“It couldn’t have been comfortable,” she purred, looking over to the bench.
“I had a blanket and some cushions on there. Got rid of them years ago because, well, they were here for the duration of my teenage years and never washed. When I realized how disgusting that was I disposed of them. But it was pretty cozy in here back in the day. I could comfortably spend hours on the bench.”
“Oh.” Her breath hitched and she licked her lips. I wanted to lick them for her.
“I had to be careful not to stay down here too long. I didn’t want to arouse suspicion. I made sure the staff were busy, Mum was occupied and Dad was out of the way first, but as soon as the perfect conditions were in place I’d head down here to escape and, erm, let off a bit of steam.”
“What were the magazines like? How did you get them?” she asked, shifting weight from one foot to another and stumbling slightly on the uneven floor.
I moved closer, steadying her with my free arm.
“I’m fairly sure they were my father’s. I found them in an old filing cabinet in the library. The lock had seized so I took it upon myself to open it. I’ve always liked to tinker and I was convinced something important was trapped in there. I was surprised to find what I did. Magazines from the seventies, all different titles, all kinds of kink.”
“Kink?” She put her hand on my waist.
I wasn’t sure if she was trying to steady herself or if she was coming on to me.
“Mm, yes. Everything from women covered in whipped cream to spanking and other stuff that might twist your innocent little mind.”
“Innocent?” She laughed. “Yeah, right. Which did you like the most?”
I was very aware of how close we were, where her hand rested.
“The spanking,” I replied, and she shuddered against me.
Chapter Eleven
India Grace
I didn’t know which was more surprising, the revelation of Mallard’s secret passageways or the revelations of Xander Patrick’s teenage years. The space we were in was so tight and confining, the candlelight flickered against dark paneling and beyond us it was sheer black. We were cocooned in a secret place, somewhere separate from the real world. Maybe it was somewhere I could let my desires for Xander free.
“Why those ones?” I asked. My voice sounded raspy even to me.
“Because the images of bare-bottomed women fed my own fantasies the most.”
I squeaked—the sound slipped from my lips unconsciously and my cheeks blazed with heat moments after.
“Are you okay? Are you scared?” Xander brought his other arm around me, holding me closer, protectively shielding me.
I melted into his arms and pressed my lips to his.
“Not scared.” I gasped, pulling apart for breath. “Turned on.” I kissed him again and he eagerly responded, lips molded to mine, his hands wandering up and down my back over the deliberately provocative dress I’d chosen to wear and down to my thighs. My skin ached when he touched my flesh, and I arched my back to push more of me against him, pulling my lips from his.
“Thank fuck for that,” he said, nibbling along my collarbone between words, “because I am too.”
He pushed up my dress and traced along my thighs to the slight lacy knickers beneath. Grasping at the material of his shirt as the coil of desire tightened in the pit of my stomach, I waited for his next move. His lips stilled on my neck and his fingertips grazed the crotch of my knickers. I moaned and he pressed harder, the hesitant touch transformed by urgency.
“So wet.” He gasped, looking up at me until I captured his mouth with mine again, and as our tongues dueled, he explored over the stretched barrier of my underwear. Crooning and groaning against his lips, I shook against him. The mounting desire drove all worry from my mind. It was possibly the most stupid thing I’d ever done. The one person in the whole world I shouldn’t shag was the man pressed against me, slipping his fingers into my knickers at that very moment. I didn’t care, I wanted him.
“I need to fuck you,” he growled. “Now.”
“Yes, fuck, yes,” I mewled, and although his fingers withdrawing from between my thighs was a disappointment at first, when he hooked them into my waistband and yanked them off me I giggled with delight. I pushed him back onto the bench with a bump and a slightly concerning creak of wood. He shook his head at me.
“Naughty girl.” He undid his belt, and I became fixated on his hands. The way he eased the buckle apart. “All this would be listed, if they knew about it. You’ve got to be more respectful of my property.”
“Yes, Sir.” I bit my lip as he flicked open his fly and unzipped his trousers.
“Come here and respect me,” he demanded and hooked his cock outside his pants.
I walked toward him, and he pulled me over to kiss him, encouraging my hips forward until I parted my thighs around him and knelt with knees either side of his, spread open for him, my skirt rucked up around my waist.
“I want you.” He groaned. “I really fucking do but I don’t have any protection.”
“I’m on the pill,” I replied, “and I’m, you know, clean.”
“I’m sure. I just didn’t want to go ahead without asking—are you okay for us to go ahead?”
“Yes”—I nodded—“very much so.”
We continued to kiss. I bent my knees and pushed down, meeting his dick while it probed up toward me. I stretched around him, pressing my kiss harder against his lips. I wanted to consume him, make him burn with the lust I did, to pull him into me and keep him there on the brink of ecstasy.
Bucking up and down broke the connection of our lips. I looked down at him and was surprised to find his eyes open too, the shocking blue aimed straight at me. Even in the flickering candlelight I could see his widened pupils. The visual added to the sound of his rasping pants, and the feel of his erection inside me confirmed that he lusted for me just as much as I wanted him.
I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I closed them and a shudder of ecstasy ran through me, a breath of cold air tickling the back of my neck. I bent back to press my breasts against him. He tore at my dress. If I wasn’t so turned on I’d have been pissed off—it was my very best outfit—but as he ripped and pulled until he revealed bare flesh then took my nipple into his mouth, my protests died before I uttered them.
I was devoured. He nipped and licked and kissed the breast he’d revealed, content to palm and press the other through the velvet of the material. I pressed hard against him at the bottom of each thrust, the shock waves bathing my clit in heat, mini-explosions detonating in my cunt and my mind with each impact.
He tightened his grip on my boob, dug his teeth into my nipple, and I cried out with the pain, which on top of the pleasure was almost too much yet at the same time perfectly right. He throbbed within me as his teeth slackened and a groan bathed my tortured breast in warm, soothing breath. He strained against me and I continued to rock, taking all his orgasm within me and still aching for more.
“Fuck,” he groaned. “Fuck, you’re too good.” He kissed me, and my pussy muscles tightened around him. He gasped into my mouth. “I wanted that to last forever.”
“Me too,” I whispered back, cupping his face.
“Well, the night is still young and this passage pretty much leads to my bedroom…”
“Lead the way.” I winked. “I’m not tired yet.”
I scrambled off him. He fastened his trousers, and I popped my breast back within the confines of my bra and dress. I was just going to bend and pick up my knickers when I noticed Xander had them in his hand. He tucked the scarlet lace into his jacket pocket and winked at me.
“Come on, I’ll lead you back to the servants’ quarters.”
“Was the original Lord’s mistress a servant then?” I pondered, Xander pulling me along the brick corridor.
“They don’t know but I think probably not. The passageways lead directly into a couple of the bedrooms, the library, dining room and even the basement, but
the entrance to the servants’ quarters is in a closet. I think that was more a practical measure—it is the only door in the run of the passages that has a lock on it.”
“Oh, curious.”
“Indeed. Now watch your step, these stairs are uneven and kinda tiny.”
He let me go up in front of him. He held the candle high in one hand and gently grasped my waist with the other. I was sheltered by him. We wound up a tight spiral stairway, the old wood creaking and groaning with each step.
“Okay, so we’ll take a right here. To the left are the staterooms.”
“I have no idea where we are.” I laughed. I was completely turned around.
“Not far from my room.” He smirked. “Come on.”
It didn’t take us long to reach a door at the end of a corridor. It was locked with a huge, old-fashioned key.
“This is how I first discovered it. Clearly it was designed so that someone in the passageway could get out but no one else could get in.”
He turned the key in the lock and eased the door open.
“That was very quiet,” I whispered.
“I keep the hinges well oiled,” he replied, also in a whisper. “Mary’s room is only a few doors away from here.”
We came out in an airing cupboard, the wall lined with shelves stacked up with sheets, towels and blankets. When Xander closed the door, it was hidden by several more shelves. Xander opened the door at the other end of the huge cupboard then beckoned me to follow. We walked along for a few doors. I finally recognized where we were. My room was at the opposite end of the corridor we were heading along.
His room looked not unlike mine. A little bigger, with enough space for a double, or maybe it was a king-size bed, along with a wardrobe and chest of drawers. The walls were the same magnolia—nothing really marked the room as his apart from the scent of him, a deep, grassy musk.
He turned a key in the door lock behind me. I didn’t look round. I savored the feeling of being locked in. Locked in with Xander. I felt safe and scared, excited and petrified. My stomach bubbled with lust, anticipation and fear. What was going to happen next?
When Xander pulled me into his embrace, he’d taken off his jacket and loosened his tie.
“Now we’re here, what shall we do?” he asked, eyebrow crooked.
“Whatever you want…” The words blurted out but I thought for a moment before uttering the last one. The last one was an invitation to indulge in more than just sex—“Sir.”
“Oh God, where do I start?” He swept the rebellious strand of hair back from my face and inspected me. “Are you sure you mean that?”
“Yes.” I stared right back at him. “Sir.”
“We need to establish limits, then, a word that tells me you’re not happy.”
“Harriet,” I said without hesitation.
“Okay, that’ll work.” He laughed and kissed me.
I could still feel the mirth on his lips, his smile melting into mine. Xander pulled back abruptly. “I’ve decided what I want. I want you to strip for me. I need to see you naked.” He stepped back and settled himself on the end of his bed.
I was stunned, stiff with fear. Strip off, just like that?
“Come on, India, we don’t have all night. Don’t make me spank you.”
Did I want him to spank me? Well, yes, I did, but I also didn’t want to disappoint him so early on and I really wanted to have sex again so I kicked off a shoe. It was a start at least.
“Good girl,” Xander purred and pulled off his tie.
I shook off my other shoe and took a deep breath. I was a little shaky but I tried not to let my insecurities stop me. I’d not been fully naked in front of a man since Tom and we’d worked up to that over time.
Weirdly, looking directly at Xander helped because I could see the open lust in his eyes. I started by unhooking my necklace. It was the only safe item I had to remove. Well, that and my earrings, which followed.
“Come on, India, don’t tease,” he growled.
I lifted my dress. One item of clothing and I’d be pretty close to naked. Xander had my knickers so once I lost the dress I’d be naked from the waist down.
Like stripping off a plaster, I started lifting the hem gently then ripped it up and over my head in one fast action before throwing it to the floor. When I looked back toward the bed, Xander was unbuttoning his shirt but he was looking right back at me, not concentrating on what his fingers were doing at all.
It was so embarrassing to be naked and on display. I was aware of every inch of my body. The good bits and the ones I wasn’t so friendly with. I closed my eyes as I reached behind me to unbuckle my bra. Shutting my eyes meant I didn’t have to look at myself and freak out. I just took off the bra and stood.
He didn’t make a noise. Eventually I peeled open an eye to check what was going on. Xander was staring at me. Raking his gaze up and down my body. I squeezed my eyes shut again.
“No need to be so shy, India, you’re beautiful. Come here.”
It became easier when he commanded me. I moved because he told me to and I wanted to please him, and making him happy, doing what he wanted me to, turned me on. I strode forward, eyes open. I fixed my gaze steadily on a point about an inch above his head.
“Look at me, India.”
I tipped my head and met his gaze.
“You are fucking beautiful, absolutely fucking beautiful. I’d stand you in the grand hall for the visitors to admire if I could. You’d get a bit cold, though, and some people just can’t keep their hands to themselves.”
A flash of an image fluttered before my eyes, like a Polaroid dropping from a camera. Me, naked at the bottom of the grand stairwell. Arms demurely to my sides, thighs closed, head bowed in a classic pose and a hand covering my breast, squeezing it.
“Oh, you like that don’t you?” He grabbed my hand and pulled me down until I was level with his lips. “You do, don’t you?”
I nodded, cheeks hot, flesh cold except for the hand he was still holding.
“God, if I wasn’t turned on it’d be so much fun to play with you, to take you there, make you stand on the cold marble. Maybe leave you there. Watch you from afar. Fuck. I’d have to be the guy who gets handsy with you, though.”
He pulled me forward violently, and I stumbled onto him. He fell backward then I bounced on top of him and he laughed.
“Another time. I’ll do that another time. Right now I just want to fuck you.”
“Oh, please.” I gasped, pressing my pelvis down against his. “Please.”
“God, the things I could do to you, the things I want to do to you, India.”
Xander gripped my face between his hands and kissed me so hard, so passionately, that I forgot to breathe. When he pulled back, I gasped, my lungs bursting, my heart beating with excitement. I needed oxygen but I wanted his kiss more. Reaching forward for another kiss, he caught me off balance, gripped my hips and pushed me over onto my back. I squealed as I came to rest on the very edge of the mattress. An inch farther over and I’d have fallen off.
“That was close.” He nuzzled into my neck, kissed along my jaw line then down into the dip between my collarbone and throat. I grasped at his sides, holding on for dear life as his clothed body pushed down against my skin.
“I’m completely spoilt for choice, India. I don’t know what to do next.”
Do me! I screamed the words in my head but I didn’t let them escape because if Xander had dominant tendencies I knew that would then be the last thing he’d do. Dominant equaled awkward fucker. Intriguing, sexy, hot as hell but bloody awkward all the same.
“Lift your arms, India, lift them over your head.”
I stretched up.
“Link them together, that’s it.”
He kissed lower, across my chest and breasts, licking and teasing my nipples. Even lower he journeyed, over my stomach, the zigzag of stretch marks somehow escaping his notice but he did pause to dip his tongue in my belly button, provoking a snort o
f laughter from me.
“Keep your hands up there,” he commanded before kissing lower. “Don’t move them.”
I managed it for quite a while. Even when he used his fingers to spread my lips and I felt his breath on my clit, I didn’t move. I kept still at his first, tentative lick. Then he was eating me with such enthusiasm that I felt like I was going to rip in two so I dropped my hands down from the position above my head to cradle his.
“Oh, no, no, no. What did I tell you?” He stopped licking, and I realized what I’d done.
Oh shit. “Sorry, Sir.” I gasped and raised my hands once more.
“Nope, it’s too late now.” He scrambled up to his knees and off the end of the bed. “Roll over onto your stomach. I’m going to have to punish you.”
“But—”
“But me no buts, young lady,” he barked, sending shock waves of lust straight to my cunt. “On your front now, arse up.”
I wanted to utter another ‘but’, to protest. To tell him he was too good and I couldn’t help myself, but I knew it’d be hopeless. I would have to take my punishment like a good girl.
“Jesus,” he cursed. “What a perfectly spankable arse.” He gently stroked over my buttocks, covering me with the whole of his hand, not just his fingertips.
A tumult of emotion raged within me—I wanted him to strike me but I was scared too. I wanted him to continue to stroke and soothe but I also didn’t want to miss out on the spanks. Talk about contradictory.
When Xander pulled his hand away from me I tensed up, expecting a strike…but it never came. I wondered what was going on. Imagined I could feel his gaze resting on my buttocks, that he was visually devouring me. I wished he would continue to physically devour me too. While I pondered what I wanted him to do to me the strike came.
Good Manors Page 10