Secrets Remembered by Raven McAllen Page B

car.
    “Bollocks. I’m a legitimate businessman, and that’s all there is to it.”
    “Of course you are,” Ailsa said cheerfully. “But is he?” She waved one hand at Franklin who glared, got into the vehicle beside him and folded his arms. Murison Jefferies didn’t reply to her. He turned to Aidan, his face red, and the veins on his forehead bulged.
    Aidan wondered if there really was such a thing as dying by apoplexy.
    “You’re screwed, just like your mother.” Murison Jefferies swung himself into the driver’s seat of the four-by-four, which swayed on its springs. Then he drove off, scattering gravel everywhere. Aidan resigned himself to a blunt lawnmower.
    “Didn’t you want to question them or something?” Aidan asked as the car turned out of the drive. “Stick bamboo under their fingernails and use a violet wand somewhere it would hurt? I’ve got a new one, as of yet unused.”
    “Nope, it was all bluff. Why waste a violet wand on those two? If they’re all I’ve read they are, it’s much too good to use like that. Sadly they did nothing wrong. If you notice, he didn’t say a sergeant of what, and nor did Franklin. And Franklin was a sergeant in the army years ago. Plus, all Franklin is wanted for is a parking offense. Your father is an unpleasant individual, with some serious issues about BDSM, but that’s not a crime. He’s just not someone I’d ever choose to spend time with. And I’d count my fingers after shaking hands with him. I reckon he’s very much in favor of something for nothing.”
    “Yeah, you’ve sussed him out.” Aidan ran his hand over her cheek. “I’ve no idea what that cryptic comment about Mum was, but I must ask her if she knows just what he’s harping on about. As far as I know, she just left him when I did, and she’s now loving life in Lanzarote. Not now, though. Later.” He took Ailsa’s chin between his thumb and forefinger and used the same finger to lift her jaw upwards, until her head was tilted back. She smiled and lowered her eyelids, which wouldn’t be easy at the angle he had her head tilted to.
    “So, pet. Are you ready to play? If we do decide we want to go further, usually play won’t start until we’re in the playroom. But today, I really want to start now. Shall we?”
    Aidan took a deep breath and filled his lungs with fresh—tinged sadly with the aroma of muck-spreading—country air and waited with as much patience as he could dredge up for Ailsa to reply. The breeze touched her curls and they stretched out from her skull in a yellow, dancing halo.
    “Yes, Sir.”
    Her eyes glittered and her breathing was shallow and rapid. So she was interested, really interested and it hadn’t all been a lie. That thought gave him a warm, satisfied feeling. As did the fact that she trusted him enough to play there and then.
    “Then play now, talk later.” He took hold of her by the hand and led her toward the door. “Once I open this, I want you to go upstairs and into the first room on the left. It has a bathroom, so use what you need, strip and greet me on your knees sat beside the bed, facing the door. You have around five minutes.” He had a thought. “Are your knees healed?”
    “Oh yes, Sir.” She walked past him and very slowly with a deliberate wriggle began to climb the stairs. Aidan wolf-whistled and Ailsa looked over her shoulder at him.
    “Thank you, Sir. I aim to please.” She ran her finger down between the sides of her shirt, and opened the few jacket buttons that were still fastened.
    “Minx.” He watched as she took the last few stairs in the same deliberate manner, and turned through the doorway he’d indicated, before he took out his phone.
    A piece of material floated down the stairwell. Aidan picked up the silky blouse and twirled it on his finger. He was going to enjoy himself. It seemed Ailsa had hidden depths she’d not allowed to show before. Well, he reasoned, it would have been difficult when she was at work