‘I’ve got to go or I won’t have time to eat before the film starts,’ said Steve. ‘Good luck with the book.’
‘When are you coming home?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know,’ he said evasively. ‘You’ll see me when you see me. Love you, Marianne.’
She didn’t reply. It was obvious what he was doing. He intended to come home unexpectedly, hoping to catch her with the lover his fevered imagination had conjured up. She could understand it. Her behaviour must seem extraordinary, totally out of character, but the truth was even more bizarre.
‘What am I going to do?’ she said aloud. ‘What’s going to happen to me, Edward?’ She half wondered if he’d answer her, if he’d still manage to hear her voice through the many years between them, but nothing happened, and she felt stupid. She was completely alone. Alone to contemplate past and present and try to work out where she truly belonged.
Chapter 9
The following afternoon Marianne was still struggling with her romance novel. She needed to get it to a standard where she felt able to send a sample to Angela, but it was proving difficult. By three o’clock she felt she was beginning to get somewhere, but the atmosphere wasn’t right. Having set the story on the Yorkshire moors, it was important that every detail added to the description, but she felt she was repeating herself and decided to take a notebook and pencil out to the moors to jot down the many sights and sounds she experienced.
It was another windy day, chill despite the sun, and a few threatening clouds were scudding across the sky. For a moment Marianne wondered if she was being wise or whether it would be better to wait a little longer, as the weather could be so changeable. No, she had to get the book in order before teatime.
She set off along the footpath, but after about ten minutes decided to branch out in a different direction. This part of the moor was far more hilly than her usual route, and as she pushed on she grew slightly breathless. The scenery was incredibly beautiful, wild and rugged, and the glorious colours of the heather made her wish she was a good artist and able to capture it all in a painting.
She walked on, deciding she’d go as far as the top of the first hill where she could see a large boulder. The sky was growing darker and it seemed foolish to attempt to go further than that. As it was, it would take her a good twenty-five minutes to get back home.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Edward Sharpe appeared in front of her, as though conjured up by her imaginings. He was wearing dark knee breeches and shiny black boots, while his shirt was white with a ruffle down the front of it. A grey waistcoat completed his outfit. The wind buffeted him, ruffling his shirtsleeves and making his hair dance. His powerful presence filled Marianne with such intense joy that she wanted to fling her arms around him. Only the realisation that she was now Marianne Clifford stopped her.
‘You came, then?’ he said, his brooding eyes fixed on hers. ‘What did you tell my sister?’
‘That I had a letter for the mail coach.’
‘Did she not ask to whom you had written?’ Marianne shook her head. ‘I see. Come along, we haven’t much time.’ Taking her hand, he pulled her up to the top of the hill, as far as the boulder where she’d been intending to go anyway. ‘You should have worn a cape,’ he admonished paternally. ‘The wind is fresh.’
Marianne looked down at herself and saw that this time she was wearing a coarse green linen gown, less warm than her usual woollen one. ‘I was in such a hurry I forgot,’ she explained.
‘You have still to learn patience,’ he said, and then his arms entrapped her and he began to kiss her harshly. She responded instantly, melting into his embrace. She felt him lifting her off the ground, moving her around to the other side of the boulder and out of the teeth of the wind. Then, without warning, he pushed her away and she staggered back against the boulder. ‘Here’s your companion, Judith,’ he said with a laugh. ‘As you rightly guessed, there was no letter.’
Marianne gave a gasp of horror. Clearly Edward had lured her here deliberately, but he must also have alerted his sister to what was happening. She was trapped, betrayed by her own desire for the man.
‘I told you that she lies constantly to me,’ said Judith.
‘But Sir Edward said he wanted to see me,’ stammered Marianne.
‘Why didn’t you tell me that, instead of lying?’
‘Because...’ Her voice trailed off hopelessly.
‘Because she knew she had no right to meet me,’ sneered Edward.
‘You tricked me,’ cried Marianne.
‘I tested you,’ he corrected her. ‘That’s an entirely different thing. What are we going to do with her?’ he asked, turning to his sister.
Judith glanced at Marianne, who had pressed back against the boulder in a desperate attempt to get away from them, knowing all the while that it was hopeless. ‘Punish her, of course,’ she said casually.
‘Fortunately, I’ve come prepared for that,’ replied her brother. At that moment the sun came out briefly. ‘Take off your gown,’ he instructed Marianne. She hesitated, but when he took a step towards her she changed her mind. Within seconds she was stepping out of her dress to leave her standing on the moors clad only in a bodice with ribbons down the front, long cotton drawers and silk stockings.
Without a word Sir Edward started to undo the ribbons, tugging gently, peeling the bodice back from her skin, and she felt the warmth of the sun coupled with the faintest of breezes on her exposed flesh.
He didn’t expose her breasts entirely; instead, he bent his head and began to suck and lick at her nipples through the material. The sensation was exquisite, far more subtle than normal, and despite her situation, Marianne felt her body respond as her nipples hardened and her breasts swelled. His hands were also fondling her through her underwear and, after a few moments of this, she realised that she wanted to feel his touch on her bare flesh, but there was nothing she could do except wait and see what lay in store for her.
While he contented himself with her breasts, Judith slowly pulled down her drawers. She was forced to lift first one leg and then the other as her shoes were removed, enabling Judith to pull off the cotton drawers and discard them. Now the woman was able to slide her hands up the silk stockings until she reached the soft flesh at the top of Marianne’s thighs.
Sir Edward suckled Marianne’s nipples, drawing both flesh and material into his mouth, and her belly began to tremble.
‘She’s starting to get damp,’ Judith noted, her fingers exploring between Marianne’s sex lips.
‘Is she opening up yet?’ enquired her brother.
Marianne gasped as Judith’s fingers intruded yet further, pressing against the entrance to her vagina. ‘Not really.’
‘Perhaps she isn’t receiving enough stimulation,’ he murmured, lifting his mouth from Marianne’s breasts for a moment. ‘The leather belt is in my back pocket, Judith.’
‘I don’t want to be hit,’ cried Marianne, but her protest was in vain. While her brother kept Marianne pinned against the boulder Judith stepped slightly to the side, drew back her arm and then, with practised aim, cracked the belt across Marianne’s stomach, the end just catching her on the hip.
Marianne gave a cry of protest as pain seared through her, but she could feel her nipples tighten even more. ‘It seems I was right,’ Sir Edward observed. ‘Feel her again, Judith.’
Judith’s fingers once more explored the folds of Marianne’s sex, and this time they slid into her more easily.
‘Your pleasure’s very near now, isn’t it?’ Edward asked her.
Marianne knew there was no point in lying to him. ‘Yes,’ she whispered.
‘Excellent,’ he said briskly, and promptly stepped away from her. ‘I think it’s time we removed all her clothes, Judith. Although you used the belt well, it would have been more efficient if it had fallen on naked flesh.’
Mariann
e was horrified. Despite the protection of material the pain had been severe. The prospect of being beaten without anything between the belt and her skin filled her with dread, yet this dread was tinged with a desire she still didn’t understand. ‘Please don’t do this to me,’ she sobbed. ‘I really don’t like the pain.’
‘If that were true your body would tell us so,’ said Sir Edward coldly, and then he did expose her breasts to the moorland air, stripping all garments from her, including her stockings.
The sun had gone in. Marianne’s teeth started to chatter, but whether from cold, fear, or a mixture of both, she couldn’t tell. All she knew was that, despite everything, she was once more filled with a terrible desire to be brought to a climax by this sadistic stranger who gave pleasure with one hand and took it away with the other, leaving her in a perpetual state of bewilderment and need.
‘Face the rock,’ he said as she stood shivering before him and his sister. She turned, and then he pushed her hard between the shoulder blades until her tender breasts made contact with the harsh surface of the ancient rock. It hurt and she tried to draw away, but he merely pressed harder, squashing her yet more.
Then he parted her legs before pressing her lower back forward so the entire front of her body was touching the rough stone. She realised that when the first blow fell her body would rub against it even harder, adding to the pain of the blow. She started to whimper, tears rolling down her face.
‘Why are you crying?’ asked Judith. ‘This is what you enjoy. This is why you came out here. You wanted to meet my brother and be treated like this.’
‘I didn’t want to be treated like this,’ cried Marianne. ‘I just wanted him to make love to me.’
‘My brother’s never made love to anyone in his life,’ retorted Judith. ‘You enjoy the way he gives you pleasure. Why is it different when I’m the one administering the punishment?’
‘It seems to me she’s insulting you, Judith,’ remarked Edward. ‘You must make sure the blows are strong ones.’
Marianne stared at the boulder only inches from her face and tensed in readiness of the first blow. She was expecting it to be on her buttocks or thighs but, when it fell, it was high up on her back, and this time the tip of the leather belt curled round beneath her breast so that a flickering tongue of fire exploded across her ribcage. Throwing back her head she screamed, but a gust of wind carried her protests away.
‘Shout as much as you like,’ said Sir Edward. ‘There’s no one to hear you.’
Marianne knew he was right. Just the same, when the second blow fell she screamed again, the burning intensifying, and after the blow had fallen the pain continued to increase until it threatened to consume her. It was soon apparent that Judith intended to work her way systematically down Marianne’s back, and by the time Judith was striking the lower half of her buttocks Marianne was crying in earnest, her fingernails desperately scrabbling at the unyielding stone.
The pain from the blows would have been terrible enough on its own but, in addition, she was forced to endure torment from the boulder as her skin was grazed by its roughness. Every time her body jerked under the impact of the leather belt the rock agitated her poor flesh.
‘Please, please make her stop,’ she begged of Sir Edward as his sister paused for breath.
‘Are you sorry?’ he asked.
‘Yes, yes I am,’ sobbed Marianne, who’d entirely forgotten what she was being punished for.
‘I’m not certain my sister’s ready to forgive you yet,’ he said in mock regret. ‘Perhaps one more blow.’
‘Please, no,’ cried Marianne.
‘Your skin looks wonderful like this,’ he said, running his fingers delicately over her blazing flesh. ‘So warm and arousing.’ He licked his fingers and she felt a cool, damp sensation on the burning weals as he began to trace their outline down her body. At this dreadful moment, as she awaited the final blow, the agony turned to ecstasy and the liquid warmth began within her once again.
‘Just one more, Judith,’ Edward said, and as Marianne tensed she felt desire knotting her lower belly. Then, as the blow fell and she was forced against the face of the boulder, she felt a throbbing in her clitoris and suddenly she was coming, her muscles pulsating in harsh contractions that took her abused and burning body by surprise.
Whilst Marianne was enduring her orgasm, Judith fell to her knees and thrust two fingers inside her sex. She touched the inner walls with a steady pressure that caused an ache deep within Marianne, an ache that mingled with the final contractions. It seemed to extend her climax so she continued shuddering and gasping as she felt the weathered rock against her cheek.
‘You see,’ said Judith triumphantly. ‘Even I can make your pleasure spill. No doubt it helped that my brother was watching but, far from your wanton behaviour improving, you seem to be even more depraved now than when you first joined us.’
‘I agree,’ said her brother. ‘But we mustn’t give up on her, Judith. It’s our duty to continue to chastise her until she learns how to behave like the lady she’s supposed to be.’
Marianne didn’t dare look at either of them. She remained with her face against the rock and waited for her temporarily satisfied senses to come down from their pinnacle of pleasure.
‘Leave us now,’ said Edward to his sister. ‘I’ll bring her back to the house shortly.’
‘You think she needs further punishment?’ asked Judith.
‘Yes, but not punishment that you should witness,’ he said shortly.
Turning her head a little, Marianne saw a look of annoyance cross Judith’s face, but clearly the woman was also unable to disobey her brother because, with a shrug of her shoulders, she set off down the hill, leaving Marianne alone with him.
For several minutes Edward Sharpe stared silently at Marianne. She felt the flesh on her back prickling where the belt had struck, but the sensation was arousing and she longed, more than anything, to have this man possess her, here on the wild moors; filling her, thrusting so deep. She couldn’t ask him, couldn’t beg to be satisfied; all she could do was wait and hope.
‘Alone at last,’ he said thickly. ‘Now you can find out why I sent for you.’ He began tearing off his waistcoat and shirt, reaching greedily for Marianne. His hands grasped her upper body as he flicked his tongue around her breasts, groaning with need. He was breathing heavily and, without thinking, Marianne was fumbling at his breeches, tugging them down with desperate urgency.
Freed from restraint, his erection sprang up, rock-hard, pressing against her lower belly, and his hands gripped her buttocks tightly, raising her up to meet him. Instinctively she lifted her legs, wrapping them around his waist, and suddenly he was pushing her back against the rough surface of the boulder. The raised weals began to sting afresh, but she didn’t care because she wanted this animalistic coupling where, for once, Edward’s need was as great as her own.
They were both totally lost in the moment. He thrust into her fiercely, his hips grinding against her, and she cried out with ecstasy, because she’d never had a man fill her so completely before. At last, after all the waiting, she was able to trap him deep inside her while he continued to groan with frantic desire.
He thrust in and out of her regardless of her sore back against the boulder, intent solely on his own pleasure. Marianne was almost weeping with gratitude. Their primitive rutting dragged a guttural exclamation from his throat. He bit her throat and his hands mauled her breasts ferociously.
‘What is it about you?’ he grunted through clenched teeth. ‘Why do I want you so much? You should mean nothing to me, nothing at all.’
Marianne heard the words vaguely through her swirling passion, and elation increased her desire as she realised that, behind all the torments and punishments, Edward was indeed concealing an insatiable lust for her.
She felt the first snaking tendrils of her orgasm and knew that s
oon she’d come. No longer was she aware of her abused flesh being rubbed against the rock; all that mattered was the hard fullness of him inside her, the way her breasts were being possessively moulded in his hands and the glorious tightness beginning to pervade her entire body. ‘I’m coming,’ she screamed as the sensations intensified and, when she began to shudder violently, her muscles grasping him in their rhythmic contractions, he finally came as well. His rigid body ground her fiercely against the boulder as his buttocks jerked and his top lip drew back in a snarl of climatic release.
By the time it was over their bodies were drenched with sweat. Edward immediately pushed her legs down to the ground, turning away from her as though anxious to pretend that nothing special had happened. ‘Put your clothes on,’ he said sharply as he began to dress.
Marianne obeyed. She was trembling so much from the incredibly exciting violence of their lovemaking that it was difficult for her, and she fumbled with all the fastenings. At last, when she was decent, she turned to walk back down the hill. She thought Edward was going to remain where he was, gazing silently out over the windswept moors, but at the last moment he caught hold of her hair and jerked her head back, causing her to squeal with shock and pain.
‘Tell no one of this,’ he snarled. ‘If my sister asks what happened say I beat you again. Is that clear?’
‘Y-yes,’ Marianne gasped, his sudden animosity hurting her almost as much as the fist entwined in her hair. ‘Please... you’re hurting me.’
With a grunt of apparent contempt that made her heart sink, he released her, pushing her away. She stumbled as she set off down the track, but all the way back to the house she kept thinking about what had happened before his mood changed for the worse, and how wonderful it had been.
When Marianne got back to the house Judith took absolutely no notice of her. It was as though her companion had ceased to exist. Uncertain as to how she should behave, Marianne went to the kitchen, but Tabitha was too busy to talk and eventually Marianne took refuge in her room until it was time for the evening meal. When she went down to dine she found Edward was eating with them, and her stomach tightened at the memories the sight of him brought back.
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