Bondage Ranch 6: Taming the Mistress (12 page)

Dane walked the first few steps and then broke into a run, not because he needed to flee but simply because he knew the exercise would help clear his head.

If he hadn’t been responsible for half the equipment out in the woods, he would have packed up his tent, headed home, and called it a weekend. He had no doubt in the world who the demonstration in the dungeon had been intended for. And he pitied the poor fool whom Sue had talked into playing his part. He’d heard the slap all the way across the room, and the guy hadn’t been braced for it. And there was nothing fake about that knee to the crotch, either. To do that to make a point with someone else was brutal.

He’d thought Sue was worth waiting for. No woman had affected him that much for a very long time. He loved the way she started out fierce and softened with seduction, and was looking forward to having that dance unfold again. Now the thought of her filled him with revulsion. He’d been thinking he might be falling in love. Now he hoped he never saw her again.

Which is probably evidence I was falling for her.

The rain had started to fall in big, splashy drops that pounded on his skin. The temperature had dropped a few degrees too, which was more reason to run. He could use either his cloak or the fire, and in the meantime, running would help him keep warm. The dungeon was kept at a nice roasty temperature to encourage people to take their clothes off, but the outdoors was less controlled. In a few minutes, the path would be muddy, but it wasn’t raining hard enough to put out the bonfire.

He arrived at the fire soaked in both sweat and rain and slightly chilled. Dancing around the fire would probably be a good way to get warm, but he didn’t feel like dancing. Some people were moving slowly, however, so he joined them and walked, moving with the direction of traffic so as not to get in the way.

Desi approached him from behind and squeezed his waist. She was topless as usual and wearing a skirt made from beads and string. “Hey, big guy. You doing okay?”

He was glad Desi hadn’t called him Master Dane. He wasn’t in the mood. He gave her a polite squeeze back. She leaned in, rubbing her generous chest against him. An offer? Probably. For Desi, sex was a source of comfort, and it came with no strings. It was tempting to share some physical affection with her beyond a hug. He certainly wasn’t bound not to, and it would distract him from thinking about Sue. But something held him back.

“Yeah, I’m…” he started and stopped. He didn’t like lying. “I will be at some point. A bit broody now.”

Desi nodded. “I can see
that
. The question is, what will stop the brooding? Dance with me?”

“Not feeling it, Desi.”

Desi flashed him a grin. “Fake it till you make it.” She moved in front of him and walked the circle backward so she could stay facing him while she shook her body. Her breasts swayed, and her skirt offered tantalizing glimpses of her thighs. “Come on, Dane. What is it you told me? Life’s too short to spend it moping when you could be out doing something you love.”

Desi was delicious looking. He didn’t prefer thinner women. He loved Desi’s body type and had always preferred it, he thought. Now he wasn’t so sure. Sue was, well, Sue. Then the memory of her kneeing her sub in the nuts flashed back. Sadly, yeah, Sue was Sue. The scratching and clawing that had seemed like ferocity now seemed more like viciousness. The teasing he’d seen as brattiness was now sadism.

He let Desi cajole him into motion. He lifted his legs more. He forced his arms to get into the act. He let the rhythm of the drums take over from conscious thought, a meditative beat matching his breath.

He lost track of time as they went around and around the circle. From time to time, Desi would move toward him, touching his shoulder or brushing her breasts against him, and then she would back away again. Normally, he would have found it sexy as hell. Now he wished Desi would keep her distance, but he wasn’t going to chase her away. She was trying to help. She
was
helping. At least it was distracting him from Sue.
How did my judgment go so bad?
He’d always liked women who played rough, and maybe that drew him in.
Was I attracted to Sue because I sensed her inner viciousness? Ugh
. He couldn’t discount it completely. But he didn’t think so.

So much for being distracted. He looked outside the circle, in case he might spot Sue. But she wasn’t there. Why would she be? She’d expressed her independence, and she’d never been his to begin with.

He kept dancing, moving closer to the fire and letting its heat drain the energy from his body. Desi started drifting away, not liking it so near. Eventually she caught the eye of a tall man wearing cutoff shorts, and they danced together, farther and farther from the fire. Dane chuckled to himself.
Left, quite literally, for a cooler man.

He stopped a while later, reluctantly, before he reached exhaustion. Only a handful of people were left, and the fire had been allowed to fade and sputter. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed. An hour? Two? He’d slowed down again sometime in there.

He helped scatter the remaining ashes around the circle, and Remy and he put away the drums. He needed to sleep. He went back to his tent, and his eyes narrowed as he saw movement. But it was only the moon shadow of a passing bird.

He fell asleep hard but woke up at first light. While he and his friends were putting away the equipment and loading it on the back of his truck, he kept looking around. But there was no sign of Sue, and in the end, he drove back to Washington without going back to the house.

* * * *

Three weeks later

Dane walked into his suite of offices on the tenth floor of the Merino Building on K Street and threw his overcoat on the coat rack. It was a chilly, rainy day. The meeting with the two congressmen from Arizona had been moderately productive, and he thought he had at least one of their votes in support of the green energy bill he’d been hired to push. He only took jobs he believed in, which let him put his passion into his work.

“Senator Bova’s office called. You’re scheduled to meet him for lunch at two on Monday,” Gwen, his longtime secretary, said. She was an older woman, and he valued her experience. She pushed her glasses up on her nose. He could have sworn she fiddled with the things more than she looked through them.

“Don’t I already have a lunch that day?”

“Yep. But you have a good appetite,” said Gwen brightly. “The other one’s at twelve with the people from Central Wireless, so they’re buying and won’t mind if you eat light.”

He rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine.”

“You can always binge and purge.”

“Very funny. Any other calls?”

“Just one from a girl with a very sexy voice.”

Sue. She had called his cell phone four days ago and left a message for him to call her back. After that, he recognized her number when she called, and hadn’t answered. How she’d found his work number, he didn’t know. He’d been throwing himself hard at his work for the last three weeks. When he wasn’t doing meetings, he was preparing presentations and writing pitches. He’d go home late, work out, and fall asleep on an old science fiction paperback. “Great.” Gwen was always trying to get him married off, usually to clients or legislative aides. “I’m on a hiatus from sexy voices, so unless she involves business, you can just leave it.”

“Okay,” said Gwen, clearly disappointed.

He headed for his office and blessed solitude.

“Her name was Alex,” Gwen said, and he stopped. “Funny name for a girl. I guess it might be short for Alexandra. Usually you give them your cell phone number, so it was really odd she called here.”

He only knew one Alex, but she wouldn’t have any reason to call him at work. She did know where he worked, though, and he had put his work number on the form he filled out for Bondage Ranch. He pulled out his cell and checked for messages. Sure enough, there was a missed call from Alex Allison. He’d had his phone off during his meeting, as usual. What could be so urgent? The next Bondage Ranch wasn’t for five months, and if he’d left something there by mistake, it had already sat there without being missed for a while.

“Okay, what’d she say?”

“Just wanted me to make sure you returned her call, apparently,” said Gwen. “Sounds like you have a stalker.”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t think so. And she’s married. Happily.”

“Happy is the way it starts,” said Gwen, who was single but had gone through two husbands. Dane was under the impression she’d given up on men and was dating women, but he didn’t like to inquire into Gwen’s personal life. For one thing, he’d been hoping she’d become less interested in his.

Dane raised an eyebrow. “You’re not doing a good job of making your usual case, Gwen.”

“Oh, it’d probably be different for you.” Gwen frowned. “Sorry. I got a letter from one of my exes this morning, kinda messed with me. I’ll be all right.”

Dane nodded. “Anything you want to talk about?” It might be breaking his rule about not prying, but if Gwen needed an ear, he wanted to be there for her.

Gwen shook her head. “Most definitely not.”

He hesitated, tempted to push, but Gwen had turned her back to him. “Well, anytime, let me know,” he said. “I’ll call Alex.”

He went into his office and shut the door. By the time he settled back into his leather ergonomic chair, he had a suspicion of what was going on. Alex was a beautiful woman and a kind heart, but she liked to poke her nose into things that were none of her business. Sometimes with good effect. She’d helped his friend Lee hook up with his now-wife Lynne, and they seemed to be very happy, although they’d quit showing up to Bondage Ranch once they’d settled down. Alex had tried to set him up a couple of times, one of them resulting in a couple of very pleasurable nights of kinky sex, and the other, well, much less successful. So if Alex was calling and was feeling urgent enough about it to call his work, it was probably about a woman, not about the next Bondage Ranch weekend. Given Sue’s phone calls, that meant Sue. And it was probably about something she wanted to have happen soon, that day or that evening, or she would wait on an e-mail. All he needed to do to make it go away was not return her phone call for a day.

Only his promise to Gwen made him take his cell phone back out of his pocket. It was a small promise, but he liked to keep his word. He dialed Alex’s number. “Alex. What’s up?

“I was asked to call you by a mutual friend.”

As expected
. “You’re playing matchmaker again?”
Of course she’ll deny it.

“Yes.”

He raised his eyebrows, useless as the gesture was over the phone, and waited.

The silence went on for a while, but eventually Alex said, “Mistress Sue would like to meet with you and explain.”

His stomach clenched. He still wasn’t over her. He ought to be moving on. “What’s to explain? I mean, I could probably stop her from kneeing me and all.”

Alex sighed. “I’m pretty sure she has no intention of kneeing you, Master Dane, and I don’t think you’re worried about her trying. You were enjoying her company, weren’t you, before that, um, incident?”

Master Dane
. Alex never called him that except when she was trying to butter him up. She ought to know by now it didn’t work. “Yeah. I’m not much of a judge of character, am I?”

“Oh, I think you’re one of the better judges of character I know. Did you see her chase after you?”

“No.”

“She slipped and fell trying to run in heels. By the time she got outside, you were gone.”

He tried to imagine Sue, imperiously dressed in her dominatrix outfit, taking a pratfall. How that must have stung her pride! And then, going out into the rain? She wouldn’t have gotten very far in those heels. Unless. “Did she have someone carry her out?”

“No. She took off her shoes and walked out before admitting she’d twisted her ankle. Bruce ended up taking her to the doctor in town.”

“Ugh.” He sighed. “Still doesn’t justify treating a sub the way she did.”

“I agree,” said Alex. “As one BDSM practitioner to another, what she did was totally out of line.”

“Thank you. I’ll pass on the meeting, Alex, but thank you for trying.” He couldn’t wait to get off the line. He needed to get Sue out of his head, and the best way to do that was to find someone else to fuck, and soon. He should have done that when he got back to Washington. He never had trouble picking up women.

“But as a woman,” said Alex, “or hell, as a person? Dane, he totally had it coming, and if I’d been her, I might have done exactly the same thing.”

“Somehow I doubt I would have.”

“Of course. You’re bigger than almost anyone and have to be careful. But Keith is stronger than Sue, Dane. She can’t afford to fight by your rules, and he wasn’t taking no for an answer.”

There was some truth to that. The rules couldn’t be the same for men and women all the time, as nice as it was in theory. Whatever Alex’s agenda was, though, she’d spill it if he waited.

Alex sighed. “You’re not going to ask, are you?”

“No.”

“She’s going to be at Crypt of Fate tonight. You know where that is?”

Crypt was one of the local BDSM clubs. He hadn’t been in a couple of years. The dark dungeon atmosphere didn’t appeal to him. “That’s nice.”

“Dane, it’s a good place to meet. It’s public. Safe.”

“And she can find a sub if she needs a backup plan.”

“God, you can be cynical sometimes, can’t you?”

“I work in politics, Alex. It comes with the territory.”

“Will you go? Please?”

He hesitated. He thought he’d known Sue, and then he’d seen her brutalize a sub. For three weeks he’d lived with that image. Now Alex was saying it wasn’t what it seemed. He wanted to think about it. “Maybe.”

“I’ll tell Sue you’ll be there, then.”

“I said—” Dane started, but Alex had already hung up. Dane ground his teeth.
Brat
. He wondered sometimes how Dylan dealt with a sub like Alex, but maybe she simply earned her spankings and everyone was happy. Sometimes he thought Alex had more domme in her than Dylan.

Then again, Sue had a lot of domme in her too. She might not be all dominatrix like she sometimes pretended, but that element of her personality wasn’t a complete charade either. He wondered how it would come out in a relationship in which she wasn’t on top. Clawing and biting he could deal with. A little brattiness might spice things up. But if she needed to switch? He was pretty sure he’d make a lousy sub, even for an evening. And if that meant she had to look elsewhere, well, he’d always been the sharing type, but he didn’t think he’d want to share Sue.