Read Master's Flame for Free Online Page B

options. There were three or four women he could take to the back room, even a lesbian couple who enjoyed submitting to him together.
    He could take Valentina, if he wished.
    That was the worst part...he could do it. She wanted him, and Jason wasn’t here to stop him. There was no one to guilt him or hold him accountable. He could take her back and play with her, and discover just how she felt about his stringent brand of mastery. As he stared at her, thinking dark thoughts, he realized his two blond slaves had worked themselves across the room to her vicinity. He frowned as Maxim and Leonid started to flirt with her. The two of them had less-than-zero interest in women, but they would have noticed their Master’s interest in her.
    He disliked acts of initiative in his slaves.
    He ordered another drink and watched the three of them dance together. He’d been distancing himself from his Russian slaves lately. Were they trying to attract him again by seducing his newest obsession? Were they being petty and flagrant in order to get his attention? Were they acting out in hopes of being punished? Valentina allowed them to fawn all over her, a blissful smile on her face. He couldn’t blame her for enjoying their attentions. Both men were extremely skilled with their hands. He could tell she didn’t know who they were or the significance of their horny little tryst in the center of the dance floor, but others did. Furtive glances fixed on him, then flitted away.
    Very well. She ought to know who she was dealing with. He finished his drink and beckoned his slaves to head for the back room, knowing Valentina would follow. If Jason were here, he would have run over and dragged her out of the Citadel by her ear. But Michel had no intention of playing with the young woman, only letting her watch. Surely that would cause no harm, and hopefully it would strike some healthy fear into her soul. Fear of him.
    Soon the four of them were gathered in the small anteroom outside his private dungeon. He gave her a look both fond and reproachful.
    “You shouldn’t be here, Miss Sancia. Do you have any idea what goes on inside?” He nodded toward the door as his slaves stripped out of their form-fitting fetish wear.
    Her eyes skimmed their way. It was difficult for a normal person to ignore the sight of their nude bodies, much less this sex-crazed woman. “I know what goes on,
monsieur
,” she said. “I’ve heard.”
    “What have you heard?”
    “That there is dominance and submission. That you have slaves. I know about the lifestyle, of course.”
    Off course.
“What do you know?” he challenged. “Have you ever dominated anyone?”
    Her eyes strayed again to his slaves, the two men waiting for orders with a servility so natural it seemed inborn. “I’m not dominant. I’m a submissive, like them.”
    He respected people’s self-identification in all things, but in this case, he couldn’t keep a straight face. “Does it come easily to you? Submission?”
    “I don’t know. I’ve never tried it,” she admitted after a moment. “But I don’t like easy things, and I think I’d enjoy being overpowered if someone could actually do it.”
    This, he could believe. People submitted for many reasons, all of them fascinating, all of them deeply personal. If she liked the challenge of submission, she would enjoy watching him play with his slaves. He took in her skimpy, sexy outfit, his eyes catching on the lines of the black garter belt set off by her pale skin. Such clothing was power, protection. Distraction in her case, with every curve emphasized and on display. “You must undress if you want to come in. No clothing is permitted within my inner sanctum.”
    He didn’t expect Valentina to balk at the regulation, and she didn’t. She undressed until she stood before him as proudly naked as his slaves, her acrobat’s body a wonder to behold. Next to his broad, muscular playthings, she appeared an ultra-feminine pillar of