Rampant

Okay, so it wasn’t going to hurt her, but it wasn’t being friendly either, and if it made any more noise it would alert Murdoch to her presence. She scratched at her neck, where the nettle stings were taking hold. Her shoulders slumped. Getting back was going to be interesting. She would have to cause some sort of distraction to gain enough time to get back across the lawn and vault over the wall.

When she straightened up she put her back against the wall and moved as close to the edge of the bunker as she could, so that the window was at her side. Making sure she stayed in the shadows, she turned her head and looked inside.

Zoë was in there all right, and from where Elspeth was observing she had a prime view of the Londoner’s shapely arse as she rode up and down on the man she was straddling. She was completely naked, and Elspeth got a good look at the other woman’s body for the first time. It was fuller and curvier than her own, soft and feminine. The globes of her arse just begged to be cupped and squeezed and what she could see of her breasts bobbing looked pretty good, too.

Each time Zoë lifted she leaned forward and Elspeth caught sight of the rather impressive erection that Zoë was riding. Elspeth’s libido was still on standby after being next door, and getting an eyeful of the live sex show going on here made her hand dip between her legs, where she begged for relief. She moved her hand in time, her clitoris throbbing. If it had been anybody else she might have thought of an excuse to knock at the door and try to join in. The man she was riding meshed his hands with Zoë’s, suggesting intimacy. They didn’t look as if they needed company, which was a shame. She squeezed her pussy harder, until the sting in her tender clit surpassed the less pleasurable sting she felt on her neck. Craning her neck to see farther into the room, she scored confirmation that it was Grayson.

That familiar blond hair of his was just visible from her sidelong viewpoint. He was a beautiful man, and for one lonely moment she let regret well inside her. She’d flirted with him when he first arrived. She told herself it was a means to an end, but she did long for a man of her own, somebody who stood tall and proud like Grayson Murdoch.

He’d ignored her advances. In fact, he’d been wary around everyone. She hadn’t known him to sleep with anyone here in Carbrey, not even a tourist. Until now.

The mystery surrounding him intrigued her. Why couldn’t she have a man like that? Perhaps she was too close to Cain, because that certainly did put other men off. She couldn’t blame them. And she was already growing weary of Cain’s obsession with Annabel. They could have been good together, but deep down she recognized that she did not love Cain. If love even existed, she thought, sadly, as she peered into Grayson Murdoch’s home, watching the way he looked at the woman who was now lying down over him, resting over his chest and shoulder in her post-coital bliss.

Turning her head away, Elspeth rested back against the wall and rubbed her pussy through her leggings, hard and quick, until she climaxed. Sometimes lust was a nuisance. Not very often, it had to be said. There were few things she loved more than sex, but right now a case of the burning hotties was an inconvenience.

When she looked back, Grayson’s cock was no longer erect. It lay fat and large against his groin, rubber sheathed. He stroked Zoë’s thick dark hair, holding her safely on top of him on the narrow sofa. Jealousy blurred her vision and she blinked, craning her neck to look farther into the room.

As she did she saw Grayson reach out with one hand to capture some of the phosphorus light that spangled around them.

Making magic, now? What was he up to?

Unwillingly, she became mesmerized by the way his hand moved through the atmosphere. He rested his closed fist against his mouth, and then lifted it into the air, his lips moving silently.

When he opened his hand the light shifted, hovering aloft in a gauzelike shape. He pointed at the window and then she realized what he was doing, too late. The square of light smacked up against the glass, white and reflective, blocking her view.

“Shit!”

Flattening against the wall, her cheeks flaming, she watched as the feral eyes below her lit up in anticipation.

He’d seen her, and she now had seconds to get across the lawn, if that. Bracing herself for nettle stings and fuck knows what else, she launched off the coalbunker as fast as she could.

13

THE DAY STARTED ODDLY FOR ZOË. EVEN though she awoke in Grayson’s arms, it was with a vast sense of confusion—that feeling of not knowing where her dreams ended and reality began. Not only that, but she had a major niggle. It popped into her head as soon as she awoke—she’d forgotten to go back and pay her bill at the Tide Inn. That so wasn’t like her—she was usually so organized and on the ball. She shot out of bed and pulled on her clothes, trying to ignore the great hunk of sex appeal unfolding in the bed behind her.

“I’ll go up there for you,” Grayson insisted, when she explained what she was doing.

He got up and hunted for his own clothes.

“No way. It’ll only take me a few minutes and then I’ll be back to do whatever research assistants do.” Get into Her Haven, she assumed. Still, she’d be with him, she thought, admiring him again. And she could grab a shower and a change of clothes then. Right now she needed to pay that bill; it was weighing heavily on her all of a sudden and she simply had to get up there to the restaurant and sort it out. She reached up to give him a kiss and saw that his expression was tense. She didn’t like the feeling that gave her.

When she headed to the door, he got very heavy-handed about the fact that he wanted to come along, asking her to wait and he would come with her.

“What’s the problem?” she asked. “I don’t need to be supervised. In London I keep a whole company of solicitors on their toes. This may be new territory, but, believe me, I can cope.” She winked at him.

“I know.” He ran his hand through his hair and she realized he was agitated. “I’m sorry.” He forced a smile. “I just enjoy being with you. I’ll tidy up and get us some breakfast.” He paused. “If you’re not back here inside a half hour, I’ll be checking up on you.” He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her.

Her hands went to his hips and she thought about the night before, how it had felt mounting his hard, strong body and sitting on his wonderful cock. What a rush. She sank into him for a moment, and then had to pull away, laughing. “I won’t be long,” she reassured him. “I just hate owing anybody money.”

When she left he stood in the doorway of the cottage for a moment, but when she looked back he’d gone inside. Just as well, or she would be back there and clambering all over him. She wanted him, but she had to pay this bill. It was nagging the hell out of her for some reason.

The tide was out, and she crossed the road to the water, looking over the sea wall at the algae-covered rocks that were exposed. The heron that she’d spotted the day before was standing out on the last of the rocks, looking out to sea. He looked rather like a watchman. What was he waiting for, his mate?

When she reached the marina she glanced back at Her Haven and Cornerstone, then she stopped walking and stared back at the two cottages. They were so closely pressed side-by-side at the end of the Lane, upright and brave in the face of the elements. It struck her as poignant and fitting, and her mind flooded with images of what she’d done, how she’d pounced on Grayson in the middle of the night. Being here was making her more sexually expressive.

Are you really making me like you, Annabel?

Grayson had suggested Annabel’s spirit affected people, and she welcomed that. Then there was that whole sex magic thing that he’d opened her mind to. Could it be true?