His Mistress’s Voice (29 page)

Harriet went to Beth’s cell first. She was a long time there. So long that Tom was beginning to think she had forgotten him. When she came for him she unlocked his leg-irons. He followed her out into the cellar, where he saw at once the result of Harriet’s overnight thoughts. Beth was waiting for them. She was naked apart from a belt of light chain which circled her waist. From that another length of the same chain ran tautly between her legs and joined the waist belt at the back, where they were all secured with a single padlock.

Harriet allowed Tom to look at Beth until he took in the significance of her chains.

‘A chastity belt?’ he asked, even though he had guessed what Harriet had done.

‘With a difference,’ Harriet replied. ‘The ones they used in the Middle Ages tended to be heavy and cumbersome. Although they might have served their purpose, they must have been very uncomfortable to wear, but the feminists didn’t have much influence then. There have been improvements. I might even claim a modest amount of credit for re-inventing the device, but the Patent Office would just get stuffy and refuse to acknowledge the inventions.’

Harriet moved over to where Beth stood and Tom followed. Harriet continued: ‘The joy of this little beauty is that it absolutely prevents penetration, something the earlier models didn’t always do. It relies on the well-known fact that two objects can’t occupy the same space simultaneously.’ She thrust her hand between Beth’s legs and showed Tom a ring which encircled the chain and slid over its links. ‘On the other, or Beth end of this, is a rather large dildo which fills the relevant space. There’s another one in the other place and neither one can be taken out without first unlocking the waist belt. There’s not enough slack to slip the plugs out unless you have the key – which I will keep safely.’

Harriet motioned for Beth to turn round. She obeyed wordlessly reminding Tom of her earlier behaviour.

Harriet continued her description as if she were introducing the latest fashions at a show. ‘It’s light and comfortable, even airy. I’ve been told by others that one can wear it all day without trouble.’ It sounded as if Harriet had already made that test – no doubt with one or another of her clients. It was hardly the kind of thing the general public would go in for. ‘And it can be worn under clothes in public – which is what Beth will do today when she goes out with me,’ she added. ‘She will wear it for as long as it takes us to work out a
modus vivendi,
especially when it is necessary to leave you two here alone. You can think about that all day at work. Speaking of which,’ she said with a glance at her wristwatch, ‘you’d best be on your way. I’ll have Beth do the cooking. I’ll let you know when I want you to come back.’

Dismissed, Tom went upstairs and got dressed. There would just be time to have a shower and shave at his place before he had to get to work. Good job Harriet was an early riser. He wondered how long his exile would last, and he found himself resenting Beth for coming back just when she had. Harriet, he felt, had been on the verge of taking him more fully into her confidence, and doubtless into her ‘old bod’, as she described it, the ultimate prize in their game. Now all that was on hold, and he himself was banished to outer darkness for an indefinite period while Harriet dealt with the new ingredient in the relationship. Tom had no doubt that she would deal with Beth, and come to some resolution, Harriet being Harriet. But the shape of the resolution was worrying and he knew he had to have a talk with Beth as well, for his own peace of mind if for nothing else.

Work went as work had gone since he had first met Beth: an interminable period in which he did necessary but savourless things until he could escape into the weekends. Harriet had continued the same pattern. Now Tom wondered if he was spoiled for work. Only the diversions of the weekends had any meaning and now he was cut off even from that until Harriet relented. And Beth was just as inaccessible.

Tom went through the motions successfully enough to fool others and conceal his growing edginess as the days went by and there was no word from either Harriet or Beth. The days of uncertainty passed as slowly as the time had gone when Beth left. Valerie began to show signs of interest. She took to lingering in his office longer than was strictly necessary, or finding an excuse to come and talk to him. Several times she had dropped things, apparently by accident, and in stooping to recover them had allowed more of her undeniably attractive legs to show than was usual among bending women. Once Tom had even been able to tell that she was wearing stockings and suspenders during a particularly deep bend. He had even speculated about the presence, or the absence, of pants as she bent down. It was a pleasant enough fancy, but he had never gone further than that, even in the short but bleak period between the disappearance of Beth and the advent of Harriet.

Even now Valerie seemed undaunted by his lack of response. During the present dry spell he had been granted several glimpses down her cleavage as she bent over his desk to hand him a document, taking, as with the stooping, more time than was called for. She would make someone a compliant girlfriend or wife, if she didn’t turn off the taps after the relationship became more stable, as so often happened. Too bad, he thought, that such invitations and opportunities hadn’t come to him sooner. Now he was effectively immune to them. Vaccinated against the more conventional liaisons by the stronger medicine of the two women who were even now working out their, and his, future. He didn’t think of being faithful to either of them. He knew rather that he had found his niche in their bizarre games, and that nothing less would satisfy.

When the recall finally reached him, it was in the form of a note from Harriet. It said nothing about what may have passed between her and Beth – only that he was to present himself at Harriet’s place on the coming Friday after leaving work. It was a typical Harriet touch: she liked the slight air of combined mystery and menace such terse notes engendered, and suggested that it was she (and not Beth) who was giving the orders. Tom had never considered that she would give way to Beth. It had always been up to Harriet to work things out. Apparently she had, and he was now to see what form the resolution had taken.

There was no one at Harriet’s when he arrived. Tom was beginning to recognise this as another of her ploys. She was putting him on his honour to do whatever she had told him to do, and not to snoop into things that were not his business, in her absence. Of course her trust was backed up by the threat of her displeasure should he fail to do her bidding but he had to have a talk with Beth, and would have to risk Harriet’s wrath to do it. Tom hurried down to the cellar, but it was empty. Quickly he searched the rest of the house, listening for the sound of footsteps outside. There was no one in the house, though he caught the lingering traces of Harriet’s perfume as he looked into her room. Disappointed and oddly relieved, Tom went back downstairs into the safe part of the house.

And then he found the note in the kitchen that would have made his furtive movements unnecessary. It was lying next to his chains on the work top. Like the other note which had summoned him here, this one was cryptic – pure Harriet:
Back later. Watch the tape in the video player. It should be interesting
.

She didn’t need to tell him what to do with the handcuffs and leg irons. Their proximity to the note made directions unnecessary. Tom went into the front room with the manacles. He switched the TV and video on and took his clothes off. He locked the leg-irons around his ankles and sat down on the settee. With some awkwardness he locked his hands behind his back, then settled back to watch the tape.

As he had expected, it was a home video of the same type he and Harriet had made with Katrina. Only this time Beth was the subject of it. As usual, Harriet took the active role. From the camera angles Tom knew that the camera had not been simply set on a tripod. It was being operated by a third party who never appeared in shot. He wondered who it was but knew he’d never ask Harriet.

She appeared briefly, facing the camera and speaking to the viewer. She wore her number one dominatrix outfit and in the background Beth appeared. She was not in focus, but Tom could see that she was spread-eagled against the wall behind the raised dais at the back of the room. Harriet said, ‘Welcome to Harriet country. If one picture is worth a thousand words, I hope you will enjoy the book you’re about to see. Sit back, take firm hold of your partner, or yourself if you’re flying solo, and explore the ins and outs of B&D.’ Tom knew now why she had directed him to put the handcuffs on. Harriet made a sweeping gesture with her arm to indicate Beth, and the camera zoomed in on her. Beth was nude – the approved uniform for erotic bondage – and was doing her impression of a starfish, her wrists and ankles tied to rings set into the brickwork.

The camera traced the rope from Beth’s wrist to the ring in the wall, with a close up shot showing the rope biting into the flesh and holding her tautly up-right. She smiled apprehensively.

Harriet came into shot, moving towards Beth but with her back to the camera. She inspected the ropes holding Beth against the wall, and the camera followed her. Beth was standing with her weight on her feet, but her arms and legs were stretched tautly apart. Her nipples were erect, stiff with anticipation. Tom reminded himself that she had always seemed happiest when most helpless. She was breathing shallowly, her breasts rising and falling rapidly. The camera focused on them, then moved down her body until her flat stomach and rounded sex were revealed. Tom had forgotten the difference in the shade of her pubic hair. It was lighter than her more public hair.

Harriet’s hand came into view, moving toward Beth’s crotch. With her finger she stroked the pubic hair and slid her finger inside the open sex. Beth jumped at the touch, and drew her breath in sharply. The camera zoomed out until Tom could see her face. Beth’s eyes were closed and her mouth was open. Clearly she was enjoying Harriet’s exploration. Harriet withdrew her finger. It glistened wetly in the bright artificial light. Beth gave a little whimper of dismay and tried to thrust herself back into range.

Harriet withdrew still further but murmured, ‘Be patient. I’ll be right back.’ There was no other sound but Beth’s rapid and ragged breathing. In a moment Harriet was back, this time reaching for Beth’s heaving breasts. She daubed rouge on the erect nipples, causing Beth to catch her breath sharply again. ‘Gilding the lily,’ Harriet remarked to no one in particular. Beth moaned softly in pleasure as Harriet began to fondle her breasts, teasing the nipples until they stood out red and swollen. Beth’s hips were making slow circles and little thrusts as if she were seeking for something to rub her sex against.

Harriet supplied the something: with her hand she covered Beth’s mons veneris and began to massage it gently, up and down and then round and round. Beth strained against the hand, moving as far as the ropes allowed and making small, satisfied sounds. Suddenly Harriet darted a finger into her sex and Beth sighed deeply. With her other hand Harriet continued to tease Beth’s nipples. Between the thrusting and the massage and the teasing Beth became gradually more aroused. Before long she was frantic, jerking against the ropes and moaning deeply in her throat, as she came.

When the shudders stopped Beth opened her eyes and looked at Harriet. She smiled languorously, and Tom was reminded of a cat being stroked; the only thing missing was the purr. Harriet paid no attention. She continued her two-handed massage of her victim and Beth looked startled, as if she had expected things to stop. She relaxed quickly then she saw that there was going to be an encore. Her eyes closed and she leaned against Harriet’s hands, offering herself again to the pleasure. Tom recognised the moment when his erstwhile lover surrendered again to his Mistress. Her muscles became taut as the next orgasm washed through her. She shuddered and jerked against the ropes, crying out as the spasms took her. When she was done this time her knees sagged and she hung from her wrists.

Harriet moved back and the camera panned over Beth as she sagged in her bonds. Sweat glistened on her body and her long red hair – the first thing that had attracted Tom – lay damply across her half-averted face. Small shudders like the aftershocks of an earthquake rippled through her body. Her rouged nipples softened. The scene faded to dark and Tom sat on the settee at the back end of an erection he couldn’t do anything about. He hadn’t realised how much the return of Beth had affected him, or maybe it was only the scene he had just witnessed. Or both. In any case, there was a tautness in his belly and the unmistakable approval from slightly further down. Harriet had doubtless foreseen this.

But there was more on the tape. When the TV screen came to life again Tom realised that during much of the time he had been howling in outer darkness, Harriet and Beth had been making this tape. Like the one he and Harriet had made of Katrina, this one had probably been edited. She and Beth were working things out, Harriet would have said, though there didn’t seem to be much talk involved, unless the talking was all in the action captured on tape. Harriet had called the tape a book.

Beth was once more tied against the wall. Perhaps she had never been untied as there was no way to tell how much time had passed between the first scene and this one. Tom recalled that Beth had wanted him to leave her tied up over the weekend; maybe this was more of the same. Harriet, however, was dressed differently. In fact not dressed at all unless one counted the leather harness she wore. A rather large dildo stood out in front, and Beth was gazing fixedly at it. As it was aimed in her direction, there was no doubt about who it was intended for. This was another experience for Tom. He had read of women using dildoes on one another, but never thought he’d ever see it.

As she had done earlier, Harriet began by teasing Beth’s nipples until they stood out stiffly and she began to breathe rapidly. But instead of going directly on to her open sex, Harriet drew back and out of view. Beth groaned in dismay and Harriet smiled. Evidently she was enjoying the sport. Tom thought back to the case of blue balls to which Harriet had treated him at their first encounter. This was the female equivalent, with Beth in the role of victim. Tom settled back to watch, not that there was much else he could do.