“I would I had the figure of my youth.”
As his gaze raked over her, he grazed the back of two fingers down her upper arm. She tried not to jump at his touch. It felt exquisite and made her nerves dance.
“I am bound by the rules here to ask if you have any limits,” he said after he had withdrawn his hand. “I disdain limits.”
“I have none that I am aware of.”
“And have you a safety word?”
She had not thought of one.
“’Blackmail,’” he suggested.
She suppressed a grin. “If it pleases you, Master Ashley.”
“Is there anything else you wish to inform me of? I assume you are in good health or you would not be permitted to participate in the activities here?”
“I am ready to commence our evening together without further ado, Master Ashley.”
“Very well. As for your anticipation, I will give you this insight: if you are a little uneasy now, you will soon be a great deal more uneasy.”
*****
“On all fours, Mrs. Pennington.”
Complying quickly, perhaps to atone for her lack of complete honesty earlier, she was soon on hands and knees, and he was presented with a new and lovely view of her backside. Her embarrassment of her body had surprised him. Most women would have envied her form. She still had slender limbs and smooth skin. The parts she perhaps deemed less than perfect—her belly, thighs, and arse—had a ripe succulence. He gazed upon her derrière. It was delightful.
He felt a tug at his groin. It should not surprise him that his body should react to the sight of a naked woman, but he was beginning to feel anticipation.
“Is it still the practice to have an assembly in the main drawing room at the coming hour?” he asked.
“Yes, Master Ashley.”
“Good. Let us greet them.”
She stiffened, and he suspected she did not welcome his declaration. He walked over to a chest of drawers and found a leash and collar. Bending down, he fixed the collar about her neck.
“Tonight you will serve as my pet, Mrs. Pennington, and I expect you to behave as well as any bitch I have owned.”
Good, he thought to himself when he noted the faint downward turn at the corners of her mouth. She deserved a worse fate for her actions.
Rising, he went back to the drawers. As he held the leash, she was compelled to follow. He poured himself a glass of port.
“Are you thirsty, my pet?” he asked. He poured water into a bowl and set it down upon the ground. “Drink.”
She put her face into the bowl and lapped at the water. Pleased that she did not protest, he bent down to pat her head. She turned to look at him with the eyes of a puppy seeking the approval of its master. He nearly laughed.
When he brushed away the wetness at her chin, his thumb grazed her bottom lip. She licked at his digit, enticing it into her mouth. His breath caught as she sucked his thumb deep and hard. Good God. He wanted those lips wrapped about another appendage of his. With his thumb, he probed the inside of her mouth, then mirrored a motion he would have liked to perform with his hardening cock. She sucked harder. Needing distance, he pulled his thumb out and stood up. His breath was uneven.
She seemed to sense it. With her eyes uncommonly bright in the dimness of the room, she asked, “May I pleasure you, Master Ashley?”
Why the hell not? He ought to make her suck his cock ad nauseam. But he did not want to miss the assembly, and he was not prepared to give her what she wanted.
“I think an additional adornment required,” he thought aloud as he took in the curve of her back and the perfection of her posterior.
Looking through several drawers, he found what he was looking for: a silver and brown tail attached to a tapered plug.
“I think you will look quite lovely with this,” he said, applying an oil to the plug.