The Art of Retaliation Page 5

  “Good I hope it won’t,” she replied without emotion.

  Stephane pulled Ryan’s engagement ring from his pocket and placed it on the table in front of her.

  “I thought you might want this back,” he said carefully.

  She moved her hand to the object to give it further inspection and then withdrew as though its stones were coated with a fatal poison.

  “You were wrong,” she said frostily. “It means nothing to me. Give it back to Ryan when you see him. I will be ready to leave in half an hour.”

  Stephane watched her leave the room and pocketed the ring bringing his coffee cup to his lips to hide the satisfaction at her words on his face.

  Mara dressed in a black trouser suit complimented by a white shirt. She clutched the briefcase she was holding tightly as though it contained the crown jewels and descended the stairs. Stephane’s eyes travelled the length of her body as he waited for her at the bottom. She pretended not to notice maintaining an air of aloofness always her best defense she had found in such situations. He took her arm before she took the last step and led her out into the courtyard where a black Mercedes was waiting. She pulled her arm into the air trying in vain to shake off his hold.

  “Must you always be touching me, Stephane. Where the hell do you think I am going to go.”

  “I don’t know, Mara. But you have a way of surprising me and I need to keep you close because of it,” he grinned.

  An hour later they ripped through heavy Paris traffic. The car drew up outside the office in the Rue de Paix. Mara grew nervous this might be her only chance and she had to get it right. Somehow she had to let them in the office know what was going on so they could help. She quickly opened the door before someone else did it for her but felt a restraining hand on her shoulder drawing her back against the seat. Stephane leaned over her and cupped the side of her face lifting it up to him.

  “Remember, Mara don’t try anything. I still have Maxine and you wouldn’t want anything to happen to her would you?’ he spoke huskily making her catch her breath. “Besides,” he continued trailing his thumb over her lips. “Even if you did succeed in letting someone know, who are the police going to believe? The Count of Albain or an Englishwoman? Anyway if you did escape I would track you down and when I found you I would cage you so you could not escape me again. Don’t doubt me. I always carry out my threats.”

  Her lips parted, her mouth too paralyzed by the caress to retaliate with words, waiting eagerly for penetration despite his intriguing threat. She could feel his masculine power radiating out from him overwhelming her, melting her resistance. How could she feel this way when he had threatened to cage her? Yet it excited every sense she had. What was happening?

  He brushed her lips with a kiss and then pulled away.

  “Yes, I understand.”

  Mara clenched her teeth wishing she could wipe the aristocratic smug smile from his lips and stop the ache that was now throbbing hot and wet between her thighs feeling played as he sat back.

  “I won’t try anything. Let me out now,’ she snapped.

  Mara got out of the car attempting to regain some form of semblance. In an instant he was at her side holding her arm and leading her towards the entrance.

  “What do I tell them about you?” she asked suddenly stopping.

  “Just say who I am and tell them that you are here to discuss a business transaction and proposal that I have to make to Matisse. I will make it up as we go along.”

  He gently pushed her forward clearly impatient for the charade to begin.

  Mara breathed a sigh of relief when the young receptionist bought the story she was hardly listening to, her eyes locked in a tight seductive embrace with Stephane’s. They were taken to the boardroom on the ground floor and a senior English secretary entered the room carrying a tray of fine china and a steaming coffee pot rich with the aroma of strong French coffee.

  “I am sorry Miss Logan but Raymond Matisse had to cancel. He rang yesterday but I couldn’t get a hold of you on your mobile or at the address the London office gave me to inform you. You are to ring him at the end of the week and arrange another one.’

  The woman pushed horn rimmed glasses further up her nose and awaited an angry response.

  “Oh well never mind we will just have to arrange another one,” Mara smiled trying to hide her disappointment.

  Before she could say anymore Marcus Read the English managing partner of the Paris branch of the firm entered the room cooing and bowing at the billionaire Count. Why hadn’t he been informed of his attendance? Then he apologized for the cancellation on Matisse’s behalf but it couldn’t be avoided.

  Mara was quick to take advantage leaving Stephane to explain his presence and why a Aerospace billionaire was interested in making a contract with a software giant like Matisse and their own client who was about to be taken over by them. The task would keep him preoccupied.

  She stood up from the table away from the animated discussion and slipped the neatly folded piece of paper she’d written a message on before they left the Chateau out from the cup of her bra pretending to be busy shuffling papers in front of her. The message it contained was simple, conveying the necessary information. She took the document she had drawn up in London for Matisse out of her bag together with some other papers and rushed after the secretary who was discreetly leaving the room.

  “Before you go, please send these documents to Raymond Matisse by courier for signing and tell them that I will be in contact to arrange another appointment.”

  “Yes I will do that for you. I am sorry about today but I couldn’t get a hold of you.”

  Mara fought the urge to scream out at the woman but she knew that Stephane was well within earshot.

  “That’s okay.”

  “Oh I am sorry, I am all fingers and thumbs today.”

  The secretary bent to pick the fallen papers which she had carelessly allowed to slip from her fingers. Mara’s heart skipped a beat. It was just like being in a bad movie. She hurriedly helped the woman gather the papers up and prayed that the piece of paper was lodged between them. To her dismay she found it lying next to two sheets of paper that they had missed. It was too late, the secretary had already left the room and Stephane’s conversation on the state of aerospace companies in the world today was drawing to a close. She frantically replaced the paper in her bra and took the other papers to her bag, waiting for another opportunity to spring out in vain.

  “Well we have to be going,” Stephane suddenly announced. “Mademoiselle Logan is a guest at my chateau. If you need to contact her, please do not hesitate to do so.’

  No, no just a little more time.

  “Come along, Mara,” he said speaking to her as though she were a child.

  She looked at Marcus pleadingly but he only seemed confused. Defeated she said her goodbyes and allowed Stephane to guide her back to the car. She knew by the way her feet hardly touched the ground in his grip that something was wrong. He pushed her in and then got in next to her.

  “Give it to me,” he insisted holding his palm out flat in front of her.

  “What?” she answered curtly pretending to be ignorant about what he was asking for.

  “Don’t do that,” he snapped with impatience. “Give it to me or I will get it myself.”

  He wouldn’t dare but past experience made her cautious and she began to back away from him on the seat.

  “I don’t know what you are talking about,” she hissed. “Hey.”

  The billionaire’s fingers were deft, loosening her suit jacket with ease and then slipping a hand down the band of her trousers to tug her towards him. Mara’s hands scrabbled at him, outraged at the indignity but he held them pinning them behind her back with one hand whilst the other quickly undid the buttons of her blouse.

  When the garment was fully opened, he directed her body backwards until her head fell on his shoulder. She looked up at him fearful and for a moment but softened when his eyes reassured he
r. The feeling was short lived. His eyes swept over her breasts covered in a satin bra rising and falling with each agitated breath and trailed a finger between them, tantalizingly caressing the flesh that the bra exposed over the cups.

  “Where is it?” he asked in a velvet voice.

  Mara remained silent using all her energy to breathe and stop the damp ache swelling between her thighs.

  “Is it hidden under your breast or maybe down here in your panties,’ his voice was a dark whisper as he unzipped her trousers.

  She gave a futile struggle that only served to heighten the sexual tension between them and his hold on her wrists behind her back to tighten reminding her of his power as a man.

  The billionaire’s hand slipped inside the open zip and skimmed over the front of her skimpy matching satin panties before moving his middle finger underneath to caress the material covering the lips of her vagina.

  He held her spell bound, in a trance, her eyes unable to leave his, her body powerless for motion. The billionaire bent to sweep his lips over the soft flesh of one plump breast, the top of which spilled over the bra cup.

  “Your panties are wet, Mara,” he said with a smile stroking the damp patch with his finger once more. “Let me see if I can find the note you have hidden from me inside there.”

  Mara couldn’t speak. She panted when he moved the ridge of her panties to one side to expose her vulva. Her mind was torn between begging him to touch her and stopping him with everything she had. But her need for him to caress her was to win out. She gave a small gasp when he stroked his fingers inside the lush dampness as the car travelled along the road.

  “Hmmmm, soaking wet.”

  Mara watched him look down and study her bare sex as he trailed his fingers up underneath each juicy petal lip. Mara was breathless as he moved her back against his body, still holding her arms behind her before he circled the entrance to her channel with his finger. Arousal built and swirled inside Mara making her helplessly melt and surrender to his touch. It had been too long since a man had touched her and she hadn’t realized just how much she’d missed a masterful caress.

  “You can’t hide anything from me, Mara,” Stephane informed her pinching at the wet bud wobbling between the wet lips of her pussy making her cry out and flood all the more. “Like it or not you are my captive and I am in charge of you. I am in control. You might as well accept it,” he finished stretching his middle finger and then a second one up inside her channel. He thrust them gently in and out.

  Mara felt her body willingly open for his penetration grateful when he reached deeper inside her to expertly stroke the rough wall of her vagina and the center of her pleasure. Unable to help herself she moaned loudly and bucked down on to his fingers.

  “For instance I can make you come wherever and whenever I choose.”

  The billionaire stoked his fingers harder and picked up the rhythm of his drive inside her body. Within seconds Mara’s arousal was spinning out of control and she was beginning to climax even as her mind screamed at her not to give in to him. But her need and the way he controlled her was so intoxicating she could not help herself.

  “That’s a good girl, obey me and come for me now,” he whispered watching her pleasure ride her face.

  Mara’s climax exploded flaring in a warm flush across her features. With glazed eyes she looked up at her handsome captor bringing her to orgasm so easily. He looked down at her now ramming his fingers inside her to coax every last drop of pleasure out from her, his lips curling sensuously, enthralled by her helplessness in his arms.

  Mara lay restrained in his arms waiting for her breathing to return to normal and her heart to stop racing. The tension she had carried around in her body for so long was beginning to dissipate in to warm contentment.

  Stephane removed his fingers slowly but continued to caress her until her body calmed.

  “Good girl. You are nice and calm now,” he said speaking to her like a child again.

  But that wasn’t what annoyed her. She actually liked it.

  He stopped stroking her and re covered her vulva with her panties. He brought his fingers to his lips and inserted them in to his mouth sucking on the juice that coated them.

  ‘Very tasty,” he smiled obviously amused by her shock.

  “Well, the note isn’t in there. Let me check your bra.”

  The French billionaire pulled down the strap of her left breast to expose her flesh. He cupped the swelling milky globe and caressed his thumb over the erect darkened peak making her Mara breathless again.

  “Such beautiful breasts, Mara. It’s a shame they must be covered. Maybe if I took your clothes away I could stop you hiding things from me,’ he whispered and tweaked the peak hard as if to punish her for her indiscretion and took her mouth.

  Abruptly he let go of her arms and pushed her back up into a seating position and sat back unfolding the piece of paper he had retrieved from the cup of her bra, a mocking sigh escaping his lips as he scrunched the paper into a ball and threw it out of the window.

  She looked at him confused, hurt and then her eyes narrowed, a dark cloud brimming over her features. He had cruelly taunted her, exposed her body and sampled its delights. What was more she’d loved every minute of it. Every emotion raged through her body. She wanted to cry, hide and slap him.

  Her hand reached up to deliver a slap but he caught her wrist easily.

  “Now, now, Mara. Watch your temper. You wouldn’t want me to stop the car, throw you over my knee and spank your bare bottom, now would you? Even though that is exactly what you need. You are looking very disheveled, I suggest you dress and cover yourself before we get home.”

  Her free hand tried again but he caught it.

  “Remember what I said. Now, dress or I may decide to carry out my other threat and take your clothes from you. I am warning you anymore attempts like that and I will.”

  “Haven’t you humiliated me enough,’ she shouted glancing at her clothes as she tried to cover herself and then at the driver.

  He laughed.

  “No not nearly enough, and you only have yourself and Ryan to blame for that,” he said harshly.

  Unable to find the words she fumbled with her clothes and turned from him to look out of the window desperately wishing that the car would reach its destination and she could escape to the confines and safety of her room to lick her wounds in private.

  Mara climbed the stairs and slammed the bedroom door behind her fuming that she had allowed herself to be humiliated again. Nothing was working but she refused to give up. She threw her briefcase on the bed in a rage and then regretted it thinking of the important information it contained. If she didn’t get away soon it wouldn’t be just her own life on the line but Raymond Matisse’s.

  She hadn’t just come to France to seek agreement on a business contract for a takeover but to close an old criminal case, the very case that had caused her to be disillusioned with criminal law and leave a successful career with the Crown Prosecution Service for the city. Not even Maxine or her own brother in whom she confided everything knew and that was the way she was going to keep it. Only Raymond Matisse and a few select others were involved. He’d contacted her secretly after meeting her to negotiate the take over of her client’s company. He was a man who checked out everyone he was working with and he’d learned of her interest in a man from her past as a Prosecutor who had evaded a murder charge in a case she had been dealing with. The same man who was now laundering drug money through their accounts via one of the company’s board members.

  Raymond Matisse was going to work with her to find evidence on the man for his laundering and the murder. She was going to ensure not even Stephane knew about it. Her hold on her emotions tightened again as she realized how important her escape was and closed her mind to the billionaire’s manipulation and humiliation. Relieved with the return of her control, she took a cool shower and dressed in shorts and a sleeveless summer top.

  She made her way downst
airs out the back of the house into the grounds, taking time to stop next to a fountain at the top of the cascading steps the led beyond the house.

  Stephane was staring out of the long windows, bored with the discussion his business colleagues were conducting on their position in the French market and over the world in a meeting in his study. His mind was too preoccupied with thoughts of that morning and Mara. Her surrender had been so sweet and revenge satisfying.

  His eyes widened and a warm glow radiated around his body as she came into view standing at the fountain. The voices of the men and women in the room were distant echoes retreating. Discreetly he strained to obtain a better view watching her dab water on her forehead and the top of her chest from the fountain to cool the heat of the day on her body. She stood at the top of the steps removing her sunglasses to get a better look around. He found himself nervous, excited with anticipation that they would lock eyes.