Cassandra's Conflict (18 page)

'I was wondering what Rupert and Françoise were doing,' she lied.

He laughed. 'Driving Lucy insane, I imagine. She'll be useless tomorrow; asleep on her feet no doubt. It's always the same when they're here.'

'What will happen to Clara now?'

The baron pulled on his shirt and frowned. 'Clara?'

'Yes, the girl you deflowered tonight.'

'What a wonderful expression deflowered is. Yes of course, I remember her name now. As to what will happen to her, why the same as happens to all Rupert's little toys. She'll be played with for a few more weeks and then abandoned when something new catches his eye.'

'Don't you think that's cruel?'

His eyes twinkled. 'Yes, it probably is, but in this life there are always victims. Clara is a born victim. No doubt her stepfather will take over her education once he returns from his honeymoon. Knowing Claud's particular tastes the mother must only have been the passport to the daughter, but he wouldn't have wanted her totally inexperienced, hence the loan to Rupert.' Cassandra fell silent.

'Nothing more to say?' he asked. 'Then I must get some sleep, and so must you. Sleep well,
liebling.'
With this brief, unexpected endearment he left her satisfied in body but deeply disturbed in her mind.

Everyone in the household rose late the next day. It was past ten before Cassandra woke, but she was still the first one down to breakfast. As the baron had guessed, Lucy was pale and heavy-eyed as she served breakfast yet she still smiled cheerfully at Cassandra with no hint of the knowledge they shared in her pretty, open face.

While Cassandra was eating toast and marmalade, Françoise came in wearing a tiny pair of white shorts which emphasised her long, tanned legs and a scarlet bikini top that only just covered her nipples. She gave Cassandra a strange look but didn't greet her.

'Did you sleep well?' Cassandra asked politely.

There was a wonderfully Gallic shrug from the former child of the Brazilian slums. 'I suppose yes, probably not as well as you but undoubtedly better than Katya.' This time there was no possible doubt that the expression in her eyes was one of surprise. It was clear that Cassandra wasn't turning out at all as Françoise had expected, and she looked as though this intrigued rather than annoyed her.

'I wouldn't know.'

Françoise smiled. 'Of course you know. Katya was expecting Dieter to spend the rest of the night with her. She was probably hoping that the four of us would go to the gym and play with the equipment. You spoilt all that for her. She'll be furious with you today.'

'I think the baron decides for himself what he'll do,' Cassandra responded, but she sounded far more calm than she felt.

Just then, Katya came in. Her summer dress was short and fitted like a second skin, emphasising every soft curve and her hair had been carefully dressed and teased to a tousled, come-to-bed style. She kissed Françoise on both cheeks while ignoring Cassandra.

'Dieter's promised me we can work out in the gym this afternoon,' she told Françoise. 'He and Rupert are going to the shooting range this afternoon and I thought we three girls could use the time for a workout. He said we must be careful not to exhaust ourselves as tonight will be busy, but a light workout should refresh us all – blow the night's cobwebs away.'

Françoise nodded. 'That sounds perfect. Cassandra?'

'I'd enjoy that,' Cassandra said, knowing very well that she wouldn't but that it had to be faced and she preferred it to be sooner rather than later.

'Wonderful!' Katya enthused, and after that she contented herself with drinking endless cups of coffee and lying out on a sunbed totally nude while Peter regularly covered her in sun oil and massaged her already taut limbs.

The baron and Rupert appeared briefly around mid-day, promised to be back by six in the evening and then left for the shooting. As he passed Cassandra, the baron gave her a brief, warning glance but whether it was to caution her against talking about the previous night or warning her about the dangers of the gym she didn't know. However, she knew that even that one intimate look would help her through whatever Katya had planned in the gym.

The gym was spacious and air-conditioned with wall bars, rowing machines, bicycles, weights and numerous other pieces of apparatus that meant nothing to Cassandra who'd only ever been to group keep-fit at her local village hall. To begin with the two other women did some skipping while Cassandra tested out the treadmill, which she privately felt was a poor substitute for a walk in the fresh air.

'I'm going to let the machine exercise me now,' Katya declared when she'd finished skipping. 'Help me get it adjusted, Françoise. Then you can have a go.'

Françoise helped Katya onto a raised couch covered by a soft cushion and then adjusted the hand and leg fastenings to suit her friend's body length before pressing a button set at the side. Very gently the couch began to vibrate, the bottom half back and forth so that Katya's spine was carefully stretched, easing out any knots of tension.

'It's a wonderful feeling,' Françoise told the watching Cassandra. 'You should try it some time. You look rather tense today!'

'I feel perfectly relaxed, but I wouldn't mind a go later on.'

Françoise smiled, then peeled off her shocking pink leotard and sat in the rowing machine without a trace of self-consciousness. 'I get far too hot wearing that,' she explained. Cassandra couldn't help noticing that the Brazilian woman's breasts were surprisingly large for her slender frame, with amazing coffee-coloured, cone-shaped nipples.

Françoise saw her looking and laughed. 'Do you like them? They cost Rupert a fortune but he thinks they're worth every penny. Feel them; you won't be able to tell they're not real.'

On the moving couch, Katya lifted her head. 'She won't want to touch them. Wait for me to do that, Françoise. You know how I adore your breasts.'

Françoise ignored her. 'Touch them!' she encouraged Cassandra. 'If you really like them Dieter might buy you a pair as well.'

Slowly Cassandra reached out and let her fingers close round the soft tissue. Françoise was right, she would never have guessed that they were implants. There was no suggestion of unnatural hardness, but as her fingers explored more carefully the nipples hardened and Françoise smiled lazily. 'I think they like you; you've got a very erotic touch, as I'm sure Dieter's told you.'

There was a hiss of irritation from Katya, and Cassandra knew perfectly well that Françoise was deliberately annoying her friend. When she withdrew her hand, Françoise began to row, her slim arms unexpectedly strong.

'Did the babies make much difference to your body?' Cassandra asked, sitting on one of the cycling machines and settling into the comfort of the sheepskin saddle.

'Ugh, yes. I became hideously bloated. I shall never have any more, but Rupert needed an heir and luckily I gave him two in one go. What is it your aristocracy say? "An heir and a spare"?'

'I wouldn't know!' Cassandra laughed.

'I shan't ever have any children, thank God,' Katya announced. 'After Marietta had Christina she was plunged into one of those dreary depressions women get and Dieter was so fed up with her he had a vasectomy. I think he regrets it now, after all most men want a boy, but at least I don't have to worry about taking precautions.'

Françoise looked across to where Cassandra was cycling. 'Did you know that?' she asked mischievously.

'No, but why should it interest me?'

'I thought perhaps you had hoped to give him children yourself.'

'She's just an employee!' Katya snapped. 'I've had enough of this now. Let me out, Françoise.'

Françoise obliged and swapped places with her friend, so that it was now Katya's turn to row. She too pulled off her leotard, displaying her small neatly rounded body with obvious pride in front of Cassandra. 'Why don't you take your clothes off?' she asked. 'Can't you stand the competition or are you still shy?'

'No, I just hadn't thought about it.'

'Then take it off,' Katya ordered.

Realising this was some kind of challenge Cassandra climbed down from the bike, stripped off her leotard and then climbed back on. This time she was acutely aware of the feel of the sheepskin against her unprotected vulva, and the gentle tickling sensation was highly arousing. She felt her neck and chest begin to flush with the stimulation, and bent her head to try and conceal it from Katya, but the other woman's eyes were too experienced to miss the signs she'd been hoping for.

'I think Cassandra should have a turn on the relaxer now, Françoise,' she suggested, and Cassandra was quite grateful for the chance to get off the saddle. Françoise smiled to herself as Cassandra climbed on top of the couch, innocently stretching up her arms and spreading her legs so that her wrists and ankles could be put in the straps.

When the machine began she found it wondefully relaxing and thought that if this was exercise she could probably become addicted, but after only a very few minutes she realised that the other two women were standing on either side of her and she watched Katya put out a hand to press the stop button while Françoise swiftly and expertly pulled the thick protective cushion away from under Cassandra's body.

She gasped as her bare flesh met the cold metal of the table top, but even worse was the realisation that it wasn't a solid table. In the top half there were two round holes, and even while she was trying to work out what they were for, Katya pulled a heavy strap tight across her shoulder blades, forcing her chest down hard against the holes while Françoise slid beneath the table so that she could reach up and caress Cassandra's nipples through the holes.

'Don't do that!' Cassandra exclaimed furiously. 'I want to get off.'

'We'll get you off!' Katya laughed harshly. 'That's the whole idea of this afternoon. Dieter's obviously been teaching your body how to enjoy itself, so I thought we'd join in the lessons.'

Françoise was touching the nipples very lightly, and licking at them with the tip of her tongue so that they quickly became erect. She then grasped them together with the surrounding flesh and pulled hard, which hurt Cassandra and forced her down on the table so that her breasts went as far through the holes as possible.

She knew that they were now totally vulnerable to whatever the two women chose to do to them and she began to panic, but even as her fear grew, she heard Françoise move beneath the table, and suddenly the long, brown fingers were reaching up through another hole further down the table, just at the same time as Katya pulled hard on the final piece of strapping which thrust Cassandra's hips painfully down and enabled the Brazilian woman to burrow upwards between Cassandra's outer sex lips, searching for the entrance.

Her fingers were no longer soft and it hurt. Cassandra struggled to draw away, but the strapping was broad and strong and she couldn't move at all. With a laugh, Katya disappeared from sight and a few seconds later her tiny teeth were busy nibbling on Cassandra's breasts while Franchise's fingers kept up their insistent probing until at last she was able to force two of them inside their hapless victim.

Fear and tension had dried up the juices that the sheepskin saddle had drawn forth, and tears filled Cassandra's eyes as the fingers moved roughly around, pushing upwards as though trying to reach back to the entrance to the cervix and making no attempt to give her any pleasure.

'She's still very tight,' Françoise said at last. 'Perhaps that's what Dieter likes.'

'Her breasts are awfully small,' Katya commented, and then the fingers were withdrawn from within Cassandra and the two women sat whispering together under the table while Cassandra trembled in fear and wondered what they intended to do to her in the time they had before the men returned. She realised that the baron must have known that something like this would happen, he might even have gone out in order to let it happen, and for a moment she hated him.

Suddenly, the two women reappeared beside her. 'We have to fetch some things,' Katya said, her voice sugar-sweet. 'While we're gone, we'll let you have some more relaxation.' Before Cassandra could grasp the implications of this the 'On' button was pressed, and the machine began to move again, only this time her breasts were cruelly imprisoned in the holes of the metal and every movement wrenched them, shooting pain through her breasts like red hot flames. The tugging sensation was enormous and on the downward pull Cassandra feared her breasts would be dragged out, the nipples tearing on the edge of the metal holes, but the women knew the equipment well and it was impossible for the breasts to come free. All Cassandra could do was lie there and feel her soft flesh moving about within the restrictions while the continuing motion rubbed her sex lips over the lower hole forcing her other lips apart and opening her up more for the women when they returned. She lifted her head as they came back through the door. They were both carrying things in their arms but she couldn't make out what they were because everything was covered by towels.

'I hoped that helped calm you down,' Katya said sweetly, switching off the machine. 'Now, we've got some surprises for you.' Cassandra tensed, her breath coming in nervous gasps that made her breasts swing tantalisingly in front of Françoise and Katya as they sat beneath the couch. They looked at the tiny pink petals of her nipples and smiled at each other, then Katya took the lid off a round jar and as steam rose from it she quickly dipped in a piece of flannel and then with a swift flick of the wrist wrapped the heated material round Cassandra's right nipple, moulding it carefully round the ultra-sensitive tip and on round the small, softly curved breast.

Cassandra, totally unprepared, went rigid with shock as a terrible burning heat spread through her tender breast tissue, and she had to bite her lip against the initial pain. Katya waited a few moments, watching how the other breast had puckered in fear and enjoying the sight of her rival's vulnerable feminine curves dangling in her power.

As the material began to cool, and Cassandra began to breathe more easily, Katya quickly removed it and immediately Françoise grasped a handful of ice cubes from the ice bucket she'd brought with her and cupped her two hands round the blotched, red skin of the tiny breast.