Slaves of the Circle T

Chapter One On the day that Cassiopeia Martin, always known as Cassie, walked into the bedroom of the apartment she shared with her lover and found him naked in bed with her best friend, she didn’t shout or make a scene, but simply turned on her heel and walked out of the room, and out of his life, forever. She immediately cancelled her monthly standing order for her half of the rent, withdrew her money from their joint account, resigned from her job and began to prepare and provision her much-loved yacht for a long sea voyage. Less than a week later, she sailed out of Sydney harbour and turned to the North, her eyes misty with tears she refused to shed as she left behind the man who had betrayed her and the girl she had believed was her dearest friend. She had no real idea where she was going or what she would do with the rest of her life, but she knew she had to leave for her own well being and self-respect, for to stay would mean living with the humiliation and unbearable sympathy of acquaintances and colleagues and that, she could not do. Six weeks later and 2000 miles North. Luxuriating in the warm, semi-tropical waters of the shallow lagoon where she had anchored her small yacht, Cassie swam lazily through the clear blue water that supported her naked body, breathing easily through the snorkel attached to her face-mask as she watched the small brightly coloured fish twisting and turning beneath her. Her first inkling that she was no longer alone in the deserted bay came as she stood up in the shallows, water trickling in rivulets down her full, round breasts, across her flat belly and down her long, smoothly muscled legs. She looked up in alarm as a horse whinnied and found herself being watched by two riders, each dressed in faded khaki shirts and shorts, wide brimmed hats shading their faces and carrying long rifles strapped across their backs. For an instant, she was too surprised to speak, but then as one of the men touched his hat in a sketchy salute and drawled, “G’day, miss,” she remembered that she had no bathing costume and hastily tried to cover her nudity with her hands. “Oh, don’t mind us, miss,” the man smiled, “Sorry if we frightened you, but this bay is private. In fact, all this is private, for about a hundred and fifty miles in every direction. It all belongs to the Circle T ranch,” he waved casually at her yacht, lying peacefully at anchor in the bay, “You must have sailed up here in that, I guess?” “What? Oh, yes, that’s right. I’m sorry, I didn’t know this was private,” Cassie replied, blushing and acutely conscious of the men’s eyes on her body, “Will it be all right if I stay for tonight? I won’t cause any damage or anything. My name is Cassie Martin and I’m on my way to Japan, but the winds drove me miles off course and it was just so hot today that I really wanted a swim to cool me down a bit.” “Yeah, I reckon that would be all right, miss. What about the rest of your crew, though? Aren’t they hot, too?” “No, I sail by myself,” Cassie blurted out the truth without thinking, then was immediately angry with herself for letting slip that she was alone. A girl sailing alone in remote areas couldn’t be too careful and here she was, telling two total strangers that she didn’t have a crew. She tried to cover up her mistake, “Well, I’d best be getting back,” she said quickly, “Nice to see you, guys. ‘Bye now,” and she turned to wade back into deeper water. The two riders urged their horses forward and as Cassie whirled to face them, she stumbled and fell backwards, sprawled in the shallows. By the time she regained her feet, both horses were between her and her boat and as she stared up at the men towering over her in the saddles, she felt a chill of unease race up her naked spine. “Wh..What are you doing?” she tried to keep her words calm and level, but heard the quaver in her voice, “I’ve got to get b..back to my b..boat.” “You must be a real good sailor to come all the way up here on your own,” the second man observed, “But even experts go missing up here sometimes. Especially when it’s rough.” “Yeah, that’s right. And it was really rough a couple of days ago. It wouldn’t surprise me if a girl sailing on her own hadn’t got herself into trouble. Maybe even fell overboard and drowned.” Cassie gasped, then took a deep breath, “Now, look,” she said sharply, “I don’t know what you’re getting at, but whatever it is, I wish you’d cut it out. I’m perfectly all right and I’m in no trouble at all. So move out of my way, if you don’t mind.” “But we do mind,” the second man retorted flatly and the first chuckled, “Yeah, right. And if you think you’re not in trouble, honey, you just don’t know what trouble is.” As he spoke, he reached down and took a lasso from his saddle, forming a loop in the rope with the ease that told of long expertise and smiled down at Cassie. She stared from the rope to his grinning face and back again and her eyes widened with fear, “Now, wait a minute,” she began. “Just what the Hell do you think you’re doing?” But then her nerve broke and she lunged to her left in an effort to get past the horse between her and her yacht. The water, up to the middle of her thighs, impeded and slowed her and the second horseman easily cut off her escape attempt, forcing her to a halt. He laughed quietly, “Can’t get away that easily, baby,” he told her. “Maybe you’d be better off on the beach,” and he urged his horse towards her, shepherding her back towards the broad expanse of white sand fringing the lagoon, uncoiling his lasso as he went. The other man joined in, ensuring that she couldn’t dodge away from his companion and despite her efforts, Cassie was herded out of the water. Once on the beach, she took to her heels and raced along the flat sand, her breasts bouncing and thighs pumping as she fled from the two horseman, her breath coming in lung-stretching gulps and her eyes searching desperately for somewhere to hide. With a thunder of hooves, a horse galloped past her and she swerved to her left, away from the sea, then swerved again as the second horse loomed over her, its rider twirling a lasso above his head. As she turned away and ducked, the rope brushed against her shoulder and she heard an angry shout as she managed to evade the loop, but she had no time to enjoy her escape, for the other horse spun around and raced back towards her. From the corner of her eye, she saw her boat and made an instant, emotional decision, running straight for the water, knowing that if she could just get into deep water and swim to it, she would be safe. It was an understandable reaction, and it was wrong. Both horseman spurred after her, overhauling her in seconds and this time, their ropes did not miss. The first lasso floated down over her head and yanked tight around her waist and elbows, pinning her arms to her sides, while the second encircled her left ankle and pulled her from her feet. She crashed to the ground in a flurry of flying sand and the breath whooshed from her lungs in an explosive grunt. Winded and stunned, she gasped for air as the horsemen reined in and jumped from their saddles and hurried over to her, one removing his rope from her arms and crossing her wrists behind her back, while the other crossed her ankles and tied them tightly together, then forced her feet up to her buttocks and bound her wrists, her limbs linked together by a few inches of rope in a ruthless hogtie. The whole thing took less than twenty seconds and Cassie was helplessly bound before she had even recovered from her fall or had a chance to resist and as she fought for breath, her captors straightened and stared down triumphantly at their immobilised victim. “Not bad, Tom. We should have entered you in the steer-roping at the rodeo,” the shorter man joked and his companion laughed harshly. “No worries, Earl. She wasn’t nearly as tough as a steer and I reckon Mr Travis will pay us a bonus a whole lot bigger than the winner’s cheque at a rodeo when we take her back to the ranch.” “I reckon you’re right, but what about her boat? There’s bound to be an air search when she doesn’t turn up wherever she was headed.” “Let Mr Travis worry about that. He’s smart. He’ll work something out. He always does.” That’s true enough, Tom. OK, so what are we going to do with her then?” “What do you think? We aren’t due back for two more days and I haven’t been into town for over two months.” “Yeah. Me neither. She sure is pretty. A lot prettier than the women in town.” “Yeah. And nobody knows we’ve got her either.” Listening to the two men as she recovered, Cassie felt her blood run cold as she heard and understood exactly what they were thinking. Men like these spent their whole lives out on the plains, tending livestock and deprived of female companionship for months on end. Finding her in such a remote place must have seemed like a miracle, the answer to their prayers and Cassie knew that if she could not escape immediately, her fate was inevitable. Summoning up every ounce of her strength, she strained and wrenched at her pinioned limbs, fighting her bondage with an energy born of desperation, pitting muscles conditioned by pulling on sails and anchors against the ropes that held her, writhing and twisting on the sand at the feet of the two men as she struggled to break free. To no avail, for the knots on her limbs had been tied by an expert and in spite of her most determined efforts, they did not loosen by even a fraction and she finally had to give in. “Well, I’ll say one thing for you, honey,” Earl nodded in appreciation of her futile resistance. “You sure don’t give up easily.” “It hasn’t done her any good though, has it?” Tom said. “When I rope a steer, or a woman, she stays roped,” and his eyes glittered as he surveyed Cassie’s naked breasts and tautly stretched belly and thighs. She gulped, seeing the desire in his face and recognising that she was powerless to prevent him doing whatever he wanted to her. “Please?” she begged softly. “Let me go. I promise I won’t…won’t report you to the Police, or anything. Just untie me and I’ll go back to my boat and sail away. I won’t tell anybody what you’ve done, I promise,” she sought for something, anything, to persuade the men to free her and her face reddened as she added slowly, “If…If you w..want, I’ll even let you both h…have me.” Tom’s face hardened and he gave an evil chuckle, “Oh Hell, baby, we’re going to have you anyway. Then we’re going to take you back to the ranch and collect a nice fat bonus from Mr Travis. You aren’t going to be telling anybody anything or going anywhere. Not ever.” Cassie’s jaw drooped slackly as he answered her and she stared numbly at him, unable to believe that he could be serious, but as he smiled into her shocked eyes and added, “It’s going to be real nice to have you around when we come back from work. Real nice,” she realised that he meant every dreadful word. “No.” she screamed. “No. You can’t do that to me. Let me go. Let me go right now. I won’t go with you, I won’t, I won’t.” Her screams rang along the beach, but there was no one to hear her frantic pleas, no one to hurry to her rescue, no one to call for help on her behalf. Only Tom and Earl and thousands of square miles of empty countryside. Cassie was alone with her captors, alone and naked and helplessly bound. Over the sound of her cries, Tom turned to his partner, “Hey, Earl. Have you still got that spare belt in your pack. Do us both a favour and get it, will you? She’ll drive us mad if we don’t shut her up.” Earl raised a thick thumb and strode over to his horse, reaching into his saddlebag and taking out a plain leather belt, then throwing it over to Tom.