Cait and the Devil by Annabel Joseph Page A

anticipation. But it had not been so bad. He had been patient and gentle and encouraging and slow. Every time she knelt for him now and leaned forward submissively, and felt him kneel behind her, she remembered how that first time had felt. The hardest part had been letting the large head of his cock in for the first time. It had been terribly painful and frightening. She had tensed and shaken frantically, not believing it could fit.
    “No,” he had chided. “Do not do this. We worked a long time for this. Open up for me.”
    His voice had the power to make her do anything, so she had opened as well as she could. And wonder of wonders, he’d pushed just the smallest part of himself inside. And from there, it had happened. At first, she’d been startled by the sharp pain and pressure. But then, all unexpected, she felt a strange and intense pleasure, a fullness such as nothing she’d ever felt in her life. A fullness and connectedness, as he’d pushed deeper inside her. By the time he’d seated himself fully she had moaned despite herself.
    She thought, when he took her so firmly and yet slowly in this intimate way, that he could either pleasure her or kill her at will, whichever he chose. The power belonged to him. In the end, that first time, he had pleasured her, as he did every time he now took her from behind. He’d reached around and stroked and teased her until she’d pleaded for release. Then he’d plunged inside her deep and she’d come helplessly, without restraint.
    All these things they did each night, and the untold and creative variations of them he demanded left her feeling very content and well-loved. Then they slept, and she drifted into dreams as he cradled her all night in sleep.
    Her days, while not nearly as pleasurable, were not so lonely as they’d been before. The smallest children still ran from her, but their mothers smiled and spoke to her sometimes in passing. She grew to know many townspeople by name. She continued on helping Gordon in the garden, and showed some of the older children how to help him too, so the old man’s workload was lifted somewhat from his aching back.
    Her guards came to soften towards her. She knew by the day of the week who would be with her, and came to know all their names. While they would never address her by name or be overly familiar with her, they did develop an unspoken partnership in crime. They came to understand that, although the earl ordered her to be kept apart from him by day, she desperately wanted to see him. They arranged such “accidents” whenever they safely could. In time, they didn’t tell the earl when she asked to venture farther afield than he allowed, and assisted her in some of her crazier schemes.
    But he still punished her over the odd scrape. He did find out, somehow, about her riskier adventures. The day she’d gone skinnydipping , he’d come upon her himself. It was a very warm day and her guard had agreed to turn the other way while she took a quick dip in the wooded lake. She made him promise not to look, since she knew she was only to show her body to her husband. She made certain first, of course, that no one else could see where they were.
    The water had been so cool and relaxing, she’d stayed in far longer than she should. She imagined she was a mermaid like the ones Erma had spun tales about, with long shining blonde hair and a fish tail instead of legs. She dove under the water, swimming across the lake and back, exhilarated by the feeling of the water caressing her skin. When she’d finally returned to the banks to get out and fetch her clothes, she found Duncan with her gown over his arm. His expression wasn’t a happy one.
    “Where’s Lonnie?” she asked, looking around for her guard.
    “Gone,” he said. “Sent back to spend the afternoon cleaning the stables.”
    Cait opened and closed her mouth guiltily. “It was my idea.”
    “Who gets to see your body, Caitlyn?”
    “I made him turn