She was sure it was better to be like that. He didn’t want dependent women, and yet he seemed intrigued by Nicola’s swift bending to his will and also by her growing fascination with depravity. As she made her way to the English girl’s room Cassandra vowed that she wasn’t going to change. She was the way she was, and if Nicola proved to be more attractive to the baron then she would have to accept defeat, despite the fact that he seemed to need her more now than at any other time in their life together.
Perhaps, she thought with a blinding flash of insight, he was afraid that Nicola was going to win when he’d originally been certain Cassandra would triumph. Well, it was his game and he invented the rules. All Cassandra could do was be herself and hope that her love, which could never be voiced aloud, would be to her advantage.
Nicola was already awake, lying staring up at her reflection in the mirror above the bed. Cassandra smiled, thinking how unlikely it would have been to have found the girl naked and studying herself in this way a few days earlier. When Cassandra came into the room, Nicola went to pull her duvet over her.
‘There’s no point in being modest, not after last night!’ laughed Cassandra.
Nicola blushed furiously. ‘I couldn’t help it. The drinks, the things you all did to me, anyone would have responded.’
‘No, some people would simply retreat into themselves and be no fun at all,’ corrected Cassandra. ‘The truth is that you’re a very sensual girl, which is a good thing since you’re being tutored by the baron. Now, open your legs, I have something for you.’
‘What is it?’ asked Nicola nervously as Cassandra opened a red box and took out the two love balls nestling against the velvet container.
‘It’s a very simple device but extremely arousing and the baron wishes you to wear it today, partly to keep you stimulated and partly as an aid to learning to use your pelvic floor muscles better.’
As she spoke she very gently rubbed the palm of one hand against Nicola’s vulva, pressing and rotating so that the outer labia parted of their own accord, revealing her vaginal opening.
‘Caress your own breasts,’ said Cassandra.
‘No, I …’
‘Please do as I say,’ said Cassandra more sharply. ‘It’s only to make you more lubricated and ease the way in for the love balls.’
At first Nicola felt very self-conscious as she played with her nipples, but then she caught sight of herself in the mirror above and found it more exciting so that within a very short time her lubrication became evident to the waiting Cassandra who carefully pressed the two love balls into the vagina, leaving the end of the string to which they were attached, hanging free.
‘There, now that was simple enough wasn’t it! Stand up for a moment.’
Nicola stood on the floor and felt the balls pressing heavily against her opening. ‘They’ll fall out,’ she complained.
‘Of course they won’t, but since they’re new to you, they’re bound to feel strange. The nerve endings from around your vaginal tissue and ligaments all feed back to the clitoris, which means that every time the balls roll or press against the sides of it you’ll get considerable pleasure, and quite often the clitoris itself will move against its hood which is delightful.
‘To accentuate the pleasure you must keep flexing your pelvic floor muscle. Just imagine you’re spending a penny and trying to stop the flow. Each time you do that the muscle contracts and the sensation from the balls increases. Try it now and see for yourself.’
Nicola could already feel flashes of mounting pleasure coming from the heavy weight within her, and when she did as Cassandra suggested and contracted her internal muscles the sensation was magnified. She drew in her breath sharply.
‘Wonderful, isn’t it?’ enthused Cassandra. ‘Most of the time, when you’re simply walking, running, or even riding,’ she added thoughtfully, ‘they’ll keep you on the edge of a climax, but sometimes you can actually topple over the edge and have one. If you do, make sure that it’s discreet. The baron doesn’t wish any to be visible to the rest of us.’
‘Suppose he does notice?’ asked Nicola.
‘Then he’ll be displeased,’ replied Cassandra. ‘And his displeasure is something to be avoided, as you’ll see this afternoon.’
‘What’sthepunishmentchair?’askedNicola suddenly.
Cassandra hesitated. ‘It’s a special chair in the room above yours. The baron devised it himself, and anyone who’s used it tries hard to avoid being placed in it a second time.’
‘But whoever loses this afternoon has to use it, doesn’t she?’
‘Yes,’ said Cassandra levelly.
‘Will I be able to see it then?’
‘Possibly, but the baron may wish to reserve your first sight of it for the first time you have to be punished.’
Nicola looked startled. ‘Isn’t it only for staff?’
‘It’s for anyone in the chateau who displeases him, myself included,’ Cassandra said slowly.
‘Did you hate it?’ asked Nicola. ‘Or was it like last night? Was there pleasure too?’
‘It’s different for everyone; it can be used in various ways. Now get dressed, and remember to keep flexing your pelvic floor muscle, the men prefer it to be well developed as it makes their orgasms more intense if you can grip them firmly.’
‘Will the love balls get uncomfortable?’ asked Nicola as Cassandra turned to leave.
‘If they do just remember that you’re doing it for the baron,’ said Cassandra, and the baron, who was watching the two women on his monitor, smiled to himself, knowing that his earlier words had made an impression on his mistress.
They all took breakfast together, and afterwards as they decided how to spend their morning before the afternoon’s entertainment with the maids, the baron sat Nicola in a rocking chair in a corner of a sunny drawing room and with apparent absent-mindedness rocked the chair steadily to and fro as they all talked.
For Nicola it was both bliss and agony. The love balls moved ceaselessly within her, and her clitoris was constantly stimulated by this resulting eventually in one orgasm after another. Although none of them were huge they grew in intensity, and she had terrible trouble in disguising the ripples of delight that kept running through her.
At last he stopped. ‘Is it too hot in here for you, Nicola?’ he asked politely as he went to leave the room with Rupert. ‘You seem a little warm. There’s perspiration on your top lip.’
Cassandra, who’d been watching him torment the girl with some amusement, nearly laughed aloud when Giovanni, who was staying behind at the chateau for the morning, also started tipping the chair back and forth as he stared out of the window and decided whether or not to have a swim.
‘Please, stop!’ gasped Nicola suddenly.
‘Nicola,’ said Cassandra warningly
‘What should I stop?’ asked the Italian.
‘Why nothing,’ purred Françoise, who guessed what was happening. ‘I think though that the baron was right and it is a little warm in here for Nicola. Why don’t you take her for a ride in the country in your sports car?’
Nicola dropped her head at the thought of such intense stimulation but Giovanni loved his car almost as much as he loved women and clearly thought it a good idea. ‘I will collect it at once,’ he announced and went to fetch his keys.
‘You’ll be quite safe,’ Françoise assured Nicola, who was getting up from the rocking chair with relief. ‘He drives fast but well. Better than he makes love in fact, which is simply fast!’
‘I think that’s unfair,’ protested Cassandra. ‘He was superb once I’d given him a few hints.’
‘Really? Perhaps he’s more interested in pleasing you than he was in pleasing me,’ commented Françoise, who had already noticed the way Giovanni’s eyes followed Cassandra whenever she was in the room.
‘I doubt it,’ said Cassandra calmly, remembering too late the ever-present cameras and microphones, and wishing that she could erase her comment.
‘Now we go!’ announced Giovanni, returning with his car keys in his hand.
Nicola nodded, and as she walked across the room she could feel the heavy downward pressure of the love balls stirring within her.
‘Show me your herb garden,’ said Françoise as soon as she and Cassandra were alone.
‘Why? Have you decided to take up cookery?’
‘I’d rather die!’ shivered the young Brazilian model with an exaggerated shudder. ‘No, it is only that they are peaceful places and I need some peace before this afternoon.’
Cassandra knew as well as Rupert’s wife that in the herb garden they could talk undetected, and together they slipped out of the French doors, across the lawn and through an avenue of shady beech trees before emerging into the walled herb garden.
Once there, Françoise sank onto a wooden bench, weathered by the years. ‘Tell me, is Nicola doing better or worse than you expected?’ she asked abruptly.
Cassandra sat down next to her and turned her face up towards the early morning sun. ‘Better in many ways, but I don’t feel that we’re getting to know her at all. At least, I’m not; perhaps Dieter is.’
‘She seems very determined,’ mused Françoise. Does she wish to remain here, in your place, do you’ think?’
Cassandra switched her gaze to the herbs. ‘I imagine so.’
‘But you still love Dieter?’ persisted Françoise.
‘I’ve never said I love him,’ protested Cassandra.
Françoise gave a peal of laughter. ‘You’ve never needed to. It is there in your eyes, your smile, the way you touch him. Rupert thinks it’s very sweet.’
‘Does he really? I’d have thought any kind of deep emotion would have repelled Rupert, not enchanted him.’
Françoise made a small sound of protest. ‘You misunderstand him. He is different from Dieter; less intense it’s true, but far more understanding of emotional commitment.’
Cassandra turned to look at the only woman she could possibly count as any kind of a friend. ‘Do you love Rupert?’ she asked.
‘Naturally; why else would I have borne him twins! To make myself ugly and undesirable was a great sacrifice, but he needed an heir and as his wife it was my duty to give him one. Our marriage is very – how do you say? – open?’ Cassandra nodded. ‘Yes, it is open, but always we stay together.’
‘So he loves you too?’ Cassandra was intrigued.
‘At the moment he loves me. For how long it is not possible to say but provided that I keep myself attractive, continue to amuse him and be amused by him I do not see why the marriage should fail. It satisfies us both.’
‘Dieter isn’t like that.’ Cassandra knew that she sounded envious.
Françoise put a hand on the other woman’s knee. ‘Dieter is very content with you. This game is troubling him. He is afraid that Nicola will win, when all he probably wanted was to worry you and have the pleasure of training someone new as well. He possibly underestimated this little Nicola.’
‘Why won’t he ever talk about love?’ asked Cassandra. ‘Sometimes, when we’re alone together, I feel sure that he’s going to, but the moment always passes without the words being said.’
‘He will never say them.’ Françoise stood up and began to stroll back towards the house. ‘His marriage, his childhood, everything in his life has combined to make him afraid of such a commitment. But if you know that he feels love for you, why does it matter?’
‘Don’t you like to hear Rupert say it?’
Françoise shrugged. ‘Not always. Many times it means that he has done something he is ashamed of, and the words are to comfort him as much as to reassure me. I would rather he showed it, as he does.’
‘If I lose,’ said Cassandra slowly, ‘will Dieter go through with it and make me leave?’
Françoise turned to look at the English woman’s face and met her anxious eyes frankly. ‘Yes, he will make you leave. For him the game is all. It is underway now, and only you can ensure the right outcome.’
‘But if Nicola’s willing to do everything; if she shows more aptitude than I do for things like punishing the maids and taking pleasure in pain, how can I make sure I win?’
‘She is very new to everything,’ Françoise reminded Cassandra. ‘There will come a time, towards the end, when a lot will be asked of her, of you both, because Dieter loves a dramatic ending to his games. It is then that you will have the advantage. Remember the slave auction when you first met him? No one expected you to win, but you did. You have hidden depths, and it is this that Dieter loves. Nicola is a little more upfront, more openly determined, but deep inside myself I believe that there will be a barrier that she finds impossible to cross before the game is over. As long as you are prepared to play to the end, you will win.’
‘Thetroubleis,’admittedCassandraasthey approached the chateau, ‘I can understand how she feels. I was bewitched by him the moment we met, and she’s the same. You feel that without him life would have no purpose!’
‘She does not feel sorry for you; she resents you and wants you gone from here,’ Françoise reminded Cassandra. ‘Save your pity for people who deserve it.’
‘Like Sophie and Monique?’
Françoise laughed. ‘Exactly! Like your two little maids. It will be interesting to see what they have to do in that magnificent gymnasium of Dieter’s, will it not?’
‘Whatever it is, I’m glad I’m not taking part,’ murmured Cassandra.
‘You will enjoy watching though?’
‘Oh yes,’ agreed Cassandra. ‘I shall probably get lost in the excitement very quickly, but it’s one of those days when I’d far rather be a spectator than a competitor.’
‘I have always hated physical exercise,’ announced Françoise, entering the chateau and lying down on one of the settees. ‘That’s why I’m lucky to enjoy sex, it burns up the calories quicker than any workout can do!’
‘Well, you certainly stay slim, so I shan’t argue,’ agreed Cassandra. ‘Now I’d better go and speak to the maids, then I’ll get them to bring us some drinks.’
‘Citrus cordial for me,’ requested Françoise. ‘I wonder how little Nicola is getting on in the Ferrari,’ she added thoughtfully.
‘I’ve been wondering that as well,’ admitted Cassandra as she left the room.
The ride in Giovanni’s Ferrari was proving a consider-able endurance test for Nicola. The bucket-shaped seats meant that she seemed to be pressing down on the love balls all the time, and since the Italian loved to drive fast through the narrow lanes, braking too hard and too late at every turn, the vibrations never ceased.
‘Look!’ exclaimed Giovanni for at least the fourth time since they’d set off. ‘How lovely the churches are here. Imagine the history behind them,’ he continued enthusiastically. ‘I will stop the car here and we will go inside and see for ourselves if the interiors are as beautiful.’
He swung off the road into a shady square where he parked in front of a tiny coffee shop. Nicola climbed carefully out, and as she straightened the love balls rolled together with an audible clicking sound.
Giovanni turned to her in surprise. ‘What was that?’
She was already drenched in perspiration from trying to conceal the numerous tiny orgasms she’d experienced during the drive and the last thing she wanted was further embarrassment. ‘My knee,’ she muttered. ‘I hurt it years ago and it sometimes makes an odd noise after I’ve been sitting still for a time.’
The Italian looked more carefully at her. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes bright and there was an air of sexual excitement about her that didn’t tie in with what she was saying. All at once he guessed what the noise had been. He remembered a girlfriend of his in Bologna who had once worn love balls inside her for a whole day while they went sightseeing, and the noise he’d just heard from Nicola was exactly the same as the noises his girlfriend had made when they’d climbed some steep steps.
With an inward smile he took Nicola’s hand. ‘Then I mu
st help you up these steps. They lead us to the interior of the church I think.’
Nicola looked at the steep flight of steps and her heart sank but he was already ahead of her, pulling her quickly behind him and as she hurried to catch up the clicking sounds became even more audible.
Inside the church was cool and she sat down carefully on one of the pews, but Giovanni pulled her upright and dragged her round to look at the chapel, dedicated to a saint Nicola had never even heard of, while the stained glass windows figured scenes of St Michael fighting the dragon and weighing souls. There was also a large statue of St Joan of Arc standing in a stone niche set halfway up one of the walls.
When he finally tired of his sightseeing, Giovanni hurried Nicola outside and then lifted her onto one of the cobbled walls of the square, leaving her to shift restlessly on the surface as he went off to fetch them both ice creams.
The pressure of the uneven wall against her increased the sensations caused by the love balls and all at once Nicola knew that despite the presence of numerous tourists and locals she was going to have a climax that would be hard to conceal. She felt it stealing up on her. At first just the tiniest of tremors, then the warm glow that suffused her lower stomach and after that the tightening of her entire body as her breasts swelled and her nipples pressed against the cotton T-shirt she was wearing.
Her breathing grew more rapid and in order to stop the feelings from rushing on too fast she clenched her pelvic muscles just as Cassandra had told her, forgetting that this would have the opposite effect.
As Giovanni reappeared carrying two large ice cream cones, Nicola stared at him with stricken eyes and her whole body trembled from head to toe as though she had a temperature, while beads of sweat broke out on her upper lip and across her forehead.
He sat on the wall beside her, handed her an ice cream and then rested his free arm round her so that he could add to her pleasure by squeezing one of her ample breasts. He heard her breath snag and unable to resist the temptation he then slid his hand lower pressing down over her stomach so that the last flickers of her orgasm were suddenly rekindled by the downward pressure and this time she gave a tiny muffled cry and her whole body stiffened.
Cassandra's Chateau Page 20
