F Campbell - Golden Wrists

My chance came sooner than I dreamed.

Everything was wonderful! The Wharf imposed it’s magic and our master was in rare form as a host. I think even Margo forgot her resolve beneath his charm, the music, and food, and the subdued excitement forever seething beneath the surface of such ultra expensive restaurants. But when she went to the restroom and failed to return. Hugo shrugged without concern and sent me in search. I was still his slave until midnight and did as I was told.

Margo was killing time in front of the big mirror. I sensed relief in her greeting. Clinging to me, she implored, “Oh, Diane, darling, tell me what to do. I got all ready to slip out the back way and go home when all of a sudden I wasn’t sure I wanted to. Am I going crazy?”

Hugo had given me handcuffs, the ones I loved. I took them now and possessing Margo’s right wrist, clasp first one cuff and then the other snugly tight upon her skin while she watched without a single peep. When she stood looking at the shinning metal she could not escape, she accused, “You want me to go back to Hugo, don’t you? Do you really thing it’s what I ought to do? Diane, I’m lost!”

I led her back to our table without saying a single word. To Hugo I remarked carelessly, “These are my handcuffs on her wrists, please don’t forget.”

At the end of a long evening we returned home happily to our chains. It is said girls are crazy.

As always, my office was a vast relief, and I determined to have a showdown with Hugo including a bold request to be released from my promise. Hugo now possessed another girl who was probably capable of far more amusing reactions than I, and he would lose nothing but a sulky girl who could serve him better as a lawyer than a slave. I was determined to do this in a friendly manner, if possible, but to do it anyway I had to. Margo served the dual purpose of taking my place and salving my conscious. I went to work with vigor and the vision of a fresh start all around.

In the afternoon it happened! Andrew Everleigh did not bother to knock but walked in and took the client’s chair with a casual assurance which told me I was in for trouble. He smiled in greeting and went straight to the point.

“Miss Durrant, you’re making a nuisance of yourself.”

My heart was thudding painfully. Visions of chains and dungeons were vivid in my mind. I could feel the force and power of this man. His attitude was calm and benign but there was strength and authority underneath the smile. With a levity I did not feel, I shot back at him, “Lawyers are supposed to make themselves a nuisance. Mr. Everleigh. Especially when their efforts for an out of court settlement are ignored.”

Uncle Andrew cocked an amused eye; after all I was only a female who had been a slave who, when given authority, had scorned it and took flight. I wondered if I was on the verge of being kidnapped once again.

“You’re a good girl and not a bad lawyer,” he ventured. “Constance and Betty both like you, and Elizabeth Lord phones my secretary every day, hoping you’ll return. You’re in demand.”

He was up to something and I had the feeling I’d find out what very soon. Striving for composure, I asked, “Did Elizabeth return to her husband or have you got her in a dungeon?”

“She’s back home and thinks she’s won the toss.” Uncle Andrew chuckled. “Her old man has a few things up his sleeve for her she doesn’t know about. So have I. Your beloved Elizabeth is marking time until your return,” He gave me his familiar searching glance. “How about this afternoon?”

Fear clutched at me like a live thing. I cursed myself for a fool to ever believe Everleigh had forgotten me, or would let go of his hold. I hardened my voice and tried to keep the trembling out of it. “I’m through will all that, Mr. Everleigh. You can’t walk in here, like that and whisk me away. The only business you and I have is Hugo Markham’s claim.”

“Damn it, girl, I like you! I’d describe you as a mixture of the stuffily erotic, mothballs in one hand and a horse whip in the other. Will you come quietly or do I have to take steps?”

“I’ve no intention of going anywhere with you, Mr. Everleigh. Now, about the claim...?”

Uncle Andrew was never dull. What he took from his pocket now widened my eyes - a pair of golden handcuffs. “Left wrist, Diane.” he said calmly, “Stick it out.” Even as I obeyed I knew myself a fool but there was something hypnotic in Uncle Andrew’s eyes and his billions were an invisible presence, like a ghostly army of armed men. “Had these made expressly for you, Diane. Nicely feminine but fully functional. You’ll enjoy the way they feel.” Carefully he fitted a golden jaw around my wrist.”

Everleigh was right. The jaw closed with almost soundless clicks to invade me with sensations. The metal was smooth as silk and fitted my wrist to a perfection ordinary handcuffs never achieved. They were warm from Uncle Andrew’s pocket, and when the second cuff followed the first, a sensual glow possessed my being. Striving hard to remain a lawyer unaware of heat within her loins. I icily inquired. “Aren’t you being childish, Mr. Everleigh?” I got no answer. Sarcasms ran off Uncle Andrew like water off a duck’s back. I was aware of disadvantage and retrieved my gold-encircled wrist.

“It’s not pure gold, you understand,” Everleigh apologized.

“There’s special steel beneath that pretty surface. Gold is a rather soft metal and we can’t have you getting them off without permission. When you want to wear them properly, let me know.”

Aware of being played with. I nursed my gold and felt a fool. I tried not to think of wooden boxes equipped with straps such as I think I had made my last trip to Rockley in. “Surely you don’t expect me to walk around in public with those things on my wrists, do you?” I asked bluntly.

“You’re forgetting I have a private car and a private jet,” Everleigh said gently. “The people who will see you once those things are behind your back could care less.”

“Behind my back!”

“Certainly not in front, can’t have you making an unseemly fuss.”

Once more the fear. It would be so damnably easy. Andrew Everleigh’s vast wealth would capture me and make me a prisoner with an ease to make me shiver. But my tone was sulky, “You’ve just lost a pair of handcuffs, Mr. Everleigh. Unless you wish to take them off right now?” I offered my gold-encircled wrist.

“I’ve got a place in the Bahamas where I intend to keep you prisoner, Diane, my dear.” Uncle Andrew was patient. “I could take you back to Rockley but that’s a too familiar scene. What you’re going to find in the Caribbean is a return to the old days of slavery on the sugar plantations with the rolls reversed. It’s you who is going to be the slave and cut the cane.”

“You’re dreaming. But please don’t let me interrupt.” He was enjoying himself and continued his discourse in a cultured Scottish voice. “There’s everything there to revive the ancient days. Your jailer will be a mulatto and I’ll put Constance in residence to look after things between my visits. I’ll be regarding this as something of an experience so I’ll keep an eye on you. When I think you’re sufficiently abject. I’ll take you a step further.” He spared a truly warm smile. “The question is. Diane, do you come willing or do you insist I use force?”

“The whole thing is too ridiculous to consider.”

“I would like you to walk willingly into this new segment of your life clothed in nothing but those handcuffs. Even if I am long in the tooth. I still have an eye for a beautiful naked girl in chains. I know you understand.”