The Angels' Share

by Maya Hess

  ‘While in the barrels, a proportion of whisky evaporates through the wood and is lost to the heavens.’ Connor gestured upwards. ‘It’s known as the angels’ share.’

  I looked up at the distant rafters of the vaulted barn and suddenly it all made sense. I had been beckoned home by the angels, sent by my father. What was once a thought, my father’s thought, had now become reality. I had finally come home to claim what was rightfully mine.

  ‘Ready to party?’ I asked and once again my head was swimming with possibilities. At last, I was ready to confront Ethan Kinrade.

  * * *

  Fifty or so guests had already arrived but even in the time we were standing in the hallway, having our invites checked and being offered a glass of champagne, a queue of headlights formed down the long drive of Creg-ny-Varn and bizarrely dressed party-goers filtered into the house.

  Again, I was overcome with emotion but fought to keep my feelings contained. How my father would have loved this colourful spectacle filling his home. As instructed, everyone had arrived in fancy dress and no expense had been spared on the outlandish and imaginative costumes. From West Indian carnival outfits with orange and green headgear to belly dancers and naughty nurses and schoolgirls, the women had surpassed themselves in a display of anonymity, because every outfit included a mask of some sort. The men were more conservative, arriving as soldiers and diplomats and cowboys, and Connor was the only king I could see. I gripped his hand tightly as we were ushered through to the Grand Hall.

  ‘Wow,’ I said and twirled as much as my heavy dress would allow. ‘I might hate every cell in his body but he’s done a pretty damn fine job of organising this party.’ At that moment, the music began and the sounds of a small orchestra filled the hall.

  ‘Would you care to dance?’ Connor didn’t wait for an answer but led me to the centre of the floor.

  ‘No one else is,’ I said with a giggle, almost tripping on my dress. Fortunately, I’d remembered to remove my heavy boots and socks and replace them with the red high heels, although dancing in them was going to prove tricky.

  ‘Then all the more reason to take to the floor.’

  ‘That’s what I’ve always liked about you, Connor McBryde. Your desire to be different.’

  ‘To be alone, more like.’ A flash of sadness in his eyes. ‘Something I’m resigned to for now.’

  Several other couples had joined us in the centre of the vast room and were choosing to gallop to the polka rather than meander slowly as we were. I pressed my body against his, immediately sensing the gentle mound beneath his trousers.

  ‘But you’ve got Steph to…’ I trailed off and turned to stone as I heard a small ripple of applause. A number of guests were laughing and thanking and introducing and all of them used the words ‘Ethan’ or ‘Kinrade’. I reluctantly prised myself away from Connor and darted off, scanning the room in search of him.

  Up until now I had doubted that he really existed, but when I caught sight of the black leather, the strapping and buckles and the tight collar around his neck, I knew that he did. I followed him through the crowds, shoving between ludicrous characters with the fast beat of the music urging me forward. For a moment I lost him even though he was taller than most of the guests. I followed the greetings that tracked his passage through the Grand Hall and, my heart exploding beneath my ribs, wished Connor was beside me.

  ‘Ailey!’ A hand caught me from the side, halting my progress, and Steph was squealing in my ear. She looked fantastic in the can-can girl costume that I helped her pick out the day before. The skirt was outrageously short at the front with black and crimson frills, and with her jet-black wig, fishnet stockings and garish jewellery I hardly recognised her. She wasn’t going to let me go before she’d studied my costume.

  ‘That dress,’ she gasped. ‘So perfect. Does he love it? Did the limo arrive?’

  ‘You knew?’ I whispered but hadn’t time to question her now. I stood on tiptoe and searched the room but the chain-bound gimp was nowhere to be seen.

  ‘Looking for someone?’ Steph had to shout above the music.

  ‘Yes, Kinrade. Seen him?’ Several people bumped me and I couldn’t spot him anywhere. There must have been about two hundred guests filling the hall now and thankfully, because of the mask which I refused to remove, I didn’t have the painful experience of greeting the large number of locals who would undoubtedly remember me and be intrigued to hear where I’d been for the last fourteen years.

  ‘Apparently he’s going to give a welcome speech soon. What’s up? You seem so agitated.’ Steph came close and grinned, whispering in my ear. ‘I’m off to find Connor. I have something really important to get off my chest.’ She placed a hand on her breasts, easing them higher in their already precarious position.

  I nodded feebly and the room fell silent. The colourful gowns of the dancing women blurred together in vibrant streaks. I felt the rush of air as the couples swooped past me, and still heard Steph’s words ringing in my ears.

  She was going to tell him that she loved him.

  I was on a crazy merry-go-round, hanging on to a wild horse as it spun me faster and faster. Really, it was my life that was spinning out of control. As I looked over my shoulder, I saw Connor standing alone, bemused, sipping champagne, and then suddenly, almost directly in front of me, was the black, leather-clad figure of Ethan Kinrade greeting more guests. I felt split in two.

  ‘Mr Kinrade,’ I called out but my throat seemed to be filled with sand and he didn’t hear me. I turned to look at Connor through the crowd and now Steph was by his side, her arms flung around his neck and her cleavage pushed up against his king’s robe. She pushed her mouth to his ear – a little kiss, perhaps? – and then she withdrew, laughed and brushed his mouth with her painted lips. Connor’s eyes began searching around the room, no doubt to see if I, his date, had caught him in a clinch with Steph.

  Kinrade approached me, held out his hand as if I was in a line to greet him. Up close, he was larger than I’d imagined. His legs and head were covered in smooth black leather while his upper body remained naked but criss-crossed with a series of chains and straps. He wore gloves and a collar around his neck and, most frightening, a black leather mask that covered his head apart from eye- and mouth-holes. A row of pure white teeth was exposed through the tight mouth-hole so I assumed that he was smiling at me.

  ‘Mr Kinrade.’ I nodded but refused his hand. My heart banged in my chest as I stood dumbstruck in front of the man who had caused me so much anger and resentment during the last few weeks. Unable to hold his mysterious, faceless gaze, I switched my view to the naked skin of his chest and its layer of dark hair. There was a light sheen to his skin, indicating that he perhaps wasn’t quite as cool as he would have everyone believe. And there was nothing I could do to prevent him taking my hand, raising it to his mouth and delivering not a kiss but a bite.

  ‘Ouch!’ I retracted my hand. ‘How fitting that you’ve come as a gimp, Mr Kinrade.’ But he was gone, annoyingly swallowed up by the crowds. I didn’t have to wait long for another appearance though, as he stepped onto a small platform beside the orchestra. I began my journey through the guests, pushing and shoving to get to where he was standing in front of the crowd, ready to receive their adoration in my house. How dare he bite me!

  I caught sight of Connor to my left, still busy with Steph, and I tried to look away but felt drawn to their private embrace. I kept tripping on my skirts so I hitched them up and then I thought I spied Dominic across the room although I could have been mistaken because, of course, he was wearing a mask. I just longed for someone familiar by my side.

  ‘Ailey, that’s never you?’ I turned to see a belly dancer and Zorro. Even through their masks, I could tell it was Liz and Lewis. I could never forget Liz’s sumptuous breasts, the way they oozed over the cups of her sequinned costume bra. ‘You look stunning. Where did you get that dress?’ she asked.

  ‘No time to tell you. Come with me.’ I grabbed Liz�
��s arm and pulled her through the crowds towards Kinrade, who was now holding a microphone. As we drew closer, I realised that the oversized and studded black pouch at his groin was going to be at face height when I confronted him. It was all I could see as I broke through the crowd into the small clearing in front of the stage and I was convinced that I could even smell him – the raw tang of a needy man, who was now only a couple of feet away. Ethan Kinrade parted his lips, revealing a salmon-coloured tongue within the leather head gear. The microphone was buzzing and squealed before he spoke.

  ‘Ladies and –’

  I hurled myself onto the stage. I had meant to step up gracefully but tripped on the endless layers of my skirt and landed at Kinrade’s feet in a heap of fabric and frills. I stood as quickly as I was able, aware that there was a scuffle near the door as two large men in dinner suits headed my way. Someone screamed. Kinrade dropped the microphone as I bumped his legs and so I grabbed it and finally managed to get upright.

  ‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ I yelled through the screeching microphone. Part of my chignon had dislodged and chunks of hair hung limply around my neck. ‘This man is an impostor! He is a low-down scumbag thief and has wormed his way into my family estate to steal what clearly isn’t his.’ Gasps and noises came from the crowd followed by a loud ripple of surprise as I removed my feathered mask. ‘My name is Ailey Callister and Creg-ny-Varn is my family…hey…stop…get off me!’

  I was suddenly on my back with my legs kicking and my arms flailing and beating the two bouncers who carried me away.

  ‘Let go, you big thugs. That gimp has stolen my home.’ All my struggling was useless and seconds later, as I was carried out into the entrance hall, I heard the muffled voice of Ethan Kinrade apologising for the interruption and continuing his speech of welcome to an appreciative audience. As I was dragged down the corridor, I heard applause and whistles for the man who was obviously so popular with the locals.

  ‘You can stay in here until you calm down,’ one of the thugs said, while the other unlocked the door to the library. ‘Mr Kinrade doesn’t want anyone disrupting his party and if you make any more noise, I’ll tie you up to that rack.’

  I was about to yell abuse but thought better of it. I didn’t stand a chance against those two brutes and besides, I knew that I could escape through the trap-door in the floor and hopefully get back to the Grand Hall to have my say. They couldn’t stop me that easily. The two bouncers slammed the heavy oak door and I heard them turn the key.

  ‘Right,’ I said, wishing that I wasn’t weighed down with the ridiculous, albeit beautiful, dress. Even taking two paces in it caused me to trip and move as if there was no gravity. ‘Where’s that hatch?’ I stood by the door and figured out where my father’s desk used to be and therefore where the door to the underground tunnels should be, but the room was so different with its lurid décor and equipment that it was hard to pinpoint the exact spot. ‘Here, I think.’

  I peeled back a rug but there was no trap door. Then I realised that it must be buried beneath the weighty iron bed frame straddling the middle of the room. Kinrade had obviously shifted the equipment around since I crept through the basement a few days earlier. I sighed, realising that I would struggle to move the frame on my own.

  ‘Damn you, Kinrade,’ I cursed as I put my body against the ancient bed, although it hardly looked like a bed any more as it had no mattress but wooden slats, chains and shackles at each corner. It moved about an inch and, as I pushed for all I was worth, I heard a ripping sound as I tore the hem of my dress.

  ‘That’s it,’ I spat. ‘It’s coming off!’ I pulled at the fasteners on the bodice and then fumbled with shaking hands to untie the ribbons that held the skirts together. When the last one was undone, the entire five layers of skirts dropped to my ankles and the bodice hung open, allowing me to draw a full breath. I gathered it up and placed it on a chair. I couldn’t afford any more damage.

  Now, wearing only the basque, panties and stockings that I had borrowed from Liz, I felt more able to move the bed. The deep red lingerie, with its overstated trim and the firm lines of bone that pushed up my breasts into a surprisingly swollen cleavage, somehow made me feel stronger and more confident and gradually the bed began to slide across the boards. I was heaving and pushing and concentrating so hard while leaning over the end of the iron frame, my legs wide apart for better grip, that the sharp sting of a hand on my bottom nearly made me faint with shock. I swung around to be confronted by the gimp. Not only had Kinrade bitten my hand, he had now slapped my ass.

  ‘What do you think you’re doing? How dare you treat me like this! Do you have any idea who I am?’ I was breathless from the effort of moving the bed and now I was suffering a massive adrenalin rush, my heart ramming against my ribs at a frightening rate. None of this was going as planned.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he said and bowed his head.

  He said sorry.

  ‘Why did you smack me? Why did you bite me? In fact, why did you steal my house?’ My words tumbled together and Kinrade didn’t seem to be able to reply. He maintained his bowed head and let out an involuntary sigh. He wasn’t the tower of strength I had imagined.

  Finally, he spoke. ‘You’re right to be upset, Miss Callister. And yes, I do know who you are.’ Kinrade’s voice was quiet and muffled through the restraints of his mask. I imagined that without it he would have sounded a little more forceful. As it was, I could barely make out what he was saying.

  ‘Did you have to work very hard to con my father into changing his will?’ I circled Kinrade in order to intimidate him. He might have caught me in my basque and stockings but it was perfect timing as far as I was concerned. I had never felt so powerful and now, equal in height because I had slipped back into my red high heels, all I needed was to take hold of that chain round Kinrade’s neck and get him tied to the metal frame. His humiliation would be off to a flying start.

  ‘Well?’ His silence infuriated me. Recklessness swelled within me.

  ‘I did no such thing.’

  ‘Do you know how much this house means to me?’ Ethan Kinrade was not behaving like even a quarter of the man I had imagined he would be and, while his body was a thousand times better than the portly, lazy specimen I had conjured, he simply had nothing defensive to say. He caught me looking at the pink nubs of nipple peeking from between the straps that bound his upper body.

  ‘So you were quite content to walk away with my entire inheritance and not feel one bit of guilt?’ I retrieved a riding crop, the one I had used on Dominic earlier, and flicked it against my thigh. Before he replied, Ethan Kinrade breathed in so sharply that he coughed and choked on his own surprise. ‘Dressed like that,’ I added, ‘you’re asking for punishment.’

  It came naturally now, having rehearsed on Dominic, and my hands were itching to lay the crop across his ass. Several hours ago, I would never have imagined that my encounter with Kinrade would result in me threatening him with the beating he deserved, but the man evidently had a penchant for such activities, dressed as he was, and here in with the transformed library, with all the evidence it contained, I didn’t feel in the least bit afraid to deliver it.

  ‘You have every right to punish me.’ Kinrade’s voice was wizened and fearful. Perhaps it was all a trick and he would suddenly pounce and overcome me.

  ‘Take off your leather pants,’ I ordered, not believing for one minute that he really would. ‘Perhaps you should have thought of the consequences before you decided to claim Creg-ny-Varn as your own.’

  Then Ethan Kinrade, all six feet two of him with his wide, angular shoulders and strong arms and ridged stomach and anonymous face, bent down and slowly peeled off his trousers. When he stood tall again, I saw that he was wearing the leather cock harness, the box of which I had found in his bedroom, and that his entrapped penis was already beginning to strain within its limits. I couldn’t take my eyes off it.

  ‘Perhaps you’d understand if you knew –’

  ‘Yo
u’re not in any position to answer back, Mr Kinrade. If I scream, I can have the island’s entire social set witness your unusual taste in underwear and I’ll claim that you stripped me against my will. What’s it to be? Obey my simple instructions or be laughed off the island by your guests?’

  Kinrade opened his pink mouth and I assume was about to offer a feeble excuse but a sharp thwack of the crop across his bare buttocks soon silenced him. I smiled as his cock bulged within the leather harness.

  ‘Follow me,’ I ordered and dragged him over to the metal frame where I had previously shackled Dominic. To my surprise, Kinrade obeyed and I soon had him strapped up with his arms and legs spread wide. As the tips of my fingers burned for a touch of his erection, I was filled with a sudden sense of déjà vu but put it down to the rush of adrenalin and other heady feelings that raced through me.

  ‘This isn’t at all what you think, Ailey.’ His voice trembled although I could sense its natural depth and the desire that it carried. Kinrade was as excited by this situation as I was, although neither of us was about to admit it.

  ‘That’s Miss Callister to you.’ I surprised myself and knew that, aside from the revenge that I had craved for so long, this was simply another naughty scene from the diary I still hadn’t reclaimed. Then thoughts of Connor, who was as far away as ever, drove me to take a sharp swipe at Kinrade’s ass cheek. To my surprise, his pale skin was already decorated with a number of red lines.

  ‘Taken a beating already?’ I said but I don’t think he heard me. Kinrade was too busy twitching and moaning as I trailed the flimsy tip of the crop over his cock. I resisted the urge to wrap my fingers around it and pull it into my mouth for several bites plus a long, deep passage down my throat before leaving him stranded, unable to bring himself to orgasm. I would have done that, if it hadn’t been for the image of Connor freshly branded in my mind. I doubted that he would ever allow me to humiliate him like this and honestly, I wouldn’t want to. My desire for Connor lived in a different psychological compartment in my brain. With Connor, I knew I’d feel as if I’d come home.