Clifftop Fantasies [BDSM Menage Fantasies] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (3 page)

“Can I help you?” Allie concentrated on trying to sound friendly and efficient, not as if her whole world was teetering on the edge of ruin.

The woman glanced up and gave her a quick once-over. She didn’t look like she was on vacation, Allie thought, although there was a suitcase on the floor next to her stylish high heels. She wasn’t going to be doing any hiking in those shoes. Maybe she’d had a breakfast meeting and was starting her vacation now.

“Are you Allison Walker?” Her voice sounded almost suspicious.

“Yes,” Allie sighed. It was beginning to seem like the universe was showering her with unwanted attention today, when all she wanted was to crawl back into bed and hide.

The woman’s businesslike expression changed to a warm smile. “My dear, you have no idea how happy I am to finally meet you. I’m Jane Hammond.”

Allie blinked. She had been bracing herself for something unpleasant, like news that someone was contesting her father’s will. It was like a vicious barking dog had been running at her and then suddenly stopped, wagging its tail and licking her hand.

“Um…it’s nice to meet you, too,” Allie said slowly, trying to decide whether to get out the guest register, invite her in for tea, or call a lawyer.

“I love how you’re fixing the place up,” Jane said, turning in a circle to admire the peaches-and-cream décor of the lobby.

“Oh—have you been here before?”

Jane looked back at her, eyes wide, then laughed cheerfully. “I see. You don’t know who I am, do you?”

Allie smiled and shrugged self-consciously. “I’m afraid not, no. Should I?”

Jane put her hands on Allie’s shoulders and looked into her eyes. “I was your father’s lover,” she said seriously. “I know you weren’t close to Allen, but is it true that you don’t know anything about me or…that part of his life?”

Allie resisted the urge to point out that there was no reason she would have known details of her father’s love life. She just shook her head, trying not to look as if it were a topic she would greatly have preferred not to be discussing. She had assumed from the woman’s professional demeanor that this trip had something to do with some business. But now she had a much more maternal air, as if she expected Allie to embrace her as a long-lost stepmother or something.

“So,” she said brightly, before Jane decided to provide her with some kind of proof of the relationship, “are you planning to stay with us for a few days?”

Jane gave her a sly smile. “I was hoping to, yes,” she admitted. “I’d love the chance to get to know you a bit. Al—Your father talked about you all the time.”

Allie found herself doubting that statement, although she couldn’t have said why. “That sounds lovely,” she said, pulling out the guest book that had been sitting idle for far too long. There had been a few guests in the months they’d been open for business but not nearly enough to justify her faith in the bed-and-breakfast as a successful enterprise. She gave Jane the guest form to fill out, wondering how she was going to broach the topic of payment options.

The older woman filled it out efficiently and handed it back, smiling as if she were conferring a great honor on Allie and her house by agreeing to stay there. “I was hoping to be able to work from here while we get to know each other,” she confided, picking up her suitcase and heading for the wide, curving staircase. “Please tell me the front bedroom is available. My most productive time is early morning, and as I recall, the sunrise from that window is breathtaking. I see you’ve inherited Allen’s artistic talent,” she went on, looking around as she led the way upstairs.

“Um, thanks,” Allie said, following her at a trot. She had an uneasy feeling at the way Jane examined everything, as if she was a real-estate agent appraising the house for sale. She tried to tell herself not to be paranoid. Jane was her father’s girlfriend—no, the word “girlfriend” was much too trivial for this formidable person. She had described herself as his “lover,” but Allie knew she couldn’t use such an intimate word comfortably. She was going to have to come up with another classification. Her mother had had boyfriends while she was growing up, but that seemed completely different. That was a harmless word, not necessarily invoking any sexual images. It was impossible not to think of Jane as her father’s lover without imagining…

Karl. Karl must know this woman if she really had been involved with Allie’s father. She had to get Karl in here. Shaking her head to dislodge a visual of Karl, her father, and Jane in a threesome, Allie followed Jane into the front bedroom, forcing herself to smile as Jane complimented the colors, stenciling, and little homey touches. It really was one of the nicest rooms, Allie thought, although there was something unnerving about the praise. She remembered the coating of dust and plain white walls that she had found throughout the house and how much fun she’d had planning all of the different colors and themes for each of the rooms. This one was the “tea party” room. It had an antique tea set on the dresser, with flower garden scenes on the pastel walls, and a floral carpet.

“As soon as I get settled, we can sit down and have a long talk. I can’t wait to hear all about your life.” Jane gave her a benevolent smile as she turned to arrange her suitcase on its little stand. She didn’t open it, though. Instead she turned and began methodically looking in the desk drawers. She seemed to be checking for office supplies. Allie had a bad moment, wondering how much of a faux pas it was to not have supplied all of the rooms with pens, pads, staplers and the like. Not to mention Wi-Fi. It was on her list to check into, but she felt a little panicky wondering if guests were going to assume it was available.

“That’s great,” Allie said nervously, backing toward the door. “Let me know if there’s anything you need.”

Jane looked up, flashing her another too-brilliant smile. “I certainly will, dear,” she called as Allie turned and fled back toward the staircase.

Chapter 3

Karl was not happy about their new guest. “Jane’s here?” he asked incredulously, when Allie found him. He’d been gathering supplies to paint the outside of the barn, even though it looked perfectly fine to Allie. But since she didn’t have any large projects left in the house, she hadn’t objected when he’d suggested it.

The barn seemed like an odd place to Allie. She couldn’t believe there had ever been actual animals living there. It was more like the inside of the main house. The floors were hardwood, the windows were large and double-paned, and there were a few pieces of furniture and a small kitchen area in the main space. Karl stayed in a room toward the back, but Allie hadn’t been in there.

“Yes,” she told Karl. “You know her, right?”

It was a stupid question, and he gave her a strange look. “Yeah, I know her,” he said finally.

“And was she my father’s—lover?”

He smiled down at the floor. “Among other things.”

“What does
that
mean?” Then it hit her. “Oh—you mean she was his model?” Another reason not to go into the basement, she thought. She tried to imagine how horribly awkward it would be, having Jane proudly showing off her nude pictures. Or maybe the pictures were out here. She tried not to look around.

His smile grew a little wider. “Well, yes, that too.”

She shook her head. “Okay, I don’t want to know. The question is, what do we do with her?”

“Do with her?” He looked curious then smiled, waggling his eyebrows insinuatingly. “What do you think she wants you to do with her?”

It took her a second to catch up. She gave him a black look. “I
mean
, is she going to pay for her room? Do I treat her like a normal guest?”

He chuckled grimly. “I think you can safely assume that Jane is not planning on paying for anything. But unless you can be a lot more aggressive than I’ve ever seen you be, she’ll stay as long as she wants. And don’t expect her to work off her room and board, either. She’ll spend half the day on her computer pretending to be doing business deals and the other half badgering you to make her special meals.”

“But I can’t afford to feed her! We’ve got too many bills as it is.”

“I know, sweetie.” Karl went back to his paint cans. Allie stared at him in frustration for a few seconds. “I’ll talk to her,” he said finally, over his shoulder. “But I’m not making any promises. She’s never paid much attention to me.”

So much for the threesomes, Allie thought irrelevantly as she walked in defeat back to the house. Maybe they’d both been his lovers and that was why there was bad blood between them. She collected her own painting supplies and went up to the third floor to work on the literary bedroom. Passing the second floor, she saw that Jane’s door was almost closed but not quite. A murmuring voice floated out of the room. Allie paused but couldn’t make out many of the words, although she could have sworn she’d heard Jane say her name just as she’d stopped. But what she could hear did seem to be about some kind of business deal. She caught “negotiate” and “exclusive rights” before she shrugged and continued up the stairs.

At noon there was a tentative knock on the door. Allie was in her zone, stenciling a swirling purple border at the top of the walls. She still had half of one wall to go, and it was irritating to be interrupted. But she stopped and called out, “Yes? Come in.”

Jane stuck her head around the door, giving Allie a sweet smile and waving her fingers at her.

“About lunch time, don’t you think?” Jane said, giggling. It seemed like such an incongruous thing for her to do that Allie only stared for a moment. She wouldn’t have believed it if anyone had told her that Jane
could
giggle.

“Um—yes, I guess so.” Allie pulled herself out of her bemusement, glancing back at her wall.

Jane followed her glance and gushed. “Oh, that looks absolutely
darling
!” She stepped into the room and examined the light-gray walls and huge antique desk. “Are you doing all the rooms in different themes?”

“Yes,” Allie told her, debating whether she could ask Jane to go away until she had finished. It seemed inhospitable, but if Jane expected to be fed for free, she should have to do it on Allie’s schedule. She had a house to finish here. All of the rooms were ready for guests. They’d been painted and had furniture. But Allie, since she still had lots of free time, had decided to give each of the bedrooms an extra touch. Besides the tea-party room, others featured teddy bears, the beach, starry nights, the tropics, and this one was going to be her literary room. She had pictures of famous writers ready to hang up and she was collecting books to line the small bookcase with.

Somehow she found herself explaining all of her plans as they went down the staircase to the kitchen. Jane was making “Oh, you’re so creative!” comments that Allie would have normally found condescending. But in this case she’d been starved for female approval of her work and she didn’t really mind. Brad seemed to think she was indulging in a silly hobby. Part of her suspected that Jane was only being polite, but another part told her to accept the compliments and the female company. Maybe she and Jane could get to be good friends.

They had a simple lunch, which Jane insisted on fixing, since Allie “had been working so hard all morning.” She talked about Allie’s father as she cut up all of the vegetables from the fridge, telling stories of their time together, the places they’d traveled to, how devastated she’d been when he broke up with her. Allie found herself wondering why Karl had seemed to distrust her so much. It was nice having a woman to talk to.

“But I understand now what he was doing,” Jane said, taking a miniscule amount of salad for herself but refusing any dressing. She then seemed to forget all about food, wiping at her eyes as she continued. “He must have known then that he was dying, and he made me leave so that I wouldn’t have to go through it with him. He was so unselfish that way.”

Karl banged through the screen door just then, and Allie jumped up to get him some food. He usually just made himself a sandwich when she was tied up with her painting or some other work, but it seemed rude not to fix him a plate.

“Hello, Jane,” Karl said from behind Allie as she pulled out bread and ham. It sounded almost like a growl.

“Karl.” Her voice was back to the brisk and efficient businesswoman she had portrayed when she first got there. There was no hint of the emotion that she’d seemed to be fighting off a moment before.

“What brings you here to visit us?” He opened the fridge to grab a soda and handed Allie two pieces of cheese. She took the hint and buttered two more slices.

He sat down at the table, keeping his eyes on Jane as if he thought she might start slipping the silverware into her purse. When Allie put his sandwiches in front of him, he reached to take the plate at the same time. Their fingers brushed, and a shiver went through Allie’s body as she went back to her seat. She silently laughed at herself, trying to ignore the disturbingly arousing sensation, but she could tell that he was watching her intently.

Jane laughed lightly, and Karl’s attention snapped back to her. “I wanted to get to know our little Allie here,” she purred. They reminded Allie of a dog and cat circling each other, each daring the other to make the first move.

Karl made a noncommittal noise. “So what are you up to otherwise?” he asked.