Lora_Leigh_Bound_Hearts_2_Submission[1].pdf

Lora Leigh

Submission

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Lora Leigh

Submission

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SUBMISSION

An Ellora’s Cave publication written by

LORA LEIGH

MS Reader (LIT) ISBN # 1-84360-599-6

Other available formats (no ISBNs are assigned):

Adobe (PDF), Rocketbook (RB), Mobipocket (PRC) & HTML

© Copyright LORA LEIGH, 2003.

All Rights Reserved, Ellora’s Cave.

Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc. USA

Ellora’s Cave Ltd, UK

This e-book may not be reproduced in whole or in part by email forwarding, copying, fax, or

any other mode of communication without author/publisher permission.

Edited by
KARI BERTON

Cover Art by
SCOTT CARPENTER

Lora Leigh

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Warning:

The following material contains strong sexual content meant for mature readers.

SUBMISSION has been rated NC-17, erotic, by three individual reviewers. We strongly

suggest storing this electronic file in a place where young readers not meant to view this

ebook are unlikely to happen upon it. That said, enjoy…

Certain images contained within this e-book have been digitally marked by Digimarc Corp.

If you purchased this e-book from a source other than Ellora’s Cave or one of its known

affiliates, contact [email protected] immediately. Please note that reading this e-book

without first purchasing it through legitimate means is illegal and can result in heavy fines.

As always, our authors thank-you for your support and patronage.

Lora Leigh

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Dedication:

To RC’s Ladies, you know who you are.

For all your encouragement and your support.

Lora Leigh

Submission

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The house was too quiet. She could hear her own footfalls as she walked through it,

her own heartbeat as she stared into her coffee. She could feel her fear, closer, stronger

than it had ever been before. The new house was so still, the memories that her New

York home had held were absent here.

She had moved to be closer to Tess. To try in some way to make up for the cruel,

bitter words she had thrown at her daughter. And she had moved to live again. She had

hidden from herself and from the memories of her marriage for so many years that she

was feeling the deprivation in ever increasing levels. Her family was here. Her sister,

her friends. They were all here. With Tess gone, the New York house was too silent, too

lonely. Though this one wasn’t much different today.

She still wore the cream lace dress she had chosen for the wedding, though the

matching wide brimmed hat had been thrown carelessly on the embroidered chair that

sat inside the front entryway. She felt lost in a way she hadn’t felt in years. A loneliness

she couldn’t explain haunted her; needs she couldn’t admit to shadowed her mind and

her desires. So she thought of Tess instead.

The wedding had been one of the most beautiful Ella had attended in her life. Her

daughter, her baby, had made a gorgeous bride. The pervert she had married had

looked handsome and darkly seductive.

She ran her fingers over the careful upsweep of her auburn hair, feeling the pinch of

hairpins holding it in place. Her hairdresser had followed her orders to the letter. Not a

strand of hair had slipped free of its mooring. Her dress hadn’t creased, and her silk

stockings hadn’t dared slip or snag. She looked as well dressed now, six hours after the

wedding, as she had when she left that morning.

Lora Leigh

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Thankfully, with the move to Virginia, the damage she had done to the relationship

with her daughter was healing. In her shock, in her rage, she had been hurtful to Tess.

But, still, she couldn’t believe what she had walked in on.

Her hands trembled as heat flooded her face. It had been Jesse, not James, but the

likeness was too great. The twins were identical in nearly every way, even to their

sexual preferences. Tall and distinguished, with a lean muscular build and dark toned

skin that looked perpetually tanned. Thick, black hair fell along their napes, straight

and glossy, tempting the women around them to touch.

Her legs trembled as she sat down at the small, walnut kitchen table. Her fingers

trembled as they covered her lips. Her heart pounded with hard, driving beats within

her chest. It had been her worst nightmare come to life, except her daughter played the

role Ella had played within those dark visions.

Not with Cole, but with James. And there lay the demon that lurked in her mind.

Perverse, depraved. She had walked away from her marriage and the life she had

fought to build because of her husband Jase’s perverse desires. The light spankings she

had managed to tolerate, though they had seared her with shame. Being restrained had

been easier, though even then, what pleasure had filtered through the experience had

been tainted by the fact that she knew, knew what was coming and she knew she

couldn’t bear it.

Her lack of submission to Jase’s needs had finally broken their relationship. She

hadn’t been able to give him the trust, the control he needed. She had been terrified,

knowing instinctively what would come next, who would come next. And she knew

she would never be able to maintain her control, her sanity, if James touched her.

He had been at Tessa’s wedding. He had watched her with knowing eyes, so green,

so wicked, her body had pulsed with depravity. He had shaken her hand, the heat and

pleasure of his touch nearly taking her breath. And all the time he had watched her,

knew her, tormented her.

Lora Leigh

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She stalked to the glass door that led to the cool, foliage sheltered area of the

garden. The slender heels of her shoes created a hollow, lonely tap against the wood of

the porch as she moved to the end of the vine-covered shelter. Her hand gripped the

thick post, her nails biting into the wood as she fought her anger, her fears for her

daughter.

Tess was too much like Jase. Ella had always been afraid of that, especially after the

books she had found years ago, hidden in Tess’s bedroom. Her desires were extreme,

and evidently she had no fear of them. Unlike her mother, who fought the demons, the

knowledge of her own needs.

She couldn’t get the image of it out of her mind. She couldn’t fight the dark

nightmares of James, holding her, taking her as another did. She never knew, never

cared who joined them in those nightmare images, all she saw, all she knew was James.

One day, Ella, you’ll have to stop running. When you do, let me know.

“Like hell,” she bit out, turning and moving purposely to the house. She wasn’t

running, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to let him know anything.

Jase’s sexual tastes had nearly ruined her life, and now they would ruin Tess’s. No

man could truly love a woman, truly respect her, if he allowed another to touch her, to

take her.

She fought the ripple of response between her thighs. The creamy moisture that she

fought to ignore, the desires she kept carefully banked, always hidden. Controlled. She

couldn’t let him break her, couldn’t let him see her response to him. If anyone had the

power to break her heart, it was James Wyman.

She couldn’t ignore him; she couldn’t pretend he didn’t exist. Due to her own

foolishness, he would soon be a daily part of her life. But she could handle it, she

assured herself. She had spent her life practicing the careful control that had sustained

her over the years. She could handle James Wyman, easily. It was all a matter of control.

Lora Leigh

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It was all a matter of control. James watched as Ella Delacourte led him up the

carpet-covered stairs to the bedroom he would be using while he stayed in her home.

He was still amazed that she had given into Tess’s request that she allow James to stay

in the house until the home he was buying was ready to move into.

Her slender waist and gently flared hips drew attention to the delicate, perfect

curves of her ass as she moved in front of him. Dressed in gray silk slacks and a pearl

gray blouse, she was the epitome of grace and elegance. Calm, controlled…so perfectly

controlled it made him itch to hear her scream. To hear that perfectly pitched voice

ragged and hot, begging him to fuck her deep and hard, to take her however he wished.

He wanted, needed, to break that control.

And Ella knew it. She had been well warned years before, and he wasn’t a joking

man. But he was a patient man. He had waited five years for the chance at the only

woman he knew that could make him think of forever. The only one he knew would

challenge his mind, as well as his sexuality. If he could manage to keep from getting

kicked out of the house.

He hid his grin. He knew Ella was desperate to make up for the painful words she

had thrown at her daughter when she caught her sandwiched between Cole and Jesse.

She had been furious, outraged, and if Jesse was right, certain at first that it was James

rather than Jesse who had participated in Tess’s first ménage.

Tess, too, wanted that relationship repaired, but she also wanted her mother happy.

She had been more than happy to participate in James’ plot to get closer to her mother.

Especially after he convinced her how long he had been waiting for the opportunity.

Lora Leigh

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“You can use the kitchen and the washroom if you do your own cooking and

laundry. The living room is okay for entertaining, but I have to ask that if you need

overnight female companionship you rent a motel. I won’t have it in my home, James.”

She pushed open the bedroom door before turning to face him.

She wore only a minimum of makeup today to accentuate her eyes and her graceful