JanesPrize (4 page)

“Only if you do the same. Sauce for the
goose, you know.”

“Only too happy to oblige.”

He sat on the edge of the cot. “But you
have to tell me what this is all about. Why you’re here and why you’re doing
this filming, as you call it.”

She explained to him while she located the
video recorder.

“So my little cousin has decided to sell at
last?”

“That’s what I understand.”

He followed her into the dark hallway and
she switched on the light over the camera.

“And he wants to show that the house isn’t
haunted,” he said.

“That’s right. Well I guess there’s one
less ghost now.”

“Oh my stepmother won’t be back. She has
nothing to draw her here now that I seem to be in the land of the living once
more.”

He padded behind her. When she stopped to
take pictures he rested his hand on her bare ass and stroked up and down. She
felt her heart start to race again and knew she would be ready for him as soon
as they returned to the bed. Or even before that.

Upstairs he stopped her with a hand on her
arm outside the turret room. “This was my favorite room,” he said. “I used to
sit here and read or write letters and look out over the fields to the ocean.”

She opened the door. “I’m afraid there
aren’t too many fields left now but the water is still there.”

The room no longer had any drapes at the
windows and moonlight flooded in, outlining a desk and chair in silver.
Bookshelves lined the walls and the light glinted on gold lettering on the
spines of dozens of books.

“My library! Most of it’s still here.”
Pierce looked around him in delight.

He turned her around as she finished
filming and placed his hands on her hips. “I want you again.”

“I know.” She put her hand around his cock
and gently stroked up and down. His hands slid down the cheeks of her ass and
cupped the globes. His fingers crept inward and wriggled into her cleft. He
stroked the skin behind her vagina. The touch might have been an electric
shock. She gasped and stiffened. He probed further, one set of fingers
caressing the puckered hole, the other creeping to her pussy and her wet
opening.

“Let’s do it on the desk.”

She was incapable of coherent speech but
managed to nod.

He turned her and led her up to the desk.
“Kneel on it.” Hands on her hips again, he lifted her onto the hard surface.
She inhaled scents of leather and tobacco. She sank to her knees and rested her
weight on her forearms.

He stood behind her and continued to rain
featherlike caresses on her ass, in her cleft around and down and in and
through, spreading the moisture between the cheeks. His hands moved to her
dangling breasts and he worked them, alternately cupping and pulling them.

He eased one finger into her moistened
anus, making her exclaim and lift her head. “It’s okay,” he soothed. “You’re
too tight and I don’t want to hurt you. We’ll get you ready for that another
time.”

She was beyond caring what he did to her.
She was vaguely aware of the hard, cold desk pressing into her elbows and knees
but all her feelings, physical and emotional, were concentrated between her
legs.

“Are you ready for me now?”

She murmured in reply. She might have said
Yes
or
Please.

She felt him spread the cheeks of her ass
with two hands and then his cock was in her cleft. He rubbed the tip up and
down and she knew how wonderful it would feel when he made her ready to take it
there. She was not afraid of him. She had known him for a matter of hours yet
she trusted him. He would not hurt her or do anything she didn’t want.

“How does that feel?” he murmured, moving
closer so his cock was held tight in her crack, leaving his hands free. He used
them to touch her throbbing breasts again.

Jane whimpered and sucked in her lower lip.

“Why don’t you tell me what you want, Jane?
Talk to me.”

She panted her response. “Oh God, Pierce. I
want this to go on forever but I want to come. I need to come right now.”

I need to come right now
. Had she really said that? Had she begged a man she’d only just met
to fuck her stupid? No question she’d left her quiet, sane world outside that
massive front door of the Newland house. Her body quivered with her need for
release. She didn’t care how he did it to her—here on the table doggy style, or
maybe he would throw her onto her back and ram himself into her… She’d welcome
him any way he chose.

“That sounds like an order.” She heard his
throaty laugh, felt his cock still pressing insistently against her ass. His
voice was rough against her neck. She would lay odds he wanted it as much as
she did.

His hands left her breasts and inched their
way to the pulsating spot between her legs. “I could make you come like this.”
His fingers brushed her clit and she bucked against him. His hand moved away,
burning against the skin of her thighs. Heat swept through her in a wave. She
might melt on the spot, her body a puddle of molten lava. She moaned. “Touch me
there again.”

His fingers found the spot once more and
probed amongst her wet folds, almost sending her over the edge. But she held
on, knowing there could be more. More of these sensations she’d never before
experienced and might never again.

“You’re so wet,” he whispered in her ear.
“Do you like my fingers there?”

She pushed against him in response, the cheeks
of her behind rammed tight against his abdomen, and still with that huge,
throbbing cock securely anchored against her. She could feel it, feel its
weight, its fire…

He returned one hand to her breast,
fondling and tweaking, sending shards of heat directly to her clit where his
thumb stroked her with a feather touch. It was true what she had told him. She
wanted it to go on forever, because no man had touched her for so long. And no
man had ever touched her like this.

At the same time she wanted to come. Her
whole body ached for release. Her head hung down and she watched his hand move
between her thighs. She had no thoughts. She barely had any conscious desires.
Her whole being was concentrated in the spot between her legs where Pierce
slipped two fingers inside her.

She cried out, a long wail of yearning.
“You’ll make me come.”

“Isn’t that the idea?”

He pulled his fingers out of her and tilted
her hips toward him and upward, holding her while he guided his cock into her
expectant vagina. She felt the tremors already, knew she was close to the
fireworks display. She felt every delicious fraction of him slide into her,
spreading her wide. Because of the angle, he filled her completely.

When he was sheathed deep inside her he
paused. “God, that feels good.” Then he began to move with rhythmic strokes.

The fingers of one hand returned to wriggle
between her pussy lips and the other hand held her nipple. Strong waves of
pleasure began to build like a second heartbeat deep in her abdomen. As he held
her tight she bucked and moaned against him. She could wait no longer.

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” she cried. She
threw her head back and arched against him with the force of her orgasm and
felt the hot surge of his cum at the same time as the wave in her abdomen crested
and broke. It seemed to last forever and yet was over far too soon.

As she sucked in breath she heard Pierce
breathing deeply above her. “Fantastic. Absolutely, bloody fantastic.” He moved
his cock inside her and she shivered.

She had to agree with him. Never had she
had an orgasm like that. Even with her vibrator it had never come close. This
man had known even better than she did how to touch her, how to pleasure her.
It was as if he’d known her body in every intimate detail for years rather than
hours.

Chapter Four

When had it begun to feel natural to walk
around naked in an abandoned Victorian mansion, in the dark, hand in hand with
a materialized ghost?

Jane had no idea. Twelve hours ago she had
arrived with bravado, scoffed at the stories of hauntings and fantasized about
men who would ravish her as soon as look at her.

Apparently she had abandoned the first and
heartily accepted the second.

After the mind-blowing sex, Pierce held her
and kissed her and led her back to her cozy little room where they snuggled
into the narrow cot.

They lay like spoons and Pierce cupped her
breast with the hand that lay over her waist. She could feel his cock and balls
nestled against her bottom.

Her body was drained of energy yet still
throbbing and glowing. More alive than she had ever been, she closed her eyes,
whispered “good night” and drifted into sleep.

When she awoke, it was full daylight and
her back was cold. Her first panicky thought was that Pierce had disappeared.
That all the events of the past night had been a dream, a fantasy brought on by
the stories of the house, the painting and too many cheesy tortilla chips.

She turned over and saw him sitting in her
camping chair, dressed in his old-fashioned suit and seemingly lost in thought.
He heard her move and lifted his head. A beam of sunlight touched the side of
his face, throwing shadows under his eyes and around his mouth.

“Good morning.”

She sat up and pulled the covers over her
breasts. “You’re still here.”

He rose from the chair and knelt by the
cot. He kissed her. Stubble grazed her cheek and pricked her lips. He looked at
her and raised an eyebrow. “It seems I’m here to stay. Did you expect me to
disappear?”

She let her fingers trail down his face,
tracing the outline of his mouth, exploring his jaw line. “I didn’t know what
to expect. I haven’t had much experience with ghosts. In fact, I didn’t believe
in them.”

“Most people don’t. If they do believe they
usually invent all kinds of things to scare themselves half to death. Ghosts
are just people, you know. They wouldn’t hurt you any more than a normal person
would. A few rotten apples have given us a bad name.”

She pressed her mouth to his. He ran the
tip of his tongue just inside her lips. The nerve endings tingled all the way
to her crotch.

“You don’t feel like a ghost.”

“I’m not a ghost, not anymore.”

“Right.” On a sigh she wrapped her arms
around his neck and pulled him on to the bed. The feel of his tweed suit
against her skin was intensely erotic. She continued to kiss him and fumbled at
the buttons of his old-fashioned fly to release his penis.

Her eyes closed, mouth glued to his, she
caressed the shaft as it grew. Satisfied, she spread her legs and guided him
into her.

They climaxed almost immediately. “What a
wonderful way to start the day,” she murmured.

“No reason it couldn’t happen every
morning.”

Her eyes flew open. “What do you mean?”

“I told you. You’re responsible for me. I
shall have to come to live with you.”

She gave him a shove so she could sit up
and swing her legs out of the bed. “I think I need some coffee before I can
discuss this.” She padded quickly to the bathroom and slipped on the toweling
robe she had stuffed into her bag. Yesterday she’d had a vague idea of looking
for a working shower. It was still a good idea.

She’d also brought a large Thermos jug of
coffee. It was a bit stewed but it was hot and strong. She poured two cups and
added creamer. “Do you take sugar?”

“Three please.”

“Three?” She raised her eyebrows then cut
off any further remark. In the 1920s few people had been worried about
overindulgence in sweets.

There were some assorted muffins in a box
and she offered them to him. She took one and bit into it. They were getting
stale but thank God they were crammed full of sugar and fat. She needed a boost
to her metabolism.

By her second cup of coffee she was
thinking more clearly. She took a deep breath and smiled at Pierce. “We need to
try to figure out what you want to do.”

“I know what I want to do. I want to be
with you so I can make love to you every night and most of the day.” He crammed
the last of the muffin in his mouth. “Can I have another one of those?”

She passed him the box.

“There’s more to life than that.”

“Is there?” He gave her that shit-eating
grin again and then his face grew serious. “I know there’s more to life than
that. It’s just that I enjoyed making love to you so much that I can’t imagine
not being with you.”

“You don’t know anything about me.”

He poured himself more coffee and added
four sugars. “So tell me. Why aren’t you married?” He paused, the cup halfway
to his mouth. “Oh God, you aren’t, are you? Tell me you’re not married.”

“I’m not married. I’m a teacher. I’ve
taught fifth grade for five years and I think it’s about time I thought of
changing… She sipped her coffee. “After I graduated I had a mountain of student
debt. I knew I’d never get on my feet on a teacher’s salary without some help.
So I went back to my old room, packed away the dolls and school prizes,
repainted and bought new linen. It’s a big room with space for my computer in the
corner and Dad’s old desk where I can grade papers.”

He listened intently until she finished,
“So I accepted to spend two nights in this house because I want the money. It’s
like winning the lottery.”

He put down his cup and brushed crumbs from
his hands. “I was thinking before you woke up. I want you to fill me in on what
has happened in the world since I died. I know there must have been a lot.”

“You could say that.”

“I want to know just enough to let me go
talk to my cousin, who has to be over ninety now.”

“When was he born?”

“1918. But our family has good genes. I can
remember a couple of uncles into their nineties. That’s why they didn’t believe
I’d died so young. My cousin was a few years younger than me but he kind of
followed me around.”

“If he’s still alive.”

“I never saw him on the other side.”

For a second she didn’t understand what he
meant. For some reason she’d never thought of the dead meeting up in family
groups but it made sense.

“But even if he’s dead,” Pierce said,
“maybe he has a son or a daughter with instructions from him. Someone made the
contract with you to stay in the house and someone is planning to sell it. You
said my cousin refused to sell years ago in the hope I would come home.”

“Tell me about him. Why would he insist on
waiting so long for you to return?”

Pierce shrugged. “He was a funny little
sprout. Not at all athletic, which upset his dad no end. But he couldn’t get
enough of baseball. I used to take him to the games every weekend. Once, we
even went to Boston.” He smiled. “He got some autographs and said it was the
best day of his whole life.”

That went some way to explaining the
cousin’s devotion. He must have hero-worshipped his manly relative who took the
trouble to spend time with him.

“I’ll arrive on his doorstep,” Pierce
continued, “and tell him I’m Pierce’s grandson. You’re a teacher. If you teach
me enough I can do it.”

He took her hands in his. “Then maybe I can
inherit this house. I’ll find a way to earn a living and we can be together.”

He squeezed her fingers. “I didn’t lose my
brains during the last ninety years. I know you don’t know me, you can’t love
me yet. I think I’ve shown you how you’ve bowled me over. I never expected to
come to life, much less to find a beautiful woman so ready to share my fantasies.
I want a chance to prove to you that you really want me to be your slave for
the rest of our lives.”

It sounded totally crazy to her but what
hadn’t been crazy the whole time she’d been in this house? What was one more
mad idea? Besides, the thought of getting to know him more gradually soothed
many of the little panicky feelings fluttering in her chest.

After all, what did they have to lose? From
what Pierce said he was here to stay whether as the grandson of the family, her
lover or whatever else. She might have to help him get some kind of ID but in
the euphoria of the moment that was the least of her concerns.

“I’ll think about what you need to know,”
she said. “But first you can tell me something. Is there such a thing as a
shower around this place?”

He shook his head. “No showers that I can
remember but lots of baths. I’ll go outside for some wood.”

He sprang to his feet and made for the
door.

“Hold on a minute! Wood?”

“If it’s the same old boiler, you have to
light a fire under it to heat the water.”

He saw the dubious expression on her face.
“We had servants.”

“I guess you’d have to.” It had been clear
when she first went into the house that it had electric power. “Let’s check
first to see if they converted the furnace to electricity when they wired the
house.”

“Good thinking.”

Pierce led the way through a cavernous
kitchen where tarnished copperware hung from racks. A massive cast iron stove
took up almost all of one wall. But the place was clean. A crew had obviously
been hired to spruce it up before the prospective sale. Lots of creepy things
probably still lurked under the cabinets and sinks but Jane resolved not to
think about them.

Pierce located the boiler, which looked
more modern than the rest of the appliances. It was all relative because the heater
was still enormous. An electrical switch sat on the adjacent wall.

“Thank heaven.” Jane smiled. “Is there
water in it? We don’t want the whole thing to blow up.”

“Good thinking,” Pierce repeated. “I’ve
been out of touch for too long.”

Water and power assured, they stood and
looked at the monster. Jane sighed. “I guess it will take a while.”

“With that amount of water? It used to take
all day but I don’t know with this new system.”

“I’d guess a couple of hours. I need some
fresh air. Let me throw some clothes on and we’ll go for a walk. I’ll start
your first history lesson. Tell me what you last remember…”

It was a beautiful summer morning. The sky
was an improbably perfect blue and a light breeze blew from the direction of
the water. Pierce drew in a deep breath. “Intoxicating,” he said. “God, what a
lot I’ve been missing. I shall be eternally grateful to you for grabbing hold
of me.”

They walked through the grounds for a
couple of hours, stopping occasionally to admire the view and more often to
kiss. Jane talked a blue streak, trying to think of everything that Pierce
would need to know if he was to carry off his deception. World Wars flashed by
as they ambled under the beech trees. Cold War and détente were covered as they
crossed a grassy meadow. She listed the presidents, particularly the last ones.

At the door of the kitchen she paused at
last. “I don’t know about you, but I’m talked out. Let’s check on the water.”

The boiler was nicely warm.

“Where’s the bathroom?”

“Fetch your things and follow me. There
should be towels in the linen closet, which if I remember correctly is this
way.”

He opened a door onto a narrow passage
lined with shelves. Sheets, pillowcases and bedcovers were stacked in dusty
piles. One section held carefully folded towels. “Here we are.” He grabbed a
couple of yellowed bath sheets and pulled them out. Two tiny brown shapes
leaped from the shelf and disappeared behind the adjoining stack. Jane jumped
back with a squeak of alarm and clamped her hands on Pierce’s arm.

Pierce dropped the bundle he was holding.
Each towel was shredded in the center, leaving sparse strands of cotton
dangling in the air. He put an arm ‘round her shoulders. “Nothing to worry
about. We disturbed a homemaking activity.”

Jane shuddered. She wasn’t particularly
squeamish but the two little mice had given her a shock. She laughed. “I guess
we leave them to it. I have a towel in my pack.”

“We’ll pick it up on the way.”

He led her up the stairs to a room that
looked over the back of the house, where the kitchen garden and stables had
once been. A wide bed with a dusty red cover occupied most of the space. The
windows were hung with heavy drapes.

“This was my room. Not much has changed.”
Pierce ran his fingers over an oak chest. “The bathroom is through here.”

He opened a door on a wall next to the
window and showed her into a bathroom that might have featured in a New York
home decorating magazine aimed at the retro look.

A large white china jug and basin, both
decorated with swirls of blue flowers, stood on a washstand under the window.
Sunlight streamed directly onto a huge claw-foot tub that sat in the middle of
the floor. It had curved sides and a high back, like something from a Wild West
movie.

“Big enough for two, do you think?” Pierce
turned oversized faucets inlaid with ceramic discs that announced Hot and Cold.

The water gushed out, brown and foaming.
“Yuck!” Jane sprang back.

“Let it run for a while. The pipes are all
cast iron.” He put his arm ‘round her and drew her close, his eyes on the
rushing stream.

Sure enough after a few minutes the color
faded. Pierce released her and shoved a rubber plug into the drain. He mixed
the water to a comfortable temperature and straightened.

“I get to see you naked again. Come here.”
He took her hand and drew her toward him. “Let me do it.” He stood behind her
and unbuttoned her blouse, pushing it back from her shoulders. She hadn’t
bothered with a bra. He bent his head and kissed the tender spot under her ear
then cupped her right breast with his left hand, holding it as if weighing it
in his palm.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more
beautiful. You are so lovely.”