Love's Savage Bonds by Jeb Read Free Book Online Page A

housekeeper picked up a white linen
dinner napkin from the sideboard, and approached Catherine, who would have
shrunk back from the woman's approach, but refused to take even one step closer
to the monster whom she had married. . The bound girl could read the
satisfaction in the woman's eyes: she was clearly delighted at being given the
chance to assist with the disposal of a hated rival.
     
    “Open wide, dearie.” Tied as she was,
Catherine had no choice but to comply as the woman stuffed the huge white
napkin into her mouth, packing it up into her cheeks Catherine could already
feel the reduction in air, and knew this gag would be far more effective than
the one Charles had placed on her.
     
    Mrs. Williams next picked up a long
dustrag, pressed against the mass of cloth in Catherine’s mouth, and wound it
around her head, forcing the napkin deeply into her mouth; the gag pinned her
long hair down so tightly that it was nearly impossible to turn her head. The
dustrag was pulled cruelly snug, and Catherine felt it bite into her cheeks.
     
    The first knot was completed with a
savage yank; strands of Catherine's hair caught in the knot, but no power on
earth would make her give the woman the satisfaction of reacting to that.
     
    The long dustrag encircled her head a
second time. Where the napkin had held her mouth open for the first pass of the
gag to be tied in place, this time the cloth was passed over her gaping mouth,
covering her lips. The housekeeper tied a final knot, under Catherine's left
ear, then turned the girl to face her.
     
    "Not so high and mighty are we
now, Your Ladyship?" she mocked. "Ought to have kept to your place--
soldier's brat, you're no better than me, and why should you have the title?
Well, Missy, we've got you now, and that title will be transferred to someone
more deserving."
     
    "Sleep well, Catherine."
Philip’s breath stank revoltingly of drink. "You'll need to be up bright
and early for the Colonel's visit." That seemed to send him into a fit of
drunken giggles, and Mrs. Williams then took charge of their prisoner.
     
    Catherine was grateful for the small
mercy that, with the gag tied so tightly over her distressed locks, the
housekeeper was unable to drag her along by the hair, as she doubtless would
have enjoyed doing. Instead, bony fingers clamped down on her upper arm, and
she was impelled up the stairs, and down the hall and into what had been her
bedroom... in some other, sane, lifetime.
     
    Had it been even half an hour since
Catherine had slipped from this very room, with the intention of doing justice
for Charles Redmond? The place now seemed alien and frightening, as the
housekeeper threw her back onto the bed. Catherine risked a kick at the larger
woman, but Mrs. Williams sidestepped it and trapped the girl’s ankle in her
hand, binding it to the foot of the bed with stout cord. With one leg hobbled,
and her bound arms trapped beneath her, Catherine was unable to prevent the
other ankle being similarly fastened, until she lay in a most humiliating and
indelicate position, her legs tied apart, her clothing wildly disarranged, her
mouth filled with the evil-tasting cloth… and the prospect of a visit from
Colonel Lefanu chilling her blood.
     
    Mrs. Williams had evidently done all
the gloating she intended, for after cinching Catherine’s bonds, she spared the
girl one last look of triumph, and left her alone in the room’s darkness.
     
    Charles! The cry came from her soul—she didn’t even waste
the breath on trying to cry out through her gag—and now the tears came flooding
out, streaking her face. Her helpless body racked with sobs as she could see
nothing before her but death and misery, both for herself, and for the man who
had so recently taken her heart.
     
    She was continuing to torment herself
with these thoughts when amber light flickered outside the door of her prison,
and her husband stumbled through the door, nearly dropping the candle.
     
    If