Hot Pursuit by Lisette Ashton Page B

sexual thrill that Lucy was so easily able to inspire.
    â€˜I understand you can’t let me in there,’ she agreed, glancing fretfully from side to side. ‘But isn’t there anywhere discreet where I could just . . .’
    â€˜There are stables around the back,’ he said quickly.
    She wouldn’t have noticed his eagerness if Lucy hadn’t told her about his predilections. But, armed with the knowledge of his appetite for wetplay, she understood why his posture had become rigid and why he was drawing a tentative tongue across his parched lips.
    â€˜There aren’t any toilets to speak of,’ he continued, ‘but I’m told, if the girls who work there need to pee, they just pick a corner and ‘
    â€˜Where are these stables?’ Anne asked urgently.
    He cast his gaze away from her and glanced around the desolate grounds. For an instant Anne fretted he would glimpse a flicker of light sparkling from Lucy’s binoculars, or catch sight of her as she tried to steal across the open front of the estate. When he finally returned his gaze to her, she almost swooned with relief. ‘I’ll need to come with you,’ he said firmly. ‘The security here is meant to be tight and my responsibility and . . .’
    Anne didn’t bother listening. He was responding exactly as Lucy had said he would and she was touched by a momentary thrill of power. The magnitude of what she would have to do still lay ahead but, for the moment, that rush of unexpected excitement was enough to make her inner muscles clench with hungry anticipation.
    The guard finished telling her about his duties, cast a final impatient glance over the empty estate, then took hold of her arm. Trying not to think about what she was going to do, Anne allowed him to escort her to the side of the mansion, and toward the stables. Her heart hammered at a furious speed and she dry-swallowed her nervousness as he led her into the cobbled courtyard behind the building.
    The countryside perfume of hay was a constant but there was no scent of horses and no signs of any staff or stock. The stables didn’t look disused – the cobbled yard was recently swept and somewhere nearby Anne could hear whinnying laughter – but it was otherwise deserted. Before Anne had a chance to register the peculiarity of stables without horses or hands the guard was opening the waist-high door of the first stall.
    â€˜You can go in here,’ he said. ‘This should do.’
    Anne felt light-headed as she realised what was now expected from her. The pulse between her legs beat with a low, fevered urgency as she tried to recite the lines Lucy had insisted she use. Fear rendered her momentarily mute.
    The guard frowned with obvious impatience and tugged the door back a little wider. ‘Go on, if you’re going,’ he urged. ‘I’ll get in trouble if I’m found away from –’
    â€˜Would you go in there with me?’ she asked quickly.
    The words broke into his speech and left him staring at her with lewd appreciation.
    â€˜There’s hay on the floor,’ she said, not needing to feign her nervousness. ‘And I have this thing about spiders and I ‘
    â€˜Of course I’ll go in there with you.’
    The glint had returned to his eyes but this time he made no attempt to disguise his obvious excitement.From the corner of her eye Anne had seen the erection pushing at the front of his trousers and she realised the scene was working out exactly as Lucy had expected. The guard’s hand returned to her arm. He carefully led her inside the sheltered gloom of the stable and then took her to the discreet shade of the furthest corner.
    Her heart had been beating at a furious pace before. Now it trilled so swiftly she briefly feared she might be on the verge of a stroke. Willing her apprehension not to show, trying hard to suppress her shivers, she started to raise her skirt and then