Stately Pleasures Read online

  Alice couldn’t help but wonder why on earth they needed alone time. But before she could dwell on the question, Erin answered it.

  ‘I’m glad Jeremy’s headed out for a bit, because I want to fill you in on some insider knowledge that you won’t get from him. Not verbally, anyway.’ She fixed Alice with a serious look.

  Alice frowned, then nodded. ‘Go on.’

  ‘I just want to make you aware of Jeremy’s, er – habits, that’s all. As you’ve no doubt noticed, he’s a good-looking, charming, clever man with a healthy bank balance. And let’s just say he uses that particular arsenal to his full advantage.’

  Alice remained silent, so Erin continued. ‘I’m not sure how to put it politely. What I’m trying to say is that he has his fair share of women. He’s a bit of a playboy. He and Ethan, who’s the head of security here, are best friends – have been since university days – and they’ve left quite the trail of broken hearts behind them. The two of them are very close.’

  Alice nodded. ‘OK, thanks for the information, but I’m not quite sure how this affects me.’ Her eyes widened suddenly, and she gasped. ‘You haven’t …’

  Erin waved her hands hastily. ‘No, no! God, no. I’m 100 per cent faithful to my husband, and I plan to stay that way. Now if I were single –’ she wiggled her eyebrows saucily ‘– then that would be a completely different matter!’

  Alice giggled along with Erin, whose face then took on a serious expression. She said, ‘I’m just pre-warning you, is all. It might not affect you at all. But you know the saying, forewarned is forearmed.’

  Alice nodded thoughtfully. ‘Thanks. But I doubt he’d even look at me that way, never mind anything else.’

  Just as Erin opened her mouth to respond, a group of visitors came out into the gardens, halting their private conversation. The two women turned their talk to work as they explored the remainder of the beautiful and perfectly manicured grounds and then headed back indoors.

  Room guides and visitors were in plentiful supply as Erin gave Alice a guided tour of Davenport Manor, so they never got chance to reconvene their delicate conversation.

  Towards the end of their tour, a handheld radio that Erin had been carrying crackled to life.

  ‘Erin?’ Jeremy’s voice came over the radio waves.

  Erin held the receiver to her mouth and pressed the button. ‘Yes, Jeremy?’

  ‘Is Alice still with you?’

  ‘She sure is.’

  ‘Great. Could you ask her to come and see me in my office in ten minutes?’

  ‘Absolutely. That will just give us time to check out the last room.’

  ‘Thank you. Over and out.’

  Alice looked incredulously at Erin. ‘Over and out? People really say that? I thought it was just in films!’

  Erin smirked. ‘It’s his idea of a joke. Comes in pretty handy, though, because at least I know he’s done talking.’

  Ten minutes later, Alice was walking along the landing which led to Jeremy’s office. As she drew closer, she could see that the door was ajar, and hear that someone was in there. More than one person, in fact. She frowned. Surely he wasn’t in a meeting with someone else, having asked her to come and see him? Or maybe someone else was there to talk to her? She shrugged and stepped up to the door.

  Just as she raised her hand to knock, she heard a sound coming from within that sounded distinctly un-meeting-like. A feminine moan, followed by a giggle, then the murmur of a masculine voice. Skin slapping against skin. More moans.

  He couldn’t be …? Alice refused to believe it. There was no way he could have summoned her to his office then decided to squeeze in a quickie before she got there. Yet the noises coming from the room continued, growing ever more frantic, building in a crescendo.

  She stood, motionless, outside the door. More voices, urgent and breathless. Alice had no idea what to do. Should she leave and come back later, running the risk of Jeremy thinking she couldn’t be punctual? Or should she knock and act as if she hadn’t heard anything? They’d have to pull themselves together, and quickly, if they wanted to avoid her seeing them naked.

  Alice could scarcely believe she was having to make the decision in the first place. Despite Erin’s warning, she hadn’t expected her playboy boss to be screwing someone in his office in the middle of the day. Especially not with the door open! It was terribly unprofessional, and anyone could have caught them. Fucking.

  As the word flitted through her mind, Alice fell to thinking of Jeremy, fucking. Naked – or semi-naked, anyway – and glorious, thrusting into … who? Alice had no idea. Was it one of the staff? Doubtful, unless Jeremy had a thing for the over-60s.

  What did his cock look like? Was it big? Thick, long? There was no doubt in Alice’s mind that he knew what to do with it – otherwise how would he be such a successful and notorious ladies’ man? Women talk, and if he was crap in the sack word would soon get around, and Jeremy would have to look further afield to get his rocks off.

  She’d remained stationary as her mind wandered, gazing unseeing at the door. So when an exaggerated cough – clearly designed to gain her attention – came from behind her, she let out a little squeal and clutched her chest in fright before spinning around to see who’d crept up so stealthily on her.

  Chapter Three

  Her assailant was a very tall man – he had a good few inches on Jeremy – and he was standing with his arms folded, looking at her very sternly. He wore black trousers and a white short sleeved shirt, and a black tie. His attire, coupled with the fact he had a radio clipped to his belt, led Alice to draw the conclusion that this was the infamous Ethan Hayes – head of security. He certainly had the perfect physique for someone working in that area. His height, coupled with the bulging muscles she saw peeking from his shirt sleeves, was intimidating enough to scare away any thieves after they’d taken one look at him. His biceps looked damn good, but she was sure they weren’t just there for show.

  His intense gaze made her want to run for the hills. After a few seconds of staring at each other in silence – made even more obvious by the fact the office’s occupants had now gone quiet – Alice finally plucked up the courage to speak.

  ‘C-can I help you?’

  The giant of a man unfolded his arms and took two strides towards her, which brought him very close, almost invading her personal space. She resisted the temptation to shrink away from him, then quickly regretted it when her nostrils caught his masculine scent. The sexy smell did funny things to her already heightened libido, and she began to realise something. Not only was Ethan Hayes tall and well-built, he was bloody gorgeous too. She now understood how the Terrible Twosome of Jeremy and Ethan had left such a trail of broken hearts behind them. No sane woman would get those two into bed and then let them go willingly.

  His words interrupted her reverie. ‘I could ask you the same thing. Is there any particular reason you are loitering outside Mr Davenport’s office?’

  It was her first day, so she didn’t yet have a name badge pinned to her top like all the other staff, therefore Ethan clearly thought she was a member of the public snooping somewhere she shouldn’t. Before she had chance to deny it, he turned and pointed down the corridor, away from Jeremy’s office.

  ‘Come with me please, miss. I think we should talk in my office.’

  Alice remained rooted to the spot, her mind in a whirl. She was torn between doing what the six-foot-something giant was commanding her to do, and going to see her boss, like she’d been asked to do around 20 minutes ago now. She’d barely been in the place half a day, and she’d screwed up, which never usually happened. Throughout her education she’d been a straight-A student, never in trouble, and once she’d entered the workplace, she’d been the model employee.

  So how had she ended up in this crazy situation? The way Ethan was looking at her made her feel like a naughty child being sent to the head’s office – and of course, she’d never experienced that. Except to receive praise and certificates
for her academic achievements and impeccable attendance records.

  It entered her head that Jeremy would have heard the exchange between her and Ethan, given they were standing right outside his door. Perhaps he was still “busy”, albeit much more quietly, and hadn’t even noticed they were there. Therefore, he was probably also too distracted to realise more than ten minutes had passed and she was meant to be in his office right there and then.

  She made her decision, and followed Ethan as he strode purposefully down the landing. Minutes later, they entered the staff corridor. Ethan stopped in front of a door. He gave a curt nod, stepped past her, and pulled a key from the loop hanging from his belt. Unlocking the door which clearly led to his office, he pushed it open and gestured Alice inside. She gave a nervous smile and walked into the room, her eyes immediately drawn to the bank of monitors on one wall, which kept flicking through a rotation of images from each room and corridor in the house. A thought started to form in her mind, but before she could pursue it, Ethan spoke.

  ‘If you’ll take a seat please, miss, I’ll be back in a few minutes.’

  Without giving her a chance to respond, he pulled the door shut. Alice heard the unmistakable sound of a key twisting in a lock, followed by retreating footsteps. Her mouth dropped open. He’d locked her in! For God’s sake, he obviously thought she was some kind of criminal. Was he going to call the police? She hoped not. Despite the fact that she hadn’t done anything wrong, it would be incredibly embarrassing for everyone concerned. Already was, actually.

  A little smile tugged at the corners of Alice’s lips. Ethan had probably gone to fetch Jeremy. He’d soon realise his mistake – and would get a severe telling-off when it was discovered that he’d locked the new property manager in his office. She wondered if she’d be allowed to stay for the no doubt heated discussion, or if she’d be sent away. She crossed her fingers for the former, though she knew it was unlikely. A professional would never discipline his staff in front of others. But Jeremy had just proven that he wasn’t overly professional by having sex with someone in his office while someone else waited outside for a meeting he’d bloody well called! Then there was the fact that the two men were good friends. So perhaps the telling-off would never happen.

  Alice shrugged. There was no point trying to guess what would happen next. She’d just have to sit tight and wait and see.

  The low electrical buzzing sound emanating from the monitors drew her attention, and the thought that had begun to form in her head before Ethan had locked her in came to fruition.

  Surely, if Ethan had been sitting in here since the house opened this morning he’d been looking at the monitors? It was his job, after all. And if so, he must have caught at least a glimpse of her and Erin making their way through the house together? He wouldn’t have been able to hear what they were saying – it seemed the cameras were capturing images only, not sound – but it would have been pretty obvious that Erin was showing her around. As head of security, Ethan must have information on all of the staff and volunteers on the books at Davenport Manor. Plus he was Jeremy’s best friend. Surely he must have known she was starting today? It was a pretty vital piece of information; one Alice thought would be impossible not to be known by the man in charge of security.

  Her eyes narrowed. If that were indeed the case, then why on earth had Ethan claimed not to know who she was and locked her in his office?

  The sound of two lots of footsteps approaching shook Alice from her thought process and she knew she’d have the answer to her questions very soon. This had to be Ethan returning with Jeremy.

  A click came from the door, then the handle turned and the two men entered. Alice’s heart sank when she saw that Jeremy looked just as stern as Ethan, if not more so.

  ‘Miss Brown,’ he said, before taking a seat across the table from her. Ethan sat next to him.

  Alice nodded in response, all the while worrying about how serious he sounded, and how they’d reverted from first name terms. He was obviously seriously pissed off, but she wasn’t quite sure why. She’d had a legitimate reason for being outside his office, and an even more legitimate one for not going in – she wasn’t some kind of voyeuristic pervert, after all.

  ‘I’ll cut straight to the chase. Ethan – Mr Hayes –’ he corrected himself ‘– tells me that he found you loitering outside my office.’

  ‘Bu –’

  He didn’t let her speak. ‘Outside my office,’ he continued, ‘listening at the door when I was in there with an … acquaintance.’

  So it wasn’t one of the staff then, she thought with relief. She only had to be embarrassed around him, then, not any of her other colleagues. But he thought she’d been listening. Her expression turned indignant and she opened her mouth to deny it, but Jeremy held up a hand.

  ‘I’m not done. What you did was unprofessional and a serious encroachment on my privacy. I thought better of you, Miss Brown.’

  Surely he had to realise the reason she was there was because he’d summoned her? Or did he have short-term memory loss? Early onset Alzheimer’s? Very early in his case.

  His tirade – for it was a tirade, despite the fact he wasn’t shouting – continued. ‘Your behaviour was immoral and unacceptable. I should fire you right now – and on your first day too!’

  Finally, he fell silent and raised an eyebrow, as if waiting for her to speak. Alice immediately broke the silence, before he changed his mind.

  ‘But Je – Mr Davenport, I was only there because you asked me to come and see you. I didn’t – I wasn’t … Please don’t fire me. I’ll do anything.’

  She stopped short of sliding to the floor and begging on her knees. She was desperate to keep this job – her ticket to a permanent role elsewhere when her contract was up – but somehow she sensed that Jeremy wanted her to be apologetic, not pathetic.

  It seemed she was right. He gave a thin smile, and said, ‘Anything?’

  Alice nodded eagerly, her enthusiasm waning as she saw Jeremy’s smile grow wider and wider, until she thought it would touch his ears. He obviously had something in mind. Her imagination took flight. God, what was he going to make her do? Hold a spider, or a snake? Run naked through the gardens? Each possibility she conjured up was worse than the last, and she shut down the train of thought before she drove herself completely crazy.

  He slid one of his hands from where it had been resting on the table and it disappeared from view. The angle of his arm and the fact he leant forward a little showed that he was getting something from the back pocket of his jeans. Sure enough, a second later he slapped a folded piece of paper onto the table and began to unfold it. Once done, he flattened it out with his palms and flashed another smile at Alice before turning his head towards Ethan, who grinned back at him.

  Alice frowned. Ethan hadn’t looked at the piece of paper and yet he was returning his friend’s smile, so he obviously already knew what the contents were. A trick they always played on new staff, perhaps?

  She didn’t quite buy that idea. She couldn’t see the men joking around with most of the people who worked or volunteered at Davenport Manor. From what she’d seen of them so far, they were stoic, old, or both. Somehow, she didn’t think that Jeremy and Ethan would expect Mrs Jenkins to run across the garden naked. Not that anyone would want her to. Alice suppressed a shudder.

  Mind you, why the hell would anyone want her to run across the garden naked? Granted, she had nice big tits that didn’t swing around her knees, but the rest of her was certainly nothing to write home about. If someone was being polite, they’d call her curvy, or Rubenesque. Otherwise, they’d just say fat, plump, or overweight. Or chunky. She’d heard them all.

  The sound of Jeremy clearing his throat brought her back to the present, and he picked up the piece of paper and held it in front of him as if he were about to start reading. He caught her gaze, and there was something dancing behind his eyes that she felt like he was trying to hide from her. Excitement perhaps? Whatever it was, it
was intense.

  ‘This,’ he said in his Queen’s English accent, ‘is a list I made not long after my father died and left me Davenport Manor. Sadly, it’s been neglected for the 18 months since then. But now, Miss Brown, I think it’s time to give the list an airing, and start checking things off of it.’

  ‘W-why’s that?’ What she really meant was why now?, but she didn’t want to say that in case this whole thing was nothing to do with her and she put the idea in his head that it could be.

  ‘Because, my dear, of you.’

  Bugger. So much for her not being involved.

  ‘You see, in case you didn’t know, Ethan and I are best friends. We’ve known each other since we were at university, and have shared all sorts of experiences. This list holds some of the plans I have for Davenport Manor, plans that Ethan and I would like to execute sooner rather than later.’

  Ethan and I? He kept saying that. Was he trying to tell her they were a couple or something? And they needed help making the Manor into more of a home? But why her? And why now? Surely Erin could have helped out with that. She hadn’t been pregnant for 18 months, after all. And then there was the fact that Jeremy had been with a woman in his office. No, she was pretty certain neither of them was gay. Or even bisexual – she just didn’t get that vibe from them.

  ‘OK …’ she said warily, wondering what on earth he was going to come out with next.

  ‘Well, I’ve been thinking about it, and after talking it over with Ethan just now, we’ve decided you’re the perfect person to help us.’

  Alice waited. Raised her eyebrows expectantly. Why couldn’t he just say it?

  ‘This list,’ he continued, putting it back on the table and spinning it around so the writing was the right way up for her, then sliding it in her direction, ‘is a collection of – how should I put it – challenges that I’d like to complete. Challenges set in and around Davenport Manor. My way of enjoying the house to the best of my ability, and thoroughly putting my stamp of ownership on it. After all, it’s mine, so I can do whatever I like.’