The Claiming (5 page)

“I requested that you not ask me that.”

“Yes, which is precisely why I asked.”

Sasha clamped her mouth shut and crossed her arms over her chest.

Cole turned back to Daniel. “How thoroughly did you check to make sure she wasn't carrying anything?”

“I only checked her hands, my lord.”

“That's what I thought. Strip her.”

“My lord, there are ladies present,” Nathaniel said.

“Then nothing they'll see will come as a shock. Now, Covington.”

Daniel walked behind Sasha and lifted the dress over her head. She'd slipped a black tank top under the outfit to cover her back, so she was exposed only from the waist down. Like the day before, when she was late bringing the drinks, she wasn't uncomfortable. She felt only excitement.

“Hmm.” Cole took his time looking over her body. “Very nice, and she doesn't seem to be hiding anything. Search the pockets of her dress. Look for hidden ones.”

“A-ha!” Daniel said, holding up a sheet of paper. “A summons from the king.”

Cole jerked it out of his hand and held it up to Sasha. “You come from the king's court?”

“It's not what you think.”

“Then what is it?” He narrowed his eyes. “And what does it have to do with my family's jewelry?”

Sasha said the first thing that came to her head. “I plead the fifth.”

Cole's eyes danced with amusement. “There is no fifth amendment yet. You can't plead the fifth.”

“Then I invent it.”

“Wrong country.”

“Damn.”

“Out with it.”

“I'm just looking for a place to sleep, I promise. That's all.”

Cole cupped her chin and held her face so she had no choice but to look at him. “I have ways to get you to talk.”

“Please, Sir,” she said. “I'll do anything. Just don't send me back to the king.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “What happens if I send you back to the king?”

“He'll see me as a traitor. I'll be killed.”

“Why would you be a traitor?” Cole began to run his finger over her cotton covered nipple.

She sucked in a breath. “Because I didn't follow his instructions.”

“Do you have trouble following instructions?” His hand dipped lower, danced across her belly.

“Sometimes, my lord.”

“What instructions were you given by the king that you didn't follow?”

“I'm supposed to gather information about you and report back to him.”

“And how did you think to go about doing that?” His fingers brushed her upper thigh.

“There are rumors about you in . . . bed.”

“Ah, now we are getting somewhere. What sort of rumors?”

“They say you have peculiar tastes.”

“My lord,” Julie interrupted, “must we sit and listen to these lies about you and your character?”

“I assure you, Ms. Masterson,” Cole said, “they are not lies.”

Julie gave a dramatic gasp.

“Covington?” Cole asked Daniel. “Kindly take Ms. Masterson over your knee and show her what happens when people interrupt me.”

Daniel crooked a finger at a surprised Julie.

“Now,” Cole said, turning his attention back to Sasha. “The jewelry. Where is it?”

“The king is going to take it. I hid it.”

“And why should I believe you? How do I know you didn't stash it away to use it as a trap?”

“Can I do something to prove it to you?”

“What did you have in mind?” he asked, pressing his erection against her as his finger slid along the wetness between her legs.

“Anything. I'll do anything.”

“Anything?” He took a step back, and she looked around the room.

Daniel was sitting in a chair and had Julie over his lap and was working on getting her underwear down. She was doing her part to stay in role, twisting and turning and trying to get away. Abby was sitting on Nathaniel's lap, but she couldn't see where his hands were.

“Show me what you heard about my tastes. What I like my bed partners to do,” Cole said.

Sasha dropped to her knees and unbuttoned his fly as quickly as she could. Above her, Cole hissed in pleasure as she freed his cock. He fisted her hair.

“That's it. Now take it in your mouth like the naughty servant you are.” He groaned as she did just that, taking him deep and sucking the way she knew he liked it. “Fuck, yes.”

He started working his hips, thrusting in and out of her mouth. Being with him when he let go of some of his firmly held control always turned her on. She squirmed, trying to find her own relief.

“Getting off on having my cock in your mouth?” he asked, taking a firmer grasp on her hair. “You better not come. You'll wait for me to give you permission or else I'll spank your ass so hard, you'll be begging to go back to the king.”

She made herself keep still and focused on him. He wasn't trying too hard to hold his release back. It wasn't long until he pushed into her and held her head in place while he climaxed.

Sasha quickly pulled his pants back up and set them to rights the best she could.

“I think that's all I can take of role play for one night,” Cole said. “If you'll excuse me, I'm going to take this little hideaway servant and inflict my peculiar tastes upon her.”

From what she could tell, the other couples felt the same way. Daniel had finished spanking Julie, but she was still wiggling in his lap. Abby was sitting as still as a statue, though it sounded like she was muttering something in German.

“But, my lord,” Sasha said, as Cole lifted her into his arms,. “I never told you where the jewels were.”

“That's okay,” he said, not even breaking stride. “I have something far more valuable.”

“I don't get it.” Sasha looked in the mirror and pulled at the hem of the dress Cole had laid out for her to wear today. “I thought I was going to be a servant this week.”

He came up behind and stilled her hands. “Do I not have the right and authority to change my mind?”

His stare was piercing and she couldn't look away. “You just rarely do, Sir.” To be honest, she really couldn't think of any time he'd changed his mind, but she thought it best to err on the side of caution.

“That doesn't mean I can't. The fact of the matter is, we need six people to play croquet and Fritz had to leave.”

Not to mention, she thought, but didn't say, with the other four people being couples, Fritz and Cole would look odd. Of course, she didn't suppose either man cared very much what other people thought.

And she also supposed it didn't matter that she'd never played croquet before because she was fairly certain Cole was the only one in the group who had. He'd also provided croquet outfits for everyone. The women were all wearing skirts, while the men wore what looked like golf outfits.

Cole lowered his lips to her neck. “We'll pretend that Lord Johnson is completely taken by his servant and since he can't get enough of her, he asked her to join him for an afternoon of croquet.”

“If he really wanted to make an impression, he'd know croquet wasn't the way to her heart.”

“That's only because she's never played his way before.”

“She's never played, period. And why would your way be any different?”

“Because my way is Dom Rules Croquet,” he whispered in her ear and then he gave her earlobe a sharp bite.

His words sent shivers down her spine, and a combination of arousal and excitement coiled in her belly.

“Leave it to you to find a way to make croquet kinky.” She tilted her head, giving him better access to her neck.

“It's a gift.”

“Thank god.”

He laughed and doing so, his lips tickled her.

“Mmm.” She hummed. “We could stay here and be kinky inside.”

“Tempting, but we'll save inside kink for later.”

“Promise?”

“Most assuredly.”

They were late meeting everyone outside. Though the white collared shirts and long shorts weren't their normal style of dress, she had to admit the men looked pretty good. Abby and Julie must have just recently been told about Dom Rules Croquet, because they were both looking over the course with trepidation.

“I still don't see how you can make it anything other than croquet,” Julie told Abby.

Abby raised an eyebrow. “Really? I'm more shocked it took them this long to do it.”

“Okay. True.”

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Cole said and then winked at her. “My servant girl needed some extra encouragement.”

Her heart did the little extra skip thing it normally did when he looked at her that way.

He walked toward the playing area, stopping near a wooden box. “I set everything up this morning. Now, in regular rules, the purpose is to get your ball around the course in the proper order of wicket and stake.”

It sounded boring as hell to Sasha. Sort of like pool, but outside.

“But then I thought,” Cole continued to speak, “anyone can play croquet. Let's do something completely different. I actually had plans to do more activities outside today, but in light of a particular neighbor who can't take no for an answer, I decided we'll just do this outside and move everything else inside.”

He had been less than delighted to hear about Mary Catherine's unexpected visit the day before. But even he had to admit Abby had handled it brilliantly.

“For today,” he said, “we're going to take turns. Every time you properly get a ball through a wicket, you get to pick something from this box. Fair warning, everything has been wrapped, so you won't know what you get until you've already picked it.”

From the expressions on the men's faces, Sasha suddenly had a good idea of where the men went the day before.

“It's just the women picking? Right?” Daniel asked. “I don't think it'll be fair otherwise since we know what's in the boxes.”

“Good point,” Cole said. “Nathaniel?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Let's get started,” Cole said.

Everyone agreed he should go first since he was he only one who'd ever played before.

“Not that it really matters,” Sasha said. “He's not picking a box.”

He gave her a knowing wink and the game started. Abby was the first woman to get a ball through a wicket. She groaned and asked Nathaniel, “Do I have to?”

“No.” He crossed his arms. “But if you don't pick, I will—and I helped wrap.”

With a resolute sigh that sounded completely fake, she walked to the box, reached in, and pulled out a brown paper package.

“Do I open now or wait?” She balanced it in her hands, then held it up to her ear and shook it.

“I think now,” Nathaniel said.

With an excitement that dispelled any notion she wasn't looking forward to seeing what she'd picked, Abby tore through the paper and pulled out a blindfold.

“A blindfold.” She held it up. “Kind of boring. You had all morning yesterday and the best you could come up with was a blindfold?”

“Really?” Nathaniel asked.

“Yes,” Abby kept on, much to everyone's surprise. “You'd think someone with all your experience could do better than that.”

“Is that a challenge?” Nathaniel asked. “For me to come up with a not-boring way to put the blindfold to use through all my years of experience?”

Abby realized what she'd said and started stammering, “No, uh, I didn't mean boring. Did I say boring? What I meant was, uh, oh crap . . . bewitching. Yes! A blindfold. How bewitching.”

“Bewitching?” Nathaniel was obviously having fun at his wife's discomfort. “I'm not sure I've ever heard you use that word before.”

“It was on my Word-of-the-Day calendar.”

“Now you're just digging yourself a deeper hole. You don't have a Word-of-the-Day calendar.”

But Abby was undeterred. “It could be on my phone.”

“Is it?”

Finally caught, Abby took a deep breath and admitted defeat. “No.”

Her husband didn't move, didn't say anything; he simply waited.

“No, Master,” Abby eventually said.

“Yes,” Nathaniel said. “I'll definitely have to think up a very non-boring, but utterly bewitching way to use the blindfold tonight. Especially since there was very little usage of the word
Master
in your entire exchange.”

Abby wisely didn't say anything else.

Julie was the next to pick from the box. She wasn't quite as enthusiastic as Abby had been and the fact that she pulled out a pair of nipple clamps didn't help.

“I hate these things,” she said.

Daniel was the exact opposite. “I was hoping you'd pick those.”

Julie crossed her arms across her chest. “I don't feel so good. I think I'm coming down with the stomach flu.”

“You forget, I'm the one who came up with that ruse.”

It must have been an inside joke, because Julie broke out into giggles. “Shh, you're giving away our secrets.”

“Me?” Daniel asked. “You're the one who brought it up.”

Cole looked over at Sasha, who'd yet to draw anything from the box. “I think we should add a penalty if you don't get the ball through the wicket within a certain number of strokes.”

“But that's not in the rules,” Sasha said, irritated Cole had picked up on her strategy so quickly.

“It's Dom Rules Croquet, and as I'm a Dom, I'm adding the rule.”

“I can't help it that I'm athletically challenged.”

“Too bad. Get the ball through on your next turn or you'll pick two items from the box.”

“You know, girls.” Abby tapped her lips. She was thinking hard about something and from the look in her eyes, it was going to be epic. “There are three of us and three of them. I say we overthrow this dictatorship and do our own thing.”

“You're right,” Julie said. “This game blows. I'm not playing, and I'm not wearing nipple clamps.”

“Yes, you are,” Daniel said, moving toward her.

“You have to catch me first.” And with that, Julie took off running toward the maze. Abby motioned for Sasha to join her and sprinted to catch up.

Sasha watched her departing friends and took a quick glance back the three men. She shrugged. “Sorry, Sir. Girls have to stick together.” Before she could question her actions, she broke off into a run. “Hey, guys, wait for me.”

She caught up with them at the entrance to the maze.

“Oh shit.” Julie was half laughing while trying to catch her breath. “Did we just do that?”

“I think they were going to end it early anyway,” Abby said. “There really wasn't much in the box to begin with.”

“Shh, I hear them.” Sasha could barely make the sound out of the three men. “Let's go into the maze.”

She'd been through the maze only once. The day after they arrived, Cole had walked through it with her. At the time, she been captivated by the different types of plants she saw. Now she wished she'd paid closer attention to the path they needed to take.

“There's a back entrance to the house somewhere around here.” Sasha tried to picture an aerial view of the maze. “Ugh, I should've been listening when Cole was going over the pattern of the pathways.”

“I don't hear them anymore.” Julie looked over her shoulder. “Do you think they gave up?”

Abby snorted and then whispered, “Have you ever known them to give up on anything, ever?”

“I don't think ‘give up' is in Cole's vocabulary.”

“I know Nathaniel's never heard of it.”

“Then why can't we hear them?” Julie asked.

Sasha thumped her friend's shoulder. “Because they don't want us to hear them.”

“Or maybe because they're planning what to do to us when we get back.”

They were all quiet as they thought about that. But really, how bad could it be? Sasha thought. There were three of them, after all.

“Okay,” Sasha said. “Here's the plan. We find the exit in the maze that leads to the back of the house. We go in through the old servants' entrance. That'll put us in the kitchen. From there, we sneak through the pantry because it leads to the ballroom. We go through the ballroom out to the back stairs and up to our bedrooms. It's foolproof!”

Julie bit her bottom lip. “I don't know. It sounds too easy.”

“Easy?” Abby asked. “With all that sneaking around? We'll be lucky if we make it to the house, much less all the way upstairs. Hell, they're probably on the other side of this hedge, listening to everything we're saying.”

“I know,” Julie said. “One of us could call them. That way if they're close enough, we'll hear their phone ring.”

Abby shook her head. “Won't work. I'm pretty sure they're smart enough to turn their phones off if they're going into stealth mode.”

“So what do you suggest?” Sasha asked.

“We have to go with your idea.” Abby shrugged. “It's either that or sleep out here tonight and you guys know I love you, but I don't do camping.”

Julie agreed. “Okay, first thing then is to find our way out of here. Sasha, do you have any idea which way?”

With renewed determination, Sasha retraced their footsteps and though it took longer than she would have liked, they finally made it out of the maze.

“I'll go first,” Sasha said, “and make sure the path and kitchen are clear. Then I'll come back for you.”

“And if you don't come back?” Julie asked.

“Then you know one of them found me and you're on your own.”

“Fair enough. Let's do this thing.” Abby nodded. “Good luck.”

Sasha wasn't sure why her heart pounded the way it did. Seriously, she told herself, the worst she could do was run into Cole. But that didn't exactly help matters. She peeked out the exit of the maze and scanned the short distance to the house. It looked clear.

She gave Julie and Abby a thumbs-up and darted to the kitchen door. Too late, she wondered what they were going to do if the door was locked, but it opened up to an empty kitchen.

Certain at least the first part of the escape plan was clear, she ran back to the maze.

“All good,” she said. “Let's go.”

They all three ran together and she didn't think any one of them took a breath until they were safely in the kitchen.

“I don't like it,” Julie said. “It's too quiet. They have to be somewhere.”

“Maybe they decided to finish the game,” Sasha said.

“Right.” Abby stuck her head out into the hallway. “And they just decided to ignore the fact that we ruined their fun. No, I agree with Julie. Something's going on.” She looked back over her shoulder. “Looks clear. Do we go through the pantry or down the hall?”

“Pantry leads directly to the ballroom. Hallway's more exposed.” Sasha checked to make sure the pantry was empty.

“I vote we stay in the kitchen and bake something to say we're sorry.” Julie pointed to her left. “Sasha, I think those are carrots over there. Why don't you get started on them and we'll make a carrot cake?”

“You're lucky I don't throw one at you. Pantry, you think?” Sasha asked.

“Pantry,” Abby and Julie said together.

They stepped into the pantry. It was only a short walk to the back entrance of the ballroom. But as soon as they stepped into the large room, Sasha knew something was off. The room was pitch-black, which didn't seem right. Normally, the front double doors were open to let in light.

“Uh-oh,” she said, right at the exact moment the room suddenly lit up.