Mastered By Love (27 page)

“
I’m sorry.” She sounded
emotionless, despite her trembling.

“
You’re sorry? You’re
sorry.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “What am I going to
do with you? This is the second time you’ve attacked another
slave.”

“
I didn’t mean to. It just
kind of happened.”

“
Tariza.” He shook his
head. “You must have better control of yourself than that. You were
a warrior, weren’t you?”

“
Yes. But I never had to
fight for a man.”

His face softened. “You
don’t have to fight for me. You have me.”

“
No. You have me. It isn’t
the same thing.”

He caught her hands. “I
didn’t want those girls. Mateo pushed them on me.”

“
You looked like you were
enjoying yourself. You had a fine erection going there.”

“
She was rubbing me through
my trousers. Of course I got hard.” Suddenly he grinned. “I like
that you’re jealous.”

“
Dario, I can’t stand
living like this.” Her voice broke. “It’s driving me
crazy.”

He gave her a baffled
frown. “Living like what? I thought you’d adapted reasonably
well.”

Her mother appeared in her
mind’s eye, shaking her head with that look of disappointment she
wore so often in Tariza’s presence.
Look
at you, on the verge of begging for reassurance. From a man. You
were never a true Concordian, were you?

“
Tariza, what is
it?”

“
I don’t know.” She tried
to withdraw her hands. “I’m not jealous. I simply don’t think I
should have to share.”

“
You’re not
sharing.”

She shrugged. “Maybe not
now, but I will be someday.” Lifting her chin, she stared into his
eyes. “I’m a princess, not a slave.”

His jaw tightened. “You’re
a slave now.”

“
Maybe by law. Maybe
according to you. But in my heart, I’ll always be a princess of
Concordia.”

“
What are you
saying?”

What was she saying? She
wasn’t sure, didn’t know what she really wanted. “I need some
assurance of my place here. Permanent assurance that you won’t
abandon me.”

“
You mean like marriage? We
don’t have that in Saturnios.”

She rubbed her hand across
her forehead. “I know.”

“
Why is my word not good
enough for you?”

“
It’s not that I don’t
trust you –”

“
It’s just you don’t trust
me.” There was a storm coming up in his eyes. “You think I’ll go
back on my promise to you.”

“
Things change, Dario,” she
said in a whisper.

“
Not this. I will take care
of you. No matter what happens.”

“
What if you’re not around
to make sure of that?”

“
I’m not going
anywhere.”

“
You’re a soldier. Soldiers
die.”

He frowned. “Are you
worried about me or yourself?”

“
Both.”

“
I can make arrangements
with Mateo to look after you.”

“
He despises
me.”

“
No, he doesn’t.” Dario
shook his head. “He just doesn’t understand how to handle
you.”

“
And you do?” Her brow
creased, her hands curling into loose fists. “I’m not a domestic
animal. I’m a person. I don’t need to be handled; I need
respect.”

“
What do you want me to do?
Should I give you back to Concordia?” His face paled. “That’s what
you really want, isn’t it? You’d like to leave me and go back to
your old ways.”

“
No.” She
shook her head, making loose wisps of hair fly around her face. “I
don’t want to leave you. I –”
Love
you.
“I don’t understand why there can’t be
some middle ground.”

“
Middle ground doesn’t
exist here. I can make legal provisions for you in my will so that
you’ll be provided for. Is that enough for you?”

She stared at him, at the
remote look on his face. He was pulling away from her, no matter
what he said. The compromise he offered was better than nothing,
but it wasn’t what she’d hoped for.

What did you want, a
declaration of undying love?

Yes, that was what she’d
wanted, and now it was obvious she’d never get it.

“
Is it enough,
Tariza?”

“
Yes.” She gave a listless
shrug.

“
Good. I’ll see to it when
I get back from my trip to the country. Now, about that
punishment.”

Tariza drew back. “You’re
really going to punish me?”

“
I have to.” He seemed even
more remote than before. “I can’t let an attack like that go
un-chastised.”

“
What are you going to
do?”

“
Spank you. And you’re
staying home. You won’t be going to the country with
me.”

“
I see.” He was leaving
her, then. “I suppose we’re moving to a standard master and slave
relationship, then.”

“
There’s nothing standard
about you and me.”

“
Only because I’m a special
prize as a slave. All the other slaves hate me for it, you
know.”

“
They don’t hate you.” He
shook his head. “Some of them aren’t sure what to make of you, but
hate you? No.”

Could it be that he truly
didn’t know? “They hate me, Saturnios. If you weren’t so busy
playing Master Of The Universe, you’d have noticed. But you’re just
as oblivious as all the other men around here.”

He glowered. “I’ve given
you a great deal of leeway because of your background, but I remind
you now that I am your master. You will show me the proper respect
or suffer the consequences.”

Didn’t that just sum up the
whole of their relationship? She made a dismissive gesture. “Let’s
just get the spanking over with, shall we?”

“
Then remove your dress and
bend over the table.”

She grasped the blue wool, stripping
it over her head with a defiant gesture. Naked, she threw the
lovely gown to the floor as if it were a rag.

Dario’s eyes lit with dark
lust as he surveyed her form. He pointed. “The table.”

She gave him a level look before
turning and placing her hands on the smooth wood of the table
top.

“
Good. Stay
there.”

She heard him prowling the
room, opening drawers, selecting an item she couldn’t see from her
position. A bit of her defiance left her as she wondered what he’d
do to her. Whatever it was, it was going to hurt.

He struck her ass with an
open palm. She’d thought it would be a crop or perhaps a switch.
Tariza bit her lip as four smacks followed the first in rapid
succession. Damn, they stung worse than usual. She straightened her
back.

He caressed the marks he’d
made with the tips of his fingers. “Quite decorative.”

Fuck you.

The whipping resumed, each blow
stinging so sharply her eyes watered. He was using more force than
usual, and the strikes came more rapidly. She began to flinch,
twisting this way and that beneath the lash of his hand, trying in
vain to escape the torment. But there was no escape.

Then the spanking stopped. She took a
deep breath and tried to still her trembling limbs. Dario cupped
her left breast and rudely pinched her nipple, forcing it to
harden.

Her heart shrank at the
roughness of his touch. He was showing his true Saturnian colors at
last.

“
You have disobeyed me,” he
said in a hard voice. “Will you disobey me again?”

“
Fuck you.”

Smack! Five strikes across her
butt.

“
You shamed me before my
brother and set a bad example for the other slaves.”

Smack, smack!

“
You will never again
behave in such a manner or I will chain you.” Smack! “Is that
understood?”

“
Yes, Master,” she
growled.

“
Do you want to get hurt,
Tariza? Really hurt?”

You already have. You made
me think I loved you.

Smack! “Answer
me.”

“
No, sir.” She choked out
the words.

“
Then learn to control your
violent impulses.”

“
Yes, sir.”

“
Now beg my
pardon.”

Tariza bit back a sob. “I
beg your pardon, sir. I’m sorry.”

“
Are you?”

“
Yes.” Sorrier than he
would ever know.

He tossed the crop to the
side. His big, warm palm clasped one of her ass cheeks and squeezed
the burning flesh. “I hope you’re sincere.”

“
I am,” she
whispered.

“
I am what?”

“
I am, sir.”

“
That’s better. Much
better.” Dario put his arms around her. “I hate punishing
you.”

Then don’t.

Her eyes stung, but she
wouldn’t cry. No more tears for Dario. He would get nothing more
from her, except what he took by force.

He pressed kisses to her
shoulders and the back of her neck. Damn him. He wouldn’t make her
cry.

“
What we have,” he said
softly. “It goes beyond master and slave.”

He withdrew from her body, turned her
to face him. She looked up at him and knew her face was colder than
death.

“
Not to me,” she said in a
toneless voice.

Dario’s head jerked back as
if she’d slapped him. “Tariza –”

“
Know that from now on, I
am your prisoner and your slave. Nothing more.”

His face went pale, his
lips thinned to a flat line, eyes hollow and dead. “Very well. If
that’s the way you want it.”

“
It has nothing to do with
what I want. It simply is.”

He nodded, a quick jerk of
the head that seemed to pain him. Had she hurt him? It was only
fair, after what he’d done to her.

“
We will – we will eat
here.” Dario reached for the bell pull to call a
servant.

“
I’m not
hungry.”

“
You must eat.”

She turned her head away
from his gaze. “Are you going to force it down my
throat?”

“
Of course not,” he said in
an affronted tone.

“
Of course not.”

Tariza knelt on the floor, not
bothering with the cushion. She could sense him watching her, yet
she kept her posture. The perfect slave, obedient and humble. It
was best this way, best they both remember their true roles so
there could be no confusion. No silly fantasies of love.

Dinner came swiftly. The smell of
roasted chicken and fragrant rice turned her stomach. He offered
her food from his own hand; she turned her head away. With a sigh,
he put the morsel in his own mouth.

She ought never to have opened her heart to him.
If she’d kept herself closed off, she wouldn’t be breaking apart
now. It was too late to save herself, of course, but he mustn’t
know. He must never know how she felt about him.

Dario woke
up in the morning to an empty bed. He threw back
the covers and jumped to his feet. She was gone? Had she tried to
run after all? If he didn’t catch her in time, she’d be put to
death for the crime of running away. He took a desperate step
toward his wardrobe, but something on the floor caught his
eye.

Tariza lay in a huddle at the foot of
his bed. On the floor. Her hair covered her like a blanket, but she
had no other covering at all. She looked like Miri, laying there
naked on the cold stone.

She’s only trying to make
you feel guilty.
It wasn’t going to work.
She’d been unreasonable last evening and she was being unreasonable
now.

He gritted his teeth in
irritation and walked past her. She’d have to learn that she
couldn’t manipulate him that way.

He didn’t want to eat with
her. He didn’t want to say good-bye. Dressing quickly, Dario left
the room in search of breakfast. Even though he knew she was trying
to twist him around her finger, twinges of guilt followed him down
the grand corridor, down the staircase, and into the informal
dining room.

He hadn’t meant to hurt
her. He hadn’t even wanted those women Mateo threw at him. How
could she have thought he would? He hadn’t had another woman since
the day he’d taken her. He’d spent nearly every free moment he had
with her. Couldn’t she see he didn’t want anyone else?

He sat down next to Mateo, a scowl on
his face.

Mateo glanced at him.
“Where’s the lovely Tariza?”

“
She isn’t coming with
us.”

“
You’re not bringing a
woman?”

“
No. I’m not. Do you have a
problem with that?”

Mateo held up his hands as
if in surrender. “I don’t care what you do. Please
yourself.”