Harnessed (5 page)

“Yes, my lady. I had the carriage brought ’round.”

Amy saw Elise falter for just a beat. This was it. The moment of truth. She watched the woman take a deep breath, clearly bracing herself for Tyler’s reaction to this revision to the fantasy he expected.

“It will be fine, my lady,” Amy found herself saying.

Elise spared her a glance. “With any luck, he’ll be harnessed so tightly that there won’t be anything he can do about it,” she whispered.

“That is the plan, my lady,” Amy assured her. Their gazes held for a lingering moment, then Elise lifted her chin.

“To the carriage, please, Hannah.”

She walked out of the room like a queen and Amy wanted to cheer.

* * *

Josh couldn’t stand it. His cock had already been hard, and just got harder with every moment he was on the island.

He instinctively didn’t like the other guy who arrived on the same flight as him. There was something about his confidence that rubbed the wrong way. Maybe it was the way he treated the woman, as if she were a possession.

It was one thing to claim another person, but this guy didn’t seem to care what she wanted. It was all about him, and that never worked out well. On the flight, Josh found himself hoping the other guy’s island fantasy didn’t come true.

Whatever it was.

He found himself hoping that the woman got her fantasy, whatever it was. Something about the way she kept her eyes downcast during the flight made him wonder what she had planned. He had the sense that she was up to something.

She’d been startled when he’d looked into her eyes.

Her expression had given him a jolt, like a shot of electricity straight to his groin. It would be all too easy to fantasize about her, about claiming her and taking her, about giving her the pleasure he doubted she’d ever experienced.

Over and over again.

Both he and the other guy were evidently going to the stables. They’d both been harnessed up as soon as they’d stripped down and stored their clothing. He’d checked out the other guy briefly, noting that he was tall and lean. The kind of guy who had a surprising, wiry strength. His cock was long but not as thick as Josh’s. That gave Josh a certain primal satisfaction, even though there was nothing the other guy could do about it.

Then a young and handsome stable hand stepped forward, harness in his hands, and looked Josh in the eye. He’d forced everything out of his mind except his own fantasy.

“Well, I like the big gentle ones,” the stable hand said. “Well, Storm, let’s get you harnessed up.”

Storm. It wasn’t a bad horse name.

The groom set down the leather harness, then walked around Josh once. He patted Josh’s rump, ran a heavy hand up his back, tousled his hair as he might examine a horse.

Then he knelt before Josh, lifting his foot into a specially designed boot. Josh liked the boots on sight. They were heavy black leather, rising to the knee and buckling around his legs. They had braced soles, which compelled him to walk on the balls of his feet. Under the toe of each boot was a horseshoe—with his feet like this, his weight came down on the horseshoe. He liked that he’d leave the same kind of tracks as a horse. The buckles were heavy down the outside of the boot and the stable hand pulled them taut, sealing his legs into them with style.

No zippers, of course. It was a version of 1870 on this island.

Once the boots were on, Josh felt like a horse. He tossed his head and stamped a foot, liking the confinement and the posture. The stable hand smiled at him, stroking him all over again. This time, he gave Josh’s balls a light squeeze.

The illusion and the sensation was simply gorgeous.

Sheaths were then slipped onto his arms, encasing them from palm to just past the elbow in more heavy black leather. Again, there was a row of gleaming silver buckles that looked great. Josh couldn’t see the buckles, though, after his forearms had been bound together behind his back. Those sheaths locked together so securely that his back was slightly arched. There was a moment of panic when he realized he was bound and he felt a frisson of fear.

The stable hand ran his hands over Josh’s shoulder and chest. “Easy, Storm,” he murmured, his eyes glinting as he stroked Josh’s skin. His touch was firm and soothing. Josh exhaled and shook himself. “Good boy,” the stable hand said and reached for a wide black leather band. He stood before Josh and slipped it around Josh’s chest, under his bound arms, and fastened the buckle. He tugged it tight, like a vise around Josh’s chest. Josh breathed steadily, forcing his pulse to slow.

This trip was about compliance and complicity, about being an active participant in his own harnessing. He’d had to concentrate and breathe steadily, because every step smacked of being more out of control. His every instinct was to seize control, but he had to ensure his fantasy had a chance of coming true. After he knew the stable hands better, he might get the wind up and fight.

After he knew they’d be able to overcome him.

No, this was about simplicity, about emptying his mind and losing all the distractions of his life and world. This was about getting back to simply feeling, and welcoming serenity in his thoughts again.

He’d do anything to hear the music again.

He hoped like hell this worked.

“Good boy,” the stable hand murmured. He held Josh’s gaze as he slid Josh’s cock into a sheath. “You’re a big one, aren’t you, Storm?” he said, giving the package a little caress before he locked it into smooth confinement. The sheath had straps that fastened around Josh’s hips. He supposed it was to ensure there was support, but it was another sweet reminder of his captivity.

The bit went between his teeth then, effectively silencing him. It was thick and made of some softer material that he could bite without injuring his teeth. It tasted faintly of apples. The bridle was buckled around his head, the straps tight enough to ensure he was aware of the restriction. There were blinders on the outside of the harness, and it was shocking to have his view limited to what was straight ahead. The stable hand moved behind him, walking around him again, and Josh instinctively turned his head to keep the other man in sight.

His butt was struck with a riding crop for that, a stinging blow followed by the stroke of a heavy hand. “You’ll get used to it, boy,” the stable hand said, a thread of new steel in his tone. “Now, bend over,” he instructed.

Josh did as he was told and felt his eyes open as a bung was inserted into his anus. He felt the brush of the long tail against the back of his legs, and again felt a jolt of excitement. He looked down to find a sleek horse tail hanging from his butt, the hair exactly the same color as his own.

“Very nice,” the stable hand said, slapping his butt once more. He took the reins attached to the bridle and led Josh out the other side of the small building. There a carriage stood, a dark carriage Josh didn’t have time to study. He was led to the front of it, where two other “horses” were already standing in harness. Their muscles were pumped and their skin gleamed with a patina of perspiration.

They’d pulled the carriage here.

The realization was like white lightning. This was for real. Josh was going to be a working horse the next week. He’d be in harness and pulling carriages, bound into his position most of the time.

And he’d volunteered for it. It was the complicity that put him over the moon. He asked for this. He’d ordered it. He’d paid for it. He’d accepted the steady incremental binding, taking tiny steps into captivity.

And now he was theirs, to use as they saw fit.

He didn’t think he’d ever been so excited in his life. He was bound into the harness at the front of the carriage. The two experienced ponies would be in the lead, Josh and the other new arrival between them and the carriage. Josh was given the place at the right. He knew the driver would be able to whip him and the other guy more easily than the lead horses, which was thrilling.

He could see that the big dark-haired guy in the lead was both muscled and proud of his appearance. He was tanned everywhere the harness didn’t touch, and Josh wondered how long he’d been on the island. The guy tossed his head and blew out through his lips. The driver slapped his rump and promised him an apple back at the stables. The man ahead of Josh was black, his skin gleaming. He was taller even than Josh and probably very strong.

The groom called them Eclipse and Midnight.

He was Storm. He emptied his mind after he was harnessed in place. He thought of the wind in his hair, the crisp feel of the air, the restraint of the leather. He thought about running and found himself anticipating it. He remembered the horses on his sister’s farm and their joy in simply being, then tried to feel the same way.

Josh was standing calmly in place when he heard them bringing out the other guy. That guy was friskier, working the bit with his tongue, and the stable hand in charge of him was talking to him in a steady murmur. They called him Golden Boy and were clearly admiring of his build. They got him around the carriage to the spot beside Josh, then he freaked out.

Josh figured out why when he heard a lady’s heels on the stone walkway. He stole a glimpse, saw the woman from the helicopter dressed as a lady, and guessed this hadn’t been Golden Boy’s plan.

He fought against his smile and bowed his head, wishing the lady all the luck in the world with whatever she wanted on Windswept.

* * *

This was it.

Elise followed Hannah’s gesture, loving the swish of her skirts as she stepped out of the other side of the low building. Her heart was racing so fast and her corset was so tight she thought she might faint. She was constrained and in power, filled with both excitement and terror. She was sure she’d never lived any moment as intensely as she was experiencing this one.

If she survived it, it just might rank as one of the best moments of her life.

Hannah and Amy carried the steamer trunk out of the change room, where two boys quickly took it from them. There was a carriage waiting there, a beautiful black carriage with a red velvet interior. In the distance, Elise could see the manor house. It could have been a dream, or a portal to the past.

Except, of course, that the four ‘horses’ harnessed to the carriage were gorgeous naked men. Their tails matched their hair and they wore amazing boots. The leather harness against their skin looked incredible.

She particularly liked the sight of Tyler trussed tight.

The boys lifted the trunk to the back of the carriage just as there came a roar of frustration. A whip cracked over the horses, but Tyler shouted again. He was the one on the far side, between the carriage and the lead horse.

And he was kicking up a fuss, his gaze locked on her.

“What the fuck?” he roared, his words distinguishable despite the bit in his teeth. His hair was tousled and his eyes were flashing. He’d been stripped naked and harnessed securely, a leather bridle around his head and a wide band across his chest. His arms were bound behind his back, and his black boots came to the knee. His cock was encased in leather, a long dark tail swinging from a butt plug in his ass.

It was what he’d wanted, but he was furious.

Of course, the plan had been for both of them to be human ponies, a fantasy that had no appeal for Elise. Her great good fortune was Rex had seen something in her application that had made him guess the truth, and he intervened to ensure she and Tyler received two fantasies in exchange for paying for two.

But hearing Tyler’s fury made Elise want to abandon the entire plan. She hated when he was angry, and had paid the price for infuriating him more than once. She took a step back, only to find the maid Amy right behind her.

“It will be fine, my lady,” Amy said, an unexpected fire in her eyes.

What did the maid know that she didn’t?

As Elise watched, the coachman took the whip to Tyler, leaving a red mark across Tyler’s back. The coachman was the man who had greeted them, although now he wore a hat. Tyler fought the harness hard, trying to rip himself free.

Elise was shocked.

“He could use his safe word, my lady,” Amy murmured and Elise realized it was true.

Did Tyler want it this way? He must. She watched incredulous, then remembered his taste for violence, an appetite she’d come to think of as insatiable.

“My lady, you don’t have to trouble yourself with such details,” Hannah said, guiding her toward the carriage.

But Elise couldn’t look away. She’d never seen Tyler dominated, and wasn’t sure he ever had been. He fought and swore and made as much trouble as he could, clearly convinced he couldn’t be denied his will.

She couldn’t turn away until she was sure he couldn’t come after her, at least not yet.

The coachman nodded at the boys even as he unclipped the kicking Tyler from the carriage. They brought him a large canvas sack as he led Tyler away from the team. He spoke to Tyler in a low voice, as one would to a frightened horse—he even called him Golden Boy—but Tyler was too livid to listen.

Tyler swore when he saw the canvas sack and challenged their authority to treat him in such a way, but still didn’t utter his safe word. He was a fool to think he could fight his way free when he was so outnumbered, to Elise’s thinking, but he didn’t surrender. When he turned on the coachman, aiming a kick at the man’s genitals, the man’s posture changed.