Read Online Taming His Scandalous Countess by Viola Morne - Free Book Online

cool, implacable.
    Five more strokes landed on her
shrinking skin.
    "Have you anything to say for
yourself?"
    Isabelle turned her head.
"Have you fucked every woman that was here tonight?" She heard Snow's
swift intake of breath.
    "Five more, I think."
    The final strokes hurt so much that
Isabelle thought she might faint. She struggled against the pain, unwilling to
give Snow the satisfaction. He leaned over her, the pressure on her smarting
buttocks nigh unbearable.
    "The only woman I fuck now is
you," he said in her ear.
    She heard the cane clatter to the
floor and Snow's footsteps walking away from her. He opened the cupboard again
and walked back. A pungent herbal aroma. Snow soothed an ointment over her
tender flesh.
    "This is arnica; it should
help with the pain and bruising."
    Isabelle lay quiescent, all fight
gone out of her for the moment. He pulled her skirts back down and helped her
gain her feet. She staggered slightly and he grasped her arm. He raised her
face.
    "Still no tears, my
love."
    A sound, somewhere between a laugh
and a howl stuck in her throat.
    "I never cry."
    "I am beginning to believe
you."
    Holding her arm, Snow assisted her
down the hall and up to her rooms on the first floor. He dismissed her maid,
shut the door and undressed her himself. He took down her hair and brushed it,
pulled a night rail over her head and bent her over the end of the bed.
    Snow pushed up her gown, fondling
the welts he had inflicted. He parted her legs, touching and stroking her until
an inadvertent moan escaped her. A pause. His rigid member replaced his
fingers, rubbing along her, thrusting gently just inside and then leaving,
until pleasure mixed with pain.
    As her tension ebbed, he grasped
her thighs, opened them widely and slid inside. She burned, inside and out, as
he drove into her without tenderness. Her defenses shattered, she opened to him
eagerly, knowing nothing but the glide of wet, hot flesh and the wicked ecstasy
of completion. He held himself immobile while his seed emptied into her and
then withdrew, all without saying a word. He pulled down her night rail and
helped her under the covers, then kissed her forehead lightly and left the
room.
    She closed her eyes, bone-weary,
all emotion spent in a welter of pain and rapture. A sea change indeed.

CHAPTER FIVE
     
    Another letter arrived with the
post at breakfast two days later. Isabelle, still sitting somewhat gingerly on
the edge of her chair, slipped it under the rest of her correspondence.
    Snow glanced up. "News from
your brother?"
    "Yes, John sends his regrets
for not attending the reception. Their eldest came down with a fever. They will
write again to let me know how he fares."
    "Have you finished your toast,
my love?"
    Isabelle set down her cup.
    "You know what to do."
    The footman hastened to pull out
her chair. Snow opened the door and ushered her into the hallway. They walked
down the hall to his study, where he sat down at his desk. Snow motioned with
one hand.
    She heaved a sigh, and turned
around slowly.
    "Isabelle."
    She pulled up her skirts. She could
feel the heat of his gaze on her shrinking flesh. This inspection had been
going on since the caning. His fingers traced the welts he had left on her sore
bottom.
    "Nice marks." A sharp
slap across her ass made her cry out. Another followed.
    "Good girl. You may let down
your skirts. I will see you at dinner."
    Isabelle left without another word,
without even looking at him. He hadn't asked her to apologize for that night
and she hadn't offered. Nor had he visited her bed. Her husband had made it
very clear who was in charge. What really gave her pause was how she liked
being called his good girl, even while he fondled the skin he'd marked. Had she
become as perverse as Snow?
    Isabelle made her way to the small
parlor where the portrait of Snow's mother stared into the horizon for
eternity. She took the letter from her pocket and broke open the seal.
     
    Dear Countess,
    What a lovely party the