She was now facing out the passenger window, as far away from him as the car’s interior allowed. Her silence bothered him more than her mouthiness. He wasn’t sure how to reach her.

  Tomorrow, after they’d had good rest, perhaps she’d hear him out. Or least give him something to argue with. “Welcome home.”

  “To Ireland, aye,” she allowed, finally looking at him. “But Quinn Manor is your home. Not mine. Never mine. And you’ll do well to remember that.”

  She was back, and he was somewhat relieved. “Does everything have to be a fight, a rún? Everything?”

  The gates swung wide, and he drove through. The vehicle’s headlamps illuminated the trees and flowers. He’d left the window down so he could inhale the fresh, crisp air, so different than the cities he’d been in recently.

  There was something about returning home that always soothed his battered soul, no matter how short a time he’d been gone.

  He followed the curved driveway around and braked to a stop in front of the stone steps, steps that had been in place for more than five hundred years.

  The house hadn’t stood quite as long. Family legend had it that the original structure had been destroyed in some clan fighting in the early sixteenth century. The Quinns, known for their resilience, had rebuilt.

  In the darkest hours before dawn, he parked and turned off the headlamps.

  He opened his door, then climbed out of the car and rounded the bonnet to assist her from the vehicle. “There’s no place I’d rather be. I hope, in time, you’ll feel the same.”

  Liam, who was at least one hundred years old—or so it seemed—welcomed them, with lights blazing.

  “Back to bed with you,” Jack said to the man who was more friend than servant. “No need for you to have been disturbed.”

  “Your grandmother would’ve skinned me alive if I hadn’t met you. I’m terrified of the woman, sir. She told me Mistress Sinead was to be warmly welcomed no matter the time of day or night.”

  Jack grinned. He knew a story when he heard one. Aye, his grandmother wanted Sinead to feel as if she belonged, but she would have never threatened Liam. She was as fond of the man as she was her grandson. More like it, Liam was as nosy as the day was long. Having had first glimpse of Sinead, he’d be popular among the other gossiping employees and townsfolk. “Right, then. Liam, I’d like you to meet Sinead O’Malley. Sinead, the man who keeps the estate, even the family, running, Liam Doyle.”

  The man’s bushy gray eyebrows drew together to form a thick single line. “My pleasure.”

  After closing the door behind them, he bowed so deeply that Jack wondered how the man would ever stand up straight again.

  “Pleased to meet you, Liam.” Her voice was cordial but not warm. She might have been royalty in a previous life. “For the short time until I return to my own family, I appreciate your hospitality.” Then she turned to Jack and smiled. Smiled.

  Another round to the lass from Westport.

  He trailed his hand down her spine, and she stiffened. As she stood there, he continued lower. He grabbed a handful of her right butt cheek through her jeans and squeezed tightly in silent warning.

  She gasped.

  “Trouble, Sir?” Liam asked.

  Crafty devil had seen the entire incident, which meant he now had more gossip to report. “Indeed no, Liam. Good night.”

  “Good night, sir.” The sound of the lock sliding home echoed through the entry.

  “Upstairs with you,” Jack ordered Sinead, taking the bag from her.

  “I can manage,” she protested.

  “Aye. That you can. But when you’re with me, I’ll thank you to let me be the man.”

  As they climbed the steps, she said to Jack, “I can’t believe you have servants in this day and age. You truly are the lord of the manor, aren’t you?”

  Her aim was as true as always. “And now your lord and Master as well.”

  She stopped and turned back to look at him.

  “I’ve noticed that you tend to be much more willing and compliant when you’re naked,” Jack observed. “I may keep you in the dungeon until you’ve learned your lessons.”

  From somewhere in the distance, Liam coughed discreetly.

  She had the grace to blush.

  “To my rooms,” Jack instructed.

  At the top of the stairs, she stepped aside. He led the way down the hall, then stopped in front of the door to his suite. After juggling their bags, he opened the door. When she just stood there, he nudged her. “After you, my lady.”

  “My lady? As if I’m anything other than a pawn in your master plan.”

  As you wish. “After you, my pawn.” This time, he gave her a slight shove into the room.

  He closed the door behind them. He dropped the keys on a small table just inside the doorway. Then he shrugged from his jacket and draped it over the newel bedpost. “We’ll grab a couple of hours sleep before we join máthair chríona for breakfast. Shall we settle this with a good fuck?” The small amount of verbal sparring that they’d engaged in left him with a raging hard-on.

  “Thanks, but I’d rather sleep.”

  “As you will.” Jack regarded her. She still wore that cheeky T-shirt, but the fact that his plug was still shoved up her arse made him smile.

  He moved into an oversize closet and left the door open for her. Then he pulled off his shirt and dropped it to the carpeted floor.

  “You know, I meant to comment earlier. But for an older guy, you’re not half bad.”

  “Older?” he asked, sticking out his head and looking at her. “Older than you by how much? Five years? Six?”

  Sinead stood there, unabashedly staring at him. She frowned, as if in deep concentration. “At least five. But you may want to take a look at adding a few more reps when you work out.”

  “You really know how to make an old guy feel good.” He unfastened his belt and wrapped the length around his hand. He considered using the leather on her fair backside. If she were still red from the earlier spanking, she’d feel the next much more keenly.

  “No you don’t,” she said as if reading his mind.

  “Don’t tempt me.” He slipped out of his shoes and took off his socks.

  She unzipped her luggage and pulled out fresh underwear.

  Lord, he preferred her in nothing at all. Feeling as if the temperature were suddenly several degrees warmer, he reentered the closet.

  Even though he’d gotten off twice on the jet, his cock was hardening again. The idea of the strap across her bare buttocks morphed into a fantasy of pulling out the plug and stuffing a larger one up her hole before letting her go to sleep.

  By the time he unbuttoned his khakis and dropped them, his dick was fully erect.

  He reached for a dressing gown, then discarded the idea.

  When he reentered the bedroom, she was nowhere to be found.

  Cursing in two languages, he opened the door and headed down the stairs, naked as the day he was born.

  Sinead had already slid open the lock and was tugging the door open when Jack came up behind her and slammed it closed.

  She yelped and jumped.

  Calmly he placed a hand alongside her head. Deliberately he moved closer, pressing her belly against the door. He’d lost his erection during his dash down the stairs, but now that he was against her rear, his cock was thickening again. He held her trapped, immobile. Her breathing was ragged, and her shoulders shook slightly. He wondered if she was as turned on as he was. Were they two of a kind? Against her ear, he whispered, “Enough.”

  She stilled. “I’ll not stop fighting you.”

  “And I shall see you do.” Jack captured her right hand and raised it high, pinning it to the door.

  “Unhand me, you bastard.”

  She had a safe word, and he waited for her to use it. Knocking the knees out from under him, she didn’t. “Aye. The moment you give your word, you’ll walk up the stairs to my room. Or we can stay here all night long. If you want to leave, you’ll do so at a respectable hour when I don’t have to worry about you. I’ll drive you home myself.” That part was lie. Forgive me, Father. He never intended to let her go. “I’m not sure how much longer I will be able to restrain myself, minx.” He nipped at the top of her ear, then soothed the tiny insult with the tip of his tongue. “Do you know what I’m thinking just now? I’m thinking I’ll just pull out your butt plug right here and take you against the door. What do you think, Sinead? Shall I take you right here in the entrance of Quinn Manor?”

  “Please…”

  “Say it, Sinead. Say you surrender.”

  “For now.”

  He laughed. “Not good enough for me. I want it all. What’ll it be? Your total contrition? Or shall I give you what you’re asking for, hmm? Shall I fuck your arse right here, right now?”

  “No!”

  “Then give me the words.” He wanted them with the hunger of a starving man.

  “I surrender,” she whispered.

  He ground his cock against her and simulated the sex act, bending his knees, driving upward a little.

  “Stop!”

  “Say it.”

  “Right. Yes…”

  He thrust against her rear.

  “I surrender.”

  “Say it like you mean it.”

  “I surrender,” she whispered. The words rang with honesty, but never, never defeat.

  “I surrender, Sir,” he prompted.

  “I surrender, Sir.”

  Jack intended to take everything she had to offer, then give her the world in return.

  Chapter Ten

  This time, Sinead’s words had that breathless quality that gutted him while simultaneously turning him on. “That’s my woman.” His future wife. Mother of his children.

  “Not ever, Quinn. Aye, I want you to fuck me, but that’s where it ends.”

  This time, he took no chances. He released her right hand and took a step back. “Take off your clothes.”

  “I beg your pardon?” She spun to face him. “Here? You cannot be serious.” She looked over his shoulder to the top of the stairs.

  “I’m very serious and equally inflexible. Right here.” He folded his arms across his chest. “This moment.”

  She swallowed. “Your grandmother…”

  “My grandmother is upstairs in her bedroom. If you continue making a racket, she’ll wake up and come to see what all the fuss is about. If you don’t want her seeing you naked, you might want to shut up and follow my orders.”

  “What about your servant?”

  “He was married.” Sometime in the past century or so. “You’ve nothing he hasn’t seen before. I’ll have you naked this instant. Enough prevaricating.”

  “You’re a beast.”

  “Indeed.” A beast with a cock that throbbed demandingly.

  With another glance at the stairs, she pulled off her T-shirt.

  “Drop it on the floor.”

  She opened her mouth as if to protest. When he glared, she lowered her gaze and released the cotton shirt.

  “Now the bra.”

  “Honestly! You’ve made your point.”

  “The bra.”

  She reached behind her and unhooked the material.

  “Drop it.”

  She did.

  He ached to feel the fullness of her breasts in his palms, wanted to tease her nipples into even harder firmness. “You really are lovely with your nipples erect like that.”

  “You’ll be heard,” she whispered furiously.

  “Take off your shoes.”

  Even as she glared, she stepped out of her sandals.

  “Now the rest, if you please.”

  Her chin was set mutinously, but she followed his order and removed her jeans and panties.

  She was so alluring. He’d had his hands off her for hours, and it turned out that was longer than he could tolerate.

  Jack couldn’t help himself. He knelt, right there in entrance of his family’s historic home. He reached around her, pressing one palm against her warm buttocks and another against the small of her back. His arousal grabbed him hard and fast. He wanted this woman. Nothing to do with the past, with revenge. Everything to do with raw, animalistic need. His pulse quickened.

  He pressed his mouth against her hot mound. “Spread your legs.”

  “What? Here? Are you mad?”

  “Completely. Now spread your legs.” When she hesitated, he slapped her between the thighs.

  With a gasp, she did as he said.

  Despite her verbal protests, his Sinead was hot. Her pussy was ready, making his cock pulse.

  He pushed on the plug slightly. Her hips jerked forward, and she dug her hands into his hair. “You’re a hot woman.” He licked her clit. When she moaned, he sucked on it slightly. Then he tongued inside her vagina.

  Her pussy muscles clenched, spasming in advance of her orgasm.

  There was nothing he wanted more than to feel her come around his tongue. But she was also at her most vulnerable in this moment. Reluctantly he stopped tasting her. “Upstairs with you,” he said.

  He stood and moved away from her.

  Groggily she blinked.

  With his hands on her shoulders, he moved her away from the door and toward the stairs without any further argument. Perhaps she was finally learning that he didn’t make idle threats.

  He stayed a step below her on the way up to the second floor. Customarily he preferred his subs to follow him at a respectful distance. He didn’t trust her enough to ask her to do that. It would be meaningful when he did.

  Besides, this way, he got to watch the way her bottom swayed, and he caught an occasional glimpse of the bling between her buttocks.

  In his suite, he closed the door and locked it behind them, then dropped the key into one of his drawers. It wouldn’t necessarily stop her from running, but it would certainly slow her down. “I may always keep you naked, a rún.”

  “You know that I prefer to sleep in something so that I stay warm.”

  “Indeed?”

  “A T-shirt of yours will do fine.”

  “Generous of you. But no. Like last night, can I trust that you won’t bolt?”

  A knock on the door saved her from answering.

  “Onto the bed, and stay there.”

  “This isn’t the Middle Ages! You can’t kidnap and imprison me.”

  “Try me.” He fished out the key from where he’d stashed it.

  “Damn you, Quinn.” She dived beneath the covers and yanked them up to cover herself.

  He pulled on a pair of jogging pants, then unlocked the door to find Liam there.

  “Mistress Sinead appears to have left her clothing in the foyer, sir.”

  Sinead groaned audibly.

  Liam raised his bushy brows. “May I suggest a gag, sir?” Liam handed over the pile of clothes. “I’ve found a gag plenty handy with the fairer sex. Unless you have use of her mouth for other purposes.”

  Jack blinked, for once in his life dumbfounded.

  Liam nodded sagely and shuffled off.

  “I shall drown in mortification,” Sinead told him when he closed the door.

  “I’m not certain I won’t,” he admitted. After locking both of them in, he hid the key then placed her clothes on top of his wardrobe. “Now, where were we?”

  “You were deciding not to be a beast.”

  “I was deciding whether or not to strap your legs to the footboard.”

  “I’m not into bondage.”

  “Really?” He sat on the edge of the bed. He leaned over, yanked the covers from her, then pinned her thighs to the mattress with his torso. “Is that why your pussy is all but dripping?” He feathered a finger between the folds of her vulva. “Because you’re not into bondage? Or is it because you don’t like being naked in the entryway? Or maybe because you’re hoping I take pity on you and take out that plug.”

  She ceased her struggles. In silent surrender, she arched her back and dug her heels into the mattress.

  “Jack! Please!”

  “Please what? Please stop? Please order me to spread my legs? Please lick my clit? Please suck on it? Please touch it? Please give me the screaming orgasm you denied me downstairs?”

  “Yes!”

  “Which?”

  “All of them…”

  He moved aside, and she opened her legs wide.

  “Tell me what you want.” He moved between her legs, facedown. After parting her folds, he laved the sensitive, already-swollen little nub. He worked his tongue against her with a little more pressure. “Ask for it. Be specific. Be graphic. Beg me. Call me your master.”

  She shook her head. But he knew it was only a matter of time, both in the bedroom and out of it. “I love having my face in your pussy. I like the way you taste. I love how damn hot you are. I like how responsive.”

  Sinead fed a hand into his hair, but she wasn’t pulling. Rather, she was holding on, keeping him in place.

  “Tell me,” he said against her heated skin.

  “I…”

  “The bondage you keep yourself in, Sinead, is more powerful than any domination I might use. Be honest with me. More importantly, with yourself. I’ll give you one last chance. Tell me what you want, else I’ll leave the plug in and just let us both go to sleep. ”

  “Heathen!”

  He rolled off her. By tomorrow, if he knew women, she’d be following him, crawling after him, begging for what she wanted, what she would realize she needed.

  “Please, Jack.”

  “You’re trying my patience.”

  “I want you to lick me.”

  He sat on the edge of the bed and captured her chin with his thumb and forefinger. “That’s a start. You know what I require.” Was she past their earlier argument enough that she could trust what he’d said, that he didn’t trifle with her ever, and especially when it came to being her Dominant?

  She swallowed, and numerous emotions played out in her revealing green eyes.

  “Trust me, muirnín. There’s no artifice here. I want all of you. I crave your submission.”

 

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