Page 188 of Dirty Discipline, Vol. 2

“You getting anywhere with Marian?” I ask.

His mouth drops open in surprise. Obviously he doesn’t realize we all know he’s been hankering after my brother’s cook for years. Marian’s been with the family since before my father died. She’s a valued member of our household, widowed too young. Her husband caught a bullet in a back alley not long after they married.

“Marian.” Manus tries and fails to pull off an innocent look.

“Aye, Marian. Pretty brunette lass. Cooks a mean beef and barley stew.” I sigh as Manus stares down at his hands. If his face gets any redder, I swear he’ll combust. “You’d have our blessing if you wed her.”

“I would?”

“Aye.” I decide that’s enough of trying to bond with the taciturn bodyguard for one day. Manus is a tough nut to crack, and I don’t have the energy to cajole information out of him. I take a sip of my coffee. “Who do we have in Barilla’s crew?”

Back on safer ground, Manus visibly relaxes.

“Tommy Sinclair’s been known to share information,” he tells me.

“Send Fergal to talk to him. Someone drugged Helena last night in JJ’s.”

Manus surges to his feet, ready to tear someone apart with his bare hands. I get the feeling he took one look at the petite woman I carried out to the car last night and added her to the list of people he’d lay down his life for.

“When we find out who it was?”

“Bring him to me.”

Manus nods approvingly. Usually, I wouldn’t bloody my hands on some bottom feeder, but I want to deal with this personally.

“Right ye are, boss.”

This time, when he heads for the door, I let him go. I don’t have a cook of my own, but Marian keeps my kitchen stocked with enough food to see out the apocalypse. There’s bound to be something in there I can feed Helena when she wakes. I root around in the freezer and find a tub of lentil and bacon soup. That’ll do nicely. A few bowls of this will help build up Helena’s strength. For what I have planned, she’s going to need it.

Chapter Five

Helena

As I wait for Jacob to finish speaking, I shuffle from one foot to the other. When he brought me breakfast this morning, I convinced him I’m well enough to leave my room and now I wish I hadn’t bothered. While he thought I was fragile, he treated me with great tenderness. For the last couple of days, he’s barely let me out of bed, bringing all my meals to me and ensuring I get plenty of rest. Now, as I stand before him in his study, an overwhelmingly masculine space, his dominance is fully on display. I force myself to pay attention as he reels off the ridiculous list of rules he expects me to abide by. If he thinks I’m going to sit, roll over and bark on demand like a good little pet, he’s very much mistaken.

When he finally stops talking, he gives me an assessing look as though trying to work out if I’ve taken everything in.

“Repeat the rules, Helena,” he instructs.

I can’t help rolling my eyes. Would it kill him to say please? Seeing his jaw twitch, I flash him a saccharine smile and promise myself I’ll find a way out of his fortress of a home before he turns me into some sort of Stepford wife.

“No swearing, no alcohol, no skipping meals,” I recite quickly. “Get a proper night’s sleep. Don’t leave the house without permission and one of your thugs trailing after me.” I take a moment to enjoy the scowl on his face as I disparage his no-doubt highly trained men. “Don’t receive visitors who haven’t been vetted by you. Spend two hours a day studying company reports and learning about the people who work for me.”

Although the other rules are galling, the one about studying the business empire my parents built up is the one that bothers me the most. It seems Jacob, in some mission from his big brother, is intent on turning me into the perfect little CEO. Nobody has ever asked me what I want, but I have no interest in assuming control of my parents’ company. I have other, less grand ambitions. I’ve no idea how to tell Jacob that without coming across as an ingrate who’s happy to take the company’s money, but wash her hands of it otherwise.

“And?” Jacob quirks an eyebrow, reminding me I haven’t repeated everything he’s told me.

I grit my teeth.

“And there will be serious consequences if I disobey you.”

“Good girl.” Jacob gets up from his chair and stalks towards me. “Was that so difficult?”

I shake my head, in direct contradiction to what I’m thinking. It’s hard for me to cede control to a man like Jacob who’ll test my limits in every way. Although there’s something attractive about his dominance, I’m an independent woman who’s taken care of herself for years. How am I supposed to reconcile my innate desire to submit to his demands with the need to be in charge of my own destiny?

I shiver in anticipation as Jacob brushes past me and sits on the sofa.

“Come lay across my lap like a good girl,” he says. “It’s time for your first spanking.”

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