That night, Robyn was alone in the house. Walter was off in some other city for a business meeting of some kind. She never understood that kind of stuff. She ate a simple dinner and tried to watch some TV. Everything on the television seemed either bland or ridiculously stupid. She turned it off.

She paced the den some, pausing to look out at the yard with its massive pool, rock waterfall, restaurant sized barbeque, and a full poolside bar. The lush greenery beyond the pool, kept green by large amounts of water in a land that was semi-arid desert if not watered constantly, did not look as pleasing as it had at first.

It was a hot summer evening and a humid one. Above the mountains she could see tiny flashes of lightning where the humid air was pushed up the mountainsides into cooler altitudes and condensed into clouds and occasional heavy rain. Maybe, she thought, it would come down here and cool off the heat. But that kind of summer rain never seemed to make it more bearable; it only increased the humidity.

She went into her bedroom and took off the tennis shorts and blouse. Figuring she would take a shower, she added the panties and bra to the pile of discarded clothing. On the way to the bathroom, she paused before the large mirror of the closet wherein were dozens of expensive and rarely worn dresses. Placing her arms over her head, she stood on tiptoes. The woman who did the same thing in the mirror was a fine looking woman. Her long, blonde hair fell straight behind her to mid-back; her body was firm and trim without being skinny. Those breasts were a goodly handful each and quite solid. The nipples pointed just the slightest bit upward. She hoped that age would never make them droop but knew that eventually time stole away every woman's beauty.

Stepping closer, she looked deeply into those blue eyes, blue the color of a high mountain sky, a dark, intense blue. The small nose had just the slightest up turn. She often wondered if there were any connection between that and her perky breasts.

Her hands came down her sides, smoothing her skin all the way down to the golden patch of curls guarding her sex. There her fingers lingered, lightly pushing their way between the curls, gently parting the labia to caress the soft, smooth flesh within.

Robyn sighed and closed her eyes. For a moment, she imagined those fingers were a man's, even her husband's, touching her to tingle the nerves and excite her into passion. But they were not. He had never had that skill. Nor had he ever even considered using his tongue to give her body pleasure. Like so many men, a woman performing oral sex on a man was fine, but that favor was never returned.

Robyn pulled her fingers away with a jerk. It has always been drilled into her head by her mother that you should not masturbate. It was not natural, she had been told. But it felt so good!

She took her shower but could not help squeezing her breasts and fingering herself under the streaming hot water. Toweled off but still warm from the shower, she went into the bedroom and threw herself down on her bed. Naked and still slightly damp, she closed her eyes and imagined that she was in the presence of a handsome, strong male standing over her bed. His dark eyes looked down upon her, taking in her perfect body, his strong lips smiling faintly at the thought of what he would do to her. Then his hand was reaching for her. He stroked her hair once, then took her breast in that strong hand and gently squeezed. She felt a tingle race into her from that breast, and she sighed. Then his hand was touching down there, gently but firmly pushing her legs apart until they were spread wide and her sex totally open to him. He touched her there...

Robyn, lost in her fantasy, was not aware that a pair of male eyes were watching her as she squeezed her breast and fingered her clit. He heard her moaning with pleasure, and watched as she slowly brought herself up to an orgasm. When she gasped and curled up, he smiled and continued to watch as she turned on her side and, in the warm night air, fell asleep.

The watcher waited until he could hear her even breathing, then entered the room through the open patio door. In the dim light from the bathroom light she had left on, he looked down at her body, at the smooth skin, the wonderful curves, and the still erect nipples. He could smell her woman-scent in the room, enticing and strong. He felt his manhood respond, and had to force himself to attend to business.

Sliding off his backpack, he lowered it to the floor and opened the top flap. From within, he pulled several lengths of rope, small diameter white nylon cord. He set those on the foot of the bed. From his belt sheath, he pulled a wicked looking hunting knife. He placed that on the bed next to her, in easy reach. Then he took her hand and gentle placed the end of the rope over it. There was a loop tied into that end, and the rope had been pulled back through that loop to make a sliding loop. That he pulled down until it was snug around her wrist. Taking her in his strong hands, he slowly rolled her onto her stomach. Robyn moaned and stirred but did not become fully awake. Pulling her other hand back, he placed it over the first and began wrapping the rope around both of them.

When Robyn became awake enough to know something was wrong, he had her wrists bound and was cinching then knotting the rope down.

"What...? Who...?" she cried out, becoming rapidly awake as she realized that she was being tied up. She tried to roll over, but strong male hands prevented it. The man knelt on her ass with one knee to hold her down while his hands took her feet and wrapped rope around the ankles.

Robyn struggled for a second, then called out, "I'll scream! Let me up!"

The knee came off her ass, and for a second she was free of the contact. In that brief moment, it flashed into her mind that Walter had come back early and was tying her up! Maybe he had taken her hints to try kinky sex after all! That thought sent a thrill racing through her body.

But when she rolled onto her side, she saw a stranger standing over her. In his hand was a wicked looking knife with a six-inch blade gleaming dully in the bathroom light.

"Don't scream," a deep voice told her. "Be a good girl and I won't have to hurt you."

"I... What do you want?" she asked in a trembling voice.

He did not answer. Instead, he placed the knife next to her where she could see it plainly, then took her already bound feet and pulled them towards her wrists.

Robyn, who had never really been tied up before, was trembling and very much afraid. Wild thoughts raced through her mind. What did he want? Sex? Ransom? Yes, Ransom! Her husband was rich; this had to be a kidnapping for ransom. She wanted that to be the case; desperately wanted that.

"Whatever you want, my husband will pay you," she managed to force out.

He did not answer, but wound another length of rope between her ankles and wrists. Then he was pulling on that rope, which forced her feet to approach her hands. When she was arched into a fairly good hogtie, he tied the ropes off, placing the knots on the other side of her ankles where her fingers would have trouble reaching.

She gasped when she saw the rubber ball with a strap through it in his hand. "What is that?" she said. A moment later, she found out as the ball was forced into her mouth against her will. That strap buckled tightly behind her head to hold it in.