Lacybourne Manor (Ghosts and Reincarnation #3)(137)
Colin obviously wasn’t concerned, he just wanted her found and soon.
He arrived at Lacybourne early on Wednesday, thinking to work at home and immediately went in search of Sibyl. He found her in the buttery which had been, the day before, turned into her makeshift “laboratory”.
She was standing in front of the window, her back to him, one of the grey, misty days that had been the incessant weather of late providing weak light for her work. She was wearing her torn jeans and a fitted, white t-shirt and her hair pulled up in a messy ponytail at the top back of her head.
Without a word, he silently walked up behind her and slid his arms around her waist. She jumped in surprise but when his lips touched her neck, she relaxed against him.
“Hi,” she whispered and he felt a thrill down his spine at her utterance of that single word.
He lifted his mouth from her neck and caught sight of her hands encased in gloves that went up to her elbows, immersed in a huge bowl of glistening, white goo.
“What is that?” he asked.
She laughed softly before saying, “That is an experiment. A new face mask. As I don’t do animal testing and Mallory would likely eat it anyway, Mags and Phoebe are going to test it for me.”
He was powerless against her warm voice and soft laugh and he allowed his hands to slide under her t-shirt and criss-cross on the skin of her midriff. He felt her muscles tense there but the rest of her body relaxed further into him.
“Would you be a test subject?” she teased for she knew the answer to that would be a resounding no.
His mouth descended to her neck again.
“No,” Colin gave her the answer she knew she’d get and he said it against her skin then parried her teasing by drifting his hand up her midriff to cover her breast. His thumb found her nipple and dragged against it, feeling it immediately harden.
“Colin,” she admonished softly without really meaning it, “I’m working.”
His arm at her middle tightened and his fingers moved to trace the lace at the top of her bra just as his mouth slid up her neck to behind her ear.
“Carry on,” he murmured and his fingers closed around the lace and pulled it sharply down under her breast.
Sibyl gasped.
“Colin!” This was half-admonishment, half-whimper.
He smiled against her ear and then touched his tongue there. She smelled of flowers and musk and he felt his groin tighten. He found her nipple with his thumb and forefinger and tugged at it sharply in a rough, gentle demand.
Her head fell back on his shoulder and she shuddered, her body’s movement absorbed by his.
“That’s nice,” she breathed and all admonishment was gone from her tone.
To reward her, he did it again and her response was so intense, his arm had to tighten around her waist to catch her as her legs buckled beneath her.
He nipped her ear with his teeth. “You’re not working,” he informed her helpfully.
She didn’t respond, she simply trembled and he knew she was ready for him.
As he had her exactly where wanted her, he pulled the lace back over her breast and slid his hand down and out from under the t-shirt. He removed his mouth from the sensitive area of her ear and kissed her neck chastely.
“I’ll let you get on with it.”
“Colin!” she cried and whirled, white goo flying everywhere.
He grinned at her.
“Don’t give me one of those devilish grins, get back here!” she demanded.
He walked away and heard her growl with frustration.
As he understood when he started it, he knew he’d pay for that episode later that night and he was very much looking forward to it.
Later, while he could smell one of Mags’s vegetarian feasts cooking in the kitchen, he snagged Mallory’s lead and commandeered the recalcitrant dog to take a walk. He and Mallory were passing the library when he heard feminine voices.
He glanced in while walking by and heard his mother exclaim, “Mine’s tingling.”
He stopped and stared at the three women sitting side by side on the couch, all of their faces covered in white goo, their legs stretched out before them, their heads resting on the back of the couch.
“Is it a good tingle or a bad tingle?” Sibyl asked with concern.
“Oh, a good tingle, dear.”
“Mine’s not tingling but it smells good enough to eat,” Mags put in.
“Don’t eat it, Mother,” Sibyl warned.
“I wasn’t going to eat it. I was just saying it smells good enough to eat.”
Colin decided to escape before the oncoming escalation and he walked the dog.
All the days that followed were more of the same.
Mandy was taking reporters’ phone calls by the dozens and they’d even found the number to Lacybourne and were ringing there wanting pictures and interviews of the reincarnated lovers.
The next two National Trust days were so crowded, the Trust had to arrange for timed viewings and had phoned Colin telling him that, if this persisted, they would have to do visits by booking only. They also asked if he and Sibyl wouldn’t mind being part of a new pamphlet and helping with a fundraiser. This he refused, of course, and didn’t even bother to mention to Sibyl for she would definitely not have refused and the last thing he needed was for her to be gunned down at a National Trust Ball.
Marian Byrne’s daughter had left after Marian had sufficiently recovered so, in order for Sibyl to watch over her, she became a regular guest at dinner. Colin had come home on Friday evening to catch Marian and Mags in the kitchen, leaning expectantly over a large pot that was emitting an foul odour that was (he hoped) not food while his mother sat at a stool by the counter calmly reading a woman’s magazine.