'What, all that pervy gear? Er, I dunno ...'
Her speech trailed off and Karen saw her face redden. Rose gazed down at her hands and remained silent.
'I'm sorry Rosie, I didn't mean to embarrass you. There's no need to tell me.'
Rose looked up. 'When they put some of those things on me, well, it's a bit weird like. It makes me feel funny. I can't explain it.'
'You mean, er, not altogether unpleasant?'
if you like,' answered Rose, her embarrassment clearly intensifying.
'Rose,' said Karen, 'it doesn't matter. I understand, I really do.' Rose's face brightened and she pushed back the hair from her forehead. 'I was going to suggest,' Karen continued, 'that we do our lessons outside. There's a seat over the rise, about five minutes walk away. You can see the sea from there and we can have a fag. I'll grab a couple of sandwiches and Colas from the bar on the way out.'
'Sounds great!' replied Rose.
'All right, get your book and I'll switch on the answering machine. Angie's behind the bar. If anyone wants me, she'll know where to find us.'
Rose waited, clutching a copy of Jane Eyre, as Karen locked the office door. They began walking towards the main entrance when Pauline appeared from the bar. Karen would have simply ignored her and continued on, but she approached them directly and addressed Rose.
'I trust you won't be late this afternoon. I do value punctuality.'
Rose glanced at her nervously and replied, 'No, I'll be back on time, honest.'
At that point, they expected her to continue on but she did not. Instead, she turned her attention to Karen and looked her coldly in the eye. 'There's something I wish to talk to you about. It would be in your interest to come up to my office later.' Her face broke into a broad smile, a smile which Karen had long ago come to understand meant trouble. 'Around three o'clock, if you're not too busy, that is,' she ended sarcastically.
Karen held her gaze and replied, 'I'll see.'
Pauline's smile broadened until her eyes wrinkled, then she turned and walked briskly away down the corridor.
'What's up with her?' asked Rose.
Karen thought for a moment. 'I don't know. She usually doesn't speak to me at all.'
'You can tell her to sod off, can't you?' said Rose. 'She can't boss you around, can she?'
They returned to the house at 1.45. The air was warm and still. The afternoon sun blazed across the swimming pool, where Jackie and Kim could be seen bobbing up and down in the water. At the entrance, Rose stopped and gave her attention to something just to one side of the main door.
'Oh look, isn't he cute.'
'That's Pancake, Valerie's cat,' said Karen. 'You must have seen him around before.'
Rose began to tickle the sleeping ginger form behind the ear, causing him to stir and stretch a little. 'I used to talk to him when I was sleeping out in the garden. He kept me company but I didn't know his name. I used to feed him too - did you know?'
'No, I didn't, but I know you'll be in trouble if you're late upstairs. Don't give her any excuses, Rose.'
'No, I won't,' said Rose, pushing open the door, 'and thanks for all the trouble you're going to.'
'It's no trouble, Rose,' said Karen, smiling.
Karen spent some time in the office finding minor or unnecessary tasks to do, pretending for a time that she was not at all concerned about Pauline's invitation - or was it a summons? At three o'clock she stopped and looked at the phone on her desk. It would be easy enough to speak to Pauline on the internal line. Easier than going upstairs into her territory. But that was backing down and Karen had long ago decided that she would never do that.
At five past three, she was locking the main office door and moments later making her way up the front stairs to the first floor corridor. She walked with deliberate slowness, determined to demonstrate, if only to herself, that she was going up on her terms and not on Pauline's. As she turned into the corridor, she was confronted by two figures. Although Karen had glimpsed some of the girls doing maid's duties before, this encounter came as a shock. She could not walk by, pretending she had not seen them, as had happened in the past. Nor could they ignore her as they were supposed to do. They stopped, face to face.
Both Rose and Lorna wore the gleaming black, skintight latex dresses with their abbreviated little skirts. Their legs shimmered in gossamer black nylon and each had on the black patent leather sandals with their exaggerated stiletto heels. There the similarities ended, for Lorna's limbs were free and, had she not been forbidden to do so, she no doubt would have spoken a few words to Karen. Rose was not so fortunate. Her lips were held open by a red rubber ball, planted firmly in her mouth and held in place by a thin leather strap which was seen to be padlocked at the rear. About her waist was locked a wide leather belt, bearing a bright steel cuff on either side which held Rose's hands firmly in position against her body. Her legs were fettered too, with steel ankle cuffs and a short chain. She held a brass tray in front of her, her hands able to grasp it at each end. On the tray were dusters and a can of spray polish.
After a few long moments, Karen unfroze and muttered, 'Oh, I'm sorry,' then continued on past Lorna and her bizarre caddie. At Pauline's door, she hesitated and glanced back down the corridor. Lorna was opening the door to one of the apartments and was about to usher Rose inside. Karen turned back to the door set under its white arch, no different to the door to her own room on the floor above, yet this door was one she would rather pass by. She knocked sharply, just once, and without waiting for a response from within, entered.
Karen had never been inside Pauline's office before but had heard it described on the odd occasion by those who had. Even without foreknowledge, nothing within the room would have seemed out of place. Pauline, seated at her desk, regarded Karen coolly with her wide blue eyes and said, 'How nice of you to call in. Do sit down, won't you.'
'No,' answered Karen, holding her stare, 'just tell me what it is you need to see me about.'
Pauline smiled and looked her up and down, straightening her fingers and placing them together, prayer-like, under her chin. 'Well now, how do I put this without seeming indelicate?'
'Put what?' demanded Karen, folding her arms.
Pauline settled back into her chair. 'Your little escapade with our handyman by the poolside a few evenings ago -' Karen felt her blood chill. Tm afraid you were both observed.'
'Wh-what ... what d'you mean?'
'Not just observed,' continued Pauline calmly, 'but recorded.' Karen felt as if her legs were about to give way but remained silent, her eyes fixed upon Pauline's red lips. 'Fortunately for you, nobody has yet seen the tape.'
'Tape? What tape?' asked Karen hoarsely. 'How could anybody make a tape? You're lying! You're making it up!'
Pauline's face remained cold and expressionless. 'We both know perfectly well what happened, even if it was dark. But that doesn't matter; it being dark that is. You see James had set up a camera using an image intensifier. It was just an experiment to see how well it worked. It's amazing what science can achieve nowadays, isn't it? The clarity of those pictures - just amazing.'
'And ... and this tape,' said Karen, barely hearing herself speak, 'I take it you're ... What are you intending to do with it? Where is it?'
'To answer your second question first, it's in the cellar. I have the key to the cellar door, of course. As to what I'm going to do with it ... well, that is up to you.'
'Up to me - I see. What d'you want? Me to get out, I suppose!'
'When you're good and ready. But, meantime, I'm willing to offer you a deal. Look, do sit down. Over by the window if you like - it will be so much easier.'
'No! Just tell me what you're after and I'll go. If necessary I'll talk to Sonia as soon as she gets back and that'll be the end of both of us here!'
'No, I wouldn't do anything quite as drastic as that. We can come to an arrangement quite easily. It is a simple matter of establishing our roles in this house. We've all had to do it, except y
ou. And that is the problem. And as far as going to Sonia is concerned, why should that worry me? I'll say I was given the tape for safekeeping and would have handed it to her anyway. After all, I'm not the one who's performing on it, am I?'
'You still haven't said what you want!' voiced Karen angrily.
'Oh, I thought I ... No, perhaps you're right. I haven't made myself clear enough.' Pauline stood up and placed her hands on the desktop. 'I said I'd offer you a bargain and I meant it. You shall have the tape - this evening if you want. But you'll have to come down for it and we'll sort out one or two little problems while we're there. Yes or no?'
'I haven't any choice, have I?' responded Karen. She eyed Pauline angrily and clenched her fists at her side. 'But I still don't know what you want! Why won't you say?'
'Oh, I'll make that clear to you later - if you show up that is.'
Karen bit on her lip and looked down at the carpet. 'When can I have it?'
'Tonight. Meet me at the back door and we'll go down and get it.'
'What time?'
'You can be there at 7.30. I'll wait no more than five minutes.'
Karen regarded her for a few seconds, then turned and left the room.
The remainder of the afternoon was not a happy time. Karen worked alone in the office until five o'clock, then returned to her room, showered and changed. She had a hair appointment at 5.30 and, with a few minutes to spare, arrived at the door of the beauty parlour wearing her saffron cotton blouse and white flared skirt.
When Valerie opened the door, Karen looked into her sparkling eyes and smiled. But Valerie was nothing if not perceptive, and although Karen affected a degree of normality she hoped was convincing, it proved at length not to be so. Some twenty minutes later, when Karen sat with her eyes closed and the brush plying her hair, Valerie a?ked, 'Want to tell me about it, deary?'
Karen opened her eyes. 'Tell you what?'
Valerie stopped her work with the brush and laid it aside by the sink. 'I can sense when something's the matter. I know everyone in this house better than most of them know each other. You're upset about something. Very upset, I'd say.'
'I'm not Val, really. I've had a bit of a headache most of the afternoon, nothing more.'
'Oh, is that what it is? Well, I'm almost finished now, so you go and lie down and rest. Come and find me later on and we'll go for a walk around the grounds, yes?'
'I'll see,' said Karen, smiling. But the smile was no more than a matter of facial geometry and Valerie knew that the person behind it was not smiling at all.
When Karen arrived at the bottom of the rear stairs there was nobody in sight. She looked at her watch. It was exactly 7.30. She walked past the end of the ground floor corridor but kept her eyes down, wishing to see no one and not wanting to be seen. In front of her was a short length of passage which ended at a storage room. To her right was the bolted door leading out on to the rear gardens and to her left the door to the cellar steps. She saw that this door was slightly ajar. A dim light showed from beyond it. She stepped closer and pulled the door open. The stairs were gloomy and the light was obviously coming from the room below. She looked about her. Still there was nobody. She waited and listened for a minute, hearing only distant voices from the main corridor.
'I suppose I'd better go along with this,' she breathed, and began cautiously to tread the stone steps.
At the bottom of the stairs was a dimly lit room. Against the wall to her left were set boxes and pieces of equipment, some of which she was familiar with from the secret room between the beauty parlour and Sonia's private suite. The chrome and black leather gleamed ominously in the yellow light of the single bulb. To her right was the entrance to another room - a room of forbidding darkness, but light shone through an arched doorway directly ahead. Beyond the arch she could make out a table upon which stood a number of small items, some of which were vaguely recognisable even at a distance. There was yet no sound, and no sign of Pauline, so Karen moved towards this next room. She began to regret having worn high-heel sandals, for the sound of her footsteps upon the stone floor was amplified and echoed about the walls mockingly. She stopped short of the archway. She could now see the dark wooden table beyond quite well, and see clearly what lay upon it. What she saw caused a stir of apprehension, but the main item of concern was the black video cassette, standing on its end in the middle of the table. She moved forward through the arch, pushing aside a bright steel chain which hung from the ceiling and ended at chest level, between her and the table.
The illumination came from two small lights on either side of the doorway through which she had just passed. She looked about the stone walls at the fittings and restraints. It was obviously a purpose-designed dungeon cell. She could see that there was nowhere anyone could be hiding. The cassette was little more than two metres away and there seemed no reason why she should not seize hold of it then retrace her steps back and out of this place.
She started forward and was reaching out when it happened. Her left arm was grasped from behind. Something cool and hard slipped quickly about her waist with a metallic rasp. Karen at once panicked and reached behind to pull the hands from her but this arm was also seized and in a moment her wrists were secured together by the steel handcuffs.
When she pulled away with a gasp and spun around, Pauline was smiling. But now the situation was quite different and Karen realised with alarm the nature of the trap she had fallen into. Pauline moved towards her quickly, and grabbing her manacled wrists, wrenched them up behind her, forcing her body forward and downwards.
'Let me go!' yelled the struggling Karen, to no avail.
Pauline held her for a moment and Karen felt cold metal pushed between her hands. When Pauline moved away from her and walked into full view, Karen realised that the cuffs were secured to the hanging chain.
i do hope you're comfortable,' said Pauline.
Karen, knowing the futility of struggle, looked up at her angrily from her stooping position. 'You don't imagine you're going to get away with this, do you?'
'Oh yes, I do. If you are to get away with your transgressions then why should I not get away with mine? If you tell Sonia, you will be the real loser. I think we know what I mean, don't we?'
Karen did not reply for she wondered, even in this situation, how much Pauline had guessed or found out regarding her own relationship with Sonia.
Her face was closer to the table and she regarded anew the things upon it. Near to the cassette was a short, black, braided leather whip, a pink vibrator in the shape of an amply proportioned penis, standing on its end, and a rubber ball gag. There, too, was a small tube, which meant little to her for the moment. Pauline had again moved behind her and Karen twisted about as fingers began to release the fastening on her skirt. Her attempts to resist were ignored and the skirt fell to the stone floor. She gasped but did not cry out as the fingers gripped the sides of her black briefs and pulled them down her legs as far as her knees, where they were ripped asunder and cast on to the floor in front of her.
Karen tottered as her right ankle was wrenched aside and enclosed by a steel cuff at the end of a short chain bolted to the flagstone. She knew what was to happen next but reasoned that it would not be in her interest to prolong the affair or to antagonise Pauline further. A moment later, she was held with her legs spread, fully exposed from the rear to the humiliating gaze of Pauline.
Pauline walked slowly around and stood before her. Karen saw how she was dressed from neck to toe in a smooth-fitting, black leather catsuit and short, high-heel black patent ankle boots. She reached about and took something from the table, holding it concealed in one hand behind her back. Karen tensed and attempted to turn around as Pauline moved to her side and said, 'We should have played this little game a long time ago. It would have avoided a few problems, I think.'
Karen could not twist around far enough to keep her in view, but answered, 'Pauline, you've got to release me sooner or later so why go on with this?'
&nbs
p; it's going to be later!' came the voice from above and without warning, a black, latex gloved hand appeared before her face and pushed the large, red, rubber ball directly into her mouth. As the strap at the back of her head tightened, the ball became firm and immovable. There was a last tug and a metallic click as the padlock closed. Karen's eyes blazed in helpless anger as Pauline reappeared, bending before her with a satisfied smile.
'Well, well. Little Miss Prim and Proper under strict control at last! Whatever next?' She watched with horror as Pauline took the black whip from the table and circled her. 'All right, you little slut - now you'll see what it means to get on the wrong side of me!'
The first stroke fell with a burning sting. Karen jerked in the restraints and moaned. The second caused her to cry out louder through the rubber ball but there was nothing she could do to prevent the third, fourth and fifth strokes as they found their mark. Her stifled protests became louder and more urgent as the tears of pain and degradation flowed copiously down her cheeks.
After the sixth stroke, Pauline reappeared and placed the whip back upon the table, at the same time, picking up the tube and regarding the weeping prisoner with satisfaction as she slowly unscrewed the cap.
if you don't know already, you're going to understand what total control really means. It means I can make you cry one minute and make you come the next. It's just the lesson you need, you snooty little cow!'
With a look of callous amusement, Pauline squeezed a centimetre of amber cream from the tube on to her middle finger. Karen's tearful eyes widened with apprehension as Pauline stepped behind and, reaching down through her legs, smeared the cream slowly between the lips of her sex. She recapped the tube and replaced it on the table, wiping the remains of the cream from her gloved fingers with a paper tissue. When she turned back to Karen, she had the vibrator in her hand.
'See?' she said, opening her fingers and lowering the object until it rested before Karen's face. Karen stared at it, transfixed. 'You're going to beg me to use this before long.' Karen stared in mute disbelief. 'But before that,' she continued, turning once more to the table, 'we have to take some more of our medicine.'
House of Intrigue Page 17
