Untitled (25 page)

    "You, of all people, had the power and means of finding me. There aren't too many who would have placed me with the girl."

    "Oh? I think the kidnapping had your name written all over it… I was not the first to notice."

"Imagine that."

"So, is Kat Bloom here?"

    "Sure is. And she's free to go, she's all yours." This was not exactly what Alain expected to hear. The man giving up so easily. "Hey, that surprised you, didn't it?"

    "Yes. It did. What is it, Perry? You've tired of her, like you tired of Natalie Moon?"

    Perry Livingston's expression changed almost imperceptibly at the mention of his previous slave. "Natalie, yes. You've seen her? How's she doing?"

    "I can't honestly answer that. I'm here for Kat."

    "Well, like I said, she's free to go." He fished through his pocket. "Here's the key to her cage, the smaller ones belong to her shackles. There are some suitable clothes in the room next door."

    "Why now?"

    Perry had to think a minute, make something up, although it wasn't as if he hadn't already imagined this scene, so the words came to him pretty naturally, "Aw," his cocky smile broadened, "been there, done that. Like keeping a caged slut was going to keep me happy forever. All that slavery gets to be a drag…I'm a changed man now, Alain Danvers. You can't tell me that you're still playing the Dom the way you used to?"

    "Changed? Seems more like a convenience to me."

    "But you'll never know, will you?" He handed Alain the ring of keys.

    "Upstairs?"

"Yep."

    "No need. I'm right here," a soft voice stopped them both, and Perry's slave stepped out from the shadows of the stable, wearing her shackles and nothing else.

    "Ah! This is a surprise!" Perry crowed.

    "You left the cage unlocked, sir."

    "Did I really?" It wasn't clear whether this was an oversight or on purpose.

    "Kat Bloom?" Alain turned his attention to the lovely young woman in shackles. Her hair was a natural brown color and just barely covered her ears now. Nothing left of the white blonde spiky cut he was told to expect. While she seemed completely comfortable with her nudity in front of a stranger, she was uncomfortable with the situation itself, and more than once looked toward Perry with an odd look of wonder.

    "Yes, sir. That's me. Kat Bloom."

    An awkward silence descended over the trio until Perry piped up, "You can have her, Alain. She's free to go…and free to return. That's her choice now, not mine." He looked directly at her.

    "What?" she seemed as dumbfounded as Alain was, and moved directly to Perry's side and into his arms, speaking quietly, so quietly that Alain could not clearly make out what she was saying.

    "It's time," Alain heard Perry reply. "I mean what I said, you're free to go, free to return." He gave her an affectionate kiss on the forehead then pushed her gently back. "You two make this one up on your own. If it's any help, doll, the man's true blue. Captain on the police force and a nasty Dom when he wants to be…he'll know what you need to do if you decide to split. If you come back, don't expect me to be nice." Perry turned directly, picking up the hatchet resting against the side of the stable and carried it with him into the woods. Although he'd tried hard to mask his apprehensions with an air of casual indifference, he was not particularly successful in Alain's eyes. Alain doubted that the bewildered Kat noticed the subtlety; she was freezing cold and too stunned to think.

    "We need to talk, Miss Bloom. Perhaps we could go for a ride," Alain finally said. "Although you might want to find some clothes."

    She stared at him while hugging her chest, then wordlessly disappeared into the stable.

***

It had been a long time since she'd done anything as normal as sit in a diner and drink a steamy cup of coffee. A long time since she'd worn clothes. The jeans and cotton sweater fit perfectly, and though the shoes were a little tight, they served their purpose. And so did that cup of coffee warming her cold hands as she clutched it tightly.

    "I didn't know what to expect when I came up here. But to be honest, Perry surprised even me. Did he talk about freeing you?"

    "No. I was still his slave up until the moment I hit the cage door and it opened with no resistance. I'm not sure he planned that, at least he gave me no reason to think so."

    "Perhaps he suspected that someone would be coming. Odd, though, that he chose not to run."

    "I'm going back, sir," Kat wasted no time. "If that's the question you're beating around the bush to get to, there's your answer."

    "You're sure of that?"

    "Completely."

    Alain considered this a moment, finally saying: "I'm not sure he's a well man, Miss Bloom."

    "Don't you think I know that?" Her face was filled with grief and awe and tenderness. "Problem is, I've fallen in love. And I think he loves me too, as much as Perry Livingston loves anyone."

    "How do you figure that?"

    "He loved me enough to give me my freedom."

    "Unless, he had no other choice. You go back, who's to say that you won't be shackled again, or caged, or beaten."

    "And if that's what I love, what's wrong with that? Besides, I honestly think that Perry's ready for something new."

    "He said that?"

    "No. But I feel that from him. At the Masquerade Ball and even before that. I haven't had much to do these last few months but study the man who's held me captive. I can almost read his warped mind and know exactly where he's going to take me."

    "And if you're wrong?"

    She shrugged. "That's the risk I'll take. But I'll do it for him. For me. I think we both want to come out of the trees and back to civilization."

    "You think that's where you'll end up? In the civilized world?"

    "I think we'll end up someplace else. Maybe some place with big vistas and huge skies and sunsets that go on forever. The last two weeks we've watched a dozen travel shows about Australia, the Serengeti, the desert Southwest, Montana, Mexico. I could be wrong. It's just a hunch. Oh! Perry's the most fun thing that's happened to me…he's a cure for boredom, Captain Danvers. He says you understand about the sex…then you have to know with Perry it's nothing like anything I've ever had with anyone else. I'm in love, and at least until that fades, I'm sticking with him." She hadn't meant this to sound like a tribute to the man who abducted her against her will, with whom she'd fought dozens of rough battles, who'd given her battle scars in the process, but she came out of her stupor, making the case for staying so strongly that she could see in the eyes of Alain Danvers that he had been moved. The feelings that welled up in her were powerful, pumping her veins with pure intention. She'd never been a weak woman, hopefully he could see that now.

It might have been foolish, or one of the wisest things that Alain Danvers had ever done, but since he could see that there was no coercion now, he had little to do but leave these two alone.

    "You're very sure of your decision?"

    "I am."

    "We could drive right back to the city. You could resume your old life, or make a new one. You don't have to stay with this man. After all, he did take you against your will."

    "He did. But I'm sure, I'm very sure that I want to stay. And if tomorrow I decide I want to leave, well, then I'll deal with that then."

    He could have gone on, but what was the point?

    "All right then, you get your wish. But I have one thing to ask."

that?"

    "I want you to tell your parents that you're okay. Call them. Write them. Whatever you want to do, just do that much."

    She suffered a little hearing him mention her parents. "I guess they're worried."

    "Worried sick. It wasn't your choice to be abducted, but it's your choice to stay now and they have a right to know that you're alive and well."

    "You're right. I should. I bet they've made a fuss, huh?"

    "Oh, yes, your daddy's made quite a fuss."

    Kat Bloom smiled knowingly. "I'll give them a call."

    "That's a promise?"

    "Yes, sir, that's a promise."

***

"Alain, you have to speak with the man sooner or later," Detective Stover informed his boss.
He sounded rushed and annoyed.
"Trouble again?"

    "They got wind that you were hot on a fresh lead and they haven't stopped calling all day."

    "I'll tell you what. Next time they call, tell them that my fresh lead was nothing but a wild goose chase. It was the wrong girl."

    "What?"

    "That's what you tell them. You don't need to explain."

    "That's it, Captain?"

    "That's all you say. If they want to talk to me, I'll be in the office Monday morning.

***

    After Alain Danvers returned her to the stable, she waited, knowing that Perry would eventually return Why come back after all he'd put her through? It probably didn't make any sense. But did anything about life really made sense? You're dealt a hand and this was hers. And it really wasn't so bad, was it? She knew Perry's restless nature, maybe better then she knew her own. They were very much alike in that, except that he would always be the king and she his slave. She needed him taking her to the depths of pain and revelation and back again…no one had ever done that for her the way Perry did.

    Sun shining on her face, a cool breeze on her cheek, she drank in the aroma of the woods and was content with her decision.

    Maybe an hour passed, though she had no clock to tell for sure. When she heard footsteps, someone slashing through the thick brush, her heart skipped like a happy child's. She gazed down at the dirt, biting her lip, anxious for him to see her, wondering what he'd have to say.

    Once she saw the rough toes of Perry's boots, she looked up. His body blocked the intense sunlight and she could see his face.

    "So, what are you doing here?" he asked.

    "I came back to stay. I want you, Perry."

    He chuckled darkly. "Of course, you do, doll. Why wouldn't you want the best fuckin' SOB master in the whole wide world?"

    She fell at his feet, kissing his boots with a lust so deep that she could feel it settle right in and take her away. Her pussy was throbbing like a street whore's on Ecstasy.

    "Problem is, I gotta decide if I even want you back, slut." He kicked her away with the toe of his boot.

    
Why wouldn't he want her back?
She looked up again. "Perry, please!"

    "Yeah, well. You stay right there, bitch, while I think about it."

    "If you really don't want me…"

    "I said I had to think about it, doll." He moved into the stable and returned with a heavy length of hemp to tie her up. There were no shackles now to weigh her down and she missed them. He wound the rope around her hands and feet, once again, making escape impossible. After tying the loose end of the rope to the stable door, he took off upstairs, slamming the door behind him, leaving Kat sitting on the ground beside the stable door. Her head rested on the old barn wood for a long time. This was a pretty simple punishment for taking off with Alain Danvers, if that was all she had to suffer. Would he throw her off? Was that really what her master planned to do?

    Perry didn't say much when finally returned and let Kat loose. In fact, he started to walk away without saying a word, but he realized that she was still sitting in the dirt, he turned back:

    "You coming or not, doll? I haven't got all day. It's back in the cage with you. This time, I'll fuckin lock the door and throw away the key."

    She looked up at him and smiled.

S
CENE
T
WENTY

Meredith arrived late for the departmental meeting, coming through the swinging door of the conference room promptly at ten thirty, not ten o'clock like the rest of his staff. At the podium Alain looked up from his notes to see Meredith's face redden with embarrassment as she stood frozen in shock. Her beautiful eyes were about as wide as he'd ever seen them. He could feel her energy as something palpable that stung him with its unsullied verve. But, of course, this was not the place to address that now.

    In the long threatening silence that followed, Alain didn't say a word and no one moved. Not until Meredith finally thawed enough to shuffle toward a seat in the back row. "I'm so sorry, I must have had the wrong time," she quipped sheepishly.