Alleyn, Fredrica Read Online Free Page B

wasted their time in the Loire, but now was the moment for things to move on.
    He propped himself up against the pillows and ran a hand down one of her bare arms. 'While you were talking to Lara early this morning, Sir James and I were having an interesting discussion about his daughter, Nicola,' he said slowly.
    Cassandra turned to look at him. 'In what way, interesting?' she asked casually, but inside she was tense. The excited gleam in his eyes, and the way his mouth was turning upwards at the corners were all signs that at last he had found some intriguing new diversion. She sensed that it could well put her position in jeopardy.
    'I'll explain more fully,' he murmured and as he recounted the conversation he had held with the Englishman Cassandra's mouth went dry and she discarded the croissant, turning instead to a huge cup of bitter coffee for comfort.
    'So, you see,' he concluded, 'it will be a wonderful game!'
    'I'm not sure I understand exactly what you mean,' she said.
    He smiled, and a dimple appeared in his cheek, making him look young and boyish again. 'I think you do, Cassandra! Imagine how exciting it will be to teach this innocent girl the unimaginable joys of the flesh. Just think of the pleasure to be obtained from tutoring an untried body until it learns not only how to take pleasure but also how to discipline itself in the process. Do you remember how you felt when you first joined my household?' Cassandra nodded, a lump filling her throat at the memory. 'Well, that is how it will be for Nicola, only more so because as I understand it she is completely untouched. Not even a clumsy husband has been near her!'
    'But the game?'
    'The game, my dear Cassandra, is that I expect you to assist me every step of the way. Together we will introduce her to everything we share here. She will learn to take pleasure from pain, the importance of discipline applied with affection and above all, we will show her how best to please me.'
    'When does the game end?' asked Cassandra.
    The baron's naturally arched eyebrows were raised even higher. 'It ends, my dear, when she has learnt all that there is to learn; when we have completed her sexual education and she is quite literally "finished", as her father wishes.'
    'But that isn't a game, it's simply an entertainment, something to keep you - to keep both of us - busy. A game has a winner.'
    He nodded and now the smile was gone, the dimple had disappeared. 'There will be that too. Once Nicola is fully trained, once I think that you have truly done your best to pass on all the knowledge I've taught you, then she will be exquisite, don't you think?'
    Cassandra nodded, already guessing what was coming next.
    'So exquisite,' he continued softly, 'that I may well have difficulty in choosing who the winner is, but choose I must. After all, I can't have two chatelaines here in the Loire, can I?'
    'You mean that you expect me to help you train a girl who might then take my place?' asked Cassandra incredulously.
    He shrugged. 'I imagined you would have too much confidence in yourself to let the prospect of defeat enter your mind. It seems I was wrong. You disappoint me, Cassandra. Where is your sense of adventure?'
    Cassandra fought to quell her rising panic. After all, why should she be surprised. Hadn't the same thing been expected of Katya, her predecessor? So why had she imagined it would be different for her. And yet she had imagined it. Because she was involved emotionally with the baron she had made the mistake of thinking it was the same for him, despite the fact that he had always told her that he was incapable of love.
    She realised now that secretly, in her subconscious, she'd been misleading herself. The tranquillity of their life here, enlivened by the long decadent parties and intimate weekends for special friends, had suited her and until recently she'd thought the baron content too.
    This had led her to believe that in her he had at last found the one woman who could be