She felt much better with some clothes on, even if
the clothing in question was only a sack of a white robe made of coarse
material. She also felt braver.
“Who are you?” she asked, wanting answers.
“My name is Dominic,” he said. “And I’m your tutor.”
“My tutor?” she repeated. She took a step back and looked him up and
down, insultingly (she hoped). “I don’t
think so. I’ve had tutors, for all sorts
of subjects intellectual, artistic, athletic and social. None of them dressed as badly as you do, and
none of them ripped my clothes off at first meeting.”
He grinned, looking much younger than the late
twenties she guessed him to be.
“They worked up to that over time, perhaps?” he
suggested.
“What are you supposed to be tutoring me in?” she
demanded. “The use of
substandard bathing products, perhaps?
How to wear inferior clothing?”
“Among other things,” he said amiably. “But mostly how to do what you’re told, how
to have some manners and restraint.”
”I have restraint,” she responded immediately.
It was true as far as she was concerned.
Her problem was that she didn’t have enough control of her life. Her behaviour in throwing those things at
Justin was perfectly understandable given the circumstances. But she was damned if she was going to pour
out her life story to this annoying pretty boy.
“They all say that,” he said. “And they all learn.”
”All?” she questioned. “There are others
like me here?” His grin flashed back
again. Excellent teeth, she noted.
”No, I don’t think there are any others quite like you,” he admitted. “In fact,
there are no other students here at all at the moment. One left just over two weeks ago and the only
other one I know of personally has moved on as well.”
“I want another tutor,” she said.
”What, one not enough for you?” he deliberately misunderstood. He sat down on the high bed, crossed his legs
under the robe and made himself comfortable.
“I want one instead of you,” she said through gritted
teeth. “A female.”
”There aren’t any females here except you,” he
said. “Your father must have paid a
fortune for the monks to accept you.”
”Stepfather,” she corrected automatically.
“Stepfather then,” he amended. “And even with all the money he must have
paid, I don’t think they would have taken you if I hadn’t been here to do the
tutoring.”
”Why not?” She couldn’t help herself from asking.
”Because none of them know how to deal with a girl,” he said easily. “Most of them have been here for twenty years
or more, they’re all celibate and they don’t exactly get out and mix with the
populace.”
“And they think that you DO know how to deal with a
girl…a woman?” she corrected quickly. Another grin, this one dancing in his gold-flecked eyes as well.
“Well at least I know how to remove body jewellery,”
he pointed out. “And I know where to
look for piercings, too. Ah, don’t
blush, girl. I’m not looking there now.”
“Don’t call me girl,” she said, turning away.
“What will I call you then?” he asked. “Your name is Joely, isn’t it?”
”I haven’t given you permission to call me that,” she said, her voice dripping
ice. Her cool blue eyes should have
frozen him to the spot.
“You’re right, it’s a bit girly for in here,” he
said. “I’ll call you Joe.”
“You won’t call me anything except a cab,” she
retorted. “I’m leaving.” He laughed.
“Oh, very quick,” he said. “But you’re not leaving, Joe. Your stepfather had all sorts of legal papers
with him when he came here, apparently.
He signed all sorts of papers and made it perfectly clear that you could
not leave here without his permission. In
fact, he can’t even take you out for a set amount of time. You’re stuck here until you’ve learned your
lessons.” There was sympathy in his
strange eyes at that, but she didn’t see it.
“How long will that take?” she asked.
“That’ll be up to you,” he responded. “And if you follow instructions and don’t
fight me, it’ll be quicker for sure.”
”So I’m supposed to just let you do whatever you want to me?” she asked
bitterly.
“Pretty much,” he said. “Although I won’t search for clitoral and
labial piercings on you again, I promise.”
This time it was mischief in his eyes, and he was rewarded with another
rush of blood to her face. “I’m
sorry. I’m teasing you. To be honest, Duncan and Alfred looked even
more horrified that you did. They had no
idea what I was doing. I’ll have to
explain it to them later.”
“They were the two goons holding me, I suppose?”
“They were,” he agreed. “Strong buggers, aren’t they?” She noted that
his Irish accent was very strong on some phrases, and that was one of them.
“What type of monks are they?” Joely asked. “That they would just hold a woman like that
while someone else took her clothes off?”
She didn’t like reminding herself of it.
Particularly when the one who had removed her clothes
was sitting in front of her.
Again, he chose to misunderstand the question.
“I’m not sure, you know. They’re not Buddhist, because there are some
Christian symbols around the place, but they’re not Catholic either. They’re some sort of obscure religion. But they’re very obedient. And they do have a good sense of humour on
occasions, even if does seem a bit strange at times.”
”You keep saying “they” when you’re talking about them,” she said.
“You noticed that,” he congratulated. “I’m not one of
them. I’m just here for a while. Helping out with things – heavy work,
finances, difficult, spoilt heiresses, you know the sort of thing.”
“I am NOT a sp…” she began, but stopped as he sprang
up off the bed.
“Time for lunch,” he said. “Meals are very punctual around here. Now remember, no talking once we get out of
this room – not until we’re back in here, or until I tell you otherwise. Understand?”
”I am NOT a…” she tried again, but it was to empty space, as he walked
away, opened the door and stepped out.
“Come back here!” she shrilled at him. What was his name? “Dominic! Come back here!” He came back, shut the door and shook his
head at her.
“My goodness, you’re a noisy thing,” he said. “When the door is open, you can’t talk,
Joe. Now shut your mouth and follow me
to have some lunch. No.” He held up his hand as she opened her mouth
again. “Not another word or you’ll regret
it. Now come on.” She crossed her arms and glared at him, her
lips pursed, her expression mulish. He matched her stare.
“If I have to ask you again, I’ll take that robe off
you and drag you down there like that,” he said coolly, taking a step
closer. Her blue eyes widened. Then she recovered.
“You don’t have the two heavies here to help you,”
she pointed out.
“Do you really think I’d need them?” he asked, taking
another step. Joely stood her ground. No, unfortunately he probably wouldn’t. He was big enough to block her view of the
door, her only escape route. And since her
stepfather had never seen fit to buy her any lessons in self-defence, her
chances of inflicting injury were minimal.
She sighed loudly.
“All right, I will go,” she said. “But don’t think that I’m going to be
accepting all of your orders so graciously.”
”That was gracious?” he asked in disbelief.
“My, we are going to have some fun aren’t we, Joe?”
”And don’t call me that,” she said. She
waited while he opened the door, then rolled her eyes
as he touched his finger to his lips.
Joely found herself the centre of totally silent
attention in the dining hall, a huge, rectangular room with vaulted ceilings,
long refectory tables and arched, stained glass
windows at either end. There had to be more
than a hundred monks present, all in the same brown robes as Dominic’s. He’d pulled his hood up before they entered
the room and had kept a steadying hand on her upper arm, leading her to an
empty space on one of the long bench seats.
Under the scrutiny of all of those eyes, Joely found herself very aware
of the movement of her unfettered body under the robe, and nervously placed an
arm across her ribs, under her breasts.
It didn’t help much, since almost all of the watching eyes were drawn
down by her movement.
The food was surprisingly good, monks moving along
the seats, ladling beef and vegetable soup into bowls and placing large, golden
bread rolls at every place. Every clink
of cutlery and movement of plates sounded much louder than usual in the
cavernous silence of the dining hall.
Joely had to fight an insane desire to elbow the elderly monk beside her
and say something like “come here often?” or “what’s a nice monk like you doing
in a place like this?” or even “be quiet, will you? I can’t hear myself think.” A bubbling giggle at the thought of this
threatened to escape on a couple of occasions. Dominic’s hand on her arm drew
her attention and she looked over at him, blinking in surprise again at just how
amazing his looks were. Remind yourself
what he did to you, she thought to herself.
The looks are just the outer shell.
He shook his head at her, letting her know that he
was well aware of her suppressed laughter, if not her exact thoughts. Fortunately, before she could do more than
send him a fierce glare, the serving monks were back, taking away the soup
bowls and putting loaded plates of rice in front of them. Honestly, she was going to be as big as a
house if this sort of diet was usual.
She saw Bernard as they were leaving. He was seated towards the other end of the
table she’d been at, and he nodded and smiled at her as she and Dominic were
standing up from the table. She didn’t
smile back. He’d known what was going to
happen to her when he left her, and he’d left anyway. He was not a friend.
…………….
“So what now?” she asked as they were walking up the
stairs to her room. Dominic’s hand on
her arm tightened as he turned her to face him.
He pressed his fingertip to her lips again, and this time she was fast
enough to make a snap at it.
Unfortunately, he was fast enough to get away in time and she saw the
flash in his eyes.
“Oh for heavens sake,” she said, ignoring his
warning. “It’s not as if they can hear me, is it? And it’s a load of rubbish anyway. Did you hear the noise that one across the
table from us was making while he slurped his soup? It was disgusting.” She shook his hand off her arm and stomped up
the stairs, making as much noise as possible.
If she’d looked back, she’d have seen him hesitate, shut his eyes for a
second as if gathering strength, and then set off after her.
In the hallway she stopped, not sure which door led
to her room, not even sure whether it mattered.
He put his hand between her shoulder blades and pushed, none too
gently.
“Oy!” she objected,
spinning round. “I don’t know which room
it is, so stop pushing!” He looked
steadily down at her, then took her arm again and led the way, walking quickly. If she hadn’t had long legs, Joely would
never have been able to keep up with him.
As it was, she was trying to catch her breath when he opened a door and
pushed her inside.
“Was that really necessary?” she asked as he entered
the room and shut the door.
“Every word,” he said, pushing his hood back and
shaking his head. “I am supposed to
punish you for every word you utter in the public areas. Do you know how many punishments I should be
dishing out now? No? Neither do I! I lost count at around fifty. I do not believe you, Joe!” Joely turned away from him, deciding to let
him have his little tantrum in peace, and noticed something.
“There’s another bed in here now,” she said. “Is this the same room?”
”Yes, it’s the same room,” he said. “And
that bed’s for me. We’re sharing.”
“We are not,” she said firmly. To her surprise, she found herself quickly spun
round to face him. Apart from Justin,
people did not handle her, and he only did it in temper. She was not used to it and she didn’t like
it. She opened her mouth to tell him
this.
“We are so,” he said, just as firmly. “Now, we need to get started on the
afternoon’s work.” The word “work” put
all other thoughts out of her head.
“Now listen here,” she said. “I scrubbed that floor down there this morning. In very humiliating,
painful circumstances. I am sore
and I am quite sure that I am not performing any other slave labour today…or
any other day, for that matter.”
“Do you ever draw breath?” Dominic said, managing to
sound admiring. “Now, do you need to go
to the bathroom?”
“Going to watch again?” Joely responded, distracted
from the work issue because she was still seething over that memory. He nodded.
“You bet,” he said.
“Apart from when I have to go talk to the others, I’m with you twenty-four
hours a day, seven days a week, Joe. Get
used to it.” She stood still, matching
him steadfast gaze for steadfast gaze.
“When are my belongings going to be brought here?”
she asked, changing the subject. He had
a very hard stare to match. She told herself
it was because he was so much taller than her and her neck was still sore from
the floor scrubbing.
“Your belongings have been brought up,” he said. He walked past her and opened a drawer in a
small cabinet between the beds. She
hadn’t seen it before, so perhaps it had been put there at the same time as the
second bed. He pulled out two things –
her toothbrush and her card of contraceptive pills.
“I told them to look for this,” he said. “I didn’t think Bernard and the others would
know what it was.”
Joely chose not to respond to that. She was too busy processing the facts that
these seemed to be the only things that had been brought up and that some of
the monks had been going through her stuff.
“You are
kidding me,” she said, outraged. “What
about all of my clothes and my toiletries and things?” She looked at the wardrobe. He followed her gaze and shook his head.
“They’re not in there. They’ll be held in storage until you leave,”
he said. He turned the metallic card
over in his fingers and looked at the colour-coding. “Just finished your period, I see. That’s good timing.”
“Put that down!” she said, reaching for it. He held it up, out of her reach, still
looking at it. Even knowing that he was
teasing her didn’t make it any better. That was private. She caught herself as she was preparing to
climb up onto one of the beds to get some height. The man had stripped her, had looked over
almost every part of her, had washed her back and dried her entire body. Privacy was not something he respected.
“Oh play your adolescent games then,” she said. “I’m
going to the bathroom.” He smiled and put the card back into the drawer.
“We might as well put your toothbrush into the
bathroom then,” he said. “Along with mine.” She
spun back.
“You are not staying here,” she said, pleased with
how definite she sounded. Her pride was
somewhat dented by the fact that she now had to sit down on the toilet with him
present, but at least she had the robe on.
Thank heaven for small mercies.
“Sing or something,” she ordered him. “To cover the…just sing.” He grinned.
“You sing,” he said.
“But not Beatles songs, please. You’ve ruined them for me for all time.” She moved onto the bidet, noting that the
toilet flushed as soon as she stood up.
There was a button on the wall, but the system appeared to be automatic.
“Very advanced plumbing here,” she commented, trying
to sound matter-of-fact, as if she wasn’t performing embarrassing bathroom
necessities in front of him.
“And heating,” he said. “Must have cost a fortune
in this huge old pile. I’m sure
your father’s money will be greatly appreciated.”
”Stepfather,” she corrected again, standing up from the bidet and wishing that there
was some toilet paper.
“He’s Justin Williams, yes?” Dominic asked as he led
the way out of the bathroom.
“Yes,” she said noncommittally.
“Not your favourite person?” he asked.
“No,” she replied.
“At last, she runs out of words,” he said to
himself. “In future, I’ll know how to
stop the flow of gibberish. I’ll just
mention his name and she’ll dry up.”
”Or you could dry up instead,” she said tartly.
His quick flash of grin was not the reaction she’d been after.
“We’d better get started for this afternoon,” he
said. “Take the robe off, Joe.” She backed up from him immediately.
“No,” she said.
He sighed.
“You’ve got to learn to follow orders,” he said. “If you’d kept quiet in the public areas,
you’d have been performing this afternoon’s work with your robe on. But because you didn’t, you have to be
punished. Take it off.”
“I get punished with nudity?” she demanded, stalling.
”You get punished with embarrassment,” he responded. “Your stepfather told Bernard a few things
about you, quite a few things in fact.
So we know what punishments are most likely to get through to you. Now, are you going to take it off yourself,
or would you prefer me to call for reinforcements?”
“So you can’t take me on by yourself after all, huh?”
Joely was still stalling. The look he
gave her told her that he was going to enjoy proving her wrong.
As he started towards her, she gave up. Somehow, it seemed better to take it off herself rather than have him remove it from her. She turned her back on him, pulled it, almost
ripped it up over her head and held it in front of her, covering everything she
could.
“Good,” he said. “Give it to me.” He held his hand
out.
“Dominic, I’ll be quiet from now on if I can keep it
on,” she said, hating herself for the pleading note in her voice.
“You’ll be quiet anyway,” he said. “Because if you don’t, you’re
going to be spending a lot of time without it, including in the dining hall.” Her mouth fell open at that. He wasn’t serious, surely? His hand was still out. She looked down at the bunched-up robe that
was covering her from collar-bone to thigh.
“I”ll just hold on to it,”
she tried.
“No,” he said, stepping forward and getting a handful
of it. “You won’t.” He tugged. She gripped it, pressing it against her body,
going with it as he pulled it towards him.
She fought and struggled even as he wrenched it free of her grasp,
leaving her to double up, her arms across her body.
He put the robe down.
Then he took pity on her, turning back and putting out a hand to
casually stroke her hair.
“It’s all right, Joe.
You’ve got a lovely body – nothing to be ashamed of.” Joely shook her head, trying to dislodge his
hand.
“I’m not ashamed,” she lied. “I just don’t want to have to show it to
you.”
”Well you don’t have any choice in that,” he said. “Here, you can put this on instead.” She looked up at that, as his hand shifted
from her hair. He crossed to the
wardrobe, opened it and pulled out something light brown in colour. He shook it out and looked at it.
“It’s not much, but it’ll cover the lower half of
you,” he said, holding it out to her.
It certainly wasn’t much. It was a skirt with a draw-string waist, made
out of something like calico, from what she could see. It was hideous.
“I don’t want to wear that,” she said with as much
dignity as she could muster given that she was bent over naked.
“Well it’s this or nothing,” he said. “And since we’re going outside, I’d have
thought you’d have wanted some cover at least.
Even though I shouldn’t be letting you have anything after your noisy
behaviour before.”
“Outside?” she asked.
“Outside this room, you mean?”
”Yes,” he said. “And outside
the building. Put it on,
Joe. Before I change
my mind.”
She snatched it from him and turned her back again,
stepping into it and pulling it up, conscious that she was displaying her bare
backside. She pulled the skirt up to her
waist quickly, then realised how long it was and pulled it up higher, tugging
it over her breasts. It took some
tugging.
“No,” he said.
“Take it back down.”
”It fits better here,” she said, tying the drawstring. She felt his hands on her shoulders an
instant before she was turned to face him.
“Down,” he said firmly, his handsome face serious.
“Oh, give me a break,” she said angrily. He didn’t.
And he didn’t give her another chance.
He just reached down, pulled the drawstring from her hands and yanked
the garment down to her waist, snagging it on her nipples before her breasts
bounced free. Her hands rushed to cover them.
“Consider yourself lucky I’m
not taking it away completely,” he said as he tied the drawstring at her waist. “Now come on, and for your own sake, be quiet
until I tell you that you can talk.”
“Why, what you possibly do to me that you haven’t
already done?” Joely managed to stand up for herself,
to call his bluff. Dominic stopped in
his tracks, looked down at her and shook his head. Then he untied the rope belt from around his
robe.
”No,” she said, backing up and putting her hands behind her back, heedless of
the fact that it left her breasts bare. Perhaps
that would distract him? She couldn’t
let him tie her up again.
He wasn’t distracted.
He said nothing, he just advanced slowly as she
retreated backwards. When he took a step
to the left, she stepped to the right, and it was only when she felt the bed
against the back of her thighs that she realised what he’d done. Quick as a snake, he reached out and toppled
her backwards onto the mattress, leaning forward to hold her down with his
lower body as she fell.
“Get off!” she squirmed under him. “I mean it, Dominic, get off!” Infuriatingly, he grinned as he pulled one of
her hands fro
“No!” she squealed, trying to wrench it free of his
grasp. Unsuccessfully. Keeping hold of the rope that held her now
tethered wrist, he reached for her other arm.
She did her best to fold it under herself, but he pried it out, ignoring
her thrashings and protests as he secured it to its mate. Then, not having had the decency to even break
a sweat, he straightened up and pulled her to a standing position by her shoulders.
“Nice tits,” he commented, looking down. “Very nice.” As her face flamed and she opened her mouth
to abuse him, he spoke again.
“And just think.
If you hadn’t challenged me, you’d have been able to cover them
now. Instead, I get a free show. And so does anyone else we pass. I’m sure there’s a lesson to be learned
there.”
With that smug comment, he led the way to the
door. She propped in the doorway, not
wanting to go outside in this semi-naked, embarrassing state, but a firm push
in the small of her back got her moving.
They saw no-one while walking down the stairs, a fact
for which Joely was very grateful, because every step down served to remind her
that her upper body was nude. She tried
to shift her arms to at least cover her nipples, but it wasn’t possible. One or both of the
As they entered the main hall through the
tapestry-covered entrance, a knot of monks looked up from the area where she’d
been cleaning that morning, and Joely spun around on her bare heels and tried
to go straight back through the entrance again.
Predictably, Dominic prevented this, positioning himself so she just
butted straight into him, his robe rough against her bare skin. She looked up to meet his eyes and mouthed
the word “please?” He shook his
head. Then he winked and turned her
round, leading her across the side of the room with his hand on her
shoulder. At least she didn’t have to
walk past or through the men, but she was aware that several of them looked up
and saw her. She dragged her arms
forward to at least cover her nipples from the side. Inwardly cursing Justin, fate and Dominic for
this situation, she walked fast, so that her companion had to lengthen his
stride to keep pace.
He opened a door near the sink the bucket was resting
in, and she stepped outside of the building and into a huge enclosed garden.
“You can talk now,” he said, closing the door behind
them.
“I don’t want to talk to you,” she said furiously,
not looking at him. This served two
purposes. One was that she wasn’t giving
him as good a view of her chest and the second was that she didn’t have to see
him enjoying a view of her chest..
“Hold that thought,” he said. “Call on it later, next time you feel like
running off at the mouth in places where you’re not allowed to talk. In the meantime, you can pick some
strawberries for dinner.” A t that, she turned to look at him, turned her head at least.
“What?” she asked.
“Strawberries,” he said simply and pointed past her
to the rows of dark green plants. “Pick
up one of the metal buckets hanging on the wall and go to it. You’ll need to fill five of them.” For an instant she thought about arguing,
even about trying to barge past him.
Then she decided it wasn’t worth it.
How hard could it be to pick strawberries?
Almost a full bucket later, her knees already sore
again, her despised skirt dirty from the damp ground, she’d changed her
mind. She swallowed another mouthful of
her pride.
“Could you please untie my wrists?” she asked without
turning around. She knew he was leaning
up against the fence to her side, occupying his usual ringside seat at her
humiliation. He’d pushed his hood back,
too, crossed his ankles. He was
comfortable.
“No,” he said.
“Why not?” she looked up, giving up
and sitting back on her heels. Her long blonde hair was hanging down over
her face and shoulders, her plump breasts framed by her arms – with the rough
skirt, her rosy cheeks and bright blue eyes she looked the epitome of an
underdressed mediaeval wench. Dominic
grinned.
“You’re doing fine just like that,” he said. He straightened up and walked closer. “Besides,” he added, unable to resist. “I like the fact that you can’t cover
yourself. It makes for more interesting
viewing.” With a sound of fury,
exasperation and embarrassment mixed together, she dropped back to all fours to
the sound of his soft laugh. Interesting
viewing indeed, she seethed as her breasts swung down again. All day, she’d been giving him this view or
more. You’d think he’d be sick of it by
now.
“I’d have thought you’d have been sick of this view
by now,” she gave voice to the thought.
“Now you’re just looking for compliments,” he said,
leaning back against the fence. “Speed
it up a bit, Joe. I could get sunburnt
here.” He kept a straight face as she
aimed a killer glare at him through her hair.
She looked back again at the strawberries as the door opened in the
building behind her. Oh no. More monks. She
couldn’t stand the thought of being seen like this, she just couldn’t.
“Please, Dominic,” she said quietly, urgently. She didn’t know if he heard her, but he
didn’t reply. He looked up, smiled and
walked towards the door.
”Thanks,” he said.
“I’ll be back in a minute.” Joely
caught her breath. He was leaving
her? Like this? Who with?
She snuck a glance back over her shoulder and saw an older monk tipping
his hood back. He was almost completely
bald and was stooped as well. With him
was a big, boyish-looking man, dressed in the same brown robes. He moved oddly, awkwardly as the two of them
approached her.
“I’m Daniel,” the old man said, his voice gruff. “What’s your name, child?” Joely didn’t answer, didn’t look up from the
strawberries. Perhaps, by some miracle
he hadn’t noticed that she was topless. Even if he had, if she just stayed like this
and positioned her arms well, he wouldn’t be able to see much from where he
was. In any case, she saw no reason to
be polite. She didn’t want to be
here. Perhaps if she behaved badly
they’d expel her or something.
“I asked you a question,” Daniel said. “What’s your name?” She exhaled loudly and shifted the bucket
along the ground, trying to move her knees without dragging on the skirt the
way she had about a hundred times already.
If she’d looked up at that point she’d have seen him frown.
“Very bad mannered, I see,” he said. “Well, we were warned. And I’m sure you’ve been warned as well. Up you get.
Come on, stand up.” No. She wasn’t going to get up.
“My name’s Joely,” she said with bad grace.
“Well that’s a start,” he said. “Stand up, Joely.” She turned her head enough to see his
sandalled feet, and those of the other, silent man. The second man’s feet were huge, slanted
towards each other at the toes.
“I have to finish picking the strawberries,” she
said.
“And you will,” said Daniel. “But first you’ll learn the consequences of
rudeness. And if you don’t stand up now,
Andy will help you up and the consequences will be even less pleasant.” Catching her bottom lip between her teeth,
Joely gave this rapid consideration. Andy
looked big enough to lift her and Daniel sounded annoyed enough to make this
ugly. She decided to give in. She picked up the bucket as well she could
with her tied wrists and clutched it to her chest as she awkwardly climbed to
her feet. The bucket didn’t cover her
completely, but it was a lot better than nothing.
“What a pretty child you are,” said Daniel. He was shorter than she was, she noted. Even
without the stoop he would have been shorter than her. Not so Andy. He towered over her, and now
that she could see him clearly, she could also see that there was something not
quite right about him. He wasn’t
dribbling, but he was obviously what could best be described as “simple”. She looked back to Daniel. From the flint-like look in his grey eyes,
she deduced that she should acknowledge his compliment, insulting though she
found it. “Child” indeed.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Take the bucket from Joely, Andy,” Daniel said.
“No,” she said, stepping back. “It’s fine. Thank you, Andy, but it’s not heavy.” Andy reached out anyway.
“Let him take it,” Daniel said firmly.
“You don’t understand,” she said, stepping back
further. “I don’t have a top on.” As was
undoubtedly obvious, but she felt it necessary to point it out.
“I’m aware of that,” the older man said. “Let him take it.” Looking past the
When she felt the fingers at her waist, she slapped
at them with her bound hands and struggled.
Daniel was surprisingly strong for an old man, and he held on.
“Keep still,” he said. “I said, keep still.” She couldn’t, and she kept wriggling within
his grasp, but he managed to untie the drawstring anyway.
“You need to learn obedience,” he said, tugging the
skirt down. Again, Joely reached for it.
“I’m sorry I was rude,” she said, swallowing her
pride and bending at the knees to try to stay covered. It was futile. The skirt fell, along with some more of her
dignity. She could feel the air on her bottom,
but there was nothing she could do about it.
There wasn’t anywhere to hide or any way to cover herself.
”I’m sure you’ll learn fast,” he said, his voice a little less gruff now. Was that sympathy she heard in his tone?
“Turn around now,” he said. Again fighting the urge to run, Joely weighed
up her options. Turning around was
unthinkable, but if she did, perhaps he’d pull the skirt back up as a reward
for her following his instructions?
Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to turn, taking a step back and
almost tripping over the clump of her fallen skirt as she realised how close
they both were to her.
“Ohhh,” said Andy, smiling
with pleasure. He looked like a small
boy trapped in a large man’s body, his brown eyes soft and gentle, his big features almost babyish. He reached out and stroked one of Joely’s shoulder’s with his
fingers.
“He likes you,” Daniel said. Standing naked in front of them, Joely didn’t
find this to be particularly comforting.
“Don’t touch me,” she said tersely. Andy’s hand pulled back and he looked
confused.
“He won’t hurt you,” Daniel said impatiently. He wasn’t even looking at Joely’s
body, she noticed. He was looking
straight at her face, and he was frowning. Andy, on the other hand, was looking
everywhere. Suddenly the big man smiled
again and he reached out and down, his fingertips touching the blonde curls her
tied hands couldn’t completely cover.
“Nice,” he said softly, his voice high. Frozen in mortification, Joely looked down at
his thick fingers, stroking her pubic hair.
“Get off!” she shrieked, finding her voice. “Don’t touch me, you big ape!” Andy jumped back, his face crumpling. “Get away!” she yelled again. Andy turned, obviously ready to flee from
this loud madwoman, and managed several stumbling steps before he was brought
up short by Dominic’s hands on his shoulders.
”There now,” Dominic said, the door closing behind him. “It’s all right, Andy. She just got a bit of a fright is all. Don’t you worry now. It’s all right.”
He soothed, patting the big man’s shoulders until he calmed down and put his
head onto one of Dominic’s shoulders.
Joely saw this out of the corner of her eye. Most of her vision was filled with the
disapproving glare of Daniel.
“You foolish child,” he said, sounding disappointed
and angry. “He would never hurt you.
He’s gentle as a lamb. She needs to be
punished for this, Dominic.”
”She will be,” Dominic assured him, coming forward. Andy stayed where he was, looking down at his
feet.
“At dinner time,” the monk said.
”Not this time,” Dominic replied. “Not
yet. It’s only her first day. She doesn’t know her way round yet.”
”Best that she learn it quickly then,” said Daniel. “Make it a good lesson. Dinner time would be best.”
”Not this time,” Dominic said again, firmly.
“Leave it to me, Daniel.” The
older man did not look pleased. He
looked from Dominic to Joely and back again.
“I’m not happy about this,” he said, stating
something that was already quite obvious.
“Not happy at all. I think this
had better be taken to Bernard.”
“It’ll be taken care of,” Dominic said. “Please leave it to me.”
“Then you turn her over your knee like the bad child
she is,” the monk said. Joely had wisely
stayed silent up to this point, but she gasped at that. Both men looked directly at her. Andy was still turned away, his shoulders
hunched.
“And give her what for,” Daniel added, keeping his
grey eyes on hers. “I want to know that
she’s paid for this.”
”She will,” Dominic said.
”You turn her over your knee,” Daniel said again, looking up at him now. “I want your word.”
”You have it,” the younger man replied.
“Thank you for coming to give me a break and I’m sorry she misbehaved.”
”It’s not your fault,” Daniel said magnanimously. “Come, Andy.
Put that bucket down and we’ll go in and find you a treat.” The two of them walked off to the door,
opened it and disappeared inside.
Joely bent down to grab at the skirt. Dominic’s foot shifted,
held it in place.
“Not a chance,” he said. “What were you thinking, Joe?” He reached down, put a warm hand on each of
her upper arms and lifted her back up. She
covered herself as best she could.
“He made me talk to him, he took my skirt off,” she
said through clenched teeth. “And then
that boy touched me! What was I supposed to do?”
“Daniel wouldn’t have taken your skirt unless you did
something wrong,” Dominic replied patiently.
“And Andy only touches things he likes.
Soft things, things he thinks are pretty. He always tries to touch my eyes. It’s a compliment, really.”
”Not when he touches my pubic hair!” she responded without thinking. Dominic’s gaze dipped down and he
grinned.
”Soft and pretty,” he said again. “I can
understand him wanting to touch it. It
doesn’t mean anything.”
”It does to me,” she said, trying to cover it up again. “Let me pull the skirt up, Dominic.” He shook his head, then
gave her arms a shake too. Her breasts
bounced along in echo.
“Pick strawberries,” he said. “You’ve got a long way to go yet.” The bucket Andy had put down was full, Dominic got another one from the wall and handed it to
her. His leonine eyes traversed her from
head to foot, making her squirm.
“You won’t be showing as much once you’re crouched
down again,” he pointed out. Not
bothering to thank anyone for such small mercies, Joely snatched at the bucket
and returned to the strawberries, giving a regretful look at the previously
despised skirt as Dominic bent and picked it up.
“Where did you go?” she asked, sitting on her calves
and doing her best to cover as much of herself as she could as she dug through
the dark green leaves looking for the elusive red berries.
“To the bathroom,” he said, humour in his voice as he
settled back against the fence. “I was
very glad to see those two arrive to give me a spell.”
”So I have to go to the bathroom in front of you, but you get privacy?”
she asked resentfully.
“Damn straight,” he said cheerfully. “And I got a short break away from your
complaints too, Joe. I’m not sure which
I was more relieved by.” She chose not
to talk to him after that. She worked
her way down another three rows, filling two more buckets before she admitted
defeat.
“I can’t do any more,” she said. She was hot, sweaty, dirty and
uncomfortable. This was twice in one
day, and she felt she’d done more than enough bending and working. Her back hurt, her nails were filthy and her
knees were aching. And she wanted some
clothes on. Being naked in these
circumstances was more than just embarrassing, it was uncomfortable. The ground dug into her bare skin, the leaves
of the strawberries brushed against her breasts as she leaned over them, and
she was a mass of itches and irritations.
“Two more buckets,” he said. “You’re doing well.”
“Dominic, my knees hurt,” she complained.
”I’m sure they do,” he sympathised. “And
the sooner you get those things picked, the sooner you can stand up and give
your knees a rest.”
“You could help me,” she said, again through gritted
teeth, as he took the bucket she’d filled and handed her another.
”I could,” he said, appreciating the view as she looked up at him, grime
streaked across her beautiful face, her yellow-blonde hair bright, her pale
body smooth and stunning against the darkness of the greenery she was stretched
over. “But I won’t.” Her eyes dropped, her shoulders dropped and
she sobbed loudly. Dominic looked up at
the blue sky above him and shook his head.
“Amateur,” he said.
Joely ignored him and sobbed louder.
”It won’t work,” he said. “I have two little sisters. I’m immune to tears, especially alligator
ones. And I hate to say it, Joe, but
you’re not very good at faking tears. Think
about it – when you’ve been really upset, have you started off with loud crying
jags like that? I’ll bet you
haven’t. I’ll be it’s just been a quiet
little, heartbroken sob. If you want to
be convincing, you need to think about the times when you really have been
upset and use those emotions.”
“What is this, a fucking lesson?” she demanded,
abandoning her false histrionics.
“A fucking lesson?” he repeated, putting the emphasis
on the middle word. “No, Joe. That would be very different, and while I
don’t mind saying that it sounds tempting, that ground looks awfully hard, we
hardly know each other, and I really don’t think you’re in the right frame of
mind for it. Let me take a rain check on
that one.” Her mouth was open in outrage
at that, but he just grinned.
“Pick the strawberries,” he advised, going back to
the fence. She picked the strawberries,
filling the fifth bucket to the brim.
Then he made her carry the buckets to the back door and inside. Then he made her walk back up the stairs and
to her room naked, with him walking behind her, the skirt in his hand. The fact that they saw no-one en route made
it marginally easier to stand it, although she was conscious every step of the
way of his eyes on her body. On all of it.
“Well done!” Dominic said once he’d closed the door
behind them. “You didn’t speak at all on
the way back.”
”I was too exhausted,” she said. “Give me the skirt now.” He shook his
head.
”Time for another bath, I think,” he said, giving her a quick up and down, then
a slower one, lingering along the way, designed to embarrass, and succeeding. She turned away from him, covering the
distance to the bed with the intention of sitting down or lying down as soon as
possible. She was denied even that.
“Oh no you don’t,”
he said, laughing as he caught her wrists and held her up. “Those white bedspreads are the devil to keep
clean and you’re not going to put that dirty skin down on one of them. Bath first, Joe.” Too
weary to fight, she let him lead her into the bathroom, and sat down to rest on
the toilet seat while he turned the taps on.
She looked down. Her feet were
covered in dirt and the rest of her was almost as bad. Her hands were a disgrace.
“As soon as I get in there, the water is going to
turn brown,” she commented. He looked up
from the bath, at the hands she was holding up.
“You’re right,” he said. He turned to the sink and ran the water. “Come here,” he said. Feeling like a naked house pet, she stood
up. The toilet flushed as she did,
proving that the plumbing, while advanced, wasn’t all that smart. She walked over to him and held her hands
under the running water while he rubbed the
“Grubby little hands,” he commented.
“My feet are worse,” she said. She didn’t want to sit in muddy bath
water. He looked down and grimaced.
“If you’ve left muddy footprints all the way up here
they’ll have my hide,” he said. He
sighed.
“Ah well.” He
bent, took her knees out from under her with one arm and slid the other arm
around her back. “Let’s get them under
the tap too.” It took some doing, given
that the sink wasn’t large and she couldn’t actually see her feet given the way
he was holding her, but finally he was satisfied enough to put her down again. Then he brushed at the front of his brown
robes.
”Now I’ve got mud on me too,” he said. “What a messy thing you are.”
“It’s hardly my fault,” she retorted, still
recovering from the sensation of being held naked in his arms. Yes, he’d done it before, including when he’d
tipped her over his shoulder, but she’d been even more tired then, not to
mention a bit shocked. This had felt
warmer, closer, more intimate. And Joely had never felt more undressed in
her life.
“It never is your fault, is it?” he responded
absently. “There, we’ll get you in there
now. Can you get in yourself?”
“If you untie my wrists,” she said hopefully.
“I’ll steady you instead,” he said, linking his long
fingers around one of her upper arms and helping her to climb over the side
into the bath and sit down.
“Dominic, I need my hands free to wash myself.”
“No you don’t,” he argued. “I’ll help you.”
”I’d rather you didn’t,” she said.
“And I’d rather I did,” he responded. “Would you like a bet as to who’s going to
win?”
“You can bet in here?” she asked, trying to distract herself as he picked up the soap and began to lather it
between his hands.
“I’m Irish. We
bet on anything, anywhere,” he said, his hand slippery on her shoulders. “Lean back, Joe. I can’t wash you if you stay all folded up
like that.”
His hands skimmed over her, almost professional in
their touch, but she couldn’t help wriggling and blushing when he cleaned the
dirt streaks from her breasts and lifted her hands so he could wash under her
arms. He didn’t look at her face, which
made it marginally better, but when she noted where he was looking, it made her
blush even more. His palms felt rough as
they skimmed over her nipples.
“Andy wouldn’t hurt you,” he said as he soaped across
her belly. “He’s just a big child, very
gentle, very shy.”
”I could see that,” she said, trying to move back in the bathtub, away from his
hands. “But it gave me a shock. And he was touching me in a very personal
place.” Dominic’s hand moved lower.
“Here,” he said as she jumped. “It’s just hair, Joe. Yes, I know it’s very close to parts of you
you’d like to keep private, but when all’s said and done, it’s just hair. Soft, pretty, yellow curls, but nothing more
than that.” He looked up at her face as
he finished washing her there.
“It’d be the first time Andy’s seen a naked girl, I
would think,” he said. “He wouldn’t have had a clue that he wasn’t supposed to
touch. Daniel will have given him a
stern lecture about it, I’m sure.”
“Good,” she said, keeping her thighs clamped
together. Dominic’s lips twitched. He handed her the soap.
“Here,” he said.
“You can manage down there, I imagine.”
He even looked away while she did.
Then he did her back for her, peeling the strands of hair up from her
wet skin and holding them up off her neck while he cleaned her, all the way
down to her bottom.
“You’re done,” he said. “Time to get out now.”
Again, he helped her out, and again, he dried her off. He still made no move to undo the rope tied
at her wrists, even though it was soaking wet.
“Can I have the robe on now?” Joely asked, making it
sound more like a demand.
“Maybe later,” he said. “First of all, I have a promise to keep to Daniel.” Joely’s eyes
widened.
“You don’t mean…?” she asked.
“Oh, I most certainly do mean,” he said, his eyes
dancing while he kept his mobile lips in a straight line. “Come here and we’ll get it over and done
with.”
”I didn’t know Andy wouldn’t hurt me!” she protested, instinctively backing
away as one long arm stretched out and his hand clamped over the rope around
her wrists. Forgetting her nudity for
one instant, Joely struggled and dug in her heels.
“Dominic, it’s not fair!” she said. He gave in and grinned at that.
“Possibly not,” he conceded. “But it’s going to happen anyway. I gave my word. Come on, Joe.” He pulled hard on the rope, overbalancing
her, and caught and half-dragged her to the bed. He sat down and hauled her wriggling,
fighting body over his lap.
“NO!” she protested loudly, trying to squirm
off. Dominic pulled his robe up enough
to free one of his own legs to go over hers, holding them down. Then he put a hand on her back and just held
her there.
“Now,” he said.
“I did promise to turn you over my knee and I have. But I have a philosophical objection to
tanning your hide when you hadn’t been told in advance about Andy. Call me soft, but I don’t think you should be
spanked for that. Your behaviour was
rude and nasty, but it’s only your first day here and you don’t yet understand
how things work, so I think you should get a break. Do you agree?” There was a muffled “Yes” from Joely, whose
face was buried in the bedspread.
“But,” he went on.
“I also don’t think you should get away with it completely, so I’m going
to use something your stepfather told Bernard about. Something that might make you think in future.”
Joely had stiffened, her already tight bottom tightening still further
as Dominic stroked his free hand over it, his fingers strumming soft lines over
the soft, taut surface. He seemed to be
enjoying himself, which was more than could be said for her. His touch was teasing, taunting, and it made
her wriggle around on his lap.
“What?” she asked, turning her head so she could breathe.
“Apparently, you’re very ticklish,” he said, pressing
down harder with his restraining hand and leg as her struggles began anew. “Very ticklish,” he said again, laughing as
she tried to throw herself off the bed, off him.
“So,” he said.
“Let’s see if you’re ticklish on your bum, shall we? I have a feeling you might be.”
She was. He
tickled her mercilessly for the next few minutes, his fingers delving into all
of the soft, sensitive spots on and around her buttocks, and she was
alternately begging, abusing and laughing within seconds of him starting. The quality and diversity of her cursing
impressed him almost as much as the sight of her little white botto
He let her slide off his lap onto the floor.
”Now I’ll take the rope off your wrists,” he said, looking down into her rosy,
furious face. “And if you even think
about acting on whatever types of murder you’re planning at the moment, you’ll
be back over my knee so fast your head will spin, Joe.”
………………
Joely couldn’t believe that Justin had passed that
bit of information to them. He hadn’t
tickled her since she was a child, had no way of knowing that she still was
ticklish, even. He must have really
racked his brain to come up with things that he thought would get to her. How typical of him. And how much he must be enjoying the thought
of what she was going through now.
Somehow, she survived another hour in Dominic’s
company, hearing about rules and more rules, and what would happen if she
didn’t follow said rules. He’d given her
the white robe back after he’d untied her hands, but whenever she glanced over
at him, Joely was reminded that he’d not only seen her stark naked, he’d also put
her in humiliating positions and he’d held her effortlessly over his knees and
tickled her. Tickled her butt! It was too mortifying to think about, but she
couldn’t get it out of her head, and she knew from the mischief in his eyes
that he could see she was still embarrassed about it. She turned away whenever he met her gaze. The fourth time it happened, he stopped
talking, stood up from the bed he was sitting on and walked over to where she
was sitting on the other bed, resolutely looking away. He took her chin in his hand and tilted her
face up to look at him.
“Would you have preferred that I spanked you?” he
asked.
“Yes,” she responded honestly. He laughed.
”Good,” he said. “Although you’re going to have to pretend at
dinner that you were walloped. If
Daniel comes anywhere near you, make it look as if your bum’s sore.”
”It is,” she said tersely. Another laugh.
“No it isn’t,” he said. “Your pride’s hurt,
that’s all. You’ll survive.”
She did, although she didn’t think it was
possible. Dinner was served early,
another silent meal filled with nods and smiles across the table. She didn’t see Daniel or Andy, for which she was profoundly grateful, and she managed to remain
silent all the way to the meal, during it, and all the way back. This was mostly because she had no desire at
all to talk to Dominic. It didn’t bother
him. In fact, he congratulated her on
her silence.
Once back in the room, he watched over her while she
cleaned her teeth and swallowed her contraceptive pill, glaring at him in the
mirror as she did so. Justin would
never have agreed to her taking the pill if the family doctor hadn’t convinced
him that she needed to in order to minimise some monthly discomforts. She found herself much more discomforted now,
taking it under Dominic’s watchful eye.
Again her toilet functions were brief and embarrassing.
“Eat bran tomorrow morning for breakfast,” he
recommended. “All functions are expected
to be regular here.” Since
she was sitting on the toilet when he said that, she was left in no doubt as to
his meaning. He made it even more
clear by pointing at a cupboard above the toilet.
“There’s an enema bag in there,” he said. “And rubber gloves and all sorts of
unpleasant tubes and things. I don’t want to use them on you, but I will if
necessary.” Joely banished that
particular image from her head immediately while she glared at him.
Back in the bedroom another unpleasant surprise
awaited her.
“I’m afraid you have to sleep in the nude,” he said
cheerfully. “So off
with the robe now.”
”Why?” she demanded, crossing her arms over it. She didn’t like the lack of underwear, but
she disliked the idea of the lack of robe even more. He shrugged.
“It’s the rules,” he said. “Come on Joe, whip it off.”
“You just want to get my clothes off me,” she
accused. His mouth curved into a grin.
“I already have,” he reminded her. “On a number of occasions. Just take it off and lie down. Here, I’ll pull the covers back for
you.” He did it, turning away as she
tugged the robe over her head and dropped it on the floor. Arms covering herself, she lay down and he
pulled the sheet and cover up to her neck.
Then he reached up to the top of the bed and pulled something up fro
“Put your arms up above your head,” he said. Joely stilled, then
tilted her head back to look at what he was holding. White cords.
“No,” she said softly, firmly. “You are not tying me up. No way are you tying me to the bed.” She had surged to a sitting position as she
spoke, the covers clutched to her chest, and she was wriggling to get her legs
clear so she could get right off the bed.
Dominic moved quickly, rolling his long body until he was straddling
her, his hands on her shoulders.
“Lie down,” he said, but his tone was gentle, his
expression understanding. “Joely, I’m
not going to hurt you.” For once, he
used her real name. She noticed, but it
didn’t make her feel any better.
“I’m not into bondage…well, not with unwilling
participants anyway, and I’m not planning to take wicked advantage of you
during the night, I promise.”
“Why would I believe you?” she asked,
her blue eyes boring into his golden-brown ones.
“Why wouldn’t you?” he countered. “Have I taken advantage of you today? Have I groped you or put my hands anywhere
they didn’t need to be?”
“When you bathed me, you did,” she pointed out. “You washed my chest.”
”And how easy would it have been for you to wash yourself with your hands
tied?” he asked reasonably. “And did I
settle in and have a good feel around, or did I just wash you and move on?”
“You did that…tickling thing,” she tried again.
“And did I tickle between your legs?” he asked. “Tempting though it was when you were
shifting them about and lifting your bottom up?
Did I?” Joely looked away, not
wanting to see that image in his eyes.
“Did I?” he repeated.
“No,” she admitted.
“But I’ll be uncomfortable if you tie me up.”
”It won’t be tight,” he said. “You’ll be
able to roll over. You just won’t be
able to run away during the night. If I
don’t tie you, I’ll have to share the bed with you, and one way or another, I
won’t get any sleep. So it has to be
this way, Joe. Stop fighting me and
start trusting me, girl.” The expression
on her face told him what she thought of that.
He shook his head, his dark hair framing a very sincere expression.
“Believe it or not, I’m on your side,” he said. “I want to find out more about what you did that landed you in here, and I want to help you to work
through it and get out again. But we’re
going to have to work together and you’re going to have to trust me. Now give me your hands.”
Knowing that she had no choice, and feeling
marginally better about it, Joely lay back down, her head on the pillow, tucked
the covers securely into her armpits and raised her arms for him.
“Good,” he said, once he was satisfied with the
ties. “Now, I’ll turn the light off in
here so you can go to sleep. You’re
probably tired and a bit sore after all of the unaccustomed exercise you’ve had
today. I’ll be in the bathroom for a
little while, cleaning myself up.”
”You’re going to take a bath?” she asked.
He nodded. Then he grinned, bent
down and kissed the tip of her nose before she could turn away.
“And unlike you, I’ll refrain from murdering any
songs while I’m in there,” he said.
“Good night, Joe. See you in the
morning.”