because his sardonic regard held hunger for her nakedness. He had whipped her hands but he had liked her. She was sure he liked her. Corey Gibson was pragmatist enough to know she would give him her body willingly for the key to her chains. That he could take her body easily at any time without her consent did not diminish the feminine wisdom by which she knew the power of affection or her gentleness of female fingers and female lips upon a love starved man. Seth was rough and he was tough but he desired her. Risking the whip, she tested him.
'Mr. Burdett, why can?t we be covered?'
He cocked an enquiring eye at her pubic hair. 'Can you tell me, Miss Gibson, why you should be?'
'Even slaves have clothes. And being always naked… it?s so messy.'
'You?re not messy. We find a bit of water to dunk you in every day, don?t we?'
'I didn?t mean that.' Corey swept her gaze up and down the line of chained femininity. 'But look at us… all breasts and pubic hair and hips… We?re… too much!'
'Can?t have too much of a good thing, love. And we?re careful not to get you sunburned.'
'You mean you like looking at naked girls?'
'Yes. Especially when they?re chained and well behaved.'
Corey swallowed anger. 'Couldn?t you at least cover our sex?' She looked him squarely in the eye. 'Put our pubic hair out of sight?'
He grinned at her earnestness. 'Tell you what I could do since it bothers you that bad. I?ll shave it off!'
She fell back on hauteur. 'I?m sorry I asked. I should have known…'
'Known what?'
'That I?m only a slave.' Corey swallowed a sudden lump in her throat. 'I?m trying hard to be a good one but it isn?t easy. Being naked all the time is one of the most difficult things.' Her tone placated. I won?t be a nuisance about it. I honestly don?t want to be whipped.'
Seth laughed at her dolor. 'You can?t be a nuisance, love, not chained the way you are. But you do have a gift for petulance. It will likely earn you a few stripes here and there on the trek.'
Petulant! Like a disappointed child! Angry at herself and at Burdett Corey held out her hand, retorting in stiff resentment: 'My apologies, Mr. Burdett. Perhaps you?d like to cut my fingers up with a few strokes?'
He pushed down her proffered arm. 'In my own time.' He said soberly. Before he turned away he chucked her under a sulky chin, and laughed at her obvious chagrin. 'And remember this, young lady, from now on you address me as?Master?. Understand?'
'Yes, Master.' She made the title drip venom.
'You?re really asking for it, y?know.' Audrey cautioned after their co-owner had departed. 'You sure you?re not in love with the son-of-a-bitch?'
Obeying the tug of their chain they lay down to sleep.
It was late afternoon close to the end of their sleeping when the turning of the keys wakened Corey from the last of sleep. Dazed, she allowed Burdett to raise her to her feet and lead her out into the trees. Her heart beat painfully at sight of the whip and cord he carried in his other hand. Out of sight and earshot of the camp, he positioned her, standing, whilst he sat upon a fallen tree. Toying with the whip, he examined her heaving breasts and allowed a silence to lengthen until the naked slavegirl could bear it no longer.
'Do you realize I?m not fastened or… or anything?' She asked coldly.
'S?right. Now?s your chance.'
Corey sniffed disdainfully. 'You know damn well I?m too frightened.'
'You forgetting something?'
'I?m too frightened… Master!' 'That?s better. Feel nice to be out of the coffle?'
Miss Corey Gibson was loath to admit how good it actually did feel. Without sight of the whip she would have been ecstatic. As it was she managed a polite: 'Yes… Thank you.' Then asked, plaintively: 'Would you mind if I just moved a bit? I promise I won?t run.'
'Go ahead.'
Corey did not care how silly she might look. She rubbed her wrist, she massaged her neck. She walked gleefully in a small circle. She was free, free, free! It was absurdly miraculous to be rid of chain. 'I really am grateful.' She admitted ingenuously, then hurriedly added: '… Master.'
'You do learn.' He sounded pleased. 'But d?you remember what I said happened to a girl if she got herself unlocked from the coffle?'
Corey remembered. Once more her heart began to pound. She longed for clothes, for a weapon, for help. Unhappily, she confronted fear. 'Yes, I remember, Master. The girl gets flogged.' She looked at the whip and then at him. 'You?re going to flog me, aren?t you?'
'S?right.'
'What have I done?'
'Nothing.' He laughed at her chagrin. 'Look on it as medicinal.'
'That?s unfair.'
'Get used to it, Miss Gibson. Whoever buys you will probably have his servants whip you regularly. There?s nothing fair about slavery and being a pretty girl.'
It was useless to argue. In pulse leaping curiosity, Corey erased the tremors from her quiet acceptance. 'Very well. So I get whipped! Is there some way you want me to position myself?'
'Damn cool about it, aren?t you? What goes, bravado?'
'Yes.' She wiped tears of self pity from her eyes. 'I?ve never been whipped the way you want to whip me. I?m scared to death.'
'Good! It won?t hurt you to wait a minute. What d?you know about Assef Aslam?'
Corey looked at her owner with a glimmering of hope. 'He?s prisoner of Abdul Nour?s the way Audrey and I were.'
'Abdul screw you?'
'No. But he was going to.'
'He?ll be hopping mad.' Seth chuckled. 'He can console himself with making a good deal on Aslam?s ransom.'
She clutched at a straw. 'If he does, you could make a good deal on Audrey and me. There?d be millions…?'
'Huh, maybe.' His glance was sharp. 'Look, Corey, I like you. I?ll whip you and I?ll sell you into slavery but I like you. I?m going to pass the word around where and how you were sold. If Aslam or your Dad want you bad enough maybe something will come of it.' He looked at her quizzically. 'What the hell do?you want Aslam to ransom you for? The way I heard it he was going to whip the ass off you?'
Corey sniffed unhappily. 'Well, he wouldn?t have put me in a chain gang and made me walk naked across half a continent. You?ve done that, and now you?re going to whip me as well.' She shrugged disdainfully. 'And then you?re going to sell me to some rich Arab for his harem. That?s not much of a future for a girl, is it?'
'Hell, if I pass on the info? like I?ve promised, you could be back in the U.S.A. inside six months. Your ass won?t get skinned in that time… and the other thing don?t wear out.'
'Alright, I?m grateful.' Corey eyed her owner dubiously. 'I honestly will be grateful if you?ll do that for me… and I believe you will.' She sought expression. 'It?s just that… that… Oh, dammit! I just don?t want to be a slave, and be whipped, and chained, and have my body ravished… Master.'
'Understood, love. But none of it?s lethal. If I tell you to position yourself and to ask me to screw you, would you obey?'
'Yes, I would obey. I?ve already been broken in, y?know. My jailor at Amphala fucked me every evening. He tied my hands behind my back for it, said it was better that way.' Defiantly, she added: 'I hope you approve my use of the word?fuck?… Master?'
'Do things right, don?t you?' Burdett sardonically approved. 'O.K. Start the act.'
With her limbs totally free it was doubly shaming. Corey suspected he was well aware of the fact. Without pause to think or shrink, she positioned herself nakedly upon the ground, spread wide her legs, bent up her knees, looked up between them and demurely asked: 'Please fuck your slavegirl, Master.' Impulsively she crossed her unbound wrists beneath the small of her back to invitingly arch her loins.
Achmed?s trick was habit forming. 'I?m the victim of protocol.' Seth Burdett admitted languorously from beside her on the ground. 'You were damn good. Good enough I?d let you off the whipping. But I can?t put you back on the
