Brazen Seduction (22 page)

“Dear God.”

She would find a way to get Richard to understand he hadn’t failed her. But the reality of being free, of being out of danger, seemed to pull the plug on her energy. She didn’t need to be vigilant any longer. Richard and Alan were there. She was safe.

Molly snuggled close to her Master, closed her eyes, and let go.

* * * *

She awoke to darkness from a nightmare of pain and fear and cried out.

“Shh. You’re all right, sweetheart.”

Richard. Close, but not close enough. A click and a soft light filled the room. Her hospital room. She remembered the rest of it now, of waking in the ER, of crying and refusing to let go of Richard’s hand, and his insisting he would accompany her during the exam. She recalled the cool, relieving salve they’d applied and that, with the easing of the pain, she dozed off again.

Richard sat in a chair beside her bed. He looked tired.

“Why am I here?”

“Just a precaution. Alan slipped home to get you some sweats, so when they release you in the morning you’ll have something to wear.”

“Okay. Why are you there?”

His body jerked as if she’d hit him. He said, “I just wanted to make sure you were all right. I’ll leave you be, then, and—”

“Don’t you dare! I meant, why are you sitting in that chair instead of lying in bed holding me?”

Richard stared at her, a look of incredulity on his face. “How can you bear for me to even touch you after what that monster did to you?

You should be screaming at me to leave you alone, to never come near you again.”

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“I don’t know how you can even think that.” Molly felt her breath catching, felt her emotions begin to unravel.

“I saw what he did to you. I saw the paddle. My God, Molly, I did the same thing just the other night!”

“What, you kidnapped me from my home? Drugged me? Tied me down with no way for me to get loose? Threatened me? Beat me?” Richard just stared at her, wincing when she’d said the last bit.

She reached out and waited until he took her hand.

“What you and Alan and I share has no similarity whatsoever to what that monster did to me. He thought of himself as a master, but he had not a clue in the world what that word really means—what it means to me and Alan, and what it means between us. What Brian Horner lives is a perversion.

“You did paddle me, and you will again, I hope. Not to make me scream. Not to exercise your ego. Because it’s a part of our relationship, of who and what we are to each other. There’s love here, at the heart of who the three of us are together. All there was in Horner’s lifestyle was sickness.”

“Well said.” Alan stood just inside the room, letting the door close behind him.

“Molly.” Richard looked as if he might say something more, but he didn’t.

She saw the tears in his eyes and couldn’t bear it. “Please lie with me. Knowing that the two of you would come save me, thinking about being held in your arms, was the only thing that got me through it.”

She thought she asked the impossible since the hospital bed was so narrow. But Richard solved the dilemma by lifting her so that she lay on top of him. Alan took the extra blanket at the end of the bed, covered her, then stretched out on his side beside them.

They cocooned her, these men she loved, surrounded her with their heat and their love. Richard’s arms held her close. Alan’s arm enveloped them both.

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“When I burst through that door and saw you, chained, beaten, I wanted to kill him. I wanted to kill him and I wanted to scoop you up and take you away where no one—not even I—could ever hurt you again.”

“Darling, you’ve never hurt me. Not even the other night when you spanked me for not calling. The only way you could hurt me would be if you stopped loving me, if you stopped being the man you are—our Master, the head of our family.”

“
Never
. God, Molly, I love you so much. You and Alan are my life. And I swear to you, I’ll never stop being your Master.” Molly sighed. “Thank you.”

She reached up, brushed her lips against his. His kiss was so gentle, almost reverent, she wanted to cry. When she turned her head to the side Alan was there, waiting. Leaning just a little, she kissed him, too.

“Sleep now, sweetheart,” Richard said. “The sun will be up in a couple of hours. I’ve asked the doctor to come as soon as possible to sign your release papers.” He laughed, a sound born more of relief than humor. “I thought you’d want me to take you back to your apartment or to your mother’s so you’d be rid of me.”

“Never.”

“Yes, so you’ve said. So sleep now, and in the morning, I’ll bring you home.”

Molly relaxed, closed her eyes. Richard and Alan held her, and she knew no nightmare would dare disturb her. She felt herself falling and tumbled into sleep.

* * * *

Richard insisted that Brady interview Molly at home. The police already had Horner in custody. Since he only needed Molly’s full statement to tie up loose ends, he could damn well do it there.

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He wanted to get Molly home as soon as possible, so Alan drove, dropped them off, then went to the pharmacy to fill the prescription for antibiotic ointment and pain medication.

“I can walk,” Molly said as he carried her up the steps.

“Indulge me,” Richard said. He gave her the key so she could unlock the house, then turned once they were inside so she could key in the security code.

“Set it again, please.”

They weren’t in the habit of doing so if someone was already home, but Richard felt shaken enough from the events of the day before he decided to alter security protocols. So while he held her cradled in his arms, she followed his instructions and reset the house alarm.

“Brady is coming over to interview you. So why don’t I set you down in the den? You can lie down on your side on the sofa if you like. I’ll bring you a pillow from our bed.”

“I want to try to sit, if you don’t mind.”

“I do mind. I don’t want you in pain, and the doctor advised to remain off ‘the affected area’ for another few days.” Molly laughed. “He couldn’t even say ass.” Richard grinned.
It was so good to have her home.
“No. As a man, he’s a prude, but he is a good doctor.” He set her on her feet. “Go ahead and try sitting. I’ll go get the pillow so you can lie down if you’d rather.”

“Seems kind of undignified to meet the lieutenant while I’m lounging on my side like some latter-day Cleopatra,” Molly said.

He couldn’t resist teasing her, just a little. “Quite right. Not nearly as dignified a presentation as he had of you last night.” Molly blushed, a pretty red hue. “His was the voice I didn’t recognize!”

“Yes, sorry. But don’t think ill of the man. He did let me pound on that prick a little longer than he should have.”
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“I’ll try not to think of what he got an eyeful of last night when he’s interrogating me.”

Richard laughed. “Interviewing, you, darling. You’re not a perp.” He said, heading for the door.

“No, I’m the vic,” she countered.

Richard shivered, but he stopped at the door and turned to face her. “Not from where I’m standing. You didn’t give that bastard any satisfaction last night. That makes you a hero, not a victim.” He moved as quickly as possible, detouring by the kitchen to put on a full pot of coffee and then making a beeline for the bedroom. He scooped two of the lush feather pillows and headed back to the den.

Molly stood with her head bowed, a very unhappy look on her face. He didn’t say anything. He just went to her, tossed the pillows onto the sofa, and took her into his arms.

“It hurts,” she whispered.

“Yes, I know. I’m sorry.”

She clung to him and he relished the feel of her in his arms, the reality of her there with him, safe and, for the most part, sound. He hated the abuse she’d suffered, but he knew it could have been worse.

The doctors conducted a thorough examination of her while she’d mostly been unconscious. They told him, when he said he was her husband, that she hadn’t been sexually abused. He’d believed her, of course, when she’d told him the same. But she’d also been unconscious for a time and had awakened naked and restrained.

When he pulled back from her, she lifted her face, and he couldn’t resist taking her mouth. That she would respond so eagerly, that she would mew and rub against him after what she’d been through seemed a miracle to him.

Molly was a precious gift, one he would cherish for the rest of his life. Yes, he’d believed she would tire of him and Alan. But he’d decided that didn’t matter. He was damn well going to keep her anyway, and that was that.

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He helped her get comfortable on the sofa. Moments later, Alan returned, and he had Tom Brady with him.

“I’ll bring in the coffee,” Alan said. “And some water so our woman can take her meds.”

Richard brought one of the chairs closer to the sofa so he could sit beside Molly and hold her hand while she recounted everything that happened the day before. Brady had asked permission to record her statement. It would later be typed up for her to sign, but that was just a formality.

“The man has confessed to the kidnap and murder of Patricia Burnett and to complicity in the death of Virginia Townsend,” Brady announced once Molly finished. “The district attorney has already ordered a psychiatric evaluation. In my gut I know that whether he ends up being convicted of murder and doing hard time or is remanded for psychiatric care, he’s off the streets for good. He’ll be sent to the county jail—just as soon as he’s released from the hospital.”

“Good.” Molly said the word with conviction. “Thank you, Lieutenant Brady.”

“Thank your man, here. It was his cop instincts all along that enabled us to put this case to bed.”

“Well,” Molly shot a coy look at Richard, “maybe not his cop instincts.”

Richard brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. Right now his instincts told him he wanted his family to himself, naked, snuggled, and safe.

Alan got to his feet. “I’ll show Lieutenant Brady out.” Richard met his gaze and knew his lover had read his thoughts.

“Thank you.” He got to his feet, and shook Tom’s hand. “Don’t be a stranger,” he said to the man.

“Same goes,” Brady returned.

Richard looked at Alan. “We’ll wait for you.”

“You’d better,” Alan said.

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The sound of Molly’s laughter, as Brady, blushing, left, filled his heart with joy.

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Molly Durant had a plan.

She stretched then bent from the waist, her ass facing the mirror.

Looking over her shoulder, she smiled. Just a little over three weeks, and barely a trace of her injury remained.

In that time she had been pampered and cosseted so that she thought at times she’d scream. It was past time to get her men to treat her the way they did before Brian Horner abducted her.

Which brought her to her plan.

Once again, she’d prevailed upon her friends, Marcus and Jordan, to give her a hand. When she told them what she wanted to do, and why, they’d immediately agreed to help. Their alacrity amazed her, until Chastity told her that the three of them had gone through a similar “adjustment period” when she had been attacked by her former fiancé.

It was important to set the stage. Molly looked at the merry widow she’d worn that fateful night—had it only been five weeks before?

The garment had been cleaned and left hanging in the closet. Now, she put it on a pretty, little decorative hanger, out in plain sight in the bedroom.

Below it, her fuck-me heels stood as if at attention, ready to be put into action. She sincerely hoped that wouldn’t be necessary because those suckers hurt like hell to wear.

She’d put fresh sheets on the bed, changed the water in the spa and put it on to heat, set out the jasmine candles, and had their big fluffy robes casually draped and ready, should they be required.

She had one more detail to prepare.

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In the play room, she pulled the vault-like restraint out of the closet. It took her a moment to figure out how to put it together, but finally she sat back, satisfied. Next, she pulled a chair close to it, as Richard had done the night he’d punished her.

Finally she set a paddle on the chair.

Another woman might flinch at contemplating having her lover—

her master—paddle her after what Horner had done to her. But as she tried to explain to Richard, what that monster did to her and what her master did were not at all the same.

Horner had thought only to inflict pain and his will, with no thought except to bring about her humiliation and degradation.

Richard employed the paddle as a means of re-enforcing their relationship and as sexual stimulation for them both.

She wasn’t a sub by nature, but she had become one by choice.

And the only master she wanted was Richard.

She loved him and Alan with all her heart. Tonight, if all went according to her plan, they would not only never doubt that love again, she would set them free from their guilt.

Molly checked the time. It was nearly four o’clock in the afternoon. Alan would be home in just a few minutes, and, though most nights Richard didn’t arrive until nearly six, she was willing to bet everything that he would be here shortly, too.

Choosing her battlefield, she stripped off her clothes, lit the candles, and slid into the spa. Now all she could do was wait.

* * * *

Richard entered the coffee shop, his brow furrowed as he scanned the tables. It didn’t take him long to spot Jordan Fitzpatrick. The man always seemed to be the center of any crowd. If he lived to be a hundred, he figured he would never be able to repay the debt he owed this man. He’d been instrumental in helping him rescue Molly from that sick fuck, Brian Horner.

Brazen Seduction