Read Online Sweet Bondage by Dorothy Vernon - Free Book Online

we’re not completely cut off. We do have contact—by boat, remember? Angus will bring a regular supply of fresh produce plus, of course, things like newspapers.’
    â€˜Mm—that’s what I was getting at—newspapers. Do you agree that Clifford Channing wouldn’t take his daughter’s disappearance lying down? If she was missing it would be reported in the newspapers, right?’
    His eyes narrowed and he adopted a tone of chilling tolerance as he said, ‘I’ll go along with that.’
    He was talking down to her, pandering to her as he would a child. He was doing this quite deliberately to humiliate her, and she wondered if anyone had ever been able to disrupt his impregnable calm. She could have taken it better if he’d blown his top with her rather than spoken condescendingly to her.
    â€˜And when it isn’t . . . ?’ She refused to be incited to anger, although it took all the composure she could muster to match his control. ‘When there’s not one word about her disappearance in the newspapers, then will you believe that I’m not Glenda Channing?’
    One black eyebrow lifted derisively. ‘I would certainly have grounds for a serious re-think, but that possibility is hardly likely to arise. You are Glenda Channing and your name will be blazoned across the front page of every newspaper to prove it. The press will have a ball.’
    How could he be so positive? So calm in his disbelief? If only she could shake him out of his righteous complacency, rouse him to anger—anything but this glacial smoothness that set her teeth on edge.
    â€˜You won’t even admit that you just conceivably might be wrong.’ Despite her good intentions she was biting back frustration and temper.
    â€˜Isn’t this conversation rather a waste of time?’ he drawled, evincing lazy boredom.
    â€˜Obviously. Because you’re like those mountains out there; you never melt. You can’t see the truth when it’s staring you in the face. But that’s not important anymore. It doesn’t matter who you think I am. I demand that you come out of the Dark Ages, stop this petty vengeance, and take me home. Hasn’t it occurred to you that someone might be worrying about me?’
    The sardonic twist of his mouth summed up his grim satisfaction in being able to agree with her. ‘I should imagine that your parents will be extremely worried. Your father, in particular, will be tearing his hair out by the roots because his carefully laid plans have gone awry. Please forgive me, but as his influence over you is partly to blame for my having to bring you here, I can’t feel too much regret about that.’
    â€˜I forgive you nothing!’ she spat at him. ‘You can’t feel regret because you’re incapable of human emotion. You’re inhuman and bigoted. I’ve never met anyone like you and I hate you for what you’re doing to me. I know I’ve got a temper, but for the most part I manage to keep it under control. But you goad me with that look of yours. I must have reacted the first time you looked at me like that and so you know just what to do to get at me. Just be careful you don’t give me such a weapon, because if you do I’ll turn it on you. I’ll . . .’ The threat died on her lips, swallowed in a gasp of dismay, because she could not envisage a time when she would have the upper hand. No one, man, woman, child or beast, would ever get the better of him.
    She achieved something. The ‘look’ left his eyes to be replaced by concern.
    â€˜You’re getting distraught. It can’t be good for you.’
    â€˜Getting?’
she questioned with rising hysteria. ‘I am distraught. The only tiny bit of comfort I can find in the whole of this stupid situation is that my parents won’t be worried. They died over two years ago, so at least they’re spared that heartache. But there