Marketplace (19 page)

With no sounds but the
rustling of the straw beneath them and Sharon’s punctuating gasps
and whimpers, he continued to use her, his pace quickening. Sharon
began to whine, and then to pound her fists against the floor,
raising small clouds of dust and getting strands of straw tangled
in her hair. She bucked back at him, taking him all, wanting
more.

“Don’t even think o’
coming,” Jack growled, slapping her red ass cheek. “You take my
spunk like a good girl and then you’ll be gettin’ your tail to
work, bitch-model. You hear me?”

“Y-yes! Yes!” She squirmed
and thrust back just the same, and Jack forced her
still.

“You know you’re mine now,
don’t you, model? Mr. Elliot just gave you to me, every day ’til
Thursday next, didja know that?”

Sharon moaned.

“So,” Jack panted, pushing
harder and harder against her, “you might just get yourself
accustomed to this, model. When you work the stables in this ’ouse,
you get to work with old Jack.” With a final series of steady,
fast-grinding pumps, Jack let himself go, spurting his semen while
enveloped by her hot pussy. He sighed and growled alternately, and
then abruptly pulled out of her. She whimpered and wailed out her
frustration.

“Aah, that was not bad,
Sharon girl. Not bad. But you’ll be a bit more cooperative
tomorrow, or we’ll be doin’ this in a stall a bit more, eh, funky,
than this ’un.” He stripped the condom off and tossed it next to
her. “When you clean this up, don’t forget that, right?”

Sharon made distinct
sobbing noises, which Jack cheerfully ignored.

“Oh, and ’ere’s your
coverall... ah, look, someone’s gone and stepped on it! Well, too
bad.” He buttoned his fly and picked the stained coverall up and
examined it. “Aye, too bad. I don’t ’ave another one, you’ll ’ave
to make do today.” He tossed it into the stall.

“The boots are in the
back,” he said, stepping away from her. “I’ll be back, after I ’ave
a smoke, to show you the fine art o’ muckin’. Be dressed proper, or
you’ll do it in your skin.”

After his footsteps faded
away, Sharon drew the stained and slightly grubby coverall to her
body and pulled it over her trembling limbs.

Chapter Nine

Alexandra patiently waited
for Claudia to dry her eyes and pull herself together. Chris
wordlessly took the handkerchief back from the naked slave girl and
then stepped away from her.

She took it better than I
thought she would, Alex reflected. I thought she was going to break
down in hysterics, or faint, or something suitably proper for a
frail little femme to do when told that her Mistress doesn’t want
her.

It was a difficult decision
to make, and Madeleine had been resistant. But Claudia’s training
couldn’t go a step forward unless she really understood what was at
stake. And unfortunately for her, Madeleine was very, very
disappointed in the initial report that Alexandra had
tendered.

“Well,” the elegant
mistress had asked, “what do you think she would fetch at a good
auction?”

“Are you absolutely sure?”
Alexandra pressed. “She is a treasure, Madeleine. I’ve never seen
someone more devoted to a role before. Why don’t you just add
someone new to the household and keep her as a fancy?”

“Alex honey, I’m not that
rich. No, if I’m going to have another maid, she better be
interesting and fun in bed. Besides, Carl is complaining that we
don’t have any regular boys around the house, so that’s one major
purchase for next year already, unless I find a novice and train
them myself again.”

Alex nodded, mentally
noting the possibility of a referral. What a pity Robert wasn’t a
better maid, she thought wickedly. That would solve that problem
neatly. Then she returned to the problem at hand. “Well, then I
suppose we can shape her up a little and look for a good offering
if she’s agreeable. Do you have preferences for her?”

Madeleine paused. It was
obviously hard for her to consider. “Just... just make sure she
goes someplace nice,” she said finally. “I’ll write up a
reference.”

And then it fell to
Alexandra to explain this to the shivering young woman who stood
before her in the warm solarium.

“Is there any chance?”
Claudia asked, after she got some of her bearing back. “Could...
could I learn to be what Mistress wants? Can’t you teach me? I’ll
try! I’ll do anything you say!”

“Claudia darling, your
greatest problem is that you can’t seem to do anything we say.”
Alexandra spoke firmly, but with compassion. “Chris reports that
when given a task you find displeasurable, your attention wanders,
you waste time crying or staring at it, or you do it so badly it
becomes necessary to give you another assignment. You resist all
attempts to bring out your sexual side, at least anywhere beyond
giving you a nice spanking and fingering you until you come. You’re
afraid of Grendel, to the point you become incoherent when he asks
you questions, you fall apart at the slightest chastisement, and
the less reality matches your concept of what must be, the more
unhappy you get. And the more unhappy you are, the more easily you
fall into bad behavior. So frankly, you seem dedicated to your role
as a French maid, and your mistress has given us permission to
market you as such.”

The handsome woman leaned
back and gazed at Claudia with a thoughtful expression on her face.
“And that’s not bad,” she said after moment. “There is a strong
market for fancy slaves, people trained in one specific task or
role, and little else. It’s not usually what we like to deal in,
but we have contacts all over the world. You could go to England or
France, for example. There’s also a strong interest for slaves like
you in Brazil and in the Far East. Not that you have much of a
choice,” she added, “but your future certainly wouldn’t be
dull.”

Claudia nodded, her face
forlorn. “I... thank you, ma’am. And if I had to, I would be a good
slave in the Marketplace, I honor you all, I do! But I want to stay
with my Mistress. Please, please... I’ll do better! I’ll be the
best girl you ever had here.”

“Claudia, it took you
almost four days to clean a pile of silver that could have been
done in two.”

“Please, ma’am, I know I
haven’t been good,” Claudia said, desperation growing in her voice.
“I was so unhappy! And I didn’t know why I was here! I thought that
Mistress was punishing me for something!” The words began to spill
out in a rush. “And... and I didn’t want to think about anything
else, because I thought that... oh, I didn’t know what I thought!
Maybe Mistress just wanted me to be... better. And I want to! I can
be whatever she wants me to be!”

“Claudia, you burst into
tears as soon as Chris takes his strap off his belt.”

“I’ll be braver! I won’t
cry any more! I’ll never cry, if only I have a chance to go back to
my Mistress!” Her voice scaled up.

Alexandra pulled at one
curl, longer than the others, and twirled it through her fingers.
Claudia was actually beginning to change, in subtle, barely
noticeable ways. There was some sincerity behind the note of
desperation in her voice. Maybe there was some potential there
after all. Maybe it had been a mistake to hide the depth of
Madeleine’s disappointment from the little slave? It would be a
shame to deprive them both of such quality.

“So what do you think I
should do,” Alexandra asked carefully, “to encourage proper
behavior from you? Supposing that I decided to allow you to try and
change, what do you think you should be doing to break you out of
your role?”

Claudia swallowed hard.
Normally, she had been trained to answer any question that began
with “What do you think...?” with, “Please do as you think best,
Mistress.” Last week, during her interviews, that answer had been
denied to her. Here, they really wanted to know what you thought.
It was unnerving.

“Perhaps you could give me
more work to do, ma’am,” Claudia suggested, trying to think
quickly.

“And...?”

“And, maybe, I mean, should
you decide to use me, ma’am, I could be trained to do the things
that Mistress wanted me to do.”

“Name them,” Alexandra
snapped back. “Be specific. You’ll have to learn to talk about them
before you’re able to do them comfortably.”

“Oh!” Claudia squirmed.
“To... to play with myself, ma’am?”

“And...?”

“To be, to be...to take
ma’am’s, um, to be...”

“To be fucked,
Claudia?”

She blushed a deep red.
“Yes, ma’am.”

“Then say it!” Alexandra’s
calm voice was edged with impatience.

“To be fucked, ma’am.”
Claudia’s blush deepened.

“And you know that it
wouldn’t be just me who will use you, Claudia.” Alexandra stood, a
study in strength and determination. As she walked toward Claudia,
her eyes bored into the younger women and held her still. “If I
choose, anyone in this house might want to try a taste of you.
Certainly Grendel might be interested. Perhaps even Chris would. I
might even decide to turn you over to one of your fellow slaves. Do
you understand that?”

Claudia trembled but held
her ground. “Yes, ma’am!”

“And there’s a lot more in
life than fucking and sucking, Claudia. You do understand that
sucking is a part of this?”

Claudia nodded. “Y-yes
ma’am.”

Alexandra paused in front
of the slave and studied her from up close. Yes, there was
definitely something new here. Perhaps she could salvage this
situation after all. There were other things happening as well,
once you got into the poor girl’s face. Her breath was getting more
shallow and coming faster. And beyond the embarrassed blush from
having to use a forbidden obscenity, was a growing sensual flush.
Her nipples were wrinkled little knobs of flesh.

“Chris,” Alexandra said
softly. “Come here and take her in hand, will you?”

“With pleasure,
ma’am.”

As Chris approached,
Alexandra smiled. “Hm,” she said out loud, “it seems that Chris is
more interested than I thought.” Claudia made a slight whimpering
sound, but cut it off quickly. “Good girl,” Alexandra
noted.

Chris came behind Claudia
and firmly pulled her arms behind her back. She gasped at the
unexpected move, but submitted. He held her wrists together in one
hand and reached around her body, pulling her so that she half
rested on his bent knee, which he pressed between her legs. Her
thighs parted, and she lost her balance and fell against him. But
he stood firm.

Alexandra stepped back a
little. Claudia stared up at her, her breath coming in pants now,
her body shaking. Chris felt solid behind her back, but her
position seemed dangerously unsteady.

“Stroke her,” Alexandra
said, going back to her chair. “Let’s see what she’s
got.”

Chris took his free hand
and slowly let it drift up Claudia’s body, from her waist to her
throat. She shivered and gave a little moan. Gently, the majordomo
began to run the tips of his fingers across her body, making little
swirls around her nipples, and then gentle rubbing motions on her
belly. She sighed.

“Good. Now get more
specific,” Alexandra prompted.

Chris made more determined
motions, circling Claudia’s erect nipples with rough fingers and
squeezing them. She gasped, but didn’t protest or try to squirm
away. From there, he stroked her hip with ever smaller circles
until he moved inward, toward her belly, and then down to the mound
above her delta. There, he pressed and rubbed until she did squirm,
just a little bit. At that moment, his fingers darted down to an
area so recently shaven white, and pressed her lips
together.

She moaned! After a week of
self denial and shame, the security and the pleasure was nearly
overwhelming. This was so right, this was so good. Held securely,
explored with skill and gentility, and then teased to a climax, oh,
it was heaven! She sighed lovingly and settled deeper against him
as his fingers opened her and explored. She thought warmly, he
knows what he is doing, and closed her eyes.

Chris’s fingers stroked her
outer lips until her moisture began to gather, and then gently
pried them apart. They opened like the proverbial petals of a
flower, and he easily located that elusive center of pleasure,
which he gave but one soft touch before returning his attention to
her lips. The soft glistening folds of her inner lips almost
throbbed with the intensity of her arousal. Alexandra smiled as she
watched.

She might be a lot of fun
once she gets into this, the mistress thought. Should I give her an
easy one, for encouragement? No, I don’t think so. She makes it
now, or she realizes that she hasn’t got what she needs. Either
way, we know, once and for all.

Claudia was beginning to
shift against Chris. Her breath came in a rhythmic pattern, and
Alexandra nodded. “That’s enough, Chris.”

Claudia’s eyes snapped
open. Chris took his hand away, and brought his fingers up to
Claudia’s mouth. Even as she moaned her frustration, she licked
them clean of her juices.

“Finish yourself off,
Claudia,” Alexandra said, when Chris pulled his hand
away.