Read Online Mastered By Love by Tori Minard - Free Book Online

Tariza
Concordia was concerned, he didn’t know what he wanted ... except
for the sex. He wasn’t conflicted in the least when it came to
fucking her.
    He set aside the cloth he’d
been using. “Now, we soak.”
    They settled into the water. Dario
tugged her against him, with her back to his front and his arms
around her. She sat upright, her back straight and tilted away from
him, her arms clasped around her knees.
    “ This is a time to relax,
Tariza.”
    “ I can’t relax.”
    “ Yes, you can. Lean against
me.”
    “ No, thank you.”
    Dario sighed. So, they were back to
this, were they? He took her by the elbows and pulled until she
reclined stiffly against him, his legs bracketing hers. Then he
wrapped his arms around her to keep her there.
    “ As your master, I’m
ordering you to relax.” He smoothed her hair from her forehead, the
gesture pushing her head gently back against his chest.
    “ As you wish.” But her body
remained stiff and tense.
    He continued stroking her –
first her forehead, then her shoulders and arms. Slowly, slowly the
tension left her body until her shoulders stopped resisting the
soft pressure of his hands and her head rolled slightly to the
side.
    “ You must be pleased with
yourself,” she said in a flat voice.
    “ I must?”
    “ You did what you said you
were going to do. Capture me.”
    “ I don’t remember saying I
planned to capture you.” He bent his head and pressed his lips to
the side of her neck.
    “ At the banquet, you said
I’d be yours someday.”
    “ Ah. Yes, I did.” But that
had been more of a wish than a plan.
    “ So you’ve gotten what you
wanted.”
    “ Not entirely.”
    She dropped her head
forward. “What more do you want?”
    “ Your capitulation, of
course.”
    “ I thought I’d already done
that.”
    He smiled. “It seems to me
you’re fighting me at every turn.” Dario slipped his hand up her
belly and cupped her breast. “I want you to really submit to me. In
your heart, not just your body.”
    “ I can’t.” She whispered
the words so softly he wasn’t sure he’d really heard
them.
    “ Someday you’ll learn
how.”
    Tariza said nothing.
    They sat in the water until it began
to grow cold. They got out and he toweled her off carefully before
turning to his dressing table in order to shave. His beard itched
intolerably and it was time to remove the cursed thing.
    He assembled his razor, soap, and
other tools, sending a furtive glance into the mirror to see what
Tariza was doing. She sat huddled on his bed, still wrapped in the
towel and staring at her hands as if they fascinated her. Anything,
he supposed, to avoid looking at him.
    Dario poured a little hot water into
his shaving bowl and stirred with his brush. She continued not
looking at him as he spread soapy lather over his face and
neck.
    He began to scrape away the
beard. A movement reflected by the mirror caught his eye. Now she
was looking at him. He couldn’t read the expression on her face,
but she looked uncomfortable.
    Dario suppressed a grin.
Maybe she’d never seen a man shave before.
    When he finished, he splashed more hot
water to wash away the remaining soap and toweled his face dry. She
still watched him, her face remote and still.
    “ Much better,” he
said.
    Tariza shrugged. “Makes no
difference to me.”
    “ Because you adore me with
or without a beard?”
    She snorted. “Because I
loathe you with or without a beard.”
    “ Your sweetness overwhelms
me,” he said with a grin.
    Dario climbed into bed with
her. His camp bed was large enough to accommodate two sleepers; it
was Saturnian custom for military commanders to bring a favorite
slave along on campaign. Tariza stretched out alongside him without
a word of complaint or question. She didn’t even protest when he
put an arm around her and tucked her against his body before
pulling the blanket over them both.
    Maybe she was learning. He laid his head on the
pillow and fell asleep.

Chapter 6
    When