Jail Bait Read Free Page B

parchment with vigour, his eyes following the ruffle of her hair and the billow of her turquoise cotton gown. It was only when his gaze fixed upon her breasts and didn’t waver that Claudia snatched the fan back. Behind them, the door had swung to and, hidden by the painted decorations on the stucco, there was nothing to suggest its existence.
    It was like a door to the Underworld, opening into a silent copse where no birds sang and only masculine voices floated out from the temple, one loud and deep, the other high and protesting.
    ‘That’s Mosul, the priest,’ Cal explained in a voice so oozing with poise that it cut short further imaginings. ‘Hates Jews so much you’d think he was a Babylonian, but my word, what a perfectionist. He won’t allow Leon—that’s who he’s railing at now—to go near the spring in case the young acolyte upsets Carya and her holy waters dry up.’ Cal’s arm found its way round Claudia’s waist. ‘I’ll let you in on another secret.’
    Using the closed fan, Claudia swatted him away, though not before they had both registered the five-count delay. It felt good, a man’s touch, she reflected. But then it had been a long time…
    ‘Come.’ His hand closed round her wrist and Claudia found herself spinning between the trunks of the walnuts and into a clump of dank elders before being plunged into a steep, descending darkness. Cool! It was cool! She gasped with shock as her back connected with the chill of the rock face. He’d led her to a cave, where the stone was cold but not slimy, to a world which was dark but not damp. And at a time when sheets soaked through in the night and grey mould covered the bread, this was surely the Elysian Fields.
    Against the far wall, serpentine lights danced a horizontal shimmy and water plink-plink-plinked into a pool. The spring. Cal had brought her to the sacred spring, where the shadows were the reflections of ripples on water and where the drips were the tears of the nymph.
    In the darkness, Cal moved closer and the suddenness overwhelmed her. ‘Cal,’ she warned.
    But a husky voice whispered, ‘Come to me, Claudia. Love with me.’
    ‘Cal, I—’ Her own voice was as ragged as his. Sweet Jupiter, how long since she’d felt release with a man?
    Again he was reading her mind, sensed her desires, her pent-up frustrations. ‘I know what you want,’ he said, and by all that was holy, she did.
    His hands cupped her chin, she could smell the freshness of mint on his breath. Sex with a stranger, wasn’t that every woman’s fantasy? Who would know? A young man, handsome and confident, in a place hidden by sanctity? Who would ever find out?
    ‘This will be the best ever, I promise,’ and she knew it was no idle boast. From the moment she’d set eyes on him, Cal had oozed sex.
    Claudia fought for control. Her pulse raced, her flesh was on fire. This was no callow youth fumbling his way over her breasts or trying to press up against her. Cal’s seduction was moulded. A shudder ran through her body. His touch, when it came, would be light and exploratory. Take its time…
    ‘Go with it,’ he urged, and still he had not so much as kissed her. ‘Don’t fight what’s inside you.’ When his thumbs moved up to caress her cheekbones, she knew he was aware of her trembling. ‘Let me give you,’ he rasped, ‘super sex.’
    ‘In that case, Cal.’ Was that strangled voice hers? ‘I’ll have the soup now and take a raincheck on the sex.’
    He laughed, and the laughter was good, and Claudia found herself respecting the man who backed off when he knew the answer was no. Indeed, her heart raced that little bit faster.
    ‘Oh, Claudia, there are so many things I must show you,’ he whispered. One finger hooked a wayward curl and gently released it. ‘But for now, let me impart one more mystery.’ He pointed towards the back of the cave. ‘Do you see it?’
    She blinked at the yawning blackness to the right of the cistern. ‘A tunnel