Damn him! If he'd hurt Launcelot…! Automatically, her thin lips drew back away from her small white teeth. "I'll kill you if you've hurt him, Shannon! I swear, I'll kill you…"
"The dog's all right, I said," Shannon snapped, raising his glass once more. "Enough of that crap. Let's get a couple of things straight, eh, little girl? You're not going to be able to do anything unless your old man comes through. This isn't a game we're playing… it's for keeps. You try anything… and I'll have to hurt you… I don't want to do that. Your papa refuses to pay… well, he just hadn't better…"
"Or, you'll send me home in a basket, Shannon?" she said, looking right up into his face. Shannon said nothing and she turned to Madeleine who had not moved from behind the bar. "And you, Madeleine…? Nothing to add? Like… what a fool I made of myself at seeing you after all this time…?"
Madeleine gulped from her own glass. Her negligee had fallen open almost to her waist and her magnificent breasts stood out, exposed before them in her next-to-nakedness. She kept her eyes from the girl and poured the drink into her. After a moment, she said in a forced, clear, crisp voice: "Do as he says and you won't be harmed, Annette… I promise you…"
"You promise me?" Annette snapped. Her small, thin mouth twisted in a distorted smile. "Now that's funny… really funny."
"Maybe you've a warped sense of humor." Shannon said irritably.
"Perhaps I have," replied Annette, her humorless smirk advancing into a hollow little laugh. "But I was imagining the look on my father's face when he's informed of this. I don't believe he's going to like it very much, M'sieu' Shannon… not very much at all… but then, I suppose you've both taken that into consideration."
"Don't needle me, baby," Shannon hissed. "I don't scare easy… and you better hope that your daddy's emotions don't cause him to try the wrong thing, eh?"
Annette looked up at him unwaveringly. "Do you know very much about my father, M'sieu'?" she asked, a trace of her smile still evident. "I'm certain that she does," the girl added with an indicative nod of her head toward Madeleine. "And that's what surprises me, I guess."
"I know enough about him to gamble that he'll pay. You're the apple of his eye, baby… all he had left in the world," said Shannon, finishing his drink. "He may be filth, but I'm betting he still had that much decency."
Annette studied him for a long moment, until finally her head dropped and her slender body made a little convulsive shudder. Madeleine went to her then, lowering herself onto the arm of her chair and running her hand over the girl's long dark hair soothingly. Annette leaned against her, turning her face toward, and burying it between, Madeleine's firm full breasts. She wept quietly.
"All right," Shannon said. "I guess we understand one another. You'll be able to use the house, but you won't go outside of it. Don't try anything and I won't have to lock you up. You're thirteen miles from another living soul except us, and unless you're a hell of a swimmer I wouldn't chance that avenue. Just relax and make the best of it; we'll treat you properly.
"Madeleine, you two are going to be inseparable for the next few days," he said. "I want you with her every minute. You'll walk, sleep and eat together, understand?"
"Oui… but what about you? Where will you sleep?" Madeleine questioned immediately.
Shannon grinned. "Don't worry, angel… I'll be close by… once I get the wheels in operation. Now, take her upstairs for the night. I've got some business to attend to."
Madeleine responded without further question and Shannon watched them climb the wide staircase, the slender girl being supported by the other's arm around her waist. Annette was still sobbing and that pleased him. She wouldn't try anything; he was certain… but at the moment he was more taken with the voluptuous outline of Madeleine's delectable body through the gauzy negligee as she ascended the stairs. The provocative roll of her hips and buttocks, the sleek movement of her shapely legs and slender waist caused him to swallow tightly and his member stirred excitedly in his pants. Christ, how he'd like some of that right now… but it was going to have to keep until after he went to the mainland and made his phone call to Larreau… then… He grinned to himself. Some wild ideas were forming in his mind.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Annette Larreau was more enraged than fear-stricken; her pride had been severely damaged. She felt like a complete idiot, having fallen right into their plot as innocently as a lamb being led to slaughter. She couldn't imagine how she might have responded differently; nevertheless, she felt the perfect fool, and it wasn't in her nature to accept that without some sort of retaliation. Thus, although her tears were for the most part tears of anger, the larger portion were pretended, in an effort to gain additional time to think.
She felt that Madeleine wasn't in complete accord with her lover, at least, if she was, her tender, emotional nature was showing through. She had led Annette to the bed, helped her onto it and lay down beside her, cuddling the younger girl protectively to her and continuing to stroke her long dark hair. Annette couldn't help the exciting little fermentations she sensed at the other's naked, full and soft, perfumed breasts against her cheek, and it was then that the first thoughts of a wild plan crossed her mind.
Launcelot was still awake; she could hear him bark occasionally. She wasn't surprised. The animal had always been finicky about his food and would detect and refuse the slightest of tainted or tampered-with meats. If only she could get down stairs and free him… that would change the complexion of things in a hurry… yet, how was she going to get away from Madeleine to do it? She doubted that she could overpower the older, larger girl… but… there might be another way… Dear God… she had never done anything like that in her life… not with another woman… still, as wicked as it seemed, she was not repulsed by the idea… in fact, there was a certain lascivious stimulation that rippled through her at the mere thought, and suddenly, as if of their own volition, she felt her free arm creep around Madeleine's slender waist outside the sheer negligee, her own long, slender fingers trailing lightly over the silky material to feel the warmth of the soft flesh beneath immediately and vibrantly respond to her touch, while with her other arm and hand in under her, she eased those fingers forward to graze and brush with taunting delicateness the smooth resilient flesh of the other's heavy smooth rounded breasts.
Madeleine tensed and made an audible little gasping sound at the tantalizing contact of her still-swollen breasts with the girl's long slender fingers. Her own reaction embarrassed her: that another girl could stimulate her this way was absurd. It was simply the aftermath of the forbidden pleasure she had enjoyed while she was waiting for them to arrive… besides, Annette had meant nothing… the poor girl was simply overwrought at her sudden situation was all.
"Cherie, listen to me," Madeleine whispered while simultaneously she ran her hand over the girl's long silken hair. "It'll be all right. You mustn't let yourself get upset like this. Think of it this way: how many people has your father inflicted his horrors upon? Believe me ma chere, nothing is going to happen to you. I promise… I won't let anyone hurt you…"
Slowly, Annette raised her face so that her damp eyes looked upward into Madeleine's dark ones. She pressed her willowy body tighter against the near-naked, soft contours of the larger girl, molding herself to them while her hand clasped with open palm at her back and the other opened slowly to cup with gentle fingers Madeleine's firm erect breast.
Once more, Madeleine gasped, only this time she felt herself automatically maneuvering Annette's long, supple body tightly to her while she pressed her own curvaceous form against it. She bent her head downward as Annette raised hers, both of them straining until their lips met, gently at first, each feeling the full sharp delineated imprint of the other, and then more furiously.