"My Lord Blackthorne. There is a Tearlag Mackintosh to see you. She says that she has an appointment," the butler announced.
Calum Blackthorne glanced up from the figures on his desk. "See her in, see her in, then close the door and don't return unless I ring for you."
"Yes sir, it shall be as you say."
He left and approximately 3 minutes later, the butler introduced Miss Mackintosh to Calum and Lord Blackthorne to Tearlag. He left, closing the door behind him.
Calum examined her while she stood holding her purse, hands crossed in front of her. Tearlag was what considered the poor gentry. Her family in Tobermory had made poor investments which resulted in near bankruptcy. Tearlag had made a couple marriages with substantially older men, whose deaths had benefitted her somewhat, but her present circumstances were still somewhat shabby by most accounts. She was 35, slim and still svelte, with red hair and green eyes, a quite modest 105 pounds in weight. She either had good skin with few wrinkles except some very fine ones around the eyes or she was adept at makeup. She attempted to enhance her physical attributes with a gown in a coral fabric with green insets, and somewhat daring, bright red stays that displayed more of her bosom than most women would consider polite. While the dress was well made, of good material, it was a fashion from a couple years previously.
During his frank examination of her, Tearlag became somewhat nervous and began fidgeting.
"Hold still!" Calum ordered.
She stopped fidgeting but remained clearly nervous of his intentions. The fact that the butler had left her alone with him was not particularly comforting either.
"What do you know about me, Miss Mackintosh?" Calum asked. "I don't want flattery, be honest, to the greatest extent you can."
What stood before her was a dangerous man, of that she was certain. He was in his early 40's, 5 foot, 8 inches, thick around the middle, 230 pounds, with gray eyes under thick black eyebrows like caterpillars, and steel gray hair. His mother had been Scottish but his father English. He was accounted as rich as Croesus and his pants and coat were a stylish black, with a red waistcoat. So he wanted honesty. That was tricky as it was rumored that bad things happened to the enemies of Calum Blackthorne. She did not want to make an enemy of him. So honest, but tactful was the approach she chose to take.
"You're rich, sir, with a lot of influence. People say that you're a dangerous enemy. You're single, never married, with one bastard child you have never acknowledged, although they say you might if you don't marry. I think you'd prefer a wife and a legal heir. They say that you drove most of the crofters off your land. I would say you're not particularly well liked, but I doubt you care one way or the other, sir."
"You are honest, and pretty close in your assessment. If you had said hated instead of not particularly well liked, it would have been closer to the truth, but that was nicely done."
"What would you like of me, sir? I'm at a loss as to my presence here."
"I have a proposition for you Miss Mackintosh. Would you like to hear it?" he asked.
"Most assuredly, sir."
"What is said and done in this room is to never leave it, do you understand?" he demanded.
"Aye, sir. I'll not breathe a word of it to anyone."
"That's good, because I am a dangerous man to make enemies with." He paused. "I am looking for a wife," he said. "One who has the proper attitude and is still able to bear children. Would I be correct in assuming that you're still able to have children?"
"Aye, sir, my previous husbands could nae perform particularly well, so I had nae children with them, but I can still have them." This interview was not at all what she expected, and going much better than she'd hoped.
"Excellent. That leaves just the attitude part to be determined. In exchange for your agreement and compliance with a request that I will make before this meeting is over, I will make you my wife. You must fulfill your part of the bargain before any marriage can take place. If you fail, or otherwise do not live up to your part in this bargain, that marriage will never take place, is that understood?"
"Aye, sir."
"Excellent!" he continued. "Now before I tell you what you must do to enable this marriage, I want you to strip."
"Sir?" she questioned.
"You heard me. I have some, shall we say, unusual predilections. They run to bondage and discipline, maybe even sadism. I like my women subservient to my sexual desires. I expect them to submit completely to these proclivities, allow themselves to be tied or chained, to yield themselves to the cane or strap, to serve me in all ways I may conceive of sexually. I will not buy a pig in a poke. If you cannot submit to my wishes, I need to know it now. If you cannot, I will find someone else to do this task, someone else to marry. So strip or leave. Just remember you may not speak of this to anyone," he reminded her.
So it came to this, she thought. God only knew that she would love to be Lady Blackthorne; to wear the latest fashions, to live in his fabulous Manor, to be waited upon hand and foot by countless servants. But he had a price, a pretty steep one at that. She had to decide now if she was going to live under the conditions that he imposed, or forever give up the idea of being Lady Blackthorne and return to her miserable, miserly existence as the Lady Mackintosh, living in her little more than a cottage with a peasant girl maid.
What I do for money, she thought sadly as she began to unlace her stays. She removed the stays, the dress, and finally her shift, standing uncomfortably before him in her shoes and stockings only.
He was pleased to note her pubic hair matched the hair on her head. "The rest of it as well," he ordered.
