"So you wouldn't ruin his fun, would you?"

"No. No!"

He turned up the intensity.

"Sir. Oh, Sir!"

"Rub yourself on the bed, Lara, like a needy captive."

As she moved, he turned it up again.

"What are you going to do now?"

She cried out, and the sound was garbled.

"Tell me what you want." He smacked her, right beneath the swell of her a.s.s. The cracking sound rent the air.

"Sir! I need to come."

"Like a good little captive?"

"Yes, Sir."

"You want to please your master?"

He saw her body go rigid.

"Ask."

"Please. Please, Sir. If it pleases you, I'd like to come."

"What pleases me is to watch you suffer."

"Oh, G.o.d. Oh, G.o.d!"

"Count backward for me. From ten to one. Do not dare come before you get to one." His c.o.c.k tented his pants. He was throbbing, almost in time to her wiggles and cries. d.a.m.n, she was everything he'd ever wanted.

"Eight."

"Hold it off or I'll make you give me five more. I don't care how much you cry and beg, captive."

His harsh words made her shout out.

"Five."

"Hold back that o.r.g.a.s.m, my dirty princess."

She started to gulp huge sobs.

"Four."

Relentlessly, he turned the vibration up full force.

"Th...ree." She choked.

"Wait."

"Two." She locked her knees.

He reached over and pinched her c.l.i.t.

Lara screeched and clamped her thighs, coming against his hand, helplessly fisting the sheets.

"Beautiful, beautiful," he soothed as he shut off the vigorous bullet.

She gave another few involuntary jerks as aftershocks claimed her.

He stroked her back even as he released her wrists. "So, so pleasing." He talked to her, touched her and sat next to her until she let go of her powerful grip on the bedclothes. "In future, I may just keep you tied to my bed."

"That's what happens to captives," she said softly as she turned her head to him. "At least in my fantasies."

He left her only long enough to dampen a washcloth then he rejoined her to bathe her heated skin.

"Thank you for that," she said. "But now, when I m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.e, the sound of your voice will fill my head. And the way you spanked me..." She closed her eyes for a moment. "That was more than I could have ever hoped for."

"Maybe you thought I was joking about tying you to the bed and keeping you as my captive?"

She opened her eyes again, letting him see into her darkest secrets. "Maybe you thought I was joking that I'd let you."

Chapter Eleven.

"This is called a coup, Lara Marie." Pernell picked up a pencil, snapped it in half and threw both of the pieces against the wall. "A G.o.dd.a.m.n betrayal."

Lara took a deep breath but forced herself not to wince. Despite her father's brutal words, she didn't relent. Instead of arguing with his statements, she said, "I'm sorry you see it that way."

All day, she'd dreaded this meeting. Obviously having known that, Connor had called a couple of times to offer support and to help her refocus on other business matters. For the first time in the last few years, she'd felt as if she weren't so alone.

"I have a right to run my company in the manner I see fit," Pernell said.

"As long as you're executing your fiduciary duty," she countered.

"Which I am."

"I disagree." Though he hadn't responded to her repeated messages, she knew through her mother that he'd been busy talking to board members last night.

When she'd knocked on his door at four o'clock, she had been surprised when he'd answered.

He'd dispensed with any greeting and, instead, had demanded she take a seat.

She had, feeling prepared for anything.

Last night, she and Connor had role-played a dozen different scenarios, including the fact her father might resort to intimidation or bl.u.s.ter, even guilt. At one point, Helene had joined them via video conference call, just in case they'd missed something. Helene had warned that he might try to play on her emotions as a loyal daughter, saying it was her duty to support him.

Her mother and Connor had both coached her to remain resolute and not to succ.u.mb to emotional manipulation. Both had even offered to accompany her to the meeting. For a moment, before she'd knocked on Pernell's door, she'd almost changed her mind and called them.

But now that she was face-to-face with him and his stubbornness, she drew on her own fort.i.tude, the same determination that had driven her to approach Connor. She knew, without doubt, an intervention was the only way to stop Pernell's thoughtless and potentially reckless actions. The only way she could live with herself was if she didn't take the coward's way out. "Connor will make a presentation. Mother will be there."

"No one has to listen to him."

"Not today," she agreed. "But after Friday, they will. Connor and I are getting married."

"You're what? That G.o.dd.a.m.n b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" He leaped to his feet, face red. He slammed his hands on the desktop and leaned toward her. "He did this. He got to you after I told him to get the f.u.c.k out. I'm going to rip his-"

"Enough." Then, more gently she added, "I love you, Daddy." Lara's emotions overflowed. She was still the little girl who'd happily jumped in the car for the ride downtown to follow him around. She was still the young executive who'd made her first presentation to the board. More than anything, she was still the person who loved her father too much to allow him to fail.

"He did this on purpose. When he couldn't get his insulting offer past me, he went behind my f.u.c.king back. The crazy b.a.s.t.a.r.d wants my company. And he'll do anything to get it."

She said nothing. She'd learned a thing or two from watching Connor.

Finally, he sank into his chair. His spine was erect, and she saw fire in the eyes that were so like her own.

Until now she hadn't noticed that the only time she'd seen him so animated recently was the night he'd tossed Connor out. Otherwise, his eye color seemed dull. Having an identified target seemed to give her father his fire back. "Hear him out," she suggested. "You'll have your turn."

"I need to see the bylaws. Where the h.e.l.l are my bylaws?" He yanked open the bottom desk drawer.

"Section eight," she replied. "The CFO can call an emergency meeting. So can a quorum. And section eleven, board members serve at the discretion of the chairman, which is you. But all immediate family members automatically have seats if they're over the age of twenty-one. And spouses are also included."

"d.a.m.n Helene had her fingers in that, too. That clause wasn't in there until we got married. Always was a conniving opportunist."

"That's my mother you're talking about," she reminded him. "I think she's quite clever."

"I never said she wasn't."

Finally, Lara sat. "You will always be heard. You will always be valued and respected. But it's time we considered some different directions and strategies. And if you want time to be on the golf course, you've earned it."

"If you think I'm staying away while that Donovan b.a.s.t.a.r.d sits in this chair-"

"I think he'd find it too uncomfortable. And so would I." After checking her watch, she said, "We're due in the conference room at five. We will start without you if necessary."

Lara Bertrand, his future bride, was a force to be reckoned with, and Connor had never been prouder.

At four-thirty, he'd stepped off the elevator on the eighteenth floor of the building that housed BHI. Helene had been waiting for him, and she'd shown him to Lara's office.

The place had taken him aback. He was accustomed to seeing her in her personal surroundings, and the wide s.p.a.ce with clean lines and its lack of clutter surprised him, showed him another dimension to her. The more he saw, the more he appreciated her.

She'd said the meeting with Pernell had gone as well as could be expected, and she had no predictions about the way he would behave at the board meeting.

Together, the three of them had walked to the conference room.

She'd already had water, agendas, copies of the corporation's bylaws, notepads and pens placed at each setting. True to Helene's nature, a plate of chocolate chip cookies had been set on a credenza, next to a pile of napkins.

If he'd had any doubt of the pair's ability to get things done, they'd have vanished in that moment.

The projector had been set up for his slide show. The whiteboard was empty and pens were lined up in the tray.

Lara and Helene greeted each board member as they arrived, and they introduced Connor. Between his brother's research, his own reading and information gleaned from Helene and Lara, he was able to smoothly interact with each member.

At five o'clock, each person had taken a seat.

By five after, Pernell still hadn't arrived, and Lara grabbed her phone and excused herself from the room.

When she returned, Connor was unable to read her expression. People started talking among themselves, and he heard whispers as they wondered about Pernell's absence and what Lara intended to do about it.

She waited five more minutes before she stood and thanked everyone for their attendance. Her voice rang with authority, and the board members looked to her for leadership. Despite the fact that this was a position she'd maintained she didn't want, it obviously came naturally.

He sat back now and watched her.

"Last week, Connor Donovan approached us with an offer to purchase the communications division."

He noticed she hadn't placed the blame on her father, an astute and adept move.

"On further reflection, I'd like us to reconsider the offer. Yes, it's low." She looked at him. "But it's an excellent place to begin. Ultimately we may decide it's not in BHI's best interest, but we owe it to ourselves to look at it. I will have a copy for you at the end of the meeting, but with your permission, I'd like Connor to give us a short presentation, outlining potential benefits."

For the next hour, Connor went through his slides. His team had done an excellent job of animating the presentation. Thompson had admitted that they'd gotten some help from a couple of Julien's a.s.sociates in his new movie division. In fact, Connor recognized the music that played at the end as a more refined version of Julien's theme song.

Regardless, it was both showy and informative.

He answered dozens of questions, and provided some quick math on the whiteboard.

When there was a natural break, Lara stood, as they'd planned. "BHI has had three quarters of losses, as you know. The time has come for us to fully explore the changing landscape of our business to create a workable and profitable future. We need to be ruthless and unflinching in our expectations and vision. We need to offload unprofitable divisions, sell them if possible. And we need to focus on the things we do well. Transportation, shipping, logistics, energy."

Mary, the woman at the far end of the table stood. "Pretty snazzy graphics, Lara and Connor." From her tone, it wasn't a compliment. "But we need more than cute cartoons."

One person laughed a bit nervously.

"Of course we do," Lara agreed. "Which is why you've got the last year's financials in your packet." She opened the manila folder that was in front of her and she had Helene distribute a new set of papers. "But since it can be difficult to make sense of it, I brought this." The page showed the last five years' profit and loss statements converted to a chart, by division. Out of six divisions, one was wildly profitable. Another had respectable earnings. One was hemorrhaging cash. "Of course, I'm more than happy to consider suggestions from the board. But I will tell you this much, while the communications division has some real value, we need to divest it. The longer we wait, the more employees we lose, the longer the patents sit unused, the less it will be worth. And that affects everyone's value. Even yours, Mary."

"So where does Pernell stand on all of this?" another man asked.

"You're welcome to ask him," she said. "The bylaws grant us the authority to act without the chairman if he's not in attendance."