“Do we have an understanding now?” he asked softly.
Meekly, she nodded her head and briefly wiped her tear-stained face against the sleeve of her dress. “Yes, Poppa.”
“Good. Go clean up and when you are finished, I will cook dinner. After I’m done, you are to do the dishes again without being told. Understood?”
“Yes, Poppa.”
Harrison took her hands in his. “I really didn’t want to have to spank you this time, Nessa. As I told you before, I’m just afraid that if I allow you too much freedom to disobey me, then you will become increasingly defiant and incorrigible. I don’t want that for either of us. For now, on, I will tell you one time only and after that, if you chose to test me, you will find yourself over my knee again. I don't care if there are witnesses to the event, either. Understood?”
Her lips quivered as she again nodded, unable to look at him in the eyes. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her onto his lap, rocking and smoothing her hair as he shared how she was treasured. Secure in his arms, she gradually relaxed and nestled her head against his shoulder.
“It’s not fair,” she whispered.
“What’s not fair?” he asked, cuddling her.
She looked at him with big, brown eyes. “Life. I was forced to wait until I grew up to finally have someone who cared about me. All those years that I lost was such a waste.”
“You have many, many more years of being cared for and loved, precious girl. We were meant to be together; you know that.”
“I fear that you are correct.”
“Why fear?” He leaned his cheek against her warm head.
“Because I am finding myself being more and more unable to resist falling into this childish mode with you. I don’t know how or why, but you have removed nearly every ounce of sensibility and adulthood from me.”
“Sweetheart,” he lifted her chin to look at him. “You spent your entire childhood having to be an adult. Now is the time to learn to be free.”
“Even if it hurts?”
“Even if it hurts. I told you before; I enjoy childlike behavior when it’s appropriate. I also enjoy being able to help break you down to the basics and built you back up so that the only pain you feel is that on your backside, not in your heart.”
“I’m starting to fall in love with you. That terrifies me,” she admitted. “It’s too soon, and I barely know you.”
“You know me as well as you know yourself. We are cut from the same fabric, divinely designed as soul mates. Together, you and I will be a powerful force that will help many people. I just need to be assured that I receive your submission and obedience, as well as your promise to speak the truth with respect.”
“I can only try. None of that comes easily to me.”
“As you grow to trust and love me, it will.” He paused, examining the downcast look on her face. “It’s very difficult for me to say this, but I am also growing in affection towards you.”
Her heart sank. “Like a true Englishman, love is saved for his horses and dogs while his wife is allowed affection.”
“That’s not what I meant. Nor am I an Englishman.”
“I guess we both are afflicted with saying things that we don’t mean, aren’t we? Excuse me; I have chores to complete,” she said, feeling a surge of unexplained anger. She pushed herself from his hold and headed straight for the sink. She avoided any conversation as he prepared a fragrant lemon and garlic seafood stew of queenies, the local sweet scallops. Dinner proceeded with an uncomfortable silence after which Vanessa quickly completed her chores and went up to her room without so much as wishing him a good night. She latched the door firmly behind her, ignoring Harrison’s requests to allow him access. She waited until the sound of his footsteps retreated down the hall and then curled herself into a ball and wept bitterly.
How could she be experiencing such deep emotions for a man who treated her so poorly? Maybe poorly was the wrong word, she muddled. He was attentive, caring, sensitive and engaging. He welcomed her intelligence and wit, listened to her ramblings with intent interest, and elicited her opinion in things that women were traditionally banned from knowing. No, he didn’t treat her poorly at all. True be told, his treatment mimicked what she had perceived love to be. Why did she need to hear him say the words, then?
Foolishness, that was why. Romance and love were luxuries that most nobility could not afford. It made a person weak and gave the enemy an Achilles heel to work against them. He had been honest with her from the beginning, including his motives, interests, needs and desire for them to develop. He was much older and more experienced than she, with better control and understanding of the emotional state. She couldn’t fault him for not succumbing to what she interpreted as love and knew that her expectations were unfair to him.
The manor was dark and silent as she tiptoed down the hall towards Harrison’s bedroom late into the evening. She quietly pushed the door open and crept to where he lay sleeping in the large, overstuffed bed. Crawling onto the mattress, she kneeled next to his sleeping form and touched his shoulder.
“Harrison?”
“Hmm? Nessa? Are you alright?” He lit the lamp on the nightstand and turned over to look at her.
“No. I’m sorry. I was not very kind to you, and it’s my fault. I was angry.”
“Why were you angry?”
“I don’t know. I guess I wanted to hear you tell me what you haven’t yet felt in your heart, and when I didn’t, it hurt. I feel like an idiot. I shouldn’t have said anything in the first place and made a fool out of myself.
“No, you didn’t. Lay down,” he said, patting his chest. She snuggled next to him, and he continued. “Expressing my feelings is difficult for me, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t have them. When I tell you that I love you, it will be when I feel it to the depths of my soul. For me, it’s a declaration of eternal commitment and represents a different kind of love than I feel for anyone or anything else.”
“I know. I probably sound desperate to you, don’t I? I’m just so scared.”
“Not desperate, but insecure. I’m with you because I have chosen to be and it is my intent to give everything I have to this relationship. It will just take me some time to open my heart fully. I’m just as frightened as you are.”
“You are?”
“Yes. I’m surrounded by lives that I am ultimately responsible for, and it forces me to reflect on my mistakes and character flaws. I want to do right by you and make you the happiest woman in existence, but I can’t compromise my integrity or beliefs while doing so. Nor will I lie about my feelings. You deserve better than that. My fears are vivid, and I have to find a way to reconcile them.”
“What are you afraid of?”
“I’m afraid that my system might cause you emotional harm, and you will end up hating me.”
“But it’s your system that’s opening me to love. I want to be here with you and ask that you forgive me of my selfishness. I realize that I have a lot to learn, and I’m glad that you are the one who will teach me.”
“Tomorrow will be a new day. Go to sleep now and let’s start fresh. The beauty of corporal discipline is that you are given a clean slate every time, and nothing is held against you.”
“Unless you are Bess and your brother. Their punishment will last an eternity.”
Harrison was silent. Several minutes later he finally spoke. “You’re right. Dear God, you’re right.” He sounded distressed. “I’ve wronged both of them by holding their past transgressions against them when our entire disciplinary structure is about forgiveness after the price is paid. I need to make this right. Damn!”
Surprised by his reaction, Vanessa placed her hand on his arm. “I didn’t say that to upset you.”
“Your words upset me because I suddenly realized what a hypocrite I am.”
“From what I heard, you were willing to take your brother into your home and help him.”
“Yes, and yet I still keep Bess serving in a r
ole that constantly ridicules and demeans her. I need to make changes immediately. I just don’t know how since much of it is on the civil side and is under my father’s control.”
“Would he be open to discussing this?”
“My father doesn’t discuss anything with anyone unless it benefits him. How could I not have seen this falsity in our beliefs? How do I begin, Nessa? Tell me how to make things right.”
The genuine appeal for help touched her heart. “I would probably start by sending a letter to your brother. As for your father, maybe I can help. If I get a chance to talk with him, I could ask questions that might provoke him to the same conclusion as you came to.”
“No. He will crush you. Father’s view of women is not respectful. I’ll handle it. As for my brother, he vowed never to return. I’ve asked him several times and was refused.”
“Harrison, you handle everything! Please let me help you. You said that you wanted me to be in a position of First Lady once we marry, which means I will need to gain your father’s respect.”
“Let’s sleep on it. I’ll give you my decision in the morning.”
“If you insist. There is something that I wish to do to encourage you, though. Please don’t deny me,” Vanessa said, running her hand along the length of his hard, naked torso and resting it on his thigh.
“What do you have in mind?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Lifting herself to a kneeling position, she flung the covers back to expose his unclothed body and gaped at the growing erection that already reached to his belly button. Her mouth went dry as she stared at the swaying beast. “Oh my, you are magnificent. It’s so beautiful.” Her hands trembled as she gently surrounded his girth using both hands. She lowered her mouth to the hard rod and ran her tongue along the sensitive underside and along the ridge of the mushroom-shaped head. “You look so different that the other.”
“Some cultures circumcise the boys. My mother heard of it and had it done to my brother and myself. She apparently didn’t like the appearance of my father’s member and said that she wanted to make sure that Jonathon and I weren’t the same. I think that was the beginning of their animosity towards one another.”
“Your skin is so sweet and soft. Does this feel good?”
“Mmm,” he murmured, stroking the back of Vanessa’s head as she took the head of his cock into her mouth. “Honey, you are going to make me want to make love to you if you don’t stop this.”
“Then do it.” She pulled her mouth off him, twitching her jaw after discovering that he was much too large to go past her lips. She lifted her nightdress and straddled his hips, rubbing her wetness against him.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Hurt me, Harrison. Teach me what Swinburne meant when he wrote the words about the queen of pleasure and the king of pain.”
Growling, Harrison flipped her to her back and pinned her to the bed. “You don’t know what you’re asking for.”
“Then show me. I am holding nothing back from you and giving you my trust.”
Ripping her nightdress down the center, he exposed her perky breasts and latched his mouth to a rigid nipple, biting down until she cried out in pain. He held her arms over her head and repeated the action on her other side, sinking his teeth into the rose-peaked flesh until her protests rang clearly through the air. His teeth followed a course of nips and bites along her ribs and belly, leaving tiny patches of red marks in their wake. Without notice, he flipped her onto her stomach and covered her back, bottom and thighs with love bites as well.
“This is your last chance.” His voice was muffled against her back. “You may stop this madness now or tell me if you want to have me face to face or from behind.”
“Take away my choices,” she purred as his teeth were embedded in the soft flesh of her inner thigh. She gasped as he tied her wrists to the headboard with silken ties that had been produced out of nowhere, and forced her to her knees. Two soft ropes were looped around her upper thighs and also attached to the headboard, preventing her from moving out of the position while splaying her knees farther apart. Leaning over her back, he pushed her face firmly against the mattress and then ran his hand from the back of her neck and down her spine until it landed in the crease between her rounded cheeks.
A sharp yelp followed the slap that colored the still pink, tender globe. He administered another to the unprotected target, emitting an animalistic grumble as she balked against the pain. Slowly and rhythmically, he rained smack after smack across the jutting bottom and thighs until her protests turned into light tears and seductive groans. He became the embodiment of Swinburne’s king of pain, his palm wet with the juices that ran down the sides of both thighs as he increased the intensity of the spanks.
“Beg.” The single command was thick with lust. She did not have to be told twice.
“Please fuck me,” she moaned, her restrained hands tightening into fists. “Let me feel you inside me. Take me; I beg you.”
She felt the tip of his cock press against the soft entryway of her womanhood and held her breath in fear and excitement. He had not exaggerated when he compared his girth to that of the marrow squash picked in the garden, and she had not yet been able to see if she was, indeed, capable of taking its size into her body. Inch by inch, he moved his rod past the tight, resistant folds and slowly introduced himself to her womb. She sobbed as he filled her, stretching her beyond her greatest imagination, and experiencing arousal like never before.
Seated inside her, he waited until her body relaxed its grip on his cock before he began to move it in and out of the soft, wet sheath. Vanessa flexed her bound hands, alternating between clutching the bed sheets to making a fist as his speed increased and brought her to yet another level of sensuality. Each stroke entrenched him deeper within her until she felt the heat of his pumping groin slapping against her spread bottom. The pain had fled and was now replaced by a craving to fly over the precipice of pleasure and soar into the valley of ecstasy.
A single touch of a finger to her clit was all it took, and she screamed out her delight. His carnal roar joined her, filling her body with his steaming hot seed as he blanketed himself across her back and held her hips steady to keep himself buried inside. The world spun around her, so great was the intensity of her orgasm, and she slowly sunk into blissful darkness.
Chapter 12
“Good morning, sleepy head.” His deep voice crooned in her ear. “It’s time to wake up.”
Vanessa opened her eyes to the stream of sunlight that filtered through the glass window of the bedroom. The movement to cover her eyes brought about tender aches from her wrists to her overly stretched womanhood. With little exception, it appeared that very little of her body had escaped the delight of pain. Even her bottom hole felt used after experiencing the excessive pounding of his pelvis against the delicate flesh. She was sore, exhausted and dreamily content. The clinking of dishes made her turn her head in the direction of the noise. He had brought her tea and toast.
“How are you feeling?” Harrison asked with concern, fluffing pillows behind her back as he helped her to sit up.
“Every part of my body is hurting,” she responded, accepting the cup of tea. “I couldn’t be happier. I just worry that you might have injured me.”
“There is no sign of blood,” he said gently, holding the jam-covered toast to her mouth. “I warned you of my size.”
“Your size was beyond my hopes and dreams, so please don’t look so worried. You have left me very satisfied.” She grinned and then added with a giggle. “I do ask for a few days to recover, though. I think I might be walking rather oddly today.”
“How about sitting?”
“That is another issue. The thought of anything hard under my bottom leaves me wanting to squirm.”
“Good. That means that the spanking you received was adequate,” he said with a smirk.
“The one last night or the one I received prior to that?”
“Both,
my darling. The one I issued last night was purely for pleasure.”
“Whose pleasure? It certainly was not for mine.”
“Your body responded to it most favorably,” Harrison said, tracing his finger over her naked breast. “Either way, it filled my desire. Nothing arouses me more than a reddened backside and thighs. I have a bath preparing for us to enjoy together, and then we can ready ourselves to attend church.”
“Is there any talking you out of my going?”
“No. We have to face my parents eventually, and the church is the safest and most neutral of places. As I said, the caramels will bring my father to a better disposition.”
“I still think you need to leave those caramels at home with me.”
“Not a chance, my love. I am also going to be hiding my chocolates since you know of their secret location.”
“That’s terribly selfish of you to keep those from me, Poppa. You should be ashamed of yourself to keep sweets from your little girl,” she scolded playfully, accepting another bite of toast.
“Not really. They are special chocolates from Italy and filled with liquors. They can make one tipsy and need to be taken carefully. I save them for special occasions like when my father comes to see me and starts becoming unreasonable. You would be surprised how many things I can urge him to agree to after he’s had a piece of chocolate or two.”
“That explains my reckless words. I had three pieces,” she confessed.
“Three? You’re a little piggy, aren’t you?”
“When it comes to chocolates, I am. I must admit that I do enjoy the rebellious side of your nature as well. Given the need to save your special chocolates to reduce the aggravation caused by your father, I will cease my begging for them and return my interest to those caramels.”
“No caramels for you today. Period. Not even a nibble, understand?” He sounded serious.
With a sigh, she nodded. “Yes, sir, I understand.” In the back of her mind, she wondered how much trouble she was going to be in once he discovered that she had doctored the recipe.
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