Free Hers To Cherish (Verdantia Book 3) by Patricia A. Knight Page B

the thought of the agony that Ramsey must have gone through, not just from the lash, but from the practice bouts since .
    “Does your hand still pain you?” Ram opened his eyes and silently studied her. Steffania began to squirm as the silence lengthened. “I am sorry,” she offered. {DeKieran, look, I know I blew it. I’ll be a good little slaaf from now on. I swear it.}
    Ramsey grunted and began to soap himself. “I’m sending you home, Steffania. You have passage on the Estrella Racha . It leaves in three days.” {I’ve notified DeTano. They’ll send a shuttle to Triton for you.}
    Paralysis set in and she forgot to breathe. {DeKieran, don’t do this. Sent home from a mission? I’ll lose my captain’s bars. I’ll have a permanent black mark on my record. Don’t do this.} “Please, don’t do that. I’ll be the best slaaf you’ve ever had. I promise,” she whispered.
    His gazed locked on her. “I don’t believe you can. Your temper is too volatile, and you lack self-discipline.” {It’s better you get busted to private than all the way to dead. Your recklessness endangers both of us. I don’t care how egregious a crime you witness on this suck-ass planet, you don’t drop your cover.}
    Steffania shook her head. “I’ll prove it to you. Give me three days .” {Do your worst. If I take what you dish out, let me stay? Please? I beg of you…} She examined his face for any sign of softening. His harsh features revealed nothing.
    “A ll right. Three days.” {Whatever I want, whenever I want—you fully compliant. The first hint of disobedience, one murmur of complaint and you’re on that liner back to Verdantia. Understood?}
    Steffania dropped her eyes. {Understood.} “Thank you.”
    Ramsey gazed at her unmoved. “ Since you seem to be fully-recovered, there is still the matter of my punishment for your disobedience.”
    She looked at him warily. “Yes?”
    “Dry yourself and wait for me in the bedroom. Stand, center of the room, feet apart, shoulder width, hands behind your back.”
    Steffania stood up from the water and nodded her head. “ Dominus. ”
    “Oh, and Steffania, leave your hair up off your neck. One of the things I will do is bind you.”
     
~ ~ ~
     
    She felt as if she had been standing in the damn bedroom for an eternity. The wait was part of her punishment, she was certain. Her shoulders ached. Temptation whispered to drop her arms to her sides and shake them out. But the way her luck had been running, that’s when Ram would enter the room. A ponytail high on her head held the heavy weight of her hair off her neck. Ram’s final comment that he would bind her fired her imagination into creating endless scenarios, each more erotic than the last. Hot arousal thrummed through her. The longer she stood there, the hotter it burned. 
    At that thought, Ram walked into the bedroom, nude, carrying a large black satchel. She gave thanks she hadn’t moved. “At ease, Steffania, but remain where you are.”
    “Yes , Dominus .”
    He dropped the bag on the bed. The contents clinked softly inside. Opening it, Ram pulled out a number of items and arranged them on the bed. From where Steffania stood, she could only imagine what items that bag might hold and the heat inside her flared higher. He turned to her, holding a black cloth.
    “Resume your stance. You may let your arms hang at your sides.”
    When she was still, he blindfolded her. “Sometimes, being blindfolded disorients people. If you cannot remain balanced, tell me and I will provide you a support.”
    “I’m fine.”
    “Good. If that changes, tell me. I require you to control your reactions. Whatever I do to you, I require you to remain silent and unmoving. I will take you sexually for my pleasure. This is punishment, so whether or not you receive satisfaction is entirely up to me. Do you understand me, Steffania?”
    “ Whatever you do to me, I don’t speak. I don’t move. I am being punished and should expect no