House Rules (22 page)

Gretchen hesitated, looking from him to her mistress in confusion. Richard could see that she was reluctant to mount, and he felt himself grow more excited, rather than the reverse, at the idea of Gretchen’s being compelled against her will. The old rape fantasy, he thought fleetingly, though that wasn’t accurate either. It would be impossible for him to penetrate Gretchen while his own wrists were handcuffed behind him and he was harnessed to the cart. Gretchen was in a much better position to flee than he was to pursue.

But Hannelore was there to compel the young woman. With a frown, she gestured again for Gretchen to mount the frame.

Richard took the added weight as her legs left the ground and she seated herself in front of him. His cock was brushing her pubic hair, bumping familiarly against her mons veneris, and he felt a stab of excitement.

Gretchen would not look at him. Her body language was saying, I don’t want this, but she dared not disobey her mistress.

Richard could see the corners of her mouth drawn back by the bit between her teeth, and the reddened area where the metal had dug into her skin. Even as he thought of the pain and indignity this gag was causing, he was excited by the way it emphasised her captive status. He remembered experiencing the same feelings as Margaret had lashed Helena, and he remembered too how he had wondered how it would feel to wield the whip and inflict pain on someone else.

Gretchen settled in the frame, still not looking at Richard. She sat unresisting while Hannelore bound her wrists together in front of her and then lifted her arms over Richard’s head, encircling his neck, and drew her bound hands down his back before fastening them to the belt around his waist. She raised Gretchen’s legs over the poles and let them dangle on either side, spreading her widely. Hannelore used the reins to bind Gretchen’s thighs to the poles, holding her immobile just inches from impalement.

She reached between them, grasping Richard’s cock. ‘Good,’ she said. ‘I see you are not put off by Gretchen’s shy virgin act.’ She guided his cock between the young woman’s outspread legs and into her cunt, at the same time urging Gretchen closer.

Richard felt himself slide home. Gretchen was parted and ready, her juices flowing and her sex warm and tight around him.

But Hannelore was not finished with them yet. She used the remainder of Gretchen’s reins to tie them tightly together, encircling both their waists and pulling the young woman against him. Richard could not withdraw; Gretchen could not pull herself away from the shaft inside her. Her breasts were flattened against his chest, the taut nipples rubbing against him.

Hannelore stepped back and regarded them with a look of satisfaction. ‘A pretty couple,’ she remarked.

Gretchen still would not look at Richard. She held herself rigid, as if expecting to be attacked. Her eyes said no, but the rest of her was now saying yes. Richard too held himself still, not sure what his next move should be.

Once more it was Hannelore who broke the tableau. She positioned herself behind Gretchen, dappled by sunlight and shadow, the shifting light making sudden highlights and shadows on the tight leather garment and the shiny tights she wore. She looked magnificent, Richard thought, as he looked at her over Gretchen’s shoulder. Magnificent, and menacing too. She held the whip in her hand, was even then drawing back her arm to strike. Richard braced himself.

He needn’t have. The whip flashed forward, striking Gretchen. From what he could see, the blow had landed on her bottom. She jerked abruptly, letting out a gasp of surprise and pain. Her vaginal muscles clamped down on his cock at the same time. Hannelore drew back her arm and struck again. Each time the lash struck her, Gretchen jerked. And each time she jerked, she moved her hips so that he was plunged in and out of her. He felt the rod in her anus, which held the horse’s tail in place, hard against him through the membrane between the two passages.

Gretchen seemed to be oblivious of her double impalement, paying all her attention to the whipping. But gradually her movements became synchronised with the lash, plunging forward as she was struck, pulling back in preparation for the next blow. Her breathing was loud in Richard’s ear as she lay her head against his chest, her face turned to one side. And gradually she began to moan softly. At first he thought she was in pain, but it soon became obvious that she was not. Hannelore continued to strike her from bottom to shoulders, timing the blows so that Gretchen could move rhythmically to them.

Richard could feel her arousal in the increasing heat of the flesh that enveloped his cock and in her moans. Gradually she lost control, giving repeated gasps as she moved, a rhythmic ‘Uh! Uh! Uh!’ They were the sounds of increasing pleasure, and they increased in pitch and volume as she was driven to orgasm. Suddenly Gretchen began to jerk and shudder, her muscles clamping down on him. ‘Uhhh! Uhhnnn! Uhnnnnnn!’ Her orgasm shook them both, but she hardly paused, beginning another almost at once, as Hannelore continued to lash her.

Richard, embedded in Gretchen, was also looking at Hannelore. Her body, outlined by the leather corselet and tights, moved gracefully, showing off her legs, breasts, waist and stomach, as she wielded the lash that drove Gretchen to newer heights of ecstasy. The double stimulus – two magnificent women, one in full view, himself inside the other – was too much for Richard. He could hold back no longer. Gretchen’s arms tightened around his neck as she came, and then he was jerking and shuddering with his own orgasm, spurting inside Gretchen and gasping for air.

Hannelore abruptly stopped lashing her protégée, pausing to watch as Richard and Gretchen gasped in mutual pleasure, their bodies straining against one another and against the straps that bound them. She appeared to derive great satisfaction from her accomplishment. She remained silent for a long time.

Finally she spoke, cutting through the aftermath of their passion. ‘Gretchen will tell me that she hated all that, that I forced her to have sex with a man, that I do not have any respect for her. But I know what she likes. And, apparently, what you like too.’

Richard had to admit the accuracy of her judgement. He liked what was happening to him. All of it. He spoke suddenly, almost without thinking what he was saying. ‘And what do you like?’ he asked Hannelore.

Hannelore gave him an angry look and swung the whip, once, with all her strength. The lash caught him across the back and ribs, and he hissed from the pain of it.

‘I do not allow my servants to ask impertinent questions,’ Hannelore told him.

Gretchen, shaken by her response, looked up at him quickly, fearfully, then glanced at Hannelore, as if afraid of what she would see. But Hannelore merely smiled briefly and set about releasing them. She once more tied Gretchen’s hands behind her back and harnessed her to the cart as before. She led the young woman by the reins and turned the cart back the way they had come. Silently, she mounted the seat and shook the reins. Gretchen and Richard, carthorses once more, pulled her back along the path.

Nothing more was said until they reached the barn, where Hannelore unhitched them both. She did not, however, free their hands, nor did she remove Gretchen’s bit and bridle. She led the girl to a loosebox with a barred door and hitched her inside it, with the reins tied above her head and out of reach of her bound hands. Richard was led to a similar enclosure, where he was fastened by the chain around his balls. Then Hannelore left them to their own devices, closing the barn door as she left.

Gretchen looked at him once, briefly, from her stall, then quickly lowered her eyes. Richard shrugged mentally and lay down in the straw. Shortly he saw that Gretchen had done the same. Since conversation was impossible, he allowed himself to drift off to sleep.

The sound of a door opening woke him up. Hannelore Bern was back. She had doffed her leather corselet in favour of a black dress that showed off her legs to good advantage. She was accompanied by a young woman in a maid’s outfit remarkably like the ones Richard wore in Margaret’s house, who was bearing a tray of food for the two captives. Hannelore gestured for her to serve the food, unlocking Richard’s handcuffs so that he could eat. Similarly, she freed Gretchen’s hands, and removed her bit and bridle. Richard was hungry and thirsty, and he fell to at once. Hannelore went into one of the small storerooms off the main barn, returning shortly with several pieces of light, chrome-plated chain and an assortment of dildoes. She watched while he ate. Gretchen was still eating when he finished. The maid took away the tray, and Richard submitted to having his handcuffs replaced.

What Hannelore did next surprised him. She unlocked the chain which secured him to the wall by his balls and removed the long piece she had attached to it earlier. The short chain swung free between his legs as before.

‘Turn around and bend over,’ she ordered him.

When he did so, Hannelore selected one of the dildoes from her assortment. Richard saw that it had a ring in the blunt end, as indeed all of the dildoes did. She lubricated it with petroleum jelly and carefully inserted it into his anus.

Richard felt the shaft slide into him with a curious calm. Was this what a woman felt as she was penetrated: full and sensitive?

Hannelore fitted a length of chain around his waist, tightly enough so that he could not slip it off. Then she threaded the chain hanging from his balls through the ring on the dildo in his arse, drawing it up to the chain around his waist and securing the whole thing with the small padlock she had used earlier. Richard was left with the dildo inside him, unable to withdraw it even if his hands had been free.

When he was secured, Hannelore turned him from side to side, inspecting her work. Apparently satisfied, she pushed him towards the central part of the barn.

‘You will both spend the night here in the barn,’ she told him. ‘You can keep one another warm. I may let you into the house later, provided your behaviour pleases me,’ she said.

‘How long does it take to please you?’ he asked. ‘At some point I will have to get back to Soltau.’

‘I should have told you earlier, but I wanted to have you here before I told you what Margaret’s letter really said. You won’t be going back. You will remain here with me. She has given you to me – a gift, if you like – for further training.’

Richard was dumbstruck. Not going back to Soltau? Not to see Helena or Ingrid again? This was too much. He could think of no words adequate to express his dismay.

‘I see this is news to you,’ Hannelore said. ‘Margaret likes surprises, provided they do not affect her.’ She produced a key which had been hanging on a chain between her breasts. ‘She sent me the key to your lead, but I do not think I will be using it soon. It will not harm you to be locked up for a while, until you get used to your new home – like a cat being kept indoors for a few days after the family moves house. You’ll soon learn to like it here.’ She turned away without giving him a chance to reply.

Richard knew he would not be able to escape immediately, but he also knew that he would have to get away in the end, and sooner rather than later. He didn’t like the idea of Helena believing he had deserted her, quite apart from his own desire to get back to her.

Hannelore waited while Gretchen finished her meal. Then she set about securing the young woman for the night. Gretchen submitted quietly as her hands were once more tied behind her back. Hannelore fitted a chain around Gretchen’s slim waist as she had with Richard. This time, however, she inserted two dildoes, plugging Gretchen front and back. A chain between her legs and through the rings in the dildoes secured them inside her. Apparently she was accustomed to this practice, as she made no demur, and even anticipated what was coming next, turning and moving to facilitate her penetration and the securing of the chain.

Richard watched from across the floor, knowing what Gretchen was feeling now. Would Hannelore replace the bit and bridle for the night? That might prove to be uncomfortable for such a long period.

But Hannelore had thought of that. She brought a steel helmet from the storeroom. It was hinged at the top to fit over the wearer’s head, tapering to a closely fitted neck ring which locked on either side when the hinged pieces were brought together. There were brow ridges, and the suggestion of eyes, though there were no holes. There was a space to accommodate the nose, and another hinged plate over the mouth, presumably to allow the wearer to eat and drink without having to have the helmet unlocked.

Richard wondered how long Gretchen would wear her iron mask. Gretchen herself seemed to have no qualms. As she had with the chains and dildoes, she moved her head so as to allow the helmet to be fitted on to her.

Hannelore pushed her long hair inside the back of the mask as she brought the collar parts together. She secured the collar on both sides, and Gretchen’s head was locked inside the steel cage. When she turned towards Richard, he was struck by the impersonality of the mask. It was as if someone had erased all her features, replacing them with this mockery of a face. The iron mask gave her head a swollen, balloon-like appearance. When Hannelore stepped back to inspect her captive, Richard noticed that there were two tubes running from the nostril area of the helmet back over the top. They would admit air, but no light. Gretchen would be in total darkness even with her eyes open, but she didn’t seem to mind.

The final step was the binding of Gretchen’s feet and legs. Hannelore pushed her, and she fell heavily in the straw on the floor. She then bound Gretchen’s ankles and knees with rope, leaving the young woman blind and helpless. She beckoned to the maid, who gathered the remains of their meal and departed. The two captives were left alone with their captor.

Hannelore beckoned Richard to Gretchen’s stall. ‘Inside,’ she ordered tersely. When he was inside, she locked the door. She turned out the lights and closed the barn’s outer door. Richard heard her lock it too, doubly imprisoning them.

‘Are you all right, Gretchen?’ he asked the young woman who lay bound in the straw at his feet.