedeviled Bride (Royal Pains Book 2) by Mason Nina

Author:Mason, Nina [Mason, Nina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nina Mason
Published: 2015-05-09T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

“My brother stole you from me,” Hugh told a frightened Maggie. “You should have been mine all along—and now, at long last, you are. To do with exactly as I please.”

They were in the flagellation chamber, she trembling on her knees in naught but her shift, he lording over her in a pair of breeches with her favorite riding crop in hand.

“What will my duties be?” she inquired, her voice as shaky as her nerves.

“Light housekeeping, waiting on us at table, and whatever else we might need.”

“You cannot be serious.”

He laughed again, a cruel sound. “And yet I am. Deadly serious. Now, give me your hand.”

Seeing no other choice, she reluctantly gave him her hand.

Taking it in his, he turned her palm face up, stepped back, and brought the crop down.

She flinched at the sharp sting, but swallowed her cry. The nuns had done much worse with a tawse before they’d reduced her to tears.

Hugh glowered down at her as if she was an ill-behaved servant. “You will not defy me—and should accustom yourself to speaking of my brother in the past-tense. For I have reason to believe he did not survive the journey to London.”

She sank her front teeth into her lower lip, biting back the strong urge to contradict him. She must put on a brave face. God only knew what he was capable of, though she had a sinking feeling she’d find out sooner than she cared to.

He took her by the elbow and, after helping her to her feet, he led her to the center of the chamber, where a pulley attached to two ropes hung from the ceiling.

“What are you going to do to me?”

He pulled down the ropes. “A servant who knows her place asks no questions. Now, raise your hands above your head and hold your tongue.”

She obeyed the command without delay.

Standing very close, he secured the ropes around her wrists. His breath smelled of ale and his body of perfume—strong enough to make her retch. She swallowed the urge, fearful it might tip him off to her condition. At this point, she would put naught past this new Hugh.

He stepped back and gazed at her with an unsettling mixture of loathing and lust. Or, was triumph what she read in his eyes? Whatever she perceived, his expression made her feel as helpless and vulnerable as she had at the convent.

“You look tempting like this, Maggie.” He walked a circle around her suspended form. “I am starting to see the appeal of my dearly departed brother’s vices.”

Standing before her again, he hooked a finger into the neckline of her shift and pulled hard enough to break the drawstring. The soft linen neckline fell down to expose her bosoms. Taking one breast in each hand, he squeezed hard enough to make her flinch before dragging his thumbs over her nipples.

“How do you like being under my power?”

“I dislike it exceedingly,” she bit out through clenched teeth

He stepped slowly around her, encircling her waistline with the tip of the crop.

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