Haven Of Obedience by Marina Anderson Page A

this morning.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Time for you both to get ready for breakfast. At half-past ten I’m taking you to watch the men learning to be submissive.
You
should enjoy that,’ he added, looking directly at Natalie.
    I don’t like submissive men,’ she said defensively.
    ‘Really? Then what sort of men
do
you like? Dominant males don’t take very kindly to being told what to do.’
    ‘That’s probably why I’m so unsuccessful in my relationships.’
    ‘Precisely,’ he said softly. ‘Which is why I want to help you learn to change. The trouble is, you don’t really want to be helped.’
    Natalie wanted to tell Simon that he was wrong, that she
did
want to change but it was hard to give up control. However, she didn’t have a chance because, before she could reply, he and Marc had walked out of the room, leaving her and Heather alone together.
    Heather looked at Natalie. ‘It’s rather embarrassing, all this, isn’t it?’
    ‘It’s not at all what I expected,’ admitted Natalie. ‘I hadn’t thought there would be so much … practical work, as it were.’
    ‘I had no idea what to expect, but I didn’t really care,’ confessed Heather. ‘I was so tired of losing men whom I really liked that I was willing to do anything if it was going to make me happier.’
    ‘But
will
this make us happier?’ asked Natalie. ‘How do we know it’s what
we
really want, rather than what men want us to be?’
    ‘That bothered me a bit. But after this morning I’m beginning to see the advantages,’ said Heather, with a laugh. ‘He’s absolutely incredible, isn’t he?’
    ‘Who?’
    ‘Simon, of course.’
    ‘He’s all right.’
    ‘Oh come on, he knows all the right buttons to push.’
    ‘Of course he does, that’s his job. It doesn’t mean he’s a particularly nice person, or even a particularly sexy one. I think you must have to be a bit strange to be able to do the kind of work he does.’
    ‘I should think most men would give their eye-teeth for a job like that,’ remarked Heather. ‘I certainly don’t think he’s strange. I just wish that we were allowed to fraternise with the tutors after we leave here. If I’m going to start a new way of life, I’d like him to join in the fun. He’d be a great party guest.’
    ‘Did you find it easy to have an orgasm?’ asked Natalie, hesitantly. ‘I thought it was really difficult. I never like being underneath, but having people watching, and knowing that Simon was assessing me, made it even worse. I nearly managed it, but he wasn’t moving quite how I wanted him to.’
    ‘It was probably easier for me,’ admitted Heather.‘After all, I’d watched the pair of you and, believe me, that was an incredible turn-on. That’s another thing: I could never have imagined myself watching people having sex before this weekend. Actually, I thought he did everything right. You probably wanted to guide him just to show that he wasn’t having things all his own way.’
    ‘What are you, some kind of amateur psychiatrist?’ asked Natalie, beginning to get irritated.
    ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s just that I know how difficult it is, and I thought that we should try and help each other.’
    Natalie felt ashamed of herself. ‘You’re right, we should help each other. Probably I was too busy worrying that my pleasure was totally in his hands. But it’s a difficult habit to break.’
    ‘What do you think about watching men being forced to be submissive, then?’
    Natalie thought for a moment. ‘I can’t really picture it, can you?’
    ‘No, but it should be very interesting. The men here are all like us, very successful in their particular line of business. I was talking to one in the grounds yesterday when I arrived. He’s head of a big multinational company and when he says “Jump” everyone jumps. He’s been married twice and had three other failed relationships. He says that he can’t modify his behaviour at all, that