Nice Couples Do (21 page)

Suzanne glared at Jeffery but remained seated.

“Before I explain, perhaps you would answer one question for me.”

Suzanne continued to sit in stony silence.

Jeffery smiled. “You’re already twenty years old, well past the age that women usually marry. Why haven’t you married? You’re so beautiful, surely you’ve had dozens of proposals.”

“I don’t think it’s any of your concern, but I’ll answer, if only to get rid of you. I was engaged to Philippe Martineaux when I was sixteen. It was a love match, but two months before the marriage, he died of the fever. My father said that I should wait until I fall in love again, and I’ve not met anyone since as good and kind as Philippe.”

“I suspected as much. Thank you for your honest answer. You’re learning already that cooperation is best. Now, let me explain my presence here. Are you aware of your father’s penchant for cards?”

When Suzanne merely continued to glare, Jeffery continued. “No, I guess not. Well, your father loves a good game of poker, but, alas, his luck hasn’t been very good lately. And to his further misfortune, he tends to bet more heavily when he’s losing, probably to try to recoup his losses.”

“What has this got to do with me?” she snapped.

“Patience, my dear. It will all be obvious soon. Let me digress for a moment. Do you remember the Sheridans’ masked ball?”

“Of course, I still don’t understand what all this has to do with me?” She tried to pull her hand away, but he held fast.

“We were not introduced, but I saw you there, flirting outrageously with several young men.” He closed his eyes and the corners of his mouth turned up. “You were ravishing in that gold Grecian gown you wore.” He opened his eyes and looked at her. “I suppose you also remember your walk in the garden with a certain overanxious suitor who kissed you. You allowed his hands to roam very familiarly over your delectable body.”

Suzanne’s blush was her only reply.

“Obviously, you remember that, too. I was watching, aching to be that young man. You are most delectable, Miss Armstrong. Your body absolutely enchants me and my fingers ache to touch you like that young man was doing. I need a wife and I need sons, so right then and there I decided I would have you.” He felt her try to pull away, but his grip was too strong for her. “Don’t get up just when I’m approaching the good part.”

She glared at him, but he felt her relax just a bit. “Good. Now, here’s where good fortune fell into my hands. I was playing cards at a certain gaming establishment a few nights ago when I chanced to encounter your father. He had had a few too many brandies and had gotten into a high-stakes poker game. Needless to say, he lost.”

He could see understanding begin to dawn on Suzanne. “You beat him?” she asked.

“I didn’t do it personally, but I was watching. His last few bets were outrageously large, but, unfortunately, his bad luck held.”

“No wonder he’s been behaving so strangely,” Suzanne said, remembering his recent bouts of temper and long silences.

“After he left, I bought his IOUs. It was really very simple. Now I hold the power to call in the debts and force your father to surrender this fine estate to me with much unpleasantness and publicity or…”

Almost afraid to hear it put into words but unable to stop herself, Suzanne said, “Or what?”

“Or you can be mine. I’m not speaking of marriage just yet. I want to sample the merchandise before I make a decision. But, perhaps…”

“You can’t mean what you’re saying.”

A slow, lazy smile played over Jeffery’s face as he looked at Suzanne. His eyes caressed the swells of her breasts as her bosom heaved. As his gaze dipped into the inviting valley between them, his grip on her wrist tightened.

“Oh but I do,” he said at last. “Let me set it all out for you. You have three choices. First, you can refuse me. In that case, I will go immediately to your parents and announce my plans to take over this house. They will, of course, have a few weeks to move out. I’d really prefer not to have to do that. It would be so unpleasant for the three of you.”

“Or…?”

“You can come with me to my home, where we will spend a beautiful week or two, exploring our compatibility with your complete cooperation.”

“You said I had three choices.”

“You can go with me but resist and fail to please me, in which case it will ruin your reputation. I will keep you with me for an entire week. Then I will tell everyone where you have been and exactly what we have been doing. There won’t be much future for you then.

“I think your only true choice is to do everything in your power to please me, and I think you can. In that case, we will marry and I will give you your father’s IOUs as a wedding present. Then, you will give me sons. Between times, you will give me your beautiful body to do with as I please. Do I make myself clear?”

Suzanne thought briefly, but she couldn’t find a way out. “I guess I have only one choice.”

Jeffery released Suzanne’s wrist. “Shall we seal our bargain, my dear?” he said. He leaned over and pressed his lips against hers. As he deepened his kiss, he reached down the bodice of her dress and squeezed her nipple. She wanted to withdraw, but she knew she could not.

“I’ll come back to pick you up in two hours. That will give you time to pack a few things and discuss our arrangement with your parents. You may tell them whatever you wish about why you’re going with me, but be ready when I return.” He rose and bowed low. “Until then, my dear.”

He took her hand and raised it to his lips, but instead of kissing the back, he turned it over and swirled his tongue in her palm.

She sighed and her shoulders slumped. “Until then,” she said.

COMPULSION

More than a hundred years ago, there lived a doctor who had devoted the ten years following his graduation from medical school to the development of potions and gadgets that would drive women to the wildest heights of passion.

He lived in a large mansion near a small village where, periodically, a stranger, man or woman, would disappear. They would return weeks or months later healthy and happy, but with no recollection of anything that had transpired. If any of the villagers suspected what went on, no one ever spoke.

No one had ever actually seen the mansion, since the hedges around the property had long been encouraged to grow to enormous heights. No one had ever seen the doctor. The only one from the mansion who was seen in the village was Walter, the doctor’s loyal servant. Once a week, on market day, he would go to the village to buy food.

One fateful day, Theresa, a beautiful girl from a faraway town, ran away from her wicked uncle. He had cared for her since her parents’ death, when she was a baby, and until recently she had been resigned to her lot. For most of her nineteen years, he had forced her to work on their farm from sunup to sundown. He had dressed her in rags and kept her a virtual prisoner. Finally, early one morning, her uncle came into her room in the loft and found her undressed. He looked at her for a long time, then told her that he was going to marry her and keep her with him always. She had run away that afternoon.

For many days, she wandered the countryside, looking for a kind farmer or shopkeeper to take her in. She was a hard worker and had been sure that she could find employment, but it had been more than a week and still she had found no one willing to do more than let her spend a night in the barn before she moved on. Now, she was hungry and scared and not so sure that running away had been such a good idea.

She was wandering around the village square one market day when Walter spotted her. Despite her filthy appearance, he recognized immediately that she was a beautiful woman, it had been such a long time, he thought, and she will do nicely. His cock grew hard just watching her move from stall to stall.

He asked around about her family and soon learned the truth. No one would miss her. She was a perfect subject for the doctor.

“Young woman,” Walter said, stepping beside her. “I understand you’re looking for work.”

“Why yes, sir,” she said, smiling sweetly. “I’m a good worker. I could help in the kitchen or I could—”

“That’s fine,” Walter said, “you’re hired. I’ll take you to the house when I’m finished here. I just need to buy a few more things. Take this and follow me.” He thrust the basket he was carrying into her hands and walked off before she could see the gleam in his eyes.

Theresa was delighted. It seemed that finally she had found work. She ignored the saddened stares of the people in the market square and trailed after Walter as he finished his shopping.

An hour later, as they approached the mansion, Theresa wondered whether she should have accepted this job. They had already passed through the huge iron gate, the only opening in the forbidding hedge, and Walter had locked it behind them.

With sure, quick steps, Walter led Theresa around to the kitchen entrance and introduced her to the cook. “Put her to work, Molly,” he said brusquely. Then he turned and left the room.

A few minutes later, Walter met the doctor in his laboratory. “I have found a new subject for us. She appears to be eighteen or nineteen and she has long brown hair and wide-set brown eyes. With a bath and a few good meals, you’ll realize that her shape is magnificent, her skin is like fine marble, and her lips are like rubies. She looks a little like that woman we had so much fun with a few years ago. Please, sir, can I have her when you’re done?”

“What about her family?” the doctor asked, ignoring Walter’s request.

“She has run away from her uncle, who lives many miles from here.” Walter looked at his master, a tall, handsome man of thirty-seven with raven-black hair and flashing black eyes. Walter had spent years wondering how the doctor had started his experiments, but all he had ever learned was that it had something to do with a woman who had spurned his affections when he was a teenager. Walter didn’t care how it started; he just enjoyed his part in them.

“Where did you put her?”

“She’s in the kitchen helping the cook.”

“Fine. See that she’s bathed and fed. Then put the ‘medicine’ in her food, starting with a small dose tomorrow night. In a week, I’ll decide exactly where to start with her.”

For three days, Theresa worked quietly in the kitchen. She was kept very busy all day, so, after her dinner, she collapsed on her bed in the attic and slept soundly until she was awakened to start work the next morning.

On the night of the fourth day, she had strange dreams, which, although she could not remember them when she awoke, left her with a strange hunger that she couldn’t quite understand.

All the fifth day, she was restless, unable to concentrate on her work. A strange longing possessed her and caused her to drift off into bizarre thoughts. The cook paid little attention. She had seen it before, starting when she, herself, had been in Theresa’s situation.

That night, Theresa’s dreams were more erotic and they made her nipples hard and created an itch or ache between her legs. When she awoke in the middle of the night, she pressed her hand between her thighs and tried to still the throbbing she felt. Then she ran her palms over her swollen nipples. She fell back to sleep with her fingers still pressing her hot flesh, and she remembered little the next morning.

The next night’s dreams inflamed her senses, and the depth of the lingering sensations had increased. By noon, it was hard for her to sit still or keep her hands from straying to her groin. Her breasts were hot and sore and her constantly erect nipples itched where they pressed against the front of her simple kitchen dress.

It was in that state that Walter found her. “The doctor would like to meet you,” he said.

Theresa followed Walter toward the doctor ’s workroom, rubbing her thighs together as she walked to try to ease the sensations.

As she entered the room, she saw the doctor looking at her. “She’ll do nicely,” she heard him say. “Very nicely indeed.”

CONTROL

Bonnie’s surroundings faded in as she returned to consciousness. She had no concept of where she was or how she had gotten there.

The first of her senses to return was her hearing. She became aware of a dull, slow throb, so low in pitch that she wasn’t sure whether she heard it or felt it—like huge engines, far away. And there was a faint medicinal smell.