Dark Obsession (3 page)

Crispian loved her breasts. They were large considering how slight the rest of her was, but they were also firm and creamy white with a faint dusting of freckles in the valley
between
them. Burying his head there he nipped at the tender flesh and then let his teeth graze over the surfaces of both breasts while at the same time his hands were sliding down beneath her buttocks lifting her against him so that she could feel his excitement more clearly.

Between Tania’s thighs her bodysuit was wet with excitement and he laughed as she desperately strained against him. At last, when he sensed that neither of them could wait any longer, he tore the suit right off her, dragging it down over her legs without thought for anything except their final pleasure.

Tania moaned with relief and then she felt Crispian’s hands turning her face down on the faded, threadbare rug. Immediately she raised her bottom high into the air. Crispian slapped her buttocks lightly with his fingertips and reached across to the box that she kept at the foot of her bed. From it he withdrew what he wanted and Tania suddenly felt the delicious touch of cool jelly being spread around her rear opening.

Crispian took the slim, smooth latex probe out of its box and slowly inched it into his stepsister’s lubricated opening. She whimpered with ecstasy as she felt it invading her, and when he turned the switch and it started to squirm and gyrate against her sensitive inner walls she felt the wonderful tightness deep inside her, while sparks of desire flashed upwards through her belly.

‘Lift yourself higher,’ Crispian muttered hoarsely, and Tania strained to obey. Her whole body was throbbing now with the mounting tension and when Crispian finally slid his penis between her sex lips, penetrating deeply into her second opening, she felt her muscles bunching as they prepared for orgasm.

‘Wait for me,’ muttered Crispian, his own climax dangerously near, but Tania didn’t want to wait and she tightened her vaginal muscles around him to increase all her sensations. Tendrils of excitement were snaking across every inch of her and she was no longer aware of her
stepbrother
, only her own body. The rectal probe continued its relentless squirming and she teetered on the edge of blissful release.

Realising that she either couldn’t or wouldn’t wait, Crispian started to thrust frantically in and out of her, until he knew that he was about to pass the point of no return. At that moment he reached round beneath Tania, his fingers swiftly locating the moist, swollen clitoris standing out proudly from its covering. As he felt his seed rushing upwards through his shaft he grasped the clitoris between the tips of two fingers and squeezed firmly.

For Tania this sudden fierce sensation, so different from the other, softer feelings that were washing over her body, proved the trigger for release as well and with a scream of excitement her body tightened and she bucked violently with the intensity of the explosion that shook her from head to foot.

Trapped deep within her, Crispian felt her well-trained muscles contracting even more furiously around him as her body became lost in the blissful spasms of orgasm, and even though his own climax was over her muscles kept him trapped until her body was finally quiet. Slowly he withdrew, but when he went to remove the probe from her back passage Tania made a second protest. He moved it gently within her. ‘What is it?’

‘Leave it there. I think I can come again,’ she said huskily.

‘There’s no time,’ replied Crispian, and without any warning he withdrew the implement from between her rounded buttocks.

Tania collapsed onto the floor, then turned her head to look at him. ‘Why did you do that?’

‘Because I wanted to.’

She wriggled sensuously against the rug. ‘I’m not finished.’

Crispian laughed. ‘I’m afraid I am.’

Tania rolled onto her back and stared up at him and
immediately
he knew that he wanted her again. ‘Give me five minutes!’ he protested.

‘Use the crop on me,’ she whispered. ‘Please!’

Dark excitement filled Crispian’s brain. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Of course I’m sure. You can tie me up first if you want,’ she added, knowing how much he liked that.

Crispian felt his hands starting to shake. ‘All right, I’ll …’

There was a sudden tap on the door. The two of them looked at each other in surprise, but it was Tania who pulled herself together first. ‘Who is it?’ she asked in a lazy drawl.

‘It’s your stepfather. Is Crispian in there?’

Tania had difficulty suppressing a giggle. ‘In where?’

‘In your room,’ James said furiously.

‘Sorry, no. Perhaps he’s taken one of the horses out.’

‘I’ve checked the stables. He’s in there with you, isn’t he?’

‘No,’ drawled Tania. ‘Now go away. I’m trying to rest.’

‘When you see him, tell him I want him in the stable block straight away. We’ve got a mare coming this afternoon for Solomon to cover and no one’s got a damned thing ready.’

‘Okay,’ said Tania. ‘If I see him I’ll let him know.’

They both stayed very quiet until James’s footsteps had died away along the corridor. ‘Blast,’ muttered Crispian. ‘I’ll have to go. We can’t afford to mess up on this. Solomon brings in a fortune.’

‘He should put you out to stud, you’d probably bring in a fortune too!’ laughed Tania.

Crispian began to pull on his clothes. ‘We’ll finish tonight,’ he promised.

‘I might not be in the same mood tonight,’ said Tania, slowly getting up from the floor and walking towards her bathroom. ‘In fact, I’m almost sure I won’t be. Maybe tomorrow.’

Crispian caught hold of her shoulder. ‘Why do you do
this?
Why can’t you be honest and admit that it’s what you want to do all the time?’

‘Because it isn’t,’ lied Tania, who knew very well that this was the best way to keep Crispian bewitched. ‘Sometimes I like a rest. Run off to your papa now, he’s waiting, remember?’

Crispian left. Sometimes he wished that Tania didn’t have such a hold over him, but as yet he hadn’t met anyone who could excite him in the same way as she did, or who took such delicious delight in the more outlandish practices that enthralled him. He couldn’t imagine ever meeting anyone to match her.

‘You mean, you’ve told her?’ asked Annabel at the end of the day.

David Crosbie nodded. ‘She took it very well. I explained that you would soon be in great demand and that this gave her the opportunity of being one step ahead of everyone else. She’d be able to boast that you’d done Leyton Hall long before you were famous. She’s probably planning to claim credit for having asked for you by the time you’ve finished.’

‘But what if she doesn’t like my ideas?’ protested Annabel.

‘She’ll like them. She’d probably like anyone’s ideas, but in your case she’s getting a genuine bargain, far more than she deserves.’

Annabel sighed. ‘You don’t know what she deserves. She might be a very nice, knowledgeable lady.’

‘And pigs might fly.’

‘I’ve got a feeling I’m not going to enjoy myself very much,’ said Annabel. ‘I hope I’m not there long.’

‘It shouldn’t take more than three weeks at the outside,’ David assured her. ‘Martin and I will take you out for a meal tonight, to celebrate your first solo venture. How about that?’

Annabel smiled. ‘It sounds more like a bribe to me, but a very nice one.’

‘Good, then that’s settled.’

It was nearly midnight when the three of them returned from the promised meal, and Annabel felt pleasantly cheerful after the delicious food and excellent wine. ‘I hope the food’s like that at Leyton Hall,’ she sighed. ‘Then the three weeks would fly by.’

‘It isn’t,’ said Martin, glancing at David, who busied himself pouring them all brandies. ‘Hasn’t David told you we spent a weekend there once ourselves?’

‘No,’ said Annabel in astonishment.

‘Well, it wasn’t a great success, that’s probably why he kept quiet. The food was dreadful, and the company even worse.’

‘David, is this why you won’t take on the commission?’ Annabel asked accusingly.

For once David had the grace to blush. ‘Not exactly, darling. Let’s just say that the countryside and I are not entirely at ease with one another.’

‘But you do know Lord and Lady Corbett-Wynne?’

‘Yes,’ David admitted reluctantly. ‘That’s to say, I’ve talked with them. I wouldn’t for one moment suggest that I
know
them.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me that before?’

‘It wasn’t relevant,’ retorted David, beginning to sound irritable. ‘I really don’t know why Martin’s mentioned it now.’

‘Of course it’s relevant!’ she exclaimed. ‘For heaven’s sake, tell me what they’re like.’

‘Pretty typical of their kind. Lord Corbett-Wynne’s tall, heavy-set, with greying hair and one of those florid, rustic complexions. He manages to get to the House of Lords about once a month, the rest of the time he’s busy with Leyton Hall. At least he’s busy with the girl grooms at Leyton Hall!’

‘What about his wife?’ asked Annabel, intrigued. ‘Doesn’t she mind?’

‘She’s probably grateful!’ laughed Martin. ‘As I remember she’s one of those fine-boned, beautifully turned out women who seem totally asexual. It would be difficult to imagine her in the throes of any sexual passion, don’t you agree, David?’

‘Possibly, certainly not with that husband of hers anyway. Her daughter’s the exact opposite. According to her stepfather she’s quite a handful. Not that he went into any detail, but he certainly gave that impression.’

‘And the son?’ asked Annabel.

‘Gorgeous!’ declared Martin. ‘You’ll fall for him immediately, Annabel. He’s tall, fair-haired and tanned, with that deliciously languid air that’s so irresistible.’

‘I’m sure I’ll be able resist him,’ retorted Annabel. ‘Whose son is he then?’

‘Don’t you listen?’ asked David, clearly wanting to change the subject. ‘He’s the Honourable Crispian Corbett-Wynne, heir to Leyton Hall. Tania, his stepsister, is Lady Corbett-Wynne’s daughter by her first marriage. That husband died or got himself killed jumping a hedge, something like that.’

‘If you stayed there you must have been a friend of theirs, so why aren’t you doing the Hall for them?’ asked Annabel.

‘I’m tired,’ said David shortly. ‘I’ll leave you two to finish your drinks and lock up. Sleep well, Annabel.’

After he’d gone she turned to Martin in surprise. ‘What’s all that about?’

Martin laughed. ‘David’s embarrassed. He used to know James – that’s Lord Corbett-Wynne – quite well, which is why we were invited there soon after he remarried for the third time. Unfortunately it was a disaster.’

‘Why?’

‘Because no one had told Tania about David and me. She thought we were just business partners and made a
very
blatant and somewhat drunken pass at him. Before he could explain, her stepbrother was trying to make something out of it, threatening to take David outside and thrash him with a riding crop, all very melodramatic!’

Annabel laughed too. ‘I can’t imagine David being threatened with a thrashing!’

‘We left the next morning. David said we’d been called back to London unexpectedly, and everyone accepted that. Probably Tania had been told the truth by that time and they were all glad to see us go.’

‘But it didn’t stop Lady Corbett-Wynne asking David to do the Hall for her.’

‘She might not have known what went on. Even then, which was early on in the marriage, she seemed to be quite separate from the rest of them. She was always retreating to her own rooms. I liked her but thought she’d made a disastrous marriage. They were the most mismatched pair I’ve ever come across.’

Annabel wrapped her arms round her knees. ‘It’s beginning to sound more interesting now. I wish David had told me earlier.’

‘He really does want you to start taking on some work of your own,’ explained Martin. ‘I suppose he thought that if he told you about our social disaster you’d think you hadn’t been given the job on merit.’

‘Maybe. Anyway, now that I know more about them all it makes it more real. I think I’m beginning to look forward to it, although that might be the champagne and brandy!’

‘It will certainly be an experience for you,’ said Martin. He looked thoughtful.

Annabel nodded happily, blithely unaware of exactly what kind of an experience it would turn out to be.

Chapter Two

IT TOOK ANNABEL
over an hour and a half to drive from London to Wiltshire, and then a further half-hour to find Leyton Hall. David’s sense of direction was never good, and as far as Leyton Hall was concerned he seemed to have tried to put its location entirely out of his mind. As a result she was more than three-quarters of an hour late arriving.

She was agreeably surprised by the Hall itself. Having expected a dilapidated and conventional country house she was taken aback to discover that it was a large, well-maintained home built at the end of the eighteenth century in the Palladian style of architecture. The south-facing front of the house had beautiful flanking pavilions and, although it was clear that there had been renovations from time to time, the occupants had maintained the harled walls with stone dressings round the windows and doors.

On the ground floor there were two three-light Venetian windows with traditional low-pitched triangular gables above them. The normal mouldings were well represented by bands of stone set flush with the wallface. The West Wing had corbelled turrets at the corners of the roof while wisteria and honeysuckle grew up the walls.

All this, together with the profusion of rhododendrons, azaleas and orange-stemmed birch trees that she had driven past along the approach to the Hall, cheered Annabel up. If the exterior had been so lovingly and tastefully maintained then it seemed likely that her job would be easier than she’d anticipated.

As soon as the car stopped the front door opened and six dogs came tearing down the steps towards her. They were a strange assortment. Two heavy basset hounds, their long ears flapping out behind them, were leapt over by a pair of springer spaniels. Two imposing grey Weimaraners approached more cautiously but in a far less friendly spirit, their ears back and their legs stiff with suppressed aggression.