Silk and Steel (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 5

  This is unfair! Corinna protested in thought, as she kissed and licked him in return. ‘I don’t want to talk now,’ she muttered, nuzzling her head and mouth against the mighty cage of his ribs, her sex burning and aching for more. His cradling hand squeezed her again and a spike of pleasure sizzled within her. ‘I want to fuck.’

  ‘That’s a very bath-house term, young woman.’

  ‘I do.’ Stubbornness and the sense that he was enjoying this, made Corinna add, ‘I really want to fuck.’

  ‘Little nag!’ Decimus gathered her into his arms and lifted her off the couch with him. ‘I can live with that.’ He lifted her higher, bringing her face level with his. ‘I know how to deal with you.’

  He was erect again, and ready, but as the tiled floor sped by under Decimus’ striding feet, Corinna discovered that she was suddenly anxious to change the subject. ‘Who is your patron?’

  ‘So many questions about a man whom you will soon meet! He is Quintilius Pius, a close personal friend of our Emperor, Titus.’

  Decimus accelerated through the doorway into the small courtyard with fountains and a garden—the inspiration, Corinna guessed, for his own home. Crossing beneath the portico towards the largest fountain, he plucked a stool from beside the shade of a column and carried it with them.

  ‘And you need not imagine that suddenly talking politics will change what is going to happen to you,’ he went on, striding faster and faster. ‘In the bath-house lingo that you enjoy so much, I am going to fuck the sweetness out of you, right in the fountain. Then I’m going to sit on this stool and take you over my knee and spank you till you howl like a little bitch in mating. Then, when I’ve colored up your cute little ass from its present rose pink to a glowing rose red I’ll have you again. Any questions?’

  Corinna had a flash of foreknowledge, conjured by Decimus’ frank admission. Herself across his lap, her bottom wet and prickling from the cold shower of the fountain, his callused hands descending on her, sweet strike after sweet strike, spanking and spanking. ‘Offer—’ Spank! ‘Offer -‘ Spank, spank, spank. ‘Offer -‘

  She yanked herself out of the vision. Her master-soon-to-be-husband was waiting.

  ‘Can we do that two times before sunset?’ she asked.

  ‘We can try, Honey-cake,’ came back the laughing answer. ‘We can try!’

  Epilogue

  At sunset, satisfied and glowing, Corinna blushed as a maid pinned a new robe closely about her narrow waist and pleated the soft folds neatly over her flaring hips. Decimus was in another part of this enormous villa, also being robed, though surely not in this vivid scarlet.

  ‘You are beautiful, my lady,’ the maid murmured, sitting back on her heels. Another maid stepped behind Corinna to comb her luxuriant curls. She used a comb shaped like a spear, Corinna noticed, and was parting her hair into six thick tresses. She was being dressed like a virgin bride from the richest of families.

  ‘I am no Roman lady,’ she whispered.

  ‘You are to Decimus,’ a man answered from the threshold. ‘To your freedman husband, you are his most precious bride.’

  Corinna recognized the speaker as Quintilius Pius, Decimus’ powerful patron. Thoroughly alarmed, she swiftly bowed her head.

  ‘No, my dear. None of that. Not to me.’

  Shy of this stranger who was giving her and Decimus so much, she stared at the floor tiles. ‘My master is free?’ she managed to ask.

  ‘Freed by my own hand, but a moment ago. He is now dressing in his freeman’s mantle and I expect him to start talking of land and beans very soon.’

  A sunburned hand touched hers. ‘Will you permit me to escort you to him, Corinna?’

  She nodded, catching a glimpse of Quintilius Pius from the edge of her vision. He was small, like her, and also red-haired, with a thin, sharp face covered in freckles.

  He smiled at her gasp. ‘We might be father and daughter, might we not? And this evening I stand in place of your father.’ He looked at the maids pinning her red veil. ‘Are we done?’

  ‘Thank you,’ Corinna said softly, as the maids stepped back and Quintilius Pius took her hand in his. Arm in arm, they walked towards the doorway leading out into the garden, where the wedding would take place. My marriage, Corinna thought, floating in happiness, feeling as if she was in a dream. The sunset was blood-red, as it had been those weeks before when her cruel Judas master had told her he was selling her to a gladiator. So much had changed since then, herself most of all.

  A tall figure blocked out the evening star for a moment as Decimus stalked towards her. She thought he was robed in blue but was not certain as he closed on her, very solemn. Feeling as if her heart had risen through her chest almost to her teeth, she sank to her knees, head bowed.

  My master, she thought, knowing it was the truth of her heart.

  He touched her head, as if in blessing, and then her shoulder. ‘I, Decimus Pius, free my slave girl, Corinna. You are free, sweetheart.’

  He too knelt and wound his arms about her, supporting her as she wept tears of sheer relief and joy. When he drew back a little she saw that his eyes, too, were wet.

  ‘Are you ready for the next?’ he asked gently. He opened his hand and she saw the iron ring, very small in his great palm. Their wedding ring.

  For an instant she could not speak, but he understood. He rose off his knees with her in his arms and carried her swiftly over the threshold, with his patron trotting alongside, scolding Decimus mildly about his impatience.

  Corinna felt the warm night breeze on her face, heard the applause of the gathered household and knew she was truly home, going to her wedding.

  THE END

  http://lindsaysbookchat.blogspot.com

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Lindsay lives in Yorkshire, England, where she was born, and started writing stories at an early age. Always a voracious reader, she took a degree in medieval history and worked in a library for a while, then began to write full-time after marriage.

  When not writing or researching her books, she enjoys walking, reading, cooking, music, going out with friends and long languid baths with scented candles (and perhaps chocolate).

  Also by Lindsay Townsend

  BookStrand Mainstream: Flavia’s Secret

  BookStrand Mainstream: A Secret Treasure

  BookStrand Mainstream: Blue Gold

  BookStrand Mainstream: Bronze Lightning

  Siren Erotic: Escape to Love

  Siren Erotic: Silk and Steel

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com