Silk and Steel (Siren Publishing Classic) Read Online Free Page A

and now, at her moment of infinite pleasure, her master ran his hands over her scorched, well-used buttocks, extending her shuddering orgasm. She began to yelp, another pleasure-crisis igniting and building swiftly within her.
    'My turn,' said Decimus. He grabbed two large cushions, laid her face-down over them and seized her round the middle. 'Head down, ass up,' he ordered.
    Corinna was almost too dazed and dazzled for her thighs to support her, but she did as he wanted, remaining on hands and knees but lowering her head, burrowing her hot, blushing face into the sheet on the couch.
    She felt him line up behind her and her breath stopped. He was big, so big—
    'Mmmmf!' The breath gushed from her lungs as he entered her, withdrawing almost at once and then hammering into her again. He was ready and more than ready—in moments he was pounding into her with rapid, greedy thrusts, spending his seed in her in a roaring climax that sent her into a second long orgasm.
    He withdrew from her, gathered her into his arms and pulled her on top of him. They lay a moment without speaking, listening to the splash of the tiny fountain.
    'I never knew,' she said, when she could speak. 'I never realized it could be so much, so intense.'
    She sensed him smiling, but all he said was, 'Sleep now. There is always later.'

Chapter Three
     
    Eleven days after he had sold the worthless red-head to the thick-headed gladiator, Silvinus Cato overcame his reasonable distaste in order to put the next part of his plan in motion. He called on the disreputable pair, deliberately choosing a time close to noon, when the rest of Decimus ’ hangers-on and barrack-servants would have wandered off to have a meal, or to go to work, or the games, or whatever such creatures did.
    He was hoping to speak to Corinna alone, and he was not disappointed. When her hulking 'master' disappeared from the inadequate receiving room for some reason, he spotted the girl hovering just outside.
    'Mary.' He called the wretched girl by her baptismal name, knowing she would feel compelled to put her head around the door-curtain.
    Predictably, she did. 'Yes, Sir?'
    'Do not stand on the threshold, girl—'
    'My master does not wish me to be alone with any man.'
    At her impudence, words failed Silvinus Cato. He sat up straight on his hard, uncomfortable chair and glowered at her properly. She was decked out in a pale linen far too fine for any slave, with her hair tied with a pink ribbon and her feet shod in be-jeweled sandals. She looked glossy and yes, pretty, and more.
    It came to Silvinus Cato that she was happy.
    What right had a slave to be happy?
    Inwardly raging, Silvinus Cato tried to compose his austere features into an expression resembling sorrow.
    'I have bad news. Our priest was seized and executed in the arena yesterday afternoon.'
    There. That had knocked the silly joy from her face. She paled, leaning against the door jamb, looking for all the world as if she were about to faint.
    'Dead? My holy man?' she faltered.
    Quickly, Silvinus Cato followed up his advantage. 'The rest of our group is meeting tomorrow night, in our usual place. You must come to worship. And Mary—'
    He paused while the girl's shoulders shook in a self-indulgent, slavish display of grief—'You must do more. You must be our Judith.'
    She gawped at him, the tears still falling down her foolish, shocked face.
    'It was Decimus who killed the priest. Your new master cut down an elderly, unarmed man to the cheers of the mob. You should know your duty. Be like Judith. Slay your master in his sleep.'
    She said nothing, but then, what was there to say? Silvinus Cato rose from the ghastly chair and walked towards her, determined to press his point. 'You must do this, Mary. When you come tomorrow night at sunset you must bring a token to prove that Decimus the killer is dead. Then I will take you back into my household and the priest will be avenged.'
    She was too stunned or stupid to speak, but Silvinus