The Touch Ch. 17

The stables were only five miles or so to the north west just the other side of the village of Great Wishford and I pulled into the stable yard about 15 minutes later. It was a traditional Edwardian stable layout built in the early 1900's with brick stalls, coach house and tack room around a central square court yard and several paddocks behind. The large Shelby family house stood at the rear at the top of a winding drive.

The stables seemed busy, there were several cars in the drive and a small group of parents standing talking; I had forgotten that it was half term and that the schools were on holiday for a week. I could see a group of pre-teen girls standing in the open doorway of the coach house obviously listening to somebody who was out of my line of vision; I guessed that they were a beginner's class.

There was a couple of young guys in overalls and rubber boots, who were probably stable lads standing leaning on brooms and gawping at a very shapely and attractive arse in extremely tight riding britches the owner of which was bent double over a large tack box which had become wedged in the doorway to one of the stalls. The idlers realised that I was watching them and nudged each other and wandered away grinning. The shapely and attractive arse had not moved and I could not see the face that belonged to it as I approached. It was a real effort not to pat those tight pants but I settled for clearing my throat loudly to attract attention.

"Harrumph! Excuse me..... " I ventured. The arse flattened as it's owner stood up and turned to face me to reveal a girl whose body was equally as shapely and attractive as the rear parts. She was about my age, 5' 6" tall, with a typical rider's firm figure, nice round hips and backside, a narrow waist and flat stomach, well shaped generous tits and muscular legs. Her face was attractive with a wide mouth, blue green eyes and shoulder length blonde hair. She was dressed in a dark blue denim short sleeved shirt, beneath a green quilted Barbour gilet, very tight grey riding britches and knee length boots. I noticed immediately and to my dismay that she was wearing an engagement ring.

"Hello, can I help you?" She enquired. I just stared at her for several seconds; there was something vaguely familiar about both her face and her voice. She stared back.

"I'm looking for Philippa Shelby .... I am expected." I announced. "My name is ......."

"Jamie Riley." She interrupted. She had me at a disadvantage. "I know exactly who you are," she went on, then paused and laughed at the obvious look of astonishment on my face. "I was at school with your sister Emma, a group of us used to hang out together when we were about thirteen ..... I think we all really had the hots for you and your mate Josh, although I doubt you even noticed us."

The penny finally dropped. "Oh yes, ..... you're .... Janice Cooper, er no .. Janice Copman, right?" I stuttered. I remembered the group well, Emma used to bring them to the house; they had been one of my mainstay masturbation fantasies when I was fourteen. Even then Janice had been a real cracker, a vivacious, blonde girl who was just starting to blossom into womanhood and knew it!

I noticed that she was blushing a bit. "Well you are all grown up now and certainly worth noticing." I grinned.

"Are you flirting with me?" she giggled. Then turned and started to walk off across the yard, "Come on then," she called over her shoulder, "Philippa is in the coach house with the beginners but she should be through in a few minutes. Then I shall have to take them to meet the ponies."

"You can take me to meet the ponies, any time." I heard myself saying. Bloody Hell, that was a really naff chat-up line; but she was laughing anyway.

The school girls were coming out of the big double doors. "Look me up when you've finished with Philippa," she suggested, "I know what you are here for, we can have a coffee and I'll show you some horse shit to match your bull shit, eh!" We both laughed and then she was leading the chattering gaggle of girls through an arch to the beginner's paddock.

"Hello Jamie, nice to see you again" Philippa opened, "I see that you have already met Jan, my head stable girl. Come into the office and we can have a chat." We shook hands and she led me back into the coach house to a small cubby office at the rear, sat at the desk and kicked a chair over towards me.

Philippa Shelby was much as I remembered her only better. She was maybe 37 or 38 and attractive with a delicate face, almost elfin, with hazel eyes and blonde streaked light brown bobbed hair. She had an athletic figure with breasts that seemed very pointed under her tight moss green polo neck sweater, a neat waist and very long firm legs clad in tight fitting jodhpurs and green rubber boots. As far as I knew she had been married once some years ago but was obviously divorced as she had been alone since before Emma and I had started to come to the stables eight or nine years back, and she was not wearing any rings now. I would definitely be adding her to the list of guests for our grand re-opening supper at Easter; I was guessing that she would look great in a dress.

It only took a few minutes to conclude our business, she was more than happy to let us have as much manure and straw compost that we needed at a really knock-down cost, as long as we guaranteed to collect it regularly a couple of times a month. In return I told her that I would supply her with a number of large plastic storage bins which the manure could be collected in and would aid with the transportation. We walked out to the stable yard and she turned to me.

"It was a pity that you and Emma stopping riding, you were both very good." She said. She patted my arm and smiled, her whole face lit up, "If Maggie hadn't got to you first, you could have come and worked for me ... you still can if you get fed up with gardening." We both laughed, she squeezed my arm and went off in the direction of the paddocks. Was she serious, I wasn't sure?

I found Janice still struggling with the tack box and tugged it free for her and dragged it into the stall, then we crossed the yard to the tack room and she boiled the kettle for instant coffees. We sat and exchanged potted histories of our lives for the past five years and swapped gossip about mutual acquaintances. Finally, as the subject hadn't come up I asked the question which was at the top of my list.

"I guess you are engaged then?" I said, pointing at the ring on her finger.

She gave a sexy, throaty chuckle, "If that's what is stopping you from asking me out, there's an easy solution," she said and twisted the ring from her finger and pushed it into her pocket. "There, I'm free and available now." She added.

"Is there something here that I'm missing?" I asked. It was a strange thing to do and she was obviously and blatantly coming on to me.

"No..... But there is something good that you'll be missing if you don't get round to asking me out." She giggled. "I have waited since I was thirteen for this opportunity and I'm not going to pass it up this time."

We both laughed but I did agree to telephone her before the end of the week and arrange a date. "Where are you living now?" I asked.

"Right here," she replied, "Philippa lets me have the old coachman's flat above the carriage house."

We got up and started to leave the tack room. It was so full of clutter that there was only just room to squeeze between the racks of saddles, harness and the stacked boxes and sacks of feed. The light was quite dim and we both tried to get between two stacks of sacks at the same time. Suddenly her body was jammed against mine, her tits were pressed hard against my chest and my thigh was between hers and pushed hard into her crotch. We both started to laugh which actually made the situation worse.

"Bloody hell, Jamie!" She giggled. "You don't waste much time do you, sod the foreplay get straight into the rape and pillage, eh?"

"Oh, I can manage foreplay if you want," I chortled, and brought my hands up to lightly cup her breasts, thumbing her nipples through shirt and bra. She didn't protest or attempt to move for a good thirty seconds and then twisted away giggling.

"Call me!" she threw back over her shoulder then lightly ran out into the yard. By the time I got out of the tack room she was out of sight.

Janice was definitely a prick teaser but she seemed to be interested and there was no way that I was going to pass up a golden opportunity.

It was mid-morning by the time that I got to the The Cedars. I gave the gardens a quick check and then went around the back to the kitchen. The cook for the home, Danny, was a very pleasant man who was always to willing to make who ever was working the gardens a tea or coffee and had even brought sandwiches out to us once. He made coffees and we took them outside and sat on a bench by the kitchen door chatting. I was just about to ask him about Janet when she put her head out of the door.

"Oh, there you are Dan, the boss wants you in the office." she said, and then spotted me. "Hello Jamie ..... have you been avoiding me?" She sat down next to me in the place that Danny had vacated. She looked exactly the same as the first time I met her, fresh and smiling and cute and sexy in her white uniform. "I thought you were going to take me out on a date?"

"Er, yeah ... that would be great," I replied. What the hell was going on I thought to myself, suddenly all these girls coming on to me, first the card from Kristen, then Janice and now Janet, perhaps even Philippa!" Maybe it was something to do with it being St.Valentine's Day ..... Oh God! I thought, I hope it's not a bloody leap year.

"If you can make one evening next week, it would be good." I said, "We have a family funeral at the end of the week so I am going to be pretty busy at work." I explained. I fancied Janet and didn't want her to think that I was just tweaking her strings.

"I have an evening off on Thursday," she suggested. "The new Schwarzenegger film 'Red Heat' will be on at the Odeon .... If you fancy that?"

OK, great!" I enthused, Arnie films were usually good fun and a dark cinema on a first date was always a bonus. "Shall I pick you up here?"

"No need, I've got my own car," she said, "Can we meet outside the cinema about seven ... just in case my shift overruns and I am late getting away."

I needed to talk to Mrs. Harvey about getting a tree doctor in to look at some of the cedars that had been damaged during the storm. I had done basic tree care as part of my course work but this was specialist stuff. I walked through to reception with Janet and then spent five minutes with Jane Harvey in the garden pointing out the injured trees and explaining the work needed. She gave me a free hand to call in a tree surgeon and bill it as part of the maintenance contract.

When I got back to the office the flowers had arrived. I had never sent out Valentines cards in my life, but this year I had ordered three bunches of red roses to be sent to the office, one for Maggie, one for Emma and one for Mum which I would take home with me when I left off. There wasn't any ulterior motive; I just wanted to acknowledge them as women not just family.

Emma was really pleased and smothered me with hugs and kisses. "I knew that you cared." She whispered into my ear pointedly and her happiness was not dampened when I told her I had not sent the card and suggested that it had probably come from Tim.

Maggie was more controlled but gave me a beaming smile, a hug and brushed her lips lightly across mine. "That is the first time that I have had flowers on St. Valentine's Day since Robert died," she said a little sadly. I held her tightly in my arms for a couple of minutes before going back to my own desk.

I did notice that the card from Kristen had now completely disappeared; it was no longer on my desk nor in the waste bin. I raised my eyebrows in query to Maggie.

"Don't ask me," she laughed, "your sister is your problem." Then she added in a more serious vein, "Do you want me to speak to her, woman to woman, sort it out?" I considered for a moment if I should tell Maggie everything; about Emma masturbating in my room and the kiss we had shared briefly in the car. We were all getting along so well together these days, Mum, Emma, Maggie, the twins and me, I was not going to risk our relationship, I had no choice but to continue to walk that tightrope for a bit longer.

"No," I said, "it will work itself out in time."

I called Janice the next day and suggested that we met up on Friday or Saturday evening, and was a bit disappointed when she said that she was already busy those nights. In the end we agreed to spend a day together later in the month, I was due a couple of days off and she suggested that we could go riding in the afternoon and get a drink somewhere in the evening. Emma wasn't in the office and so on an impulse I rang Kristen Olsen, and invited her out on Friday, a date she accepted. I was glad that I had called her as she told me she was about to come over to the garden centre to see me in person and I really didn't want her butting heads with Emma.

We were very pleased with the speed at which the builders progressed for the rest of the week and by the end of the week they were not only on target but well ahead with some tasks. The glaziers had brought in a hydraulic cherry picker, and had very swiftly got most of the glass roofing panels in place. The whole structure was now starting to look very impressive. The gala re-opening was planned for the 25th March, Easter Saturday, five weeks away and we were confident enough that we would achieve completion by that date that Maggie had sent the invitation cards for guests off to the printers.

I was up at four thirty on Friday morning to make tea and breakfast for Mum and Emma as Maggie was picking them up at half past five. They were intending to drive up to York for the funeral, stay over night and drive back sometime on Saturday.

Kristen had asked me to meet her at the Cathedral Hotel about nine o'clock and so I had plenty of time to shower and change and grab a couple of hours rest before driving into Salisbury in Maggie's VW Polo. Maggie had caught me on Thursday coming in soaking wet after riding through the rain into work on the moped, and had suggested that until the twins came home in August I should treat the Polo as my own, she seldom used it and to be honest it made sense. I was determined to use the Vespa as much as possible as the running cost was so much lower but having a car in bad weather or when going out on dates was a real bonus.

There was a disco and sometimes a live band in the bar at The Cathedral on Friday and Saturday nights and it was becoming one of the popular night spots in town. I knew that Kristen and her set of friends were usually there most Fridays and it was where we had all come as a family to celebrate the twins passing their driving test in January. The disco was in full swing when I arrived and the bar was full with the dance floor already packed. I had no difficulty finding Kristen she was standing just inside the bar waiting for me. Glancing into the bar I could see several younger guys and girls that I knew as casual acquaintances or by sight, I had been to school with several of the boys but did not really move in their social circle.

Kristen was wearing either the same very short, white lace, baby doll dress that she had been wearing the last time I saw her, or one very similar. This time her lingerie, which was clearly visible through the almost transparent dress, was royal blue and matched her high heeled shoes and clutch bag. Her very long, very blonde, hair had obviously been brushed until it shone and the tresses had been twinked into subtle waves at the tips as was the fashion that year.

She almost immediately threw her arms around my neck and gave me a firm wet kiss on the lips. I uncrossed my fingers, and inwardly gave a sigh of relief; at least she seemed to be sober this time.

"Hi Jamie," she purred, "I'm so glad that you came ... I wasn't sure if you would .... I was beginning to think you were avoiding me."

"Of course I haven't," I lied.

"At least you don't have your ghastly cousins in tow this time," she giggled. The last time that we were here Lauren and Luci had almost physically chased her away from me on the dance floor. I thought it best to change the subject.

"So, what would you like to do?" I asked, "We can stay here, go somewhere else, or, if you are hungry get something to eat in the restaurant?"

It looked as if a multiple choice question was going to be more than she could handle! Kristen was absolutely stunning to look at, bright and bubbly and could be fun, but despite both her parents being brilliant lawyers, the poor girl really was a bit of a bimbo. I remember Lulu referring to her once as 'The Barbie Doll' all hair and no brain. She could be a bit irritating at times but I genuinely liked her, and she had a fantastic body. I decided to let her off the hook.

"Let's get a drink and we can decide later," I said and steered her around the dance floor to the bar. I bought her a Bacardi and Coke and myself a straight tonic water. We sat on a couple of high bar stools and watched the dancers thrashing and gyrating to the music being pumped out by the DJ in the corner. We had two or three more drinks, mingled with various groups of friends or acquaintances and when the DJ started to play ballads I allowed her to lead me on to the dance floor. I wasn't a keen dancer but it was dark and anonymous and having her body swaying and rubbing against me in time to the music was far from unpleasant.

She put her arms around my neck and tucked her face into my throat and I could feel her lips moving, placing small delicate kisses on my throat and then up around my jaw until her lips finally found mine. Our bodies were so close that it felt as though she was trying to melt into me from our lips down to her thighs which were tightly clamped each side of my leg, her crotch grinding against my thigh. I slid my hands down her back until they rested on her buttocks and gently squeezed and pressed her harder against me, she must have been aware of my erection pressed solidly against her tummy.

The record we were dancing to came to an end. "Let's go somewhere quiet, where we can be alone." She murmured in my ear.

I took her hand and led her out of the bar into the hotel lobby. "Do you have a coat?" I asked, it was cold again that night and she was virtually naked in that thin lace dress. She passed me a cloak room ticket and I collected her tiny white embroidered, bolero jacket and draped it around her shoulders. I had managed to get parked just around the corner in Brown Street, but she started to shiver as soon as we got out of the hotel doors and so I put my arm around her shoulders and we ran laughing to the car, got in and I started the motor and switched on the heater.

"Make me warm, Jamie." She said, her voice was husky and a bit breathless. She put her arms around my neck again and hauled herself over against me, pressing her lips to mine her tongue pushing into my mouth. I slid my arm around her slender waist and we sat there in the car with the engine running locked in a deep jaw aching kiss for several minutes. Eventually we broke apart and I noticed that her short dress had ridden up around her waist, if anybody had peering into the car she would have seemed to be sitting there in just a blouse and panties.

She sat back and fastened her seat belt. "Let's go somewhere private," she said.

I pulled away and was half way home before I thought to say to her, "Is my place, OK? Mum and Emma are away for the night."

"It's not far, is it?" Was her only reply and I felt her hand creep into my lap as if to urge me to greater speed. Fortunately there was not much traffic and we only had a short distance to drive because having her hand fondling and stoking my stiffened prick was a real distraction.