Conquering Sabrina (19 page)

“Sabrina, I will not have you trying to deal with this on your own. That’s how I lost you before. Now listen to me; if anyone of them comes near you when you are on your own, friendly or not, I want to know about it. That is, if you ever manage to leave my side again because from now on, I am tying you to it. Your derriere is going to be whipped harshly for keeping everything secret from me when this is all over.”

“Yes… I…”

“I mean it, Sabrina. I don’t want you trying to protect me. I’ve always suspected Luc was involved. You are the most important person in the world to me. I love my mother and will do everything necessary to protect her from any scandal. But it is important that you trust me and tell me all that you remember. You have earned yourself another spanking on account.”

It was a direct command. She twisted her wrists free and placed her hands around his neck and leaned in against him, trying to soothe his anger, knowing at some stage she would find herself naked over his knee, her bottom beaten by his hand to his satisfaction for her crime. Desire built and dampened her pussy at the thought.

“I’ve missed you, Raoul.”

She giggled and snuggled closer to him. He was silent for a moment, and then his arms swept around her tightly.

Sabrina reached up to kiss him. She cupped his face, feeling the rough dark shadow he wore so sexily. She felt it scrape the inside of her palms, provoking tiny tremors of pleasure in her core. She pressed her lips against his mouth. His response was immediate. He held her head, capturing her mouth, wrestling away any control she had over the kiss.

She gave a satisfied cry as his hands swept under the jumper and up her sides, softly curving around her breasts. He tugged the jumper up over her head, leaving her exposed to his gaze. She helped him remove his clothes, feeling the urgent need to caress every muscled part of him, to feel him near making her his over and over again. She wondered if they could ever be satiated, they had so much time to make up.

He leaned her back and thrust inside her with determination. He tipped her head and body back, settling his lips over the peak of her breast, gently nipping and tugging. She felt her pleasure rise and wash over her body with the force of a tidal wave that he rode with her.

* * *

“You didn’t eat the breakfast I made you, Sabrina,” Raoul sighed as he buttoned up his trousers.

He looked down at her lying naked under the satin duvet. Her pale skin and deep rich brown hair were a striking contrast to the rich colour of the wine-and-purple duvet he’d chosen with her passionate nature in mind. There was a gentle afterglow lighting her face, giving her a heavenly sensual look. He felt desire rise like fire within him again.

“We’ll just have to make some more. You know how ravenous I am in the mornings.”

He laughed and leaned over to kiss her again. He could hardly stop touching her just to make sure she was real, and he wasn’t in some vivid dream that he didn’t want to wake up from.

“What’s that noise?”

He listened to the anxiety in her voice and then to the sound. There was a crisp crunching sound. Someone was walking around the small house in the snow. He moved to the window, but couldn’t see anything.

“Don’t move, Sabrina,” he commanded in his fiercest tone, knowing fine well it would take chains around her hands and ankles to stop her making any movement.

She was already up struggling to move with the duvet to the window on the other side of the room.

“Relax, Raoul, it’s Maxim at the door.”

He stood next to her looking out of the window at Maxim’s tall form. Something made him turn around and look up at the window. A feeling of being watched, perhaps? Raoul watched him look at Sabrina with curious interest. He’d always known most of his friends were attracted to Sabrina and he had always been astute enough to watch for any attempts to steal her away. It was therefore no surprise to Raoul at the flicker of attraction lighting Maxim’s eyes. But Sabrina’s response was a surprise. She flinched and moved back from the window as though she’d been stung. His brow creased as he took hold of her shoulders.

“What’s the matter?”

She tried to laugh her action off, but he could see the fear in her eyes.

“I am just letting my imagination get the better of me again. I thought I saw someone out in the woods. I did it last night as well.”

He hugged her close, trying to reassure her of her safety.

“Why don’t you have a warm shower while I talk to Maxim and find out if they know anything about that man in the grounds yesterday. Then I will make you some more breakfast and we think about going back to the house.”

She nodded, allowing him to kiss her forehead. He watched her go and threw on his jumper before running to open the door for Maxim.

* * *

Sabrina closed the bathroom door and ran the shower. She was confused. It was the way Maxim had looked at her. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but her instinct demanded extreme caution. Maybe it was because he was a police officer there to investigate her and what happened that put her on edge. It sounded an adequate explanation, but it did nothing to lessen her fear of the man.

She let the hot water cascade down across her aching neck and closed her eyes, catching a new set of memories playing in her head like a movie. They were all of Maxim and his friendship with Raoul. She shook her head. There was no reason to be afraid of Maxim; he’d always been so kind. He was Raoul’s best friend and had always been there for both of them. But the way his eyes had burned into her own bespoke an attraction and a hidden communication that her mind seemed to recognise. She groaned, wishing all of her memory had returned so she could work out just what had been going on before she disappeared.

Sabrina dressed in her riding clothes that Raoul had dried, unable to shake the feeling of impending doom. She could hear Raoul’s voice in the kitchen talking to Maxim about what Sabrina had already told him about Luc and Alain. She sat on the edge of the bed and pulled on her boots. Her body was shaking with anxiety, a tremor shook in her hands and she was finding it hard to breathe. She tried to ignore the sensation, casually dismissing it as nonsense. It made her wonder if she had something to hide from Inspector Tissier.

“Ah, Sabrina, I’ve just been telling Maxim what you told me. He hasn’t had any success in finding anyone on the grounds, but he’s arranged for Luc and Cressida to be arrested. Alain has been taken in for questioning.”

Sabrina glanced at Maxim and then away quickly for fear of meeting his eyes. She folded her arms as she sat at the small kitchen table, making Raoul watch her with interest.

“How are you feeling, Sabrina?” Maxim asked with genuine warmth.

She tried to smile and felt her mouth tremble with the effort of pretence. Her flesh was crawling and she was growing cold with fear.

“I’m ok. I just want this all to be over.”

“Can you tell me anything you remember about the man who attacked you in the study? Anything will help.”

He stubbed out a cigarette and lit another one. There was something about the smell. She recognised that particular odour of cigarette. It was French, unlike the English brand Tamsin used. She put her hand to her mouth, feeling nausea rise. She let out a slow breath to calm her agitation and answered.

“No, I just remember Luc being there first and someone else in the room. Luc left after threatening me and the other person was the man who raped me.”

Her eyes steadily met Maxim’s, searching his for a reaction. She ascertained nothing but a coldness that chilled every bone in her body. Raoul put down a mug of hot tea on the table beside her at the same moment. Every time she mentioned what happened, she could feel him physically tense. He rubbed his hand along her shoulders and stood behind her. She rested a hand on the table, not knowing what to do, not knowing why she was feeling so bad and so distrustful of Maxim.

His presence made her feel so uncomfortable, she wished he would just leave and lift the heavy oppressive weight that had settled in the small cosy room. Maxim leaned over and covered her hand with his own.

“We’ll find him, don’t worry.”

Her response to his touch was instant, making her memory trigger as though a bolt of lightning had hit it. She slipped back in time. She was in the study, looking up at the man who was brutally pulling the necklace from her throat and pushing her to the ground. He was shouting so hard at her that she belonged to him and not Raoul. He was shaking her, shouting abuse, and saying he was going to take her away from Raoul. She was going to be his wife. She would never escape him.

Sabrina heard herself sob as he pushed her to the ground, banging her head on the wooden floor. He leaned over and she looked straight into the eyes of the man who raped her and locked her away from the world.

Sabrina snatched her hand away as the room came back into view. Raoul was kneeling down, running his hands up and down her arms, coaxing her back into the present. She stared at Raoul, tears streaming down her face, and then forced herself to look round into the eyes of the man who had so viciously abused her that night.

Maxim looked sympathetic for a brief moment. Then she saw comprehension in his eyes, a fleeting fear of discovery and then resignation. She felt nausea swell like a giant tidal wave and fled from the room, pushing Raoul’s hands aside. She leaned over the toilet in the bathroom and was violently sick.

Sabrina slowly lifted her head that was now pounding and listened to the voices downstairs in the kitchen. Raoul was talking to Maxim of her flashbacks and then she could hearing his reassuring footsteps tapping up the stone steps. She splashed some cold water on her face and walked out into the bedroom, determined to find a way to tell him everything and warn him of the danger they were both in.

He stood impossibly tall in the doorway, making her take a breath. His eyes were black with fierce anger. She stopped in her tracks, too afraid to move, to say anything.

“It was Maxim, wasn’t it?”

It was all he asked. His voice was low, almost a whisper and incredibly calm to the point it made her feel frightened. She didn’t appear to answer quick enough and his eyes narrowed, piercing her soul for an answer. She nodded.

“Stay here,” he commanded.

She flew across the room as he caught the handle of the door and swung it shut with a slam behind him. She tried the handle, but he was turning the key in the lock, making her a prisoner of safety within the confines of the bedroom. She stopped pulling on the handle and began kicking manically at the door on hearing Raoul’s raised voice confront Maxim in French.

At first he attempted to deny everything. A fight quickly ensued and Sabrina could hear knives and forks clattering to the tiled floor and a heavy bang. There was the sound of the table scraping across the floor. She could hear the sound of fists making contact with firm flesh. Raoul was shouting at Maxim, demanding his confession. He eventually gave Raoul what he wanted.

Maxim told Raoul how he’d always taken everything from him. He always got what he wanted even when they were at school. Maxim loved Sabrina and was determined to have her. He had kept her locked away in the basement of his deceased mother’s farmhouse in Brittany. Every moment he could, he spent with her. He’d travelled back and forth to see her from Paris. His brother had kept watch over her when he couldn’t be there. After seven months of indulging himself with her over and over again, she had planned and executed her escape to England. Now he was going to take her back and there was nothing Raoul could do about it. This time Maxim would be more successful in making it appear Raoul had murdered her. He wouldn’t escape the charge as he had done last time. Raoul was finished and Sabrina was his again.

The sound of fighting stopped abruptly. Sabrina held her breath. There were two sets of footsteps on the stairs.

“You go near her, Maxim, and I will kill you.”

She knew Raoul meant every word by the dangerous tone lining his calm voice. The key turned in the lock and Sabrina let go of the handle and took a step back, knowing fine well what was about to happen. She picked up the heavy bronze statue of a man and woman romantically entwined that sat on a chest of drawers beside her, and stood at the side of the door as it creaked open. Raoul was shouting a warning at her and Maxim was calling her name.

Maxim walked into the room, dragging Raoul by the front of his jumper, his arm outstretched with his firearm in his hand. Before he fully entered the room, Sabrina brought the statue down hard on his arm. The gun dropped to the floor. Maxim cried out in pain and dropped to the floor, reaching out to retrieve it. Sabrina kicked the gun away as Raoul lunged forward and landed on top of him. The man fought back hard, but Raoul was the stronger opponent. When Maxim lay slumped against the bed unconscious, Raoul stood back to admire his handiwork.

Sabrina sank to her knees, suddenly feeling exhausted. Raoul was pulling out one of his ties to restrain Maxim’s hands and another for his feet. He quickly pulled Sabrina up and led her out of the room.

“Let’s get out of here. I don’t want you in the same room with him. I’ll call the police and get them to pick him up.”

He locked the door and ran down the stairs to grab some keys out of the kitchen that was now in complete disarray and led Sabrina outside. The air was bitterly cold, but the sun was shining and the sky was clear. His hand was firmly enclosed around her small one and there was no escape. He unlocked the Range Rover parked outside the front of the summerhouse and drove them both to the chateau. Within an hour, Luc and Alain had been arrested for their part in a plot to defraud money from Raoul’s company. Maxim had also been involved, but his greatest crime was in raping Sabrina.

Epilogue

Twelve Months Later

Sabrina moved her life back to the chateau and continued writing her second academic book. She also secured a lectureship at the Sorbonne. Her life was almost complete. But both she and Raoul yearned for a child. They had broached the matter in a frank conversation Raoul initiated, expressing his desire for her to be pregnant as soon as he could make it possible. She had agreed, delighted. Naturally he had taken charge of her conception. He had confined her to the house for two weeks, taking her as often as he could. She was instructed to wear light jersey dresses he could lift easily around her waist, enabling him to simply unzip his trousers, take out his cock and penetrate her wherever they were. He rode her on the stairs, penetrated her against the wall in the library, and spanked her bare bottom to orgasm in the lounge, made her sit on his cock and ride it in his study before a meeting, and for the last weekend kept her locked in the tower naked and constantly fucked. She’d loved every precious moment.