Chapter Fourteen

“He painted her?” Angela said to Patrick the next morning.

“Yep,” he grinned. “From head to toe. She had capitals Ds all over the front of her.”
”You shouldn’t have looked,” Angela said, but she wasn’t capable of her usual temper. She was still waking up, warm and comfortable in the big bed she’d shared with him. She’d already been up and gone to the bathroom, but had sunk back into the embrace of the bed again, just minutes before he’d opened the door and come in.

“Hard though it is to believe, I didn’t look, once I realised how embarrassed she was,” he said, shifting his position so he was stretched out beside her. He kicked his shoes off onto the floor.

“Where have you been, anyway?” she asked. He was fully dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, with a sweater knotted around his neck. He looked glossy and expensive, like a professor at an ivy league college, perhaps.

“For a walk,” he said. “I woke up early and didn’t want to disturb you.”
”You could have disturbed me,” she smiled seductively and wrapped her arms around his neck. His hair framed his face and he leaned in and kissed her, a long, warm caress of her mouth.

“Mmmm,” she said, stretching against him. He was on top of the covers and she was under them, but she could still feel the hard length of his body. “So why didn’t Jessie stop him from painting on her?”

“Apart from the fact that he’s twice her size and five times as strong?” Patrick asked, kissing her again.

“Not five times,” she said. “Twice, perhaps. Well, maybe three times,” she conceded. “Jessie’s only little.”

“Size has got nothing to do with it,” he said, grinning again. “As you keep saying, you’re not as little as Jessie, but you’re still not all that strong, kiddo.”
”I could take you in a fight,” she shot back, knowing she was wrong, but unable to prevent herself from challenging him. Blue eyes gleamed as he laughed.

“Sure you could,” he said. “Anyway, apart from the fact that he outweighs and out-muscles her, he had another unfair advantage.” He put his hand into his jeans pocket and pulled something out, something metallic – something he’d taken back from Daniel that morning, both of them laughing quietly.

“What’s that?” Angela asked, trying to read the handsome face she now knew so well. He held the handcuffs up.

“Oh, nothing much,” he said, laughing as she immediately made a roll for the other side of the bed. He shifted and straddled her, absorbing all of the thumps she aimed at his chest and legs, dangling the handcuffs from one finger. “So now,” he said, in full tease mode. “Let’s see if you can take me in a fight, shall we?” Conceding to herself that she wasn’t going to win without weaponry, Angela tried to talk her way out of it.
”Perhaps later,” she said airily. “I’d better go see how Jessie is.”
”Jessie’s just fine,” he assured her, knowing exactly what she was doing. “Apart from the fact that he shaved his initial into her bush. And that I commented on it. I don’t think she was all that happy about that.”

“He what?” If Angela’s eyes had widened any further, she would have lost them. “And you said something to her about it? You rotten…where are my clothes? Poor Jessie. I’ll have to check on her.”
”You’re not going anywhere,” Patrick grinned, shaking his head. “We flipped a coin for who got the cuffs first. Daniel’s had his revenge. Now it’s my turn.”

Patrick had given a lot of thought to the form his retaliation was going to take. There were lots of things he would have liked to do, including applying one of Doctor Frank’s creams, and lots of things he could have done, like tickling her, or taking photographs, or any one of a number of things she’d certainly done to him in the past. But he didn’t want to reawaken any sleeping memories of her time in the Institute. That didn’t stop him from teasing, however. Teasing was definitely the order of the day.

“Did Jessie ever tell you about Jake’s goodbye present to her when she was freed?” he asked, looking up the pale length of her body to meet her eyes as he tied her last ankle in place. She was nude and spread-eagled, and unsure as to whether she should be spitting chips at him or laughing. She was going for a compromise, her face set, but her lips twitching. It had been a short and uneven struggle, during which Patrick had definitely demonstrated that Daniel hadn’t inherited all of the muscles in the family. Angela squirmed, and Patrick admired the movement with his eyes.

“No,” she said. He smiled.
”Daniel, Russ, Eric and I visited her,” he said. “We undressed her…no, it’s not going to be horrible, so don’t bother glaring at me. We only had to take Jake’s shirt off her anyway, and Daniel, Russ and I had already seen her nude before that. Anyway, we took it off her, put her on the table, and the four of us tickled her gently.”

“Nude?” Angela gasped. Jessie had obviously been too embarrassed to mention this. She was going to be answering a lot of questions about it in future, however. Like exactly what part Patrick had played in it. He nodded.

“Nowhere particularly intimate at first,” he said. “Although…nah, never mind. Anyway, Jake came in and she asked him to-“

“JAKE came in?” Angela interrupted. “While she was…oh, poor Jessie.” Patrick smiled again.
”He’d seen her nude before too,” he reminded her. “She asked him to stop us, and he pointed out that he’d asked us to do it in the first place. And then he suggested that we use tongues instead of fingers. So we did.” As he said that, he leaned down, right down, and licked under her big toe. Angela squealed, and he looked up again, up at all of the other, very vulnerable parts of her. He went on with the story. “Then Daniel started applying his fingers and tongue to a more, shall we say personal part of her anatomy.” He was looking straight at the corresponding part of Angela’s anatomy, leaving no doubt what he was talking about.

“In front of all of you?” Angela was aghast. No wonder Jessie hadn’t mentioned this. Patrick shrugged one shoulder.

“We were all still tickling other bits of her,” he said. “Anyway, she eventually had to give in and let herself enjoy it. And she did enjoy it, Angie. She really did.”

“He brought her to orgasm in front of all of you?” she said. “I don’t believe you did…why did you tell me that now, Patrick?” He grinned.

“You dare,” she breathed. “You dare bring any of them in here, especially Daniel, and I swear I will…”
”You’ll what?” he continued grinning. “You’re not in any position to make threats, baby.” He ran his hands up the outside of her legs, his gaze following their movement. Then he met her eyes.

“I wouldn’t do that to you,” he said. “I’m not sharing you with anyone, Angie Myers.”

“But you’re not above making me think you would,” she said, relaxing infinitesimally. It would be a foolish woman who relaxed completely around Patrick Sauniere, particularly when he was looking like he was at present. Gorgeous, she thought to herself. Smooth and sexy and dangerous and gorgeous. And hers.

“I’m not above much at all,” he laughed. He shifted, moving so that he was lying between her widely splayed feet, and he leaned down and rubbed his nose on the red hair at the top of her thighs. “I like being above this, though,” he said, giving her one last mischievous grin before he dipped lower and began licking into her. Angela sighed, as much in pleasure as protest. Patrick was good at everything to do with sex. He was an extraordinary lover, mixing energy, enthusiasm and endurance with an alarming amount of inventiveness. From his soul-sapping kisses through to his sure, gentle touches on her body after they’d exhausted themselves, he was the best lover she could ever imagine having. In fact, he was well beyond any fantasies she’d ever had. But it was in this, this intimate assault on the most sensitive part of her anatomy, that he absolutely excelled. It wasn’t just that he knew every tiny place to seek out, or that he had a phenomenal amount of patience, it was that he clearly, genuinely enjoyed it.

“God, you taste good,” he said now, his voice deep and heavy as he brought his fingertips into play. Within minutes, he had her writhing, her hips swaying from side to side as much as they could.

“You didn’t have to tie me up for this,” she breathed, perspiration prickling out all over her body. He lifted his head, but left his fingers where they were, doing their wicked work. Angela’s pale skin made it very easy for him to read her reactions, even without all of the hours they’d spent tangling up the sheets together. Right now, the flush in her face had moved down her neck and was starting to infuse her breasts with rosy colour. He watched, smiling, loving the way she twisted on the bed, her mouth just open, her eyes closed. He judged it to perfection.

“No,” he said, taking his hand away. “But I did have to tie you up for this.” With that, he shifted further down the bed, grinning at the shock in her eyes as he started to gently massage one of her feet.

“What are you doing?” she demanded.

“Massaging your foot,” he replied. “Why?”
”WHY?” she repeated, her voice rising. “Why? Get back to what you were doing, Patrick Sauniere!”
”Nup,” he refused, leaning down to kiss the foot he was working on. “I’m busy.”

He continued to be busy for the next two hours, working his way steadily all over her body, finding all of his favourite places – behind her knees, the tender skin of her forearms, her waist, her ribs, just inside her hips. He spent twenty minutes just on her neck, and more than half an hour on her breasts, licking, kissing, nibbling and laughing against her skin as she clanked the handcuffs on the metal frame of the bed and tugged impotently against the scarves that held her ankles in place. And every now and then, just when her body had a chance of settling down to a pleasant simmer, he’d return to that position between her legs, delicately lapping at her until she was back at high boil again, all but shouting abuse at him as he left her hanging over and over again.

He checked her wrists several times to make sure the fur lining of the cuffs was cushioning them, and he retied one of her ankles once when he noticed the scarf were leaving marks on her. She tried to kick her way free of his grasp that time, tried to kick him in the groin, to be precise, and he laughed, delighted at the fight in her as he looped the scarf more carefully around her slim leg.
”Just for that,” he said, crawling back up over her. “This is going to last another half an hour.”
”I’d prefer the paint,” Angela said, jumping and laughing as he kissed her navel, still on his way up. “Even the shaving.”
”Oh, I’m sure you would,” Patrick smiled. He kissed her nose. “Now, I’ve neglected this beautiful face of yours terribly. So I’ll make up for it now. And while I’m doing that, I really do have to find something for this hand of mine to do.” It slipped between her legs again and she caught her breath, lifting her hips up, partly in protest, partly to make him do more. “Ah yeah,” Patrick breathed, kissing her mouth. He slipped a finger inside her, revelling in the heat of her, the tightness of her. “That’ll do until I can think of anything better.”

Angela was too determined a woman to be reduced to tears by the pleasure he was torturing her with, but she was reduced to gasping, even to pleading on one occasion, and certainly to insulting him creatively and fluently, particularly when he laughed at every insult she threw at him.

“Gee, it was such a good idea to have us stripped on our own show, wasn’t it?” he taunted at one point, laying trails of kisses over her ribs. “What a good laugh that was.”

“You deserved it,” she said, futilely trying to wriggle away yet again. “Patrick, either do something with that hand or shift it!” He had his fingers lying across her upper thigh, his fingertips just barely touching the hot, wet parts at the core of her. He circled them lightly, just a feather stroke.
”I deserved it, did I?” he asked, that wicked smile so outrageous on his blue-eyed, golden-haired angel face. “Well, I think you deserve this, too.” He kissed one of her nipples, just lightly, just enough to make her arch up and moan again.

“Let me go, you shit!” she all but yelled. He laughed at that.
”Never,” he said. “I am never letting you go.” He kissed exactly the same point again, and grinned at her. “And I may never let you come, either.”

In more than two hours of constant, unmitigated pleasure, he didn’t allow her so much as a minute to rest, to recover, and by the time he untied her ankles and pressed the buttons to release the handcuffs, her limbs were limp and her body beyond arousal and almost to exhaustion. But her mind was still sharp, as was her desire to make him pay. She all but ripped his shirt off him as he was putting the cuffs down on the floor. He danced out of her reach when she grabbed at his jeans, and removed them himself, making a point of doing it slowly, while she glared at him, laughter in her eyes despite it all.

“Come here,” she said, voice heavy with meaning. Grinning, he undid his fly, sighing with relief as he was finally freed of the jeans. He’d been suffering for some time, almost as aroused as she was, and almost as constricted by the tight denim as she had been by the restraints he’d had her in. She smiled as she saw how hard he was.

“I suppose I could just say no at this point,” she said.
”You could,” he agreed cautiously, praying that she wouldn’t. He didn’t think she would. He didn’t think she could, but his Angie surprised him sometimes. She was a very strong woman in many ways. He took a step closer, and she surveyed him from head to foot, looked over every inch of that glorious, naked body.
”Like hell I could,” she admitted, reaching for him. With a laugh, he eased her back onto the bed and eased himself down on top of her.

“Thank God,” he said, shifting his grip, lifting her hips, and sliding home with a groan of appreciation that was echoed by hers.

………………………..

“What are they DOING in there?” Jessie asked for the third time, prompting another laugh from Daniel.
”What do you think they’re doing?” he asked.

“At this time of the morning?” she asked. “No way. He’s doing something horrible to her, I know it. You gave him those handcuffs back, didn’t you?”

“I did,” he grinned. She was pacing up and down between the sofas, casting worried looks at Patrick’s end of the house.

“I’m going to rescue her,” she said, making up her mind. Daniel laughed.

“One, the bedroom door will be locked,” he said. “And two, I’m sure you won’t like what you’ll see if you break the door down.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of!” she said. “It’s been three hours since he went back in there! MORE than three hours, in fact.”

“Good revenge takes time,” Daniel said. “Come and sit down, Jessie.” She looked mutinous. And she kept looking down the length of the house to where Patrick’s bedroom door remained resolutely shut.

Daniel stood up and held out his hand.
”Come on,” he said. “We’ll go for a walk.” Jaw set, Jessie shook her head.

“I want to make sure she’s alright,” she said. His hands settled on her upper arms and turned her to face him.

“Patrick loves her to distraction,” he said. “Patrick has never loved a woman in his life, apart from Maman. He will not hurt her, Jessie. He will tease her and he will drive her mad, but he will certainly not hurt her.” She huffed out a breath.
”I know that,” she admitted. “But…it’s been more than three hours, Daniel!”

“Walk,” he said firmly, taking her hand and leading her to the door.

The woods behind the house were beautiful, not thick, but green enough to encourage birds, and open enough for flowers to grow in pools of sunlight between the trees. Walking with her hand tucked into his, as much to stop her from bolting back to rescue Angela as to keep touching her, Daniel was explaining to Jessie that his father had arranged for the woods to be planted, to give The Institute a shield from the outside world and to remove some of the stark prison look.

“I would have thought it would be a security issue,” Jessie said. “If the prisoners escape, they could hide in here.”
”Wearing nothing,” Daniel reminded her. She shrugged. He had a point. He kept going. “They run this way twice a day,” he reminded her. “And none of them has even tried to divert into the trees. They’re not thick enough to hide in, and there’s no food or shelter here. Even the most desperate woman wouldn’t be inclined to try it.”

“I might have,” Jessie argued more for the sake of it than anything else. “If they’d delivered me into your hands on the first day, I’d have been desperate enough to try anything.” He shook his head and smiled down at her. Then he looked up again, eyes narrowing.

“Bad timing,” he sighed. He looked at his watch. “They must be late.”
”Who?” Jessie asked, and then she heard the same sounds as he had. Running feet, gasping breath, and the voice of Russ, the Exercise Nazi. “Can we head back?” she asked. “Quickly?”

“Not unless you want to run the whole way,” he said. “Here, we’ll just step off the path and let them go by.” As plans went, it was basic but workable. Unfortunately, it was doomed to failure, because when the band of exercisers came round the corner, Russ was carrying one nude woman over his shoulder, and had his arm around another.

“Thank you God,” he said with relief as he saw Daniel. “They’re dropping like flies today. Hit the ground, everyone! Give me twenty sit-ups, and make them all the way up. This is Delaney,” he said, indicating the woman over his shoulder. “The one I told you about the other day. She gets leg cramps. And this is Hartford, who somehow managed to twist her ankle on a flat surface.” He shook his head in disbelief.

“Easy enough to do,” Daniel said, moving away from Jessie and dropping to his haunches at the feet of the woman Russ was supporting. “Sit down, Hartford,” he said. “Let me check this out. Yeah, you’ve twisted it all right. Did you fall off the side of it as you were running?”
”Yes sir,” the woman said. She was slim and long-limbed, with a short cap of dark hair and tanned skin. She was doing her best to cover herself as Daniel examined her ankle.

“Arms at your side,” Russ ordered, forcing her to expose her body again. “Come on, you lot. Put some energy into it or we’ll make it forty.”

“She needs this to be strapped,” Daniel said, straightening up. “Stay down for a minute,” he said to the woman. “Put this one down, Russ. Let me have a look.” Delaney was a bigger woman, full-breasted and wide-hipped, with bottle-blonde hair and a bright red face. It was hard to know whether the red was from embarrassment or from being held over Russ’ shoulder like that. He set her on her feet.

“Calf muscle?” Daniel asked. She nodded.

“Answer The Cat properly, Delaney,” Russ ordered.

“She’s in pain, Russ,” Daniel admonished. “Both legs?”
”Yes sir,” she said. She winced as he squeezed the muscles, ran his hands up and down them. The fact that she was stark naked in front of him wasn’t discomposing him at all, Jessie noted, from her position at the side of the track. But then, he’d seen so many naked women over the years, she supposed he was inured to it.
”No more running for this one, Russ,” Daniel said. “Get it confirmed by one of the doctors, but I’d say she has some old injuries there. And she’s not built for running, anyway.” Delaney’s blush deepened. Her arms almost moved to cover her swaying breasts, but she stopped herself in time.

She looked away from Daniel as he stood up, and her eyes met Jessie’s. She scanned Jessie up and down, from the expensive walking shoes she had on, up past the stylish shorts and shirt to her brushed and tidy hair. And the venom in her eyes was enough to have Jessie wanting to run away. She straightened her spine and prepared to match glare for glare. Then pity intervened. These twenty women, naked except for the webbras, dirty, sweaty, struggling through sit-ups, and still a long way from home, were people she should be feeling sorry for, not getting ready to pick a fight with.

Daniel had noticed the exchange, and he stifled a smile. He could read every expression flitting across Jessie’s face, the shock, the annoyance and anger, the pity. She was an open book, his Jessie. Unlike Delaney, who, if he recalled correctly, had taken kickbacks to suppress information about known child sex offenders who had applied to become foster parents. Just for an instant, he debated telling Russ to make her run anyway. But he calmed it. He wasn’t a sadist. And besides, that would mean that Russ would get to carry her every day.

“You take Delaney,” he said to the exerciser now, as he ordered the other women back to their feet.

“That’d be right,” Russ said, grinning at Daniel.
”You want to take both?” Daniel responded. Russ laughed and looked at Jessie.
”Not joining in the exercise?” he asked her. “I wouldn’t notice one extra, honest. Just whip those clothes off and get in line.”
”Don’t you talk to me while you’re doing this,” she said, meaning it. He held up his hands in surrender.

“Sorry, sorry,” he said, his eyes full of laughter. He still looked like a surfer, damn it. And even after carrying one woman and supporting another for who knows how long, he wasn’t puffed. Jessie decided that he was either superhuman or inhuman. Or both.

“You okay to go back to the house by yourself?” Daniel asked her. She nodded, then watched as he bent down to help Hartford to her feet. “Free lift,” he said to the woman, and bent to tip her over his shoulder.

“Give her your t-shirt,” Jessie said. Daniel turned around to look at her, and shook his head.
“No,” he said. “Sorry honey, but no. I can’t set a precedent like that.”

“You should be getting used to this by now, Delaney,” Russ said, putting the bigger woman back over his shoulder. “Right, everyone, I want to see lots of high-stepping action. We won’t be jogging, so you’re going to bring your knees right up to level with your tits with every step. Let’s go!” He punctuated this with a smack on the unfortunate Delaney’s bare backside, which was currently pointed at Jessie. She looked away, trying not to store the image of Daniel carrying the other naked woman.
”Back soon,” he said to her, apology in his eyes. This wasn’t what he’d been planning to do when he suggested the walk.

It wasn’t what Jessie had in mind either, but she knew that there was nothing else he could have done. Still smarting from the look in that woman’s eyes, the one she’d been predisposed to be sympathetic towards, she headed back to the house to find that Patrick and Angela had finally emerged, hair wet from the shower, and ravenous for a meal.

Daniel took almost half an hour to return, and in that time, Patrick managed to get in at least four references to paint and innumerable comments about shaving. Finally, after he’d asked her whether she’d had a “capital evening”, she gave up and lunged at him, fists up. Laughing, he caught her wrists, spun her around and frog-marched her to the sofa, where he plonked her down on her back in the cushions.
”Pick on someone your own size,” he teased, and then just jumped back in time as her foot speared straight for his groin. His mouth opened wide in mock surprise. “What is it with you two this morning?” he demanded. “First Angie goes for my balls, and now you, Jessie?”
”I had a good reason,” Angela pointed out.

“And so did I,” Jessie said. “You are the biggest tease I have ever met, Patrick Sauniere!”
”He had a lot of practice on me, growing up,” Daniel said, coming through the door. “What’s wrong, baby? Has he been picking on you?”

“Yes,” Jessie said, glaring at Patrick. “Get him. Kill him or something, Daniel. HE’S your size,” she pointed out to Patrick, who was laughing again.

…………………………………..

The media interest hadn’t slackened. Patrick and Daniel’s nude turn had made front page news around the country, albeit with black rectangles strategically placed over parts of their images. Not realising that the four of them had gone back to the Institute, reporters were staked out on Jessie’s lawn, and in front of Angela’s apartment building, as they found out when the building super rang Angela’s cell phone to demand that she do something about it. Patrick sighed and looked at Daniel.

“You take Carlton, we’ll do the radio shows,” he offered. Daniel thought about it for a few seconds. The Carlton Show meant facing an audience, but it was only one television show. If Patrick gave one radio interview, he was going to have to give at least three, or else Jake would be annoyed at the inequitable treatment. Unlike Carlton, who appeared on the same network as their show had, they had no allegiance to any particular radio station.

“Done,” he said. “As long as Jessie does the show with me.” She scrunched up her nose.
”For better, for worse,” she mumbled. He grinned.

“Which reminds me,” he said. “I’ve left the job, Jessie, we’ve filled in all the forms and gone through all of the procedures. When are you going to marry me?”
”You ask me that now? After you’ve just carried a naked woman into the Institute? After what you did to me last night?” she demanded. Patrick and Angie looked on, entertained.

“Yes,” Daniel said, smiling down into her eyes. “I do. So, when?”
”How’s tomorrow sound?” she responded, giving in and beaming back at him.

……………..

“Did it bother you, having every woman in the country seeing your boyfriend stark naked?” Carlton asked Jessie. It had taken a three minute call to organise the interview, a forty minute drive and fifteen minutes in makeup to get them onto the set, his last guests of the day.
”No,” she answered honestly. “And after all of the women he’s displayed naked, it seemed only fair.”

“But it really didn’t bother you that everyone got to see his body?”
”No,” she said. “I’m the only one who gets to touch him.” She smiled at Daniel.

“And how did you feel, Cat?” Carlton asked him.

“Naked,” Daniel replied. “Very, very naked. More naked than I have ever felt before.” He smiled wryly as the audience laughed. “And determined to never appear in public again without being fully clothed.”

“So you didn’t like having the tables turned on you?”

“I don’t know many people who would like being nude on national television,” Daniel said. “But there was a poetic justice to it, I have to admit. And Patrick and I aren’t overly shy, so it wasn’t as bad for us as it could have been for others.”
”No, we noticed you weren’t shy,” Carlton said. An image appeared on the monitors and screens of Patrick and Daniel, hands behind their heads, obviously naked, but with the pictures cropped at their hips in deference to the viewing time. There were some cheers from the audience.
”This is the same audience as we had for the auction, isn’t it?” Daniel demanded, looking searchingly into them. Carlton laughed.

“No it isn’t,” he assured him. “No-one is going to spank you today, Cat. Speaking of which – you seem to be sitting without any difficulty.”

“Patrick was still having a little trouble last night,” Jessie smiled. “But the woman who spanked Daniel only used her hand on him. He’s fine.”

“You can personally vouch for the state of his backside?” Carlton teased. Jessie faced him down.
”I certainly can,” she said. “It looked just fine in the shower this morning.” Daniel grinned as the audience laughed loudly.

“Show us!” someone yelled from the audience.

“Oh no,” Daniel refused vehemently. “No way, no how. These pants are staying ON!”

“Well certainly in this timeslot,” Carlton agreed. “And yet another revelation on the show – apart from what you revealed when you dropped your pants, of course…yes, yes, alright, settle down, ladies. I know you’re excited, but settle down. I am, of course, referring to the revelation that Jake Miller is your father.”
”It didn’t come as a surprise to him,” Daniel said, straight-faced. Carlton laughed.

“I imagine it didn’t, and of course now that we know, it’s completely obvious. Each of you looks like him in one way or another, just as you each look like your mother.”

“Patrick is more like Maman than I am,” Daniel insisted. “He’s the pretty one. I do hope he’s watching this.”
”And retaliating, while giving radio interviews,” Jessie reminded him. Daniel winced.

“So what are your plans for the future, Cat? Are you going back to being a physical therapist?”
”I’m not sure yet, Carlton,” Daniel replied. “I’m considering a few options at the moment, one of which involves a purchase I’m making with my father. But I can’t talk about that just yet.”
“He really is a tease, isn’t he?” Carlton appealed to his audience. “Just gives you so much, but then doesn’t go any further.” He paused for a second. “Except for last night, of course. Let’s look at a few more clips from the show, shall we?” Daniel groaned as the audience cheered.

…………………….

Patrick did four telephone interviews, and went into two studios for other radio segments, Angela going with him for those.

“King Dazzler,” said the head-phoned man sitting opposite them for the last interview. “What do you say to those people who are claiming today that you and The Cat knew about the show in advance?” Patrick laughed.

“That if they think we would willingly have volunteered to go through that, they’re as silly as we were for trusting our girlfriends, Wilson.” Angela laughed at that, too. “If Daniel and I had known, we would probably have gone along with it to some extent, but I can assure you that we would have been wearing something under those pants, even if it was just a thong or something like that.”
”…and we’d have raised more money auctioning those off,” Angela interrupted, making the radio jock laugh.
”No we would not,” Patrick disputed, blue eyes narrowing in mock threat as he looked at her.

“You could have refused to take part last night,” Wilson said. Patrick snorted.

“Yeah, sure we could,” he said. “We went out there last night expecting to be auctioneers, not to be auctioned. By the time we realised what was happening, we were surrounded by over a thousand women, all of them expecting and demanding skin. And our own father had given approval for it. How humiliating do you think it would have been if he’d sent the remaining dazzlers out to make sure the ladies got what they came for? And just to clinch things, our girlfriends were there, and they’re terrifying women, Wilson, let me tell you.”

“So can we expect some retaliation?” the interviewer asked, grinning at Angela.

“Retaliation has already occurred,” Patrick assured him, grinning even broader as Angela glared at him. “But that was of a private nature. I don’t think that was what you were referring to?”
”No,” the man said. “Although I’d certainly like to hear the details. No, I was thinking more of another television show where you turned the tables on your girlfriends, and maybe on Sienna Mallow as well?”
”We’d be covering old ground with Sienna,” Patrick reminded him.

“And with me,” Angela volunteered.
”You know, I’m pleased that you mentioned that,” Wilson said. “Because, being a gentleman, I wouldn’t have.” He pressed a button and recorded laughter rang out. “Strictly in preparation for this interview, of course, I went looking on the Shame Institute site for some pictures of you, Ms Myers.”
”I’ll bet you did,” she said calmly.

“And didn’t find any,” he finished. “I also checked to see if there were any bootlegs of the tape of the show you were on, but they all seem to have been bought up recently.”
”How odd,” Patrick said, his face and voice expressionless.

“My sentiments exactly,” Wilson said. “Well, whoever is doing it is unfairly depriving the rest of us of the opportunity to have a closer look at your lovely lady. And we don’t even have that much of a chance with Jessica Porter. Is she as beautiful as she looks?”
”Much more so,” Patrick answered that one, too. “Jessie is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. God knows what she’s doing with Daniel.”

“There’s any number of women out there who would like to be doing what she’s no doubt doing with The Cat,” the interviewer quipped, as one of his assistants handed him a piece of paper. “And apparently he just said on ‘The Carlton Show’ that you were always the pretty one of the two of you, King.”

“Pretty?” Patrick repeated, shaking his head. “My, he’s a brave lad when he’s on the other side of the city, isn’t he? I will point out that any number of people have commented on similarities between us since we’ve admitted that we’re brothers. So if he’s levelling insults like that at me, he’s applying them to himself as well.”

“What do you think about the comment, Angela?” Wilson asked her.
”I don’t necessarily agree,” she said.

“There’s a surprise,” Patrick threw in. She grinned at him and continued.

“I don’t think anyone would call Daniel pretty,” she answered obliquely. “He’s got that sleek, dark, dangerous, sexy thing happening.” Patrick cleared his throat loudly. “But he’s really a pussy cat,” she added, and Patrick laughed.

“He’s going to love that,” he said.

“So will we be seeing more of King Dazzler and The Cat in future?” the interviewer asked.

“Short of distributing x-rays, there ain’t no more to see,” Patrick replied. “But I guess you didn’t mean that.”
”No,” the Wilson replied. “I’m well aware that we got the complete picture last night. My wife is still recovering, and she probably already has a blister on her thumb from holding down the pause button as she views the recording for the hundredth time. What are you planning to do in future, Patrick?”

“Not sure, long term,” Patrick admitted. “Short term, Daniel and I are intending to continue exacting revenge for some time. For some reason, we haven’t managed to past that motivation at this point.”

………….

“That was fun,” Angela laughed as they arrived back at her flat, where there were only a few reporters now congregated. “I wouldn’t want to do it all the time, but it was fun – particularly working with a pro like you.”

“Compliments will not save you,” Patrick said. “I meant it when I said the revenge will be ongoing, Angela Myers. Did you see how many of those women outside the studios were holding up full-frontal nude pictures of Daniel and me from last night’s show?”
”I don’t know how you’re going to cope,” Angela replied, hazel eyes gleaming at him. “Even if you are buying up all of the bootlegs of my unwilling stint as a nude model, this is going to be a good, character-building experience for you, King Dazzler.” He grinned and pulled her into his arms.

”I haven’t bought all of them,” he admitted. “Dad’s been getting some of them, too. In fact, he’s bought and destroyed more than I have so far. He’s got better contacts.”

“Jake has been doing that?” Angela was touched. He nodded.

“And Daniel bought a parcel of photographs and burned them, too. The three of us have had to be careful to make sure we’re not bidding against each other whenever an ‘Andie Nugent’ item becomes available.” Angela sniffed and put her head on his shoulder.

“That’s so nice,” she said. “It puts a real hole in the theory Jessie and I came up with.”

”This’ll be good,” Patrick said, leading her over to her sofa to sit down, his arm around her shoulders. “What theory is this?”
”That you’re not actually humans at all. You’re aliens,” she said, curling her feet up under her and snuggling into him.

“Aliens,” he repeated. “On what basis…oh, do I want to know?”

“Yes,” she said. “You do. We’ve decided that you’re aliens, because you’re both too physically perfect to be human.”
”You’re right, I like this reason,” Patrick said. “Perfect in what way? Or ways? I’m assuming that there are lots.” He laughed as she dug her fingers into his ribs. He wasn’t ticklish like Daniel, so she had to poke him hard to make him protest.

“Physically,” she said again. “Neither of you has so much as a birthmark, a mole or a freckle on you, anywhere. That’s not normal.”
”Perhaps you haven’t looked closely enough?” he suggested. He pulled away to drag his t-shirt over his head and to reach for his jeans, unbuttoning and unzipping them. “Here, have another thorough look.” Angela laughed and brushed his hand away from his fly.

“Oh, I’ve looked, baby,” she assured him. “And Jessie says she’s checked Daniel out thoroughly, too. And I believe her.”
”Well you’re perfect as well,” Patrick said, pulling her back against him.

“I have freckles,” she reminded him.

“And they’re perfect,” he agreed. “At least I think they are. Here, let me have another look.” Smiling, he let her push his hand away when he started to tug at the buttons on her blouse.

“So what are you going to do, now that you know our secret other-worldliness?” he asked.
”Demand that you take us to your leader, of course,” Angela replied.

“Ah honey, why do you think they call me the King?” he replied quickly, grinning as she groaned.

“And what do you think our purpose here on Earth is?” he continued the same thread.

“Well, we’ve established that there are at least three parts,” she replied airily. “Viewing and sampling as many female earthlings as possible was the first part of your mission. The second part is sexual experimentation.”
”Mmmm,” Patrick approved. “The second part should last a long time. And what’s the third part?”
”Probably impregnation,” she said. He laughed.

“How would you feel about that?” he asked.

“I am but a humble earthling,” Angela responded. “Do with me as you will, oh great one.”
”I will most definitely take you up on that invitation later,” he assured her. “And I want it in writing. But I’m serious, Angie. How do you feel about the whole marriage, babies thing? Want to give it a go?”

”This is a proposal?” she asked, sitting up properly so she could look into his eyes.

“This is a proposal,” he agreed, smiling at her. “Want something more flowery? Someone already stole the ‘come live with me and be my love’ line that I would have used. He summed it up nicely.” Despite the smile, his eyes were as serious as Angela had ever seen them, and the muscles in his face were tense. She took her time looking at him, remembering that man in the Institute, the golden-haired dazzler who’d witnessed almost every step of her punishment. She remembered the smooth-tongued devil who’d talked her into giving him sex in there not once, but twice. And then she remembered the man who’d held her all night while she cried, the man who’d kissed her for hours, the man she’d laughed with, teased, played with, conspired with and loved. She nodded.

“Yes?” he asked. She nodded again.

“Yes,” she said. The tightness in his jaw released and his eyes softened.

“Good,” he said, leaning forward to kiss her gently, with passion and promise in his touch. “Now, about that impregnation part,” he said, standing up. Angela laughed, and then laughed louder as his undone jeans, for once not skin-tight, fell off his slim hips and slid to his knees.

“See,” Patrick said simply, holding his hands palm up. “Just like magic. Now watch how I make your clothes disappear, too.”
”I think we should work on your briefs first,” Angela said, reaching for them, sliding them down his thighs to rest on top of his jeans. “And then, we should definitely work on this.” She sank to her knees as she spoke.

“Should I point out that the curtains are open and that someone could have a camera aimed this way?” Patrick asked.

“No,” she said, leaning in closer.

“Angie, could we go into the bedroom, perhaps? Or even…ohhhh.” He caught his breath as her tongue slid up the length of him. She looked up and smiled wickedly.

“You want me to stop?” she asked. “You becoming all respectable now that I’ve agreed to marry you?”

“No, I just…” He lost his train of thought as Angela leaned closer and her lips slid over him. One of his hands cupped the back of her head softly. “If I could just sit down,” he tried again.

“Focus, Patrick,” she teased, easing off him again. “I want your undivided attention.”

“And you have it,” he assured her. “You definitely have it, but Ang…oh God. Forget it. Just don’t stop.” Angela smoothed her hands over the tight butt women all over the country were drooling over photographs and television images of, moved closer still, and for once, didn’t argue.