The fact she’d been celibate for heaven knew how long, combined with her not inconsiderable attraction to Ethan and his obvious skills in the bedroom – well, kitchen – department meant her orgasm approached quickly. Digging her fingernails into his buttocks in the dizzy heights of lust, she yelped as he increased the speed and depth of his thrusts. She hadn’t thought it was possible, and half-wondered if the room would soon be filled with the scent of burning rubber. A laugh bubbled from her lips.

‘Something funny, Alice?’

He looked serious, so she shook her head rapidly, then rested it in the crook between his neck and shoulder, and hung on for dear life as he screwed her. As her climax grew closer, she had to resist the temptation to sink her teeth into his shoulder. He was a big, tough guy and she was sure he could take it, but she didn’t know him well enough for that yet. It might put him off his stride, and she definitely didn’t want that.

Ethan’s breathing became increasingly laboured, which made her think perhaps he was getting close to coming himself. There was no way she wanted him to finish before she did, so she slipped a hand from his arse cheek down between her legs and sought her clit. It didn’t take much finding. It was so engorged that it stood out from her body like a tiny marble, and when she touched it she let out a little yelp because it was so sensitive. She was closer than she thought.

Tilting her head back a little so her lips were close to Ethan’s ear, she whispered ‘I’m going to come soon. My clit feels like it’s going to explode.’

‘Fuck,’ he said, ‘that’s horny. But I’m glad you told me because I’m getting there too. I normally last much longer, but there’s just something about you …’

Alice gave a wry laugh. ‘That’s what they all say. Now –’

Alice frowned. Ethan hadn’t looked at the piece of paper and yet he was returning his friend’s smile, so he obviously already knew what the contents were. A trick they always played on new staff, perhaps?

She didn’t quite buy that idea. She couldn’t see the men joking around with most of the people who worked or volunteered at Davenport Manor. From what she’d seen of them so far, they were stoic, old, or both. Somehow, she didn’t think that Jeremy and Ethan would expect Mrs Jenkins to run across the garden naked. Not that anyone would want her to. Alice suppressed a shudder.

Mind you, why the hell would anyone want her to run across the garden naked? Granted, she had nice big tits that didn’t swing around her knees, but the rest of her was certainly nothing to write home about. If someone was being polite, they’d call her curvy, or Rubenesque. Otherwise, they’d just say fat, plump, or overweight. Or chunky. She’d heard them all.

The sound of Jeremy clearing his throat brought her back to the present, and he picked up the piece of paper and held it in front of him as if he were about to start reading. He caught her gaze, and there was something dancing behind his eyes that she felt like he was trying to hide from her. Excitement perhaps? Whatever it was, it was intense.

‘This,’ he said in his Queen’s English accent, ‘is a list I made not long after my father died and left me Davenport Manor. Sadly, it’s been neglected for the 18 months since then. But now, Miss Brown, I think it’s time to give the list an airing, and start checking things off of it.’

‘W-why’s that?’ What she really meant was why now?, but she didn’t want to say that in case this whole thing was nothing to do with her and she put the idea in his head that it could be.

‘Because, my dear, of you.’