Owning Arabella
By Shirl Anders

Full Page Excerpt from "Owning Arabella" 
(reviews below)

     Darth’s hand snaked forward grabbing the edge of the linen between Arabella’s breasts. “I told you not to step back again,” he uttered, pulling Arabella and the linen closer. Darth realized that he had to prove his dominance early on if he hoped to mold Arabella. And, he did. With each moment he was close to her like this, he found himself more determined, if not crazed
     “You are afraid of me?” he asked flatly looking down at her.
     Arabella jerked her gaze away from Darth’s impaling gray eyes. “Of you. Not your scar.” Arabella wondered feverishly why she had thought to clarify it. Perhaps, it was some inner self preservation which read Darth’s diabolical intent and sought to soften the blow upon herself.
     Darth was staggered at Arabella’s response. It was true that she was afraid, he could see it. He expected it. However, she did not seem in anyway appalled by his visage, and that excited him.“That is proper, Arabella. It is just the way I would have it in fact.” Darth pulled Arabella closer still, taking her chin firmly in his wide hand, pressing upward, until she had no choice but to look at him. “Are you a virgin, Arabella?”
     Arabella’s eyes widened at the implication as trembling fear coursed her belly and both of Darth’s hands tighten around what they were holding, as if anticipating her flight. She would not tell him! If he intended rape, well then, he would have to live with the consequences. Because it would be rape. She would fight him with all her power, so he knew it for what it was. Sweet Mary, she had no hope, winning against his strength, if that were his intentions, and why else would he ask her this if not?
     “I cannot abide stubbornness from my property, Arabella. Tell me at once or I will be forced to punish you!”
     Arabella was petrified, yet she would not let Darth see that as she stared up at him defiantly. “Rape me if you will, you beast!”
     Oh my God, why had she said that! Darth flinched. Arabella knew her last word had hit its mark, and she was surprised that she did not feel more satisfaction at hurting him as he was intent on ravishing her.
     Darth pulled once forcefully with the hand that held the edge of the bed linen, ripping it away without warning. Arabella was so stunned, she did not even scream as he grabbed up both of her wrists and placed them together in one of his broad hands. Clamping his fingers around them tightly, he began to pull her along behind him. “Rape, Arabella. There will never be rape between us. You will be willing, I can assure you!”
     Darth pulled her to a dresser, where he opened a drawer and rifled through its contents with his free hand. Arabella finally found her wits and thought to escape him, twisting her wrists and panting with the effort, until he squeezed his hand closed even more. He was strong as seen in his powerful body stretched tautly beneath the silk of his white shirt.
     She yanked again, screeching, “Let me go!” But, he did not budge. He was like a sturdy oak tree, immovable to her smaller frame and she saw in alarm the two belts he pulled from his drawer. One was a two-inch leather strap and the other was a much thinner trouser tie.
     Punishment! Darth had said punishment! Arabella squealed again, but it did her no good as Darth hauled her to one of the bedposts, at the end of the huge four post bed. There he lifted her wrists high over her head as she wiggled and fought his hold. But he took the thinnest belt and wrapped both of her wrists, pulling them higher to bind the belt around the bedpost securely. Bringing even her heels off the ground. She was hung helplessly naked and heaving from her exertion of trying to escape him.
     “God, you are beautiful,” he uttered, swiping a broad hand across his scarred mouth as if he had not meant to say it.
     He was standing to the side of her, with one of his hands hung down at his side and the wide leather strap dangling to the floor. Arabella clenched her eyes and tensed in terrified anticipation of the lash she knew was coming. Flinching when Darth moved, only no sudden pain came across her back. Instead, she heard the soft whoosh of the feather mattress. Then she dared to open her eyes to see Darth stretched out like a great feline cat crossways on the corner of the bed. His penetrating gray eyes were gazing up at her. She had never felt more exposed in her life, stripped naked, and helpless before a man.
     “I hate you!” she cried, not knowing what else to say or to do as Darth lay there, and then he smiled slowly. Arabella’s heart caught unreasonably, for she would never think this brute, this bully, who was so utterly male, could be attractive in his own way. But she did! And that nearly frightened her more than being at his mercy. She could not help it with him looking at her so. Darth’s eyes were leisurely sweeping down the length of her completely nude body, and there was obvious appreciation in their gray depths.
     Suddenly, Arabella felt an unexpected heat flush her body, drawing her nipples upward into tight swollen marbles. Oh heavens! Did this man not abuse her, take her clothes, tie her up, and promise to-to whip her? She was so confused as she wiggled beneath Darth’s gaze, feeling suddenly breathless.
     “What are you going to do to me?” She could stand it no longer.
     “Are you a virgin?”
     Arabella clamped her mouth shut defiantly.
     “You are stubborn, little dove.”
     Darth brought the strap upward and flicked it around behind Arabella, catching the other end with his hand as he lay on his side. Both of his hands now held an end of the strap, as the strap itself settled across the under curve of Arabella’s plushly ripe bare buttocks. Arabella gasped twisting against the soft leather corralling her sumptuous ass and Darth sawed the leather back and forth. Arabella tried to arc away from the insidious leather, and the movement thrust the firm globes of her breasts upward, exploiting the fevered peach colored thrust of her nipple buds. They were swollen tiny cherries that were fat and quivering.
     “How does it feel, Arabella?” Darth sawed the strap across Arabella’s ass again, watching her breath catch in a hard pant as her nude body trembled. “It is hard to believe that a strap like this, which can dispense such a nasty sting, could be so soft.” Darth’s eyelids grew heavy-lidded, holding Arabella’s gaze as if it too was bound to the bedpost. She shivered in fright, before him. “Do you want me to strike this against your sweet little ass?” he murmured. “It will hurt, little dove.”
     Darth allowed Arabella no answer as he loosened the belt, and then he snapped it forward again between his hands. The strap snapped across Arabella’s tender buttocks – POP– making her yelp in surprise. Her young body writhed then, but he had her captured.
     “I will never tell you!” she cried.
     The thought of it provoked Darth beyond temporary reason and he came up on his knees before Arabella, while still holding the belt around her wiggling ass. Then, he lifted her up to him, with the belt as a cradle beneath her bare buttocks. She had no choice but to separate her thighs, until he had her hot cunt riding the outline of his hard cock, like an ardent tease. The impossible position, with her arms above her head, pushed her firm breasts into the wall of his chest.
     Savagely, Darth bit back his groan of pleasure as Arabella’s head fell back weakly. She was helpless and exposed as he rode her sweet cunt up and down over the impression of his stiff cock. He was merciless on himself and on her. It had been too long for him, there was no way in heaven or hell he could stop. Ten years without a woman and even then he had never done anything so lecherous.
     Arabella would never stand a chance against his lust. Her long hair swung around her naked ass as he humped her mercilessly. Suddenly she moaned, a woman’s aroused sound, and he nearly roared with elation. He was affecting her, in spite of herself.
     “Tell me,” he uttered hoarsely as she whimpered with pleading aroused sounds. “Tell me if you have ever felt this before, Arabella?” he continued relentlessly. “Have you been this near to a man’s hard cock before, little dove? ”
     “Please,” she cried, and Darth felt the liquid heat of her wetting him.


              

Erotic Ebook Reviews

Fallen Angel Reviewer, Jean says:

Eighteen-year-old Arabella Ormonde is roughly roused out of her bed by her cruel stepfather, Victor Crom, and told that she is to be used as security on his bet in a game of cards. Crom has forged a set of ownership papers stating that she is his bond-maid – his to do with as he pleases. Arabella agrees, but only because Crom is holding a knife to her 10-year-old brother’s throat. Crom forces her to accompany him downstairs, clad only in her nightgown, to meet Darth, Lord Peregrine, the man against whom he is betting. When the cards are revealed, Peregrine has won, and is given Arabella’s false papers confirming that she is a bond-maid.

Peregrine is a man who is feared by most of the people who see him. He is disfigured by a sword cut across his face, which makes most women faint at the sight of him. While he is not a libertine, nor generally a cruel man, he is sorely tempted by Arabella’s beauty and innocence. In an unthinking moment, he accepts the “ownership” of the woman. Will the gentleness and essential goodness radiated by Arabella soothe Peregrine’s sore heart?

This is a story of how a man who is tormented by his past can be saved by the love of a good woman. I found the character of Peregrine to be the most interesting. Initially, he is shown as a man who has no love in his life. This allows the character to grow and develop until, by the end of the story, we see him become the honorable man he is capable of being. In contrast, the character of Arabella was less complex and, therefore, less colorful than Peregrine. The plot was handled well, and the pace of the story was fairly even throughout. This is an erotic Regency novella, so there are several very explicit sex scenes between a male/female couple. While she tames Peregrine, Arabella is introduced to the pleasures of the body in many different ways. I recommend this book to fans of the Regency genre who like a spice in their reading material.

Reviewed by: Jean Fallen Angels Review