Her Alpha Saviors [The Hot Millionaires #2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (18 page)

“Wear those tight jodhpurs,” he said, poking his head back through the door. “I still have dreams about you in them. And obviously don’t forget the whip.”

She threw an eraser at him which he caught and threw right back at her.

* * * *

Jay was smiling when he found Luke in the courtyard supervising the positioning of some huge pots containing palms and miniature trees.

“You look like you just got off,” he said, wiping his hands and walking across to join Jay.

Jay merely shrugged but couldn’t prevent a smug smile from creeping across his face.

“You slick bastard!”

“Can’t ride with a raging hard-on, which is what I seem to have whenever I so much as look at our Ms. Harrison.”

“Me, too.” Luke scratched his head. “What is it about her? Why do I feel different than I ever have about any woman?”

“Dunno, buddy. I’m with you, though. I’ll do whatever it takes to sort this place for her and keep her safe.”

“Then why are we going riding when we ought to stay here?”

“I want to meet this character that runs the stables.” Jay pinched the bridge of his nose as he articulated his thoughts. “That land might be greenbelt, but you and I both know there are ways round that if a person greases enough of the right palms.”

“He is the only person in a position to gain financially if Skye loses The Fox, I suppose.”

“Unless he has partners we know nothing about.”

“Precisely.” Jay rotated his shoulders to iron out a few kinks that had accumulated in them. “Anyway, I just wanna get a feel for the guy.”

“Good thinking. You want me to check him out. See if any of our contacts have anything on him?”

Luke had a network of connections with access to just about every database in the country, including the police’s. He paid them well to be at his beck and call for situations exactly like this one.

“Let’s see what we think of him first.”

“Fair enough.” Luke ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t want you to think that I’m complaining, given how things are at The Fox. When I asked you before you said you’d tell me when you’d seen it.” Luke glanced off into the distance, his attention taken by the activity in the parking lot where outdoor space heaters were being unloaded. “Well, you’ve seen it. It’s a lousy proposition, so what gives?”

Jay’s phone rang, providing him with a useful excuse to delay responding, which would have been tough, mainly because he didn’t know precisely why he was acting so out of character himself. He
did
have a specific reason for wanting an interest in a place like The Fox
that he hadn’t yet shared with Luke. He knew almost as soon as he saw this place that it wasn’t a viable proposition financially, even if it did suit his other requirements. Whatever, something had made him stay.

Hell, not something, but someone.

By the time he ended the call, Luke was embroiled in a few problems that needed sorting, and the moment had passed. He and Jay took a walk round the function room. It now had the first coat of paint on the walls and already looked transformed.

Jay was on his phone to the furniture suppliers when Skye appeared in her jodhpurs and long leather boots, tapping her whip playfully against them when she caught his eye. Jay gulped, hastily ended his call, and threw her an appreciative glance.

“Christ!” Luke said, coming up behind him. “I’ll never be able to get on a horse like this.” He pointed to the bulge in his pants.

“Think about dead cats, or the starving millions in Africa, or whatever it is that’s supposed to turn you off.”

“Never works for me.”

Jay laughed as Skye fell into step with them, and they headed for the path that led to the stables. Five minutes later they strolled into a ramshackle yard with about twenty looseboxes facing each other and the hay barn–cum–tack room linking the two rows at one end. A middle-aged man of medium height, a little too fond of his food if his slightly sagging gut was anything to go by, came up to them and kissed Skye’s cheek. He had thick greying hair and the weather-beaten face of a man who lived his life outdoors.

Skye introduced them to Patrick Storey, and they both shook his hand. He had a firm grasp and appeared to be assessing them in the same manner that he and Luke were sizing him up. Jay wasn’t overcome with any strong first impressions. He neither liked nor disliked the man—he just didn’t trust him. That was mainly because he and Skye seemed so comfortable with each other. Jay had never been afflicted by feelings of jealousy in his entire life, but another man only had to look at Skye the wrong way and he was ready to commit murder.

“Well, gents,” Patrick said in a soft Irish accent and with only the slightest hint of sarcasm, “seeing as how you’re such good horsemen, I’m giving you two of my best mounts for the morning.”

“Good of you.” Jay forced himself to acknowledge the gesture, holding back from saying that he wasn’t used to anything but the best of everything.

“I didn’t say they were good horsemen,” Skye protested when she saw two lively-looking geldings saddled up and twisting impatiently, trying to break free of their halter ropes. Rio was there, too, looking calmer than her male admirers. “For all I know they could be complete rabbits.”

Patrick merely shrugged. “Up to you,” he said, not appearing unduly concerned about the fate of his horses in the hands of possibly inexperienced riders.

“We’ll take our chances.”

Jay walked toward the taller black gelding and stroked a hand down his neck. The beast immediately stopped moving and snorted into the hand that Jay held beneath his nose.

“I’ll be buggered!” Patrick said, presumably to himself but loud enough for Jay to hear. It confirmed his suspicions. Patrick assumed they were arrogant Yanks who didn’t know one end of a horse from another, much less how to tame an impatient gelding, and had hoped they’d be unseated.

“Let’s do this,” he said to the others, unfastening his chosen horse’s tether and letting down the stirrups.

Jay was aware of Patrick watching closely as he looped the reins over the horse’s head, tightened the girth, and swung easily into the saddle.

“What’s his name?” he asked, letting the stirrups down a further hole and making himself as comfortable as he could, given that he was riding in jeans.

“Satan.”

Jay rolled his eyes. “I should have guessed.”

Luke had mounted the chestnut with equal ease and they were ready to go.

“See you, Patrick,” Jay said, flapping a hand as they clattered from the yard.

Skye led the way. Jay and Luke were happy to follow in her wake and ogle her rear.

“Stop it!”

“What is it, babe?” Luke asked innocently. “You got eyes in the back of your head now, or something?”

“Or something,” she agreed, dropping back so they rode three abreast. “You two do know how to ride the
proper
way,” she said in a teasing tone.

“Someone’s asking for a spanking,” Jay said.

“Oh, yes please!”

“Beware what you wish, you,” Luke advised.

“Where are you taking us?” Jay asked. There was open countryside all round them and a confusing crossroads of paths to choose from. “This is pretty neat.”

“Isn’t it just,” Skye agreed. “Now you know why I’m so reluctant to leave the area.”

Luke nodded. “It’s very peaceful.”

“Except during the school holidays when the kids from the yard charge about here on their ponies raising hell.” She took the furthest path on the left. “This leads to the best galloping ground, but you need to be careful. Don’t let go unless I do. There are rabbit burrows that we need to get past first.”

They trotted for about a mile. Then the ground flattened out, and the horses started prancing side to side. They knew it was time to go.

“Ready?” Skye flashed a smile over her shoulder, clearly in her element.

“Go for it!”

Skye leaned forward and gave Rio her head. She took off like a rocket, putting in a buck before she got into her stride. The two geldings followed in her wake, and Jay had trouble holding Satan back. He obviously preferred to remain in the lead by no person, and certainly no horse got the better of Jay for long. He won their battle of wills, and the horse eventually settled into a steady gallop in Rio’s wake.

After several miles, Skye reined Rio in, gradually slowing to a canter and then a trot. The two men drew level with her, both watching her rather than where they were going. Jay couldn’t have looked away if his life had depended upon it, and judging from Luke’s absorbed expression, he felt the same way. Skye’s face was flushed red from the exercise, a bit like it had been the night before when she’d begged them repeatedly to fuck her. Her breathing was laboured, her breasts strained against the fabric of her top as her chest rose and fell, and her hair was absolutely all over the place. She never seemed to be able to tame it for long, and Jay thoroughly approved of the resulting unruly tangle.

She halted at a sheltered plateau with a fabulous view over the surrounding country and slid to the ground.

“Let’s give them a breather,” she said, running up Rio’s stirrups and looping her reins behind the leathers before letting her loose. The mare immediately dropped her head and started cropping at the grass. “You can do the same,” she said. “They won’t go far.”

The men did as she suggested and flopped onto the ground, one on either side of Skye.

“You look like you enjoyed that,” Jay remarked, running a finger gently down her hip.

“I did.” She threw back her head and sighed. “I don’t get enough time to ride, so I make the most of it when I do.”

“So what’s with all the caves around here?” Jay asked.

“See that precipice over there?” She pointed about a hundred yards in front of her, and they both nodded. “The horses know to steer clear of it, but only experienced riders come up this way because it’s a sheer drop with just one path down. Anyone losing control of a horse would be in all sorts of trouble.”

“Now she tells us.”

“You boys can handle a horse,” she said, laughing. “Anyway, there’s a whole system of caves down there that people lived in during the war when they’d been bombed out of their homes. Apparently the only person to find his way round the entire lot was the tax inspector.”

Both men laughed.

“That I can believe,” Jay said.

“Apparently people used to leave chalk marks in different colours on the walls so they could find their way back to their particular spot.”

“Anyone use them now?”

“No, they’re not safe, and they’re damp year-round.” She shrugged. “I think the odd courting couple sometimes takes advantage, but the only way up here is on foot or on horseback so they pretty much get left alone.”

“What are the caves like inside?” Luke asked.

Skye shuddered. “No idea. Never been inside.”

“Ah, of course, you’re claustrophobic,” Jay said, not unkindly.

“What makes you say that?”

“The cellar. You didn’t want to go down.”

“Nothing gets past you, does it?”

Jay smiled. “Not a lot, no.”

“Well, if you must know, I got shut in a cupboard when I was a child, playing at dressing up. No one found me for hours, and I’ve been scared of confined spaces ever since.”

“Sorry,” they both said.

“It’s okay. And I can just about tolerate the cellar provided the lights are working and the trapdoor’s secured open. Other than that, I don’t have any need to be anywhere that gives me the willies.”

Luke grinned. “Talking of courting couples—”

“Which we aren’t anymore,” Jay pointed out.

“Whatever. I don’t often get to fuck in the open air,” Luke complained, pointing to his groin. “Take pity on me, Skye.”

Jay watched for her reaction, expecting her to put up all sorts of silly objections. Instead she grinned, pulled her shirt free from her jodhpurs, and threw it over her head.

“Well,” she said, sidling up to Luke and throwing her arms round his neck, “I did just suck Jay off in my office, so it seems only fair.”

“Okay,” Jay said, moving in closer. “But I think she needs to be spanked first. She deliberately tried to outrun us back there.” She sucked in a sharp breath, clearly excited at the prospect, and Jay knew she’d let him do it. “Unfasten your jodhpurs, Skye, and pull them down.”

She did it, panting with expectation as she awaited his next instruction.

“Over here,” he said, patting his legs, “and bring that whip of yours with you.” She scuttled over to him, eyes demurely trained toward the ground. “Kneel down and bend over. You’ve been a very naughty girl.” He brought the whip down lightly on her buttocks, hoping it was lightly enough. They hadn’t used anything other than their hands on her before now. She flinched but gamely rolled with the pain. “Like that, do you?”

“Yes, sir. I could take a little more.”

Both men chuckled. “I’ll just bet you could.”

Jay struck her a little harder, noticing the moisture creeping out from beneath her panties. “I think she’s ready for you, buddy,” he said. “You want her the way she is?”