Chapter 1

Music pulsed through the air. It seemed to vibrate amidst the crystals of the chandelier in the front hall and reverberate against the wall sconces as the man in black walked by them. He sighed and rolled his dark green eyes.

His skin was pale, made to look more so by the long, shiny locks of black hair that swirled around his wide shoulders. He stared around the ballroom and searched for one person. The room was crowded and the men seemed to draw back from him, while the women seemed drawn to him. They arched their backs and preened as his eyes rested on them.

He paid little attention to any of them. The heels of his motorcycle boots clicked loudly on the parquet floor, the reflection of his duster-covered form shining in the wide mirrors that surrounded the room. He was almost through the ballroom and had opened the terrace doors. There were more of the same strangely dressed people stomping through his intricately planted gardens.

"Celesta." He could feel the anger as it built inside of him and he spun to search across the sea of black clad, pale-faced strangers. He searched for a sleek blonde in red. She always wore red. She said it was her signature color, something that she wanted people to think of when they saw it. Another growl began in his gut when he finally saw her. She had her bare arm in the arm of a man who held the leash of a naked girl and tugged her along behind them.

He ignored the girl and the man and strode right up to Celesta. He grabbed her arm and stopped her progress through the room. "What have I told you, Celesta?"

Her brown eyes, eyes that had been warm with laughter at the man she captivated, grew hard and cold. "You can't expect me to stay here for hours and hours without something to do, Chal. I can't just twiddle my fingers and wait for you to remember I'm here."

There was a distinct whine in her voice, despite the hardness in her eyes. She glared up at him and waited for him to back down as he had so many times before.

"Then I think it is time for us to part ways, Celesta." His voice was just as cold. "I shall settle an account for you, a substantial amount until you can find another man." He turned away though he turned back only once. He saw the triumph in her eyes, a fleeting impression that disappeared quickly. "Get them out!"

The man who had courted Celesta tugged on the leash of the girl. Chal felt a spurt of fury and he reached out to grab the man by the collar and lifted him off his feet. He glared at the man. "How do you like it?" Then he grabbed the leash and then dropped the man on his ass. It was a spur of the moment decision, one that he knew was the right thing to do. "Everybody! OUT!!"

The exodus was quick. The word spread even more quickly to the people in the garden. Chal heard the sound of his expensive planters being broken into shards of pottery. He didn't want to even know what the plants in those planters would look like. He made a mental note to call his gardener. It would be worth his time and money to have Celesta out of his life and out of his home.

"Wait, Chal!"

He heard her but he didn't care to hear what she had to say. Celesta had been with him long enough to know that when he made up his mind, he wasn't going to change it and there wasn't a thing she could do or say to change that.

"Chal! I'm not Selena. I can't wait for you to share a piece of yourself, which you never do..." She grabbed hold of his arm and stopped him in mid stride. "Chal, talk to me. Don't you know how I feel about you?"

Chal stared down at her hand and forced her to remove it from his arm with just a look. "I know how you feel about my money and about what I can do for you in bed. I don't need either anymore." He didn't raise his voice and the softness of his tone sounded even more threatening than if he had yelled at her.

"I'll tell!" She was desperate and grew more so as he began to walk away from her again.

He stopped so quickly that the girl ran into his back. Her exclamation of surprise was drowned out by the sound of his leather duster. It snapped as he turned. He stared down into her face and saw her pretty blue eyes grow wide and she flinched back. "I won't hurt you. But you are completely another matter, Celesta. You know what will happen if you do and you also know that I am not afraid of any consequences. Do not threaten me. I will give you half an hour to pack your bags. Rodney and Giselle will be watching you as you do, then Rodney will take you into town and pay for a motel for you to stay in."

Celesta's face was pale and tears streamed from her eyes. Mascara ran right along with it and fear was rampant, making her pant. She gulped unsteadily, but then regained her composure. "So what ... you're going to fuck her instead of me? What do you think she'll say when she finds out what you are?"

"I think that compared to what your boyfriend was doing to her, she'll probably figure she traded up, where, if you run to him, you're definitely diving into the shallower end of the gene pool." He smirked, a sly twist of his lush lower lip. "Thirty minutes, Celesta. Anything you forget, I'll give to a home for abused women. Now get out!"

Celesta sagged against the man who once held the leash. "Who are you to threaten her?" His bellow echoed against the massive stone walls.

Celesta gasped. "No, Donnie, don't provoke him."

Donnie hugged her. "Shush little one. You have no right to speak to her in such a manner." He poked his index finger into Chal's chest to emphasize his words. "She is a lady. Show some respect."

Chal grabbed his fist and twisted it easily until the man screamed with the pain. He stared at him, at his face contorted in pain and felt absolutely nothing. "If you think she is such a lady, take her with you. She'll prove you wrong, but I'm more than happy for you to take the bitch." The wrist snapped in his grip and he pushed Donnie away and then sent Celesta backwards when she came at him with nails bared. "Twenty minutes, Celesta. You might want to save your energy to get your shit together." Chal wrapped his arm around the naked girl's waist and urged her to walk with him.

He didn't stop again and ignored Celesta's crying and Donnie's empty threats of legal actions that would be filed against Chal. Instead, he walked to the big curved stairway and slowly mounted the oak risers. His boots sounded loud on the stairs but the girl just padded along beside him, her bare feet silent. He hesitated for just a moment at the top and glanced down the hall toward his master bedroom. Celesta would be headed there for the things he'd allowed her to bring into his room. He wasn't in any mood to deal with any more of her tantrums. Instead he turned the other way and pulled the girl into a room bigger than a normal bedroom.

This room held shelf upon shelf of beautifully bound books. A fire stirred lazily in the fireplace and a tray sat upon the wide desk. It held both a crystal decanter of his favorite whisky and a small pot of chocolate, left to stay warm on the tiny flame of a candle. Chal shook his head. Rodney was amazing. The man seemed psychic but he refused to tell Chal if he held some kind of supernatural power. He'd learned not to ask, just to enjoy having what he wanted before he wanted it.

He turned to the girl and saw that she still stood in the doorway, her head bowed. Her hands were cuffed, chained to the collar at her neck. He walked toward her and picked up the warm scarlet robe that Rodney had left for her. The girl flinched then forced herself to not stir as Chal reached up to release her wrists. A small gold lock held the collar to her throat and he twisted it. It broke easily under his powerful grip. When it was open and the collar fell to the ground, the girl glanced up at him than quickly bowed her head again when he went to touch her.

"I'm not going to hurt you." He spoke softly, his tone that of a man that faced an injured wild animal. It was soft and calm and it soothed her. He could see her relax her taut muscles. He stroked his hand through the short length of her silky curls. They were as black as his and the curls twined around his fingers. "Are you cold?"

"Y-yes."

Chal smiled at the sound of her voice. "What's your name?"

She quickly thrust her arms into the warmth of the heavy robe, but she hesitated when she reached for the tie. "May I sir?"

"Yes." He sighed. She didn't trust him. She acted like that wild animal. She was easy to spook and untrusting of anything he might do for her. "I'm not like him, you don't need to ask me for anything. Please, tell me your name?"

"What would you like it to be, sir?" Her slender hands moved over the soft material of the robe and a small smile touched her lips but disappeared when she realized that he watched her.

Chal took her hand and tugged her over to the long sofa. It was plush leather and very comfortable. He'd spent some of his daytime hours on that sofa, a book in his hands. She sank down onto it and then ran her hand over the soft leather. "I'd like to know the name that was given to you at birth."

The girl chewed on her lower lip and snuck quick glances his way. "My name is ... Bliss"

"That's a pretty name. Bliss do you have family close by?" Chal spoke her name slowly and watched as her eyes dropped. She began to shake and her face grew even paler. "No one is going to hurt you here, Bliss I promise that."

Bliss swallowed hard and she clasped her hands together to stop their shaking. "My ... My f-father sold me to t-that man. He brought m-me from o-overseas."

"Your father sold you?" It wasn't the first time he'd heard of something like that but it still angered him. Bliss was a tiny thing and her head reached barely to his shoulder. He knew she was slender but with curves that definitely spoke of being a woman. He saw the tear that slipped down her cheek and reached out to catch it on his thumb. "I won't send you back, Bliss. You could stay here, with me, if you'd like."