Something of her thought processes must have shown on her face, because Logan’s harsh expression softened slightly as he looked at her.
“I’m sorry, but I think the girl ought to know how much you’re sacrificing here.”
“I said enough, James.” Logan’s attention swung back to his solicitor and Lindsey could breathe easier. She, too, looked at the other man, and frowned.
“The girl is sitting right here, and I have a name, you know. I don’t appreciate your tone, or the assumption that I wouldn’t want Logan’s interests protected. I’m fully aware this situation has been forced on him, and I’ll sign whatever the hell you want me to, okay?”
James looked taken aback, while Logan sighed and stepped up behind her. His hand came down on her shoulders and gently massaged the tension there away.
“You heard my fiancée. Talk her through them, so we can get out of here. I have plans for her that don’t involve being stuck in your office for hours.”
“You have, Sir?”
Logan’s soothing movements on her shoulders and neck stopped abruptly.
“I do, girl, and you’d do well not to question them.”
Lindsey had to suppress a completely inappropriate giggle at the way James’s bushy eyebrows shot to his hairline at this exchange. His eyes narrowed in thought, before he shuffled the papers about.
“Something amusing you here?” Hearing the censure in Logan’s voice, her amusement fled as quickly as it had appeared, and she dropped her gaze to the agreement in front of her.
“Sorry, Sir, reading now.”
“Good girl.”
Lindsey bit her lip to stop herself from reacting, but hearing him call her good girl in that tone of voice made the submissive side of her want to do cartwheels. As that reaction wasn’t exactly appropriate in the office, she picked up the papers in front of her with trembling fingers and started to read. Not that she could really take it in, not with Logan’s quiet presence at her back. He kept one hand on her nape at all times, and while the contact was reassuring, it also played havoc with her libido and made concentrating on the task at hand almost impossible.
After James Smitterton had to repeat the same explanation three times, he threw his hands up in the air and positively glared at Logan.
“For heaven’s sake, stop hovering over the girl. You’re making me nervous. Go and sit down, and stop touching her. I need her to concentrate on the papers, not on how much she wants to suck your dick right now.”
Logan roared in laughter, while Lindsey wanted the chair to swallow her whole. Heat flooded her cheeks and she didn’t know where to look. Logan, much to her surprise did sit down. Not that it helped much, because he sat right next to her, and she was still far too aware of his every move. The way he fingered the button on his jacket as he opened it to sit down, the way the fabric of his suit tightened over his thighs as he brought one leg over the other and rested his large hand on his ankle. Had it not been for the muscle flexing in his jaw, he would have been the picture of nonchalance.
“There, I’m sitting. Happy now?” he asked James, and the other man shook his head and laughed.
“The jury is out on that one, though, seeing the effect you two seem to have on each other, I’m happier than I was. This might just work between you two after all.”
Logan mumbled something under his breath, and James turned his attention back to the papers in front of her.
“Now, Lindsey, like I was saying…”
* * * *
This was taking too fucking long, and Logan’s patience was its end. He barely resisted the urge to punch his old friend for that inane statement. At least, he seemed to have softened in his stance toward Lindsey. James had automatically assumed her to be a gold digger when Logan approached him with his plans to marry a woman nineteen years his junior.
He cringed under his breath as he recalled some of the far-from-flattering adjectives the other man had bandied about, especially once he found out that Logan wasn’t marrying for love.
“You’re insane to want to go through with this. It will clean you out, and for what? You don’t even love the girl. I guess I could understand it if you did, but this is just throwing money after bad. The high and mighty Lord Callan-Brannan will not thank you for this. The man is an addict, for starters. The clinic alone is expensive, and then you want to settle his debts and buy him out of the mess he got in with Montgomery? Fuck no, and don’t get me started on Kevin Montgomery. This will piss him off big time. Marrying into the Callan-Brannans was supposed to give him standing over here, a veneer of respectability. He’s not going to appreciate you snatching that away from him.”
Logan had shrugged his shoulders.
“You let me worry over him. I know enough about his shady dealings to put him away for a very long time indeed.”
“That’s what I’m worried about, Logan. What if he decides to have you taken out, because you’re in his way?”
“The man is an ass, but he hasn’t yet added murder to his repertoire. It’s not his style. He likes to intimidate, and blackmail. It’s all about the money for him. Once he’s got that, he’ll move on, you’ll see.”
James had sighed and run a wary hand over his face.
“Yes, you’re probably right there, but the money. Jesus, Logan, that’s half a million you have to liquidate. It leaves you with nothing but your income from your vet practice and Elena’s money, and I know damn well you’re too stubborn to touch that. Just like you won’t touch Lindsey’s inheritance, it seems. This is foolhardy to the extreme, Logan.”
“It’s only money, James.”
It was a sentence he found himself repeating now, as Lindsey put her pen down, shook her head and looked at him.
“I can’t sign this. It’s not fair. You’re spending god only knows how much to bail my father out, and I know it must be a lot, because of how desperate he’s been, and then you won’t even take my inheritance. Please, Logan, take it. I won’t need anything bar an allowance, and I do have my job at the bar…” Tears filled her eyes as he shook his head at her.
“No, this is non-negotiable. That inheritance is yours to spend or not spend as you see fit. I will not take a penny from it, and this agreement ensures no one else can take it, either. You’ll figure out what you want to do with it in due course, and I won’t stand in your way, unless you want to use it for your father. That, I will not allow, ever.”
She blinked but remained quiet, and, gentling his voice, he reached across the space between them to take her hand in his.
“Naturally, your mother will always have a home with us, should she need one.” He smiled grimly at her nod, and the way her lips firmed into a thin line. “I suspect she will do, because as much as I hope this stint in rehab will give Maurice a new chance, I’m not convinced he will not revert to his old ways. For your and your mother’s sake, I hope he does, but I’m never going to lie to you, and you need to prepare yourself for that possibility. If he does, he’s on his own. I will not help him again.”
“I know, Sir.”
His chest tightened in a rush of affection, hearing her whispered reply. His brave little bird, and he realized with sudden clarity that she was his, or at least she would be once she had signed that damn agreement. He vowed there and then to be the best possible Dom and husband he could be to make their marriage work. Theirs might not be a love match, but James was right on one score. He didn’t seem capable of keeping his hands off of her when they were in the same room, and the more time he spent in her company, the more urgent the need to claim her as his, scribe her fair skin, and to ensure everyone knew that this woman was his, and his alone.
He cleared his throat to get rid of the unexpected lump of emotion, and handed her back the pen.
“Sign the papers, baby. I promise I’ll look after you.”
A shudder went through her when she took the pen off him.
“I know you will, Sir.”
With a wobbly smile at James, who
watched the proceedings with a frown, she started to initial each page as indicated and finally signed her name at the bottom with great flourish.
“There, but I’m signing this under protest, just so you know.”
Logan smiled at her, took the pen out of her fingers, and signed his part.
“Duly noted, little bird. Bear in mind, however, that your signature also means you’re my sub, and sass like that will not go without suitable consequences.”
Her sharp intake of breath was music to his ears, and he took only half-hearted notice of James witnessing the signatures.
“You did read that bit in the agreement thoroughly, right?” He knew she had spent a good long time perusing the list of soft and hard limits she had to fill in as part of the agreement. Overkill on his part, more than likely. Elena and he had certainly not felt the need for such formality, but their relationship had evolved far more naturally, and besides, James had insisted on it.
“Trust me, Logan, if you must go through with all this, at least make that part formal. It will protect you both. This isn’t the club, after all. This is your life, and before you jump down my throat, I’m here to tell you these things both as your friend and solicitor. You don’t want to be brought up on assault charges if it all goes pear-shaped.”
Logan still thought it was overkill, but, considering James had barely escaped such a charge himself recently, he let him put that part in.
“Yes, Sir, I did.”
Logan smiled as she squirmed under his silent regard. Time to ramp this up a bit and to test her.
“Good girl. Now, bearing that in mind, tell me, are you wearing underwear under that sinful dress, specifically knickers?”
Lindsey’s eyes widened in seeming shock at his question, and James smirked. If he didn’t know she was an experienced submissive and had been in employ at the club for over a year, Logan would have thought her a complete innocent. Maybe she just wasn’t used to be addressed like this when she was not in disguise. That had to be it. It was certainly the only thing that made sense.
“Sir?”
Her gaze darted between him and James, and she smoothed down the hem in her dress in a tell-tale nervous gesture that brought every protective instinct he had kicking and screaming to the surface. He had missed this.
“Have you suddenly developed a problem with your hearing or did I simply not make myself clear?”
He put his hand out to stop the frantic movements of her fingers, and she threw him an imploring glance from under her lashes. Naturally long, they showcased her chestnut eyes perfectly, and the need to please he read in their depths made him smile.
“No Sir, I understood you, but, please…”
Again she glanced toward James and Logan took pity on her.
“James is in the lifestyle and nothing we say or do will shock him on that count, so…”
His amusement deepened at her whispered, “Oh.”
“Yes, oh, indeed. So, again I ask you. Are you wearing knickers? And if so, what sort?”
Heat rose in Lindsey’s cheeks, and she dropped her gaze to the floor, before she murmured her answer.
“White ones…Sir.”
His lips quirked at the pause before she added the title, and James, too, barely held in his amusement. It seemed Lindsey was going to be bratty. Well, now he could have fun with this, for sure. His earlier bad mood dissipated in a flash.
“So, my little subbie thinks she’s funny? That’s an extra swat you’ve just added to your punishment, girl.”
Her head shot up at his words and she fingered the hem of her dress again.
“Punishment?” she asked, and Logan didn’t miss the hopeful note in her voice. Little minx.
Steepling his fingers in front of his face, he leaned forward to study her, and she swallowed hard as the silence between them grew. It was only when she dropped her gaze that he elaborated.
“Yes, indeed, you have an impressive tally so far, so I wouldn’t add to it any more, girl. I will ask this one last time. What sort of knickers? Better still, just take them off and give them to me.”
Lindsey gasped and threw him an imploring look, before she glanced at James.
“Is there a problem, girl?” Logan dropped his voice on purpose and a shudder went through his unruly subbie.
“No, S-Sir.”
“Good girl.”
He held his hand out in a silent demand, and after a moment of hesitation, Lindsey got to her feet and proceeded to shimmy out of her underwear. He had to grin at the way she kept glancing at James as she hurried through the act, embarrassment heating her cheeks, before she crunched the white lace into a ball and handed it to him.
“Good girl, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?”
Chapter Eight
Cheeks flaming, Lindsey sat back down, and tugged at the hem of her dress, wishing she was anywhere but here right now, with Logan’s solicitor watching her every move. Where was a mouse-hole to hide in when you needed one? Not that Logan—Sir, she mentally amended in her head—would let her.
Judging by the small smile that played around his full lips he was enjoying seeing her squirm.
“Answer my question, girl.”
Oh god, what had he asked her? Too focused on not flashing her where-for-alls at James, she hadn’t really registered Sir’s question.
His sigh made her look up, and promptly wished she hadn’t, because Logan was slowly uncurling her underwear. Her heart stuttered to a stop, when he made a big show of studying them, because there was no way on earth he would miss how wet the gusset was.
“Hmm, interesting indeed.”
James cleared his throat, and Lindsey stopped breathing when Logan lifted up the material, held it up to his nose, and inhaled, all without once breaking eye contact with her.
“So wet for me already. It’s rather delightful, little bird.” He leaned forward, put the bikini briefs into his pocket, and smiled at her. Sinful didn’t even begin to describe that smirk, and Lindsey’s insides tightened in delicious anticipation, especially when he readjusted the all-too-noticeable bulge in his trousers. Her pussy clenched in need, and, winking at her, he finally looked away. Released from the strange spell he had her under, Lindsey drew a shuddering breath into her oxygen-starved lungs.
“I take it we are done here now, James?”
The solicitor nodded, and, rising to their feet, the two men shook hands.
“Yes, we are. I’ll have certified copies sent to both you and Lindsey.”
Logan nodded, and when James held his hand out to her, she took the hint, scrambled to her feet, and took his hand to shake. He held onto it when she tried to pull away, and smiled at her.
“Please forgive my earlier surliness when you arrived. It was unprofessional of me and shouldn’t have happened, but I’m Logan’s friend foremost and his solicitor second.” He glanced at Logan when he said that, and Lindsey caught Sir’s dismissive hand gesture out of the corner of her eyes. “I had concerns, which have lessened considerably since I met you.”
Something about his tone of voice grated on Lindsey, and, snatching her hand away, she glared at him.
“Well, I’m so glad to hear that, of course, Mr. Smitterton. I won’t lie awake at night wondering what you think of me now.”
Grudging respect showed in the man’s eyes, which made Lindsey feel better about her sudden outburst. Lord only knew where that had come from, but how dare he judge her before he’d even met her, and she might be standing here sans knickers, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t owed respect. She wasn’t his submissive, damn it.
“Little bird, there’s no need to be rude.” Logan’s murmured words in her ear as he stepped up to her and placed his hand in the small of her back did little to quell her annoyance.
“It’s all right, Logan. I don’t blame her. I best let you both go. I have another client due in ten minutes. I fear this encounter will not be half as entertaining as our meeting was.”
James looked her up a
nd down, and Lindsey had to bite her lips to stop herself from making a snarky reply. It was strangely freeing, however, to find her sassy side didn’t seem to be reserved to her disguise after all.
Even more so, because Logan let it pass, for now, at least. Instead, he grasped her elbow and guided her out of the building, his face an unreadable mask, as she dutifully followed where he led.
“Did you bring your car?” he asked as they approached the foyer and stopped outside the set of elevators.
“No, I took the tube. I don’t like driving in Central London.”
He nodded, stabbed the button to call the lift, and when the door silently swooshed open, he ushered her inside and let go of her.
Lindsey felt strangely bereft without his hand on her, and held her breath as he reached across to push the button for the basement without looking at her.
Blowing out a breath, she settled for studying him under her lashes. Was he angry with her, pleased, or indifferent about the way she’d acted toward his friend? He was hard to read at the best of times, and right now, he didn’t even acknowledge her existence. As to what he would do to her when they were truly on their own, she had no idea. She wasn’t sure whether to be frightened or excited at his earlier mention of punishment.
Any sensible person would be worried, especially as she had never seen Logan dish out a punishment. He didn’t scene at the club, just observed, did his stint as Dungeon Monitor like all the dominants did, and apart from the odd scribing demonstration she had been told about—she had stayed away on purpose, so never observed—Lindsey was very much in the dark about his likes, wants, and needs as a Dom.
He could be an all-out sadist for all she knew, but judging by his reaction to Alexej bidding on her, she thought it safe to assume he wasn’t.
Besides, she couldn’t recall ever having seen Elena covered in bruises in the same way as Peyton regularly was. Thoughts of his wife made her scowl as the doors opened and they faced the underground carpark. With one hand on her back, he guided her around a number of cars until they reached his silver BMW. Before she could process his intention, his hand slid to her ass. The unexpected pinch made her miss a step, and she gasped when Logan whirled her round and pushed her up against his car.
Auctioned to the Gentle Dom [The Spectrum Auctions 5] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 9
