Seducing the Master (An Erotic Historical in the Red Chrysanthemum Series) by Em Brown Page A

to see her punishment through. Miss
Katherine continued to watch in her nervous way. He had not given
up hope of convincing Lord Wendlesson to undertake the instruction
of his own wife. Though Charles had not welcomed her interference,
perhaps Miss Terrell could be of use. Miss Katherine did not
believe pleasure could be had from pain, but Miss Terrell possessed
no such doubts. Perhaps the latter, being a woman, could better
convince Miss Katherine.
    “One minute.”
    With a grunt, Miss Terrell threw her arms
up. Seeing that her limbs quivered, he suspected the muscles of her
shoulders burned, but she did her best to execute his orders. He
could see how she might make an intriguing submissive. She had a
tenacity about her, a fearlessness he had not glimpsed in any other
woman—or man. He found himself wondering where she had come from?
Was she truly only twenty years of age? And why was she addressed
by her surname when all the other submissive women at the Red
Chrysanthemum were known by their given name?
    He looked at his pocket watch. Her time
concluded, he said with genuine praise, “Well done, Miss
Terrell.”
    She was breathing hard and her shoulders
sagged, but when she met his gaze once more, her chin lifted, her
countenance serene, almost regal, she asked, “Permission to
speak?”
    “Granted,” he replied, replacing his
timepiece into the pocket of his waistcoat.
    “I await further punishment, Master
Gallant.”
    Taken aback, he said nothing. Miss Katherine
looked on with equal surprise.
    “You said earlier that you would address my
insubordination,” Miss Terrell added.
    “I did,” he acknowledged, and his mind
filled with the possibilities.
    He could take a paddle to her backside. But
that might arouse her. Titillation could not factor into her
punishment. Perhaps she would dislike being locked in a cage as
much as Miss Greta had. He could make Miss Terrell stand on one
foot for a period or make her recite catechisms for half an hour.
The consequence needed to be dreary to impress upon her that she
would gain nothing of interest by seeking his attention.
    But he saw that delicious rump of hers in
his mind’s eye. There was much he could do. Much he could do
indeed.
     

 
    CHAPTER TWELVE
     
     
    “Y ou will have to endure
the suspense of waiting,” Master Gallant told Terrell. “This time
belongs to Miss Katherine. You may both of you resume your position
on your knees, with your hands clasped behind your backs.”
    Terrell watched as he pulled at his cravat
as if uncomfortable with the neckcloth, but it was also possible
that his discomfort was due to her provocation. She wanted to think
that might be the case. Did the prospect of punishing her arouse
him? He spoke with such calm that she suspected herself to be
mislaying hope. Thus far, he had given little indication that she
ignited his lust. There were whispers of it, though she could not
elucidate why her senses were perked. She knew his sex well enough
to sniff their interest, and Master Gallant was not indifferent to
her, but she knew not if the passion she aroused the most in him
was vexation. She knew not if his desires could overrule his
forbearance.
    “Miss Katherine,” Master Gallant addressed
after the two women complied and returned to their knees, “how do
you arouse yourself?”
    Miss Katherine flushed to the roots of her
hair. “Am I p-permitted to speak?”
    “When I address you, yes.”
    “I do not understand.”
    “How do you stir the venereal in your
body?”
    Her eyes looked to the far corner, then
below as she searched her mind for an answer. “My lord—Master, I do
not think I do anything.”
    “Then what arouses you? What titillates
you?”
    At a loss, Miss Katherine looked down. “I
was not—I was not taught to think of such matters.”
    “You have not felt the warmth of lust when,
perhaps, gazing upon a painting of a nude?”
    As he continued to question Miss Katherine,
Terrell looked upon Master Gallant with