Page 18 of Wicked Games

When he ducked his head to enter the carriage, his mouth came close to my own; for just the barest of moments, I breathed his air. The startling intimacy rocked me even in my confused, agitated state.

The carriage swayed as he entered. Richard immediately sat down and started to settle me on his lap.

Pushing away slightly, I said, “I can sit over on the other bench.” After saying such, I expected him to let me go. He didn’t. In fact, his arms just closed about me more tightly. Not having the energy to fight him on the issue and frankly not wanting to give up the comfort of his warmth and strength, I relented and relaxed back into his arms.

After a crack of a whip, the carriage lurched forward and I immediately regretted my decision to stay on his lap. The swaying motion of the carriage rocked my hips back and forth suggestively. I couldn’t be sure through the thick wool of the coat, which was still wrapped tightly around me, but I was almost certain I could feel the ridge of his cock press against the back of my thigh.

My throat sore from screaming, I had to clear it several times before I trusted myself to speak. I hated how shaky and weak my voice sounded. “I have no idea what happened last night. I’m so sorry to have dragged you away from your party.”

“I wasn’t at a party, just a quiet evening at my club.”

I wanted to ask about the carriage and top hat but decided against it.

“My flat is in Tottenham. I can grab a cab as soon as we pass one. My flatmate, Jane, is probably worried sick about me.”

“You’re not getting in a hackney carriage in this state of undress,” he commanded, as if he had a right to dictate orders to me.

“I know I need to go to the police but I just want to get some of my own clothes on first,” I reasoned as I adjusted the lapels of his coat over my chest. “I’m sorry for bothering but could you just drop me off at home? I can give you the address.”

“Your home is with me.” His words had an edge to them as if he were expecting yet rejecting any argument from me.

“I can’t go home with you. I need to get my clothes and talk with Jane and go to the police. I must have been drugged or something. And those people… those people need to be arrested for what they did to me!” My voice gained in strength as I sat up on his lap.

Richard gently placed one long wet curl behind my ear. “Calm yourself, Elizabeth. You know what the doctors have said about agitating yourself by giving in to these fantasies.”

“Doctors? What doctors? What are you talking about? Those people were obviously criminals. Did I tell you I recognized one of them? She’s a homeless woman who begs just outside the Barbican Theater every day.”

He just shook his head and gave me a sympathetic look. “We’ll be home soon. I’m sorry you were put in such a place but I only just learned of your parents’ death. I had no idea it had affected you so.”

I stilled. “My parents? What do you know of my parents’ death?”

He was rubbing my back in wide soothing circles and I struggled not to sink back into the comfort of his arms. Instead, I tried twisting away, turning my shoulders to face him more directly. “What do you know about my parents?” I repeated, my alarm and confusion growing.

“It was a tragic accident while they were on their way to your country estate. A hunter’s gunshot spooked the horses into a run. An axle broke, sending the carriage careening off the road into a ditch. Your dear father, a great friend of mine, was killed instantly.”

I started to shake my head. “No. No. This doesn’t make sense. That’s not what happened at all. My parents had never been to London. They’d never been out of the States. They weren’t killed in a carriage accident! It was car accident; a drunk driver hit them in Pennsylvania!”

Richard stroked my cheek with the backs of his knuckles. “Your mind is overheated from grief. I am told you went mad at your mother’s bedside as you worked tirelessly to nurse her back to health. Any delicately raised woman would become hysterical under those horrible circumstances without a man nearby to take everything in hand.”

Before he could stop me, I bolted to the other side of the carriage. “Nothing you say is making any sense. I want to go home!” I demanded, crossing my arms across my middle to try and stop the fierce trembling that was now racking my body.

“Elizabeth, you are my ward and under my protection. As you are now in my custody, I determine where you reside and I have decided the only appropriate place for you is at my estate in Wolverhampton.”

“Lizzie! My name is Lizzie Larkin. Stop calling me Elizabeth. And I’m not your ward, or whatever you called it. I’m a grown woman!”

“Your name is Lady Elizabeth Adelaide Fitzhubert Childes Larkin. Your family’s estate borders one of my own in Staffordshire. Upon your parents’ demise, you became my legal ward, subject to my complete authority.”

“This is insane! I want to get out of this thing! Now!” Diving for the brass handle of the carriage, it easily swung open. I caught a glimpse of a rough stone gravel road racing by right before I prepared to jump.

A strong arm wrapped around my waist and hauled me back inside. The air rushed out of my body as my stomach made contact with his hard thigh. To my complete humiliation, he had dragged me facedown over his lap. I felt a cold rush of air as he flipped the opera coat to one side, exposing my bare ass. Goosebumps raised on my flesh, as his possible intentions dawned on me.

“What are you doing?” I screeched. “Let me go!”

“Giving you your first lesson in obedience as my ward,” he ground out.

His flat palm came down on my ass with brutal accuracy. My mouth dropped open. For the barest of moments, I was too shocked to even feel pain but then it came in a hot burning wave. Despite my cries, he didn’t stop. He spanked my other cheek, then returned to the first. It was a strange sensation to have my skin feel both chilled and hot at the same time. He was relentless. Hot pulses of prickling pain radiated from my upper thighs to my lower back. I was certain I wouldn’t be able to sit down for a week.

Just when I thought the punishment was over, I was thrown onto the soft leather bench on the other side of the carriage. Richard’s knee came down on the side of my hip while his other knee pressed in between my legs. The slim protection of his opera coat was gone as it lay twisted beneath me.

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