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  The tempo changed, the bullwhip hit the ground with a most stimulating crack and the man went over to the side and took up a flogger. It was unmistakable, even from here, and Adele cast a longing thought to her own flogger, now in her underwear drawer. She longed to feel its kiss on her skin. As Adele watched, Helen’s head and shoulders moved a little but mostly she sighed, reveling in the sweet caress as Branko stroked the full width of the spread tresses up and down her body before trailing them loosely down the inside of one leg and up the other.

  Seemed he liked the effect, or perhaps her response, as he repeated the movement several times until Adele was half ready to call out to him to do more, to ply the flogger harder and, as if sensing her wish, he did just that.

  With a practiced and very skilled movement of the wrist, he tapped the end of the tresses across Helen’s thighs and shoulders and then flicked the flogger across her breasts. Oh! Switching techniques like that teased and aroused. Adele was wild and ready for whatever happened next and she was merely a spectator.

  In the night she heard him say, “Are you ready, my dear?”

  She darn well was. More than ready, overly ready, dying from readiness. This should be her reward. It was going to be.

  Without pausing for slippers or robe, Adele dashed across the room, through the apartment and down the outside stairs. She ran across the drive, barely noticing the gravel on her bare feet, and called out, “No!”

  Branko turned and watched as Adele ran toward them. This had not been part of his plan. A quick glance at Helen, still prone on the bench, showed she was even more stunned. Understandable, given her state of arousal.

  “No?” he asked, sounding feeble to his own ears. “Were you invited?” Bit lame that but hell, he was ad-libbing here.

  “I invited myself. Wasn’t I intended to?”

  Not exactly but now she was here he looked at her intently, hair all over the place, nothing on but a flimsy nightgown that did nothing to hide her full breasts and very tight nipples, and the scent of her arousal filled the air. Her appearance was unexpected and downright unintended but most certainly not unwelcome.

  “I’m glad you did, but tell me,” he hardened his voice, “why are you here, Adele?”

  She shivered under his scrutiny but he suspected it wasn’t from cold, rather from something far more enticing. For both of them.

  She took a deep breath, tilted up her chin and met his eyes. No modest and submissive lowering of eyes for her. He rather liked her attitude. “I’m in need and horny and you and your partner pretty much drove me to the edge.”

  “Pretty much?” He raised his eyebrows slowly and met her eyes steadily. “Does that mean you are still on the edge?”

  “Yes, and it’s driving me crazy.”

  “And you expect me to take care of that?”

  “Why not? You seem expert at these things.”

  She was in need and wanted him. Wanted him to oblige her. He could be very obliging when necessary. He stepped close to her and fingered the neck of her nightgown. Nice, flimsy cotton, perfect to his mind. It covered but really didn’t conceal much. But even so…

  “If you want me, you’d better be naked.” He put in just a hint of menace. Her breath caught but the nightgown was off and over her head before she exhaled.

  Now he gasped. He’d seen many naked women, dozens even, but Adele took his breath away. Her breasts were large but gloriously firm and rounded, her nipples dark and every bit as hard as the little bumps under her nightgown had suggested but it was the incredible curve of her belly and generous roundness of her hips that drew his eyes down to the dark triangle of her pussy. His cock responded with passion, dire need and sheer and fantastic horniness.

  He wanted her, right here and now but first… He raised the flogger that was still in his hand and asked, “Would you like me to discipline you?” She nodded. “I thought you might but—Damn!” He threw the flogger to the ground. “That will have to wait for next time.” He certainly couldn’t. Branko pulled her close, pressing his erection into the warmth of her lovely belly and he took her mouth with his.

  He heard a soft, strangled gasp and then nothing. His mind shut out everything but the warmth of her lips, the passion in her mouth and the heated need of her tongue as it met his. Forget gentle exploration or tentative teasing. He took her mouth with his, possessed it, devoured it. She was heat and passion and woman and damn, she met his every need and more as she pressed her body even closer. He grabbed her arse cheek with one hand, squeezed, then spanked. Her cry was swallowed by his continuing kiss and he slapped again and again. The sound of flesh on willing flesh filled the night.

  It was incredible. She was incredible. So much in need, so earnest. So all around sexy. He couldn’t wait any longer. He backed her against the nearest upright of the pergola. Keeping his mouth on hers, he ripped aside his thong and lifted her, positioning her over his erection. Seconds later he was in her. Deep. She cried out as he worked her up and down on his cock. She matched his rhythm. Her hands grasped his shoulders as she propelled herself up and down on his cock.

  Her noise filled the night, just as her scent and need and passion flooded his mind. He was close to coming but held off, wanting this to last forever as her cries rose in a sweet crescendo and she came. That took him over the edge, and with the last of his strength he held her close until sated and spent. He slipped out of her and gently lowered her until her feet reached the ground.

  Adele clung to him. They were both sweating and he shut his eyes to relish the incredible feel of her slick skin on his.

  He kissed her damp forehead and then her shoulder and tasted salt.

  “You are like a dream,” he whispered.

  “I think I might be dreaming. Will I wake up and find this didn’t happen?”

  “Never.”

  “Excuse me for intruding on the moment.”

  He turned with a shock. Dear God! Helen. He’d forgotten her. How in hades could he have done that? “I’m really glad you both had such a great time but would you mind untying me?”

  He was by her side in moments, his hand still in Adele’s. “Helen, I’m sorry. I—”

  “Got carried away? I noticed. Branko, you do have a great way of making a woman feel forgettable and neglected.”

  Not his intention. “Forgive me.”

  “I can manage that, if you untie me.”

  “Of course but how are you?” She was close to peaking right before he got…distracted.

  “Branko, watching the two of you, even if it did put a crick in my neck and strain my shoulders, was plenty to finish me off. You two are quite the hottest thing I’ve even seen.”

  Adele gasped. Understandable, all things taken into account.

  “You must be cold,” he told her, taking an unused blanket and putting it around her shoulders. “Give me a minute to help out Helen.” He quickly released the straps on her wrists and ankles and helped her up. She stood, grabbed a blanket and promptly sat down. “Have a seat,” she said to Adele, patting the bench beside her. “You look a little wobbly about the knees.”

  “I am.” She sank down beside Helen. “But it was incredible.”

  Nice to know he merited that much accolade, especially since he wasn’t exactly steady on his own pins. He sat beside Adele.

  Nobody said anything for several minutes. Just listened to the call of some night bird and waited, breathing heavily and waiting for someone else to be the first to speak.

  Just as Branko decided he should be the one to take charge, he was the Dominant of the group after all, Helen stood.

  “Good night, you two. It was fun. Many thanks, Branko, but I imagine you and Adele need to talk.” She wound the blanket around herself a little more securely and walked away, into the house.

  Adele looked at Branko. “Maybe I’d better go too.”

  “Let me come up with you.”

  She nodded, so he followed her up the stairs to her rooms.

  “Thank you,
” she said as she reached the still-open door. “That was quite wonderful.”

  “Next time will be even better.”

  “Is that possible?”

  He grinned. Who wouldn’t? She was quite fantastic. “Oh yes, next time I will plan things properly.”

  “So was this time planned improperly?”

  “You should be spanked for that impudence.”

  “Before we do anything more, Helen was right, we need to talk but not tonight.”

  “Tomorrow,” he told her.

  “Tomorrow,” she replied and gave him a sweet and chaste kiss on his cheek.

  He closed the door and waited until he heard her key turn in the lock, then went back down. Great as he felt, he still had to clear away the evidence of tonight’s encounter or the gardeners would have something to talk about in the morning.

  Chapter Five

  Adele turned off her alarm and lay back on the pillow. Total bemusement was not too strong to describe her state of mind—and body come to that. Every fiber of her body sent a very clear message that last night she’d been well and truly fucked. But her mind pretty much refused to believe it had happened. Had she really watched Branko tie Helen to the bench in the pergola and, this was the most incredible bit, had she, Adele Royer, actually run out into the night and demanded he fuck her there and then?

  The fact he’d obliged most kindly and forcefully was clearly imprinted in the deepest and most secret parts of her body and if that wasn’t enough, she knew she’d worn a nightgown to bed last night and now she was naked. Another, more immediate and down-to-earth fact was she had to get up and do her job. She had breakfast to see to.

  Thirty minutes later she had coffee brewing, she needed it for a start, and was about to set out fruit and jam for breakfast when Helen appeared in the doorway.

  “Morning,” she said, then “bonjour” and went over to the coffeepot. “Mind if I help myself? It’s just us anyway.”

  “Not Branko?” She tried to keep the anxiety out but suspected she sounded desperate.

  Helen shook her head. “I doubt it.” Adele wanted to shake her and ask “why?” but waited as best she could as Helen added milk to her coffee and took a seat at the big kitchen table.

  “Can I get you something?” Adele asked, reminding herself her job was to feed all of them.

  “Not yet, I need coffee first. Why don’t you sit down too, since it’s just us?”

  It was tempting, unprofessional, yes but… Adele refilled her half-empty cup and joined Helen. She was not going to ask again about Branko.

  She didn’t need to. “You asked about Branko,” Helen said. “He’s seldom in for breakfast. He doesn’t live-in like we do.”

  Yes, that she remembered but really, after last night… “And he’ll probably be in late this morning. After he took you up to your room, he still had to clear everything away. I bet by the time he headed home it was well after midnight, maybe closer to one.”

  “I see.” She did, really she did, but all the same.

  “Look,” Helen went on. “I’m not telling you what to do, don’t think that, but since Luc is still away but due back this evening, there’s a good chance Branko will be in late, maybe not until this afternoon. Why don’t you take the morning off? I can see to my own lunch if you don’t mind me messing around your kitchen.”

  “I intended to put together orders this morning.” She wasn’t going to add that Branko was going to send them in for her. He was too much on her mind as it was.

  “Why not take them in yourself? You have the names of the shops, don’t you?” Helen smiled. “That way it’s not even time off.”

  Could she squeeze a whole day off? Branko wasn’t here and Helen was more than amenable. “A good idea but what about dinner?”

  “You need to see to it tonight. I got an email from Luc saying he wants dinner at eight. He may well actually be here.”

  “You mean he might not?”

  “Yep. He’s notoriously unreliable. Madame Louise used to fuss at him but I think you’d better not. At least not right off the bat.”

  So she could take a few hours off and still have plenty of time to prepare dinner.

  “I think you’re right. Although it does feel odd to take a day off the second day I’m on the job.”

  “Working here is not your everyday sort of employment.”

  She was right there. “Was last night’s activity typical?”

  Helen took a slow taste of coffee as if to sort out her words. “Last night was specially choreographed for your benefit. Although neither of us expected you to jump in like that.”

  Adele could feel the blush burn her face. She had been brazen. “Did it shock you?’

  “Surprised me but I think Branko was delighted.”

  That was good to hear. She supposed. “What about when Monsieur Prioux returns?”

  “Luc and I are lovers. I’ve played with Branko some, like I did yesterday. To answer the question you didn’t ask, this is definitely a kinky household. After last night, I think you’ll fit right in.”

  Except she really wasn’t here to stay for long. Or was she? Even if she didn’t find her father, it seemed there were some very desirable fringe benefits to this job.

  * * * * *

  Taking Helen’s word as authority and since Branko hadn’t made any appearance by ten-thirty, which rather irked her royally, Adele took advantage of a free morning and armed with suppliers and grocery lists plus the two addresses in Nice she’d found in her mother’s bureau drove down the mountain toward Nice.

  She parked in the Cours Saleya and set off. Even with a map, it took her a good forty minutes and asking directions three times before she found it.

  An old building now restored as apartments for the chic and artsy crowd. No concierge, but by dint of pressing intercom buttons, Adele found one person at home. A man who, through the muffled tones of the speaker, informed her he’d been there for eight years since the building was renovated and as far as he knew, no one knew anything of former residents before his time.

  Questions asked in the shops underneath and across the narrow street pretty much repeated what she’d learned already. A young waiter in a café down the road did volunteer the information that according to his grandmother the building had once been a safe house for the Resistance and a brothel. Maybe both at once, Adele surmised. And before her father’s time.

  One dead end so far. She finished her petit café and, because she was ostensibly here for work, set off in search of the butcher, baker, fishmonger and grocer that Branko had given her yesterday.

  Branko! Why could he not have called or left a note? Was it really that casual for him? Obviously yes, but damn it all she was not looking for a lifelong commitment, just some more really fantastic sex and some reassurance that he’d enjoyed it as much as she had.

  She could phone him. She had his number after all but she wasn’t going to, she was going to visit her suppliers, leave her orders and come back with something wonderful for dinner tonight to impress her new employer. By the time she’d done all that it would most likely be time to head back.

  A shame she didn’t have time to check the second address.

  That would have to wait for another day off and it seemed getting time off, if Monsieur Prioux was away, wasn’t too difficult.

  * * * * *

  “Not again, Branko!” Helen was running out of patience. This had to be the fifth or sixth time he’d poked his head around her door. Okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but at least the second or third. “She’s not back yet.”

  “I don’t understand why you gave her the day off.”

  Maybe if she did have this conversation he’d go away and leave her in peace. “Come on in then, but for the nth time, I did not give her the day off. I suggested she go into Nice and visit the suppliers. She’s not needed here until dinner.”

  “So we had to have sandwiches for lunch.”

  Heaven give her patience. “Since
you didn’t saunter in until well after lunch that was hardly a problem for you, was it?”

  He let out a tsk of frustration. Perhaps she should be kinder. Maybe. “What’s the matter, Branko?” Idiot question really. The answer was written all over him from his creased brow to his fingers tapping endlessly on the doorframe.

  He took that as an invitation to come in and occupy her spare chair. Better sort this out. “Well?” Silly question when things so obviously weren’t.

  “I keep thinking of last night.”

  “Oh I see. You’re worried about letting me down.” Sarcastic, yes, but he’d better understand it wasn’t all about him. “Don’t worry, Branko, really. I ended up okay.”

  “It’s not you,” he almost snapped. “It’s about Adele. I need to talk to her.”

  He did indeed. “You should have made an appearance earlier. She was here and obviously expecting some sort of contact from you.” Honestly, men were all the same. “How hard would it have been for you to call her? Email? Dammit, you could have managed a text saying ‘last night was great!’”

  He frowned. No, he scowled. “You’re a woman, you don’t understand.”

  Right on both points. “What’s the problem? Did she ruin your nicely choreographed scene? Was that it? I didn’t see you complaining.”

  “I am not complaining!” The way he said it rather gave that impression. “It was just so…” He waved both hands in the air as if trying to shoo away flies. He really was all to pieces.

  “But you’re not happy.” He nodded. “In heaven’s name why not? The intention last night was to get her attention. We did that in spades and from where I was tied down flat on my back, it seemed to me you had a very satisfactory end to the scene.” A lot better than hers.

  “It is about Adele.” She’d figured that much out on her own but since he seemed to be warming up to talk, she let him go on. “She surprised me.”

  “She rather surprised me too but I think you got the better end of the deal.”

  Another tsk. Perhaps flippancy was the wrong approach. “Okay, Branko, what is your beef? We found out she was kinky and wanted to fuck you. Most men would see that as a bonus, not a snag.”