Persimmon's stall had been thoroughly cleaned and had sat empty for months. The mare had been old and sick for quite a while before she died, and Lenore had often slept in the hay right here beside her.
For a long time after Persimmon died, Lenore purposely avoided the stable. Master James never brought her out here anymore, and the whole place seemed filled with only memories of things that once had been. Things that she now had to get used to living without.
James spent more and more time sleeping and Lenore worked in her garden. She tried helping him with the daily chores, but he had finally decided that it was time to hire some help. He put up an ad at the Farmer's Market, and it didn't take long for him to find two men who he said were adequate for the job.
The hired men; Santiago and Carlos. The day that they arrived for an interview, Lenore had been unable to take her eyes off of Carlos. Her immediate attraction to him frightened her because she was worried that Master James would notice. If he had, he didn't mention it, and after a ten-minute meeting with them in his office he announced that they had the job.
It seemed strange to Lenore that Master James had chosen them, he'd had a number of other applicants to pick from and she distinctly remembered that he once said that he didn't like Mexicans. He didn't pay them much, certainly not enough for as much work as he had them doing.
Carlos made her stomach feel weird. When he was around her she felt nervous and tingly all at the same time. After all the years she had spent with Master James, years that had involved just about every sex act that she could possibly imagine, Carlos Ortiz made her feel something that she wasn't used to feeling. Shyness. It was hard to remember what it had been like to be shy. James had taught her of pleasure and pain, humiliation and servitude. There had been no room in this world she lived in for shyness – until now.
She avoided Carlos at first, and found it difficult when she was faced with situations when she had to speak to him.
A few times she was in her garden when he was working nearby and she would glance in his direction. It always seemed to be at the precise moment that he was looking at her. One day when that happened, instead of quickly looking away from one another, they had both laughed instead. After that, Lenore felt there was an unspoken bond between them. Gradually, more and more minutes of her day were spent thinking of Carlos.
She could talk to him after a while. He still made her feel nervous and self-conscious, but it was worth it. She'd taken Spanish in high school; however, she hadn't paid much attention in class and now it seemed as though she'd forgotten it all. It didn't really matter, Carlos spoke English very well, and it seemed like what was unspoken between them was more important than words. The words were important too, at least to her, because Carlos knew things about her that no one else knew. Not that the things he knew were deep, dark secrets, they were just silly little things, things that no one else even knew because they hadn't taken the time to care. Things like when she was a little girl in history class she'd had this weird crush on Abraham Lincoln, and that she liked to eat a couple of raw spaghetti noodles when she was cooking pasta. That the first snow of winter made her happy, and once she had dreamed of being a veterinarian. It wasn't that she'd ever hidden those things from James; she just had a pretty good idea that he'd find them boring.
Carlos never seemed bored when they spoke. His face was always so alive. He listened, and he talked. He talked about his childhood, which Lenore could relate to in many ways. She was certain that her mind could not even comprehend the poverty he'd endured as a child, but she'd grown up poor as well. Neither of them had had much of a family. Lenore had her father until he died, and Carlos had a younger sister who was sick much of the time. He obviously loved Magdalena very much, and Lenore learned that he sent most of the money that he made back home to help her.
Gradually, Lenore started coming back out to the stable. At first it was just to see the horses, but she found that she did like watching the men work. Not really the men, just Carlos. She loved the gentle, caring way he treated the animals, and how when he thought he was alone he would softly sing to them in Spanish. Sometimes she would pretend he was singing to her.
There was a small gap between the boards near the floor in Persimmon's old stall. She found that she could lie on her back in the hay and watch him when he worked in the stable without him even knowing she was there.
Master James was rapidly losing weight; his once toned arms were bony and his wrists were now stick thin. It was wrong to compare him to Carlos, but nearly impossible not to. Carlos' arms were at least four times the size of Master James'. Lenore often imagined how hard Carlos' heavily-muscled body would feel pressed against hers.
She had long forgotten the touch of any man other than Master James; it had been a lifetime ago since anyone other man than he had laid a hand on her, and yet, lately, she could not stop touching herself, pretending that it was Carlos' hands.
It was such a warm day; she wore only a thin cotton sundress. She eased the dress up over her hips, and pulled down her panties. She could masturbate without pulling them down, but the feeling of the air on her exposed skin made it more thrilling. Lenore bared her breasts, pulling the dress beneath them so they came spilling out. She felt vulnerable and apprehensive, yet the idea of being caught like this by either Carlos or her husband made her pussy slicker.
She tilted her head and looked through the crack in the wood, watching Carlos brush one of Master James' horses. The brush made a soft swishing noise as it skimmed over the thoroughbred's back. She watched the ripple of Carlos' muscles beneath his skin, imaging his huge, coarse hands caressing her as her own fingers began to squeeze her nipples.
She'd done this yesterday too, but today it was riskier. Master James was in the stable right now, rearranging some tack over on the wall. If he caught her, would he punish her? Her heart sped up at the idea of him punishing her right in front of the hired men. Right in front of Carlos...
There was a part of her that wanted to get caught. Caught like this, exposed to both Carlos and James. She had elaborate fantasies about the things that they would do to her. Lenore had been writing about Carlos in her journal, and while she'd never known James to go through her things she hadn't made any attempt to hide it. It sat right on her dresser, her purple journal with the pastel pink pages, and all of the recent entries were about Carlos and her own strange, new feelings that she wasn't sure how to deal with.
Yesterday, she'd made herself come, something that Master James had always strictly forbidden. He would punish her if he knew, and yet that made her more anxious to do it again. He hadn't punished her for quite a while, and a lost, long-forgotten part of her hoped she'd be caught, needed to be punished. The urge to make herself come was too overpowering. It now felt more like a need than a want.
Her fingers found her clit, already swollen and throbbing. She circled it slowing with her index finger, her other hand pinching at her nipple.
She looked at Carlos once more, and then closed her eyes, imaging his powerful hands were forcing her thighs apart.
In her mind she could hear him instructing her, making her open her legs wide for him, his fingers spreading her pussy lips so he could do whatever he wanted to her.
A bright ray of sunshine beamed through the stable's dusty window, bright even through her closed eyes. It warmed her body. Her fingers moved faster, and she opened her eyes, peering through the crack once more.
The sun suddenly disappeared, as a long shadow was cast over her. Lenore looked up to see Santiago watching her over the stall door. Oh god, not him ... she didn't want to be caught by him, not even in her fantasies.
He seemed expressionless, and stood without moving, his eyes raking over her body. Lenore kept her hand over her exposed pussy. She looked up at him pleadingly, and put her finger to her lips and then curled her arm protectively over her bare breasts.
Her heart slammed wildly, waiting to see what he would do. If he spoke, she'd be caught by Master
James. The fantasies were all forgotten in that instant, she didn't want Master James to see her lying in the hay fingering herself. Please be quiet, Santiago.
Santiago didn't seem to like her, everything about him was hard. His eyes, his expression ... A strange flush spread through her as she looked into his emotionless eyes. A punishment from Santiago would be real, not some playtime game.
There was a small click as he opened the stall gate, then he closed it behind him, latching it, without ever taking his eyes off of her.
Wordlessly, Santiago knelt beside her in the hay.
He pushed her arm away, exposing her breasts. His rough fingers seized her nipples and began pinching until she writhed in the hay. There was no tenderness in the way his calloused hands touched her and yet her whole trembling body responded to him.
She bit down on her lip until she tasted blood, trying to force herself to remain quiet.
He abandoned her breasts then, moving on to her pussy, pushing her hand away, cupping her mound for a moment, then his finger began moving back and forth between her lips until she felt it starting to enter her. She arched her hips wildly as he pushed it into her. Then another finger, and finally a third, stretching, pushing, exploring. Those fingers did not ask, they only took, and Lenore felt her juices soaking them.
There was no way to protest, and Lenore wasn't sure she'd be capable of protesting if she could. The fullness in her pussy seemed to fill an empty void in her heart. Her body welcomed his fingers, her hips humping up against them, as they began to move in and out, faster and faster.
She struggled to maintain her silence as pleasure rushed through her body. Her heart pounded in her ears but the only real sounds in the stable were the soft swishing of the brush that Carlos moved over the horse and the rustling of the hay beneath her back as she came at Santiago's hand.
He knelt over her, his knees on either side of her shoulders, his hand resting on the front of his pants. She watched as his fingers closed on the tab of his shiny brass zipper.
He gazed down at her, his eyes cold and black and he cupped her jaw roughly with his hand.
"You ready for this, boss lady?" he whispered, gruffly, and she heard the rasp of his zipper. "Suck it real good."
Lenore shook her head. What the hell was he thinking? This was a line that she couldn't cross. What the hell had she been thinking? Everyone has fantasies, that didn't mean that you should just suddenly act on them and throw common sense away! She should have never let him touch her in the first place. She pushed with her feet, scooting backwards, out from between Santiago's legs and began straightening her clothing.
"Santiago?" James barked. The sudden sound caused her to jump as several pigeons flew frantically from the rafters.
Panic surged through her until she realized that James hadn't seen them, he was merely looking for Santiago.
"Where'd that lazy motherfucker get to?" Lenore heard James snarl. A few seconds later and he was off on an angry rant about both men, and although Carlos had done nothing wrong he soon became the main focus of Master James' tirade.
James had never treated Carlos or Santiago very well, but it wasn't until this moment that she realized that when she was out of earshot his treatment was far worse than she'd ever imagined.
Lenore listened to the hate-filled words that James hurled at Carlos. Her initial shock faded, dissolving into a gnawing outrage. She glanced over at Santiago who met her eyes with an icy stare. She stared back at him without flinching. He seemed to think that it was her fault that James was behaving like a tyrant.
Lenore stood and walked past him without looking at him again. She stood at the stall door watching James as he belittled the quiet soft-spoken Carlos until she couldn't stand to hear it another second.
"Enough!" she shouted over the stall gate. "Don't you talk to him like that!"
James' jaw went slack for a moment as his stunned eyes met hers. Never ... not once in the course of twenty years with him had she dared speak to Master James in this manner. It was, in a strange way, the most glorious moment of her life, but also one that she knew she would pay dearly for. She cast aside thoughts of what was going to happen later, and for just the moment she reveled in her strength. Carlos' eyes caught hers and she smiled a little, let James be angry, she'd had lots of practice dealing with him.
"I apologize for my husband's behavior," Lenore told Carlos, purposely avoiding James' glare.
"Go up to the house," James said coldly.
Lenore defiantly shook her head, and she could feel wisps of hay dropping onto her back as they fell from her hair.
"Not until you promise me that you won't talk to him like that anymore." She forced herself to meet Master James' eyes. Her short-lived sense of empowerment was already starting to waver.
Despite the obvious anger on James' face she thought he also he looked slightly amused.
"Promise you?" He smiled. "I don't think so, my dear. Maybe you should go and write a few pages in your little book about what a cruel bastard I am. Do you think that would make you feel better?"
Lenore felt the color draining from her face. He'd read it. This wasn't a fantasy or a game ... her husband of twenty years had read the journal she'd written, full of pages and pages of her thoughts about Carlos. She'd written that she'd masturbated and she was almost certain that at least once she'd used the word love to describe her feelings for Carlos.
"Sir ... I..." Lenore stammered.
"To the house, now!"
She hesitated for a few moments, uncertain what to do.
"Sir? Oh, God ... I'm sorry. Those things I wrote. I'm sorry."
The amusement she thought she'd seen on James' face before was long gone, his appearance registering only contempt and anger.
"Go. I'll be up shortly. We have some things that we need to discuss privately." Despite his stony expression, his tone had softened a bit.
Lenore opened the gate only far enough to squeeze through, guiltily aware that Santiago was still in the stall behind her. She pushed it closed, not taking her eyes from Master James', hoping that he would not look in the stall.
"Sir ... I wasn't trying to ... I didn't mean to cause trouble, I just don't think you should talk to Carlos that way. He works very hard for you."
"He works very hard for money, Lenore, not for me."
She bit her lip, wanting to point out that the money Carlos received didn't amount to a whole lot, but she didn't say it because she was already in enough shit.
Lenore walked slowly from the stable. Halfway up the path she could hear Master James shouting at Carlos again and she sighed. Master James had been neglecting her for months, but she had the feeling that was all about to change and she suddenly wasn't so sure that was a good thing.
CHAPTER TWO
"I have strayed. Master James is my sun. He is my everything, and yet still I think of Carlos. How much easier life would be right now if Carlos wasn't here, and yet if he was to leave I don't know what I would do.
I don't know why this is happening, especially now. James needs me more now than he ever has, and yet I'm distracted, thinking of Carlos. There are days when I can think of nothing else."
Ms. Lenore shook, a torn sheet of pink paper in her hands fluttering. Her normally shy demeanor was more pronounced than he'd ever seen it. She hadn't looked at him once as she read.
"Please, Sir? Must I read the rest?" she asked, her blue eyes bright and sparkling with unshed tears.
"Yes," Mr. James said sternly.
"I have tried to attract him, tried to make him notice me, although I'm not sure why. I don't know what I would do if he did notice me ... if he wanted me. I have feelings for him that are hard to understand. I care about him, deeply. Too deeply. I love him. There, I've written it, I love Carlos."
"My heart is tearing in half and I don't know what to do..." She stopped reading and looked over at her husband with a pleading expression. "Please, Sir? I just can't ... I don't want to say the rest."
> "Look at Carlos and tell him what the last sentences on that page are," Mr. James demanded.
Her head lowered. "I can't."
Carlos' heart ached for her. She seemed so ashamed, and he couldn't understand why. He could easily see why her husband would be upset by what she'd written, but why would she be embarrassed to tell him? It was very sweet – her writing that she cared for him. He cared for her too, though he would never tell her that. Mr. James would fire him if he knew. Carlos studied her worried face wishing he could kiss that pout right off of her pretty mouth.
"Now, Lenore! Look at him." Oddly, Mr. James' voice seemed to hover somewhere between anger and amusement.
Carlos' breath caught as her sky blue eyes met his. "I love him the way that I love Master James. I want to give myself to him, to let him do whatever he wants to me. I masturbate and imagine I am with Carlos. I can't stop." Still holding his gaze, she caught her lip between her teeth, in an attempt to stop its trembling.
He almost groaned out loud, as that mental image came crashing through his brain. The thought of his name on her lips as she came ... Carlos shifted uncomfortably on the chair, stunned. Ms. Lenore, she was a queen. Oh, he'd had sexual thoughts of her, frequently, but he'd never in his deepest fantasizes imagined her wanting him in that way.
He could feel Mr. James' eyes on him and an immediate wave of panic flew through him. He needed this job and he now knew why James Acheson had called him here. Mr. James was going to fire him.
"Sir, I haven't done anything wrong, only my work. Please, I can not afford to lose this job!" He hated to humble himself, especially to James Acheson, but there was little else he could do. His future was in James' hands.
"Relax, Carlos. I didn't call you up here to fire you." Mr. James' gaze shifted back to Lenore who was looking down at the floor.
"Well, here he is, Lenore, you don't have to imagine, Carlos is right here in the room. Look at him."
Lenore's eyes locked with Carlos' and he observed many emotions flickering in her. She was clearly ashamed, but there was much more than that, the adoration with which she looked at him made his heart pound. He'd seen it before, but had not allowed himself to acknowledge that it was present, passing it off as merely appreciation for his work.
Mastered by the Hired Man Page 4