Page 58 of Hideaway

Feeling refreshed, smooth, moisturized, and perfumed, Kara slid the new dress back on. Inspired by the seductive black lace and the lingerie-esque bodice, Kara lined and shadowed her eyes in smoky shades and painted her lips a deep Bordeaux. A quick glance in the mirror revealed the faint shadow of bruises peeking out from the black lace on her shoulders. Kara traced the marks mindlessly, entranced by the brand of Cade on her skin. For reasons she couldn’t logically explain, Kara pulled her sleeves down her arms a little bit lower, finding an unusual satisfaction in seeing the dark fingerprints against her pale skin. A sign that she was his.

As she entered the dining hall’s double doors, Kara’s cheerful stride came to a sudden, horrified halt.

Cade was not alone.

Seated at his left was a man that Kara had never seen at the manor before. He was tall, taller than even Cade, with deep, oceanic blue eyes and hair the palest shade of blonde. He looked European, possibly Scandinavian. Both men stopped mid-conversation and turned their attention to her as she entered the room. Kara shifted uncomfortably beneath their appreciative stares and anxiously fidgeted with the hem of her skirt, unsuccessfully attempting to coax a few more centimeters of coverage over her practically bare thighs. She never would have worn the damned dress if she’d known Cade had company that night. What the fuck was he thinking? She felt displayed, like an item for auction for the benefit of the mysterious guest across the table. Hell, perhaps she was. Kara shot Cade a panicked look.

“Kara, please come in,”Cade greeted casually, ignoring her obvious anguish.“This is my friend, Finnian,”he continued, with a gesture toward the man beside him.

In uneasy silence, Kara remained where she stood. It was a surprising disclosure that Cade was emotionally close enough to another individual to consider them a friend. It was an even more confounding occurrence that Cade would have invited said friend to an intimate dinner in which he had personally dressed her in attire befitting a high-end escort. For someone as private as Cade, the whole situation seemed out of character. Planning her escape, Kara eyed the exit warily.

“Are you going to wait by the doors all night?”Cade asked, growing slightly impatient.“Come here.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you had company. I can come down after you’ve finished with your friend,”Kara responded, turning toward the hall in an attempt to excuse herself.

“Kara. Here,”Cade ordered firmly, punctuating the command with a snap of his fingers.

Kara turned back sharply to balk at Cade’s astonishing arrogance.“I beg your pardon?”she asked in disbelief. Had he really just snapped at her like a dog to be beckoned to his side? If he wanted a pet, she’d get him a fucking golden retriever.

“I am not going to ask you again, Kara. Come here.Now.”

Against her will, Kara’s body heeded Cade’s command, one footstep at a time, until she found herself standing before him.

“That’s better. Next time, you should do as you’re told immediately. I don’t appreciate repeating myself. It looks bad for company,”Cade said in a patronizing tone.

Kara scoffed aloud, but said nothing in response. The man, Finnian, gave Cade a look that seemed to hold both a question and a challenge. From the determined set of his features, Kara assumed that Cade had accepted the unspoken challenge. When he turned his attention to Kara, Cade’s face was that of a stranger’s. His eyes were cold and calculating, his mouth stern, his expression merciless. Instinctively, Kara wanted to draw back, but she felt frozen in place beneath his gaze.

“This afternoon, you and I came to an agreement,”Cade began.

Kara felt the blood in her veins turn cold with trepidation.

“Tonight isanythingelse.”

Kara could do little more than perish slowly with dread and hope that she hadn’t been better off taking the whipping than whatever sadism Cade had planned for the night.

“Kneel,”Cade commanded.

“I’m sorry, what?”Kara asked in confusion as though she didn’t understand the context of the word.

“Get on your knees,”he elaborated patiently. He knew this would be difficult for her; her stubbornness made him relish the moment even more.

She hesitated, pleading eyes searching his for any hint of mercy. She found none. With a sigh of resignation, Kara awkwardly bent to the floor, one knee at a time, struggling to achieve the act gracefully with the height of her stilettos and the shortness of her hem. Her body quivering with embarrassment as Cade and Finnian witnessed her humiliation, Kara sat on her heels with her bare knees on the cold marble floor and waited.

“Very nice,”Cade said, nodding in approval.“Now, as your behavior recently has been recklessly immature, tonight will be an exercise in obedience. You are not to speak unless spoken to, and you will address Finnian and myself assir.Do you understand?”

“Okay,”Kara agreed hesitantly.

“Disobeying already, Kara?”Cade reprimanded with a disapproving tsk.“Try again.”

“Yes, sir,”Kara answered grudgingly through gritted teeth, mentally contriving various, agonizing deaths for them both.

“Good. Mrs. Hughes left dinner prepared in the kitchen; you may go and fetch it,”Cade ordered with a dismissive wave of his hand.

As much as she wanted to tell him togo fuck himself, Kara swallowed the words and attempted to escape her position on the floor with as much decorum as possible. She breathed a sigh of relief as the kitchen door closed behind her. The interaction with Cade moments before had left her shaken and anxious of what else he might have in store. She had never considered him a cruel man, but tonight he seemed intent on shattering her pride into pieces.

Finding a welcome, open bottle of white wine on the counter, Kara pulled a glass from the cabinet, filled it generously, and drained every drop before slamming the empty glass on the counter. It was possible Cade would detect the unavoidable flush of the wine in her cheeks, but it was a risk she was happy to take. There was no way she was walking back into that room entirely at the mercy of a British sociopath without drinking something to settle her nerves.

Finally remembering her required task, Kara looked for the dinner Mrs. Hughes had prepared. The delicious scent of prosciutto and truffle led Kara to the oven where everything was being kept warm. There was prosciutto wrapped chicken, truffle risotto, and roasted asparagus beautifully laid out on two plates. As her presence would make three, Kara bitterly assumed her punishment for the night would include starvation. It was incredibly trusting of Cade to have commissioned her with the task of procuring his dinner, for if Mrs. Hughes happened to keep any poison on hand in the kitchen, there was a great possibility Kara would have used it.

---