The Haunted (Sleeping with Monsters Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

back and forth on a
horse’s broad back. Heat built where her legs split and met the saddle,
bouncing with every move the horse made, translating the beginnings of pleasure
into her, if she could just let herself go. In her dream the horse had no reins
and she wound her hands into its mane to hold on as the saddle disappeared and
left her grinding against its sweating black back, every motion it made beneath
her safe and strong. It raced toward a horizon that -- in the manner of dreams
-- it would never reach, and she began to moan.
    The
horse’s back got bigger, spread her legs more widely and the friction between
it and her became more intense. She knew she should be ashamed of even thinking
such thoughts, but she knew it was a dream, and in her dream she wanted to let
go --
    A
soft click from the outside world intruded and she startled awake. The
sensation of riding didn’t end though – because she could clearly feel the
outline of hot hands spreading open her thighs.
    She
screamed, snapping her legs together, sitting straight up. The book fell from
her chest to the ground.
     

Chapter Three
    “Who’s
there?” She looked around the empty room – and saw where her closet door was
open, just a crack.
    “I
mean it –“ she fumbled in her nightstand drawer for the remote that controlled
the alarm. She didn’t care where in the world Richard was now, they could very
well wake him, even if it was all in her head –
    But
the light had been on when she woke up – there was no way there could be anyone
else in the room with her now. She would have seen them, they’d had no time to
hide. She squirmed in bed, an uncomfortable heat still lingering between her
thighs. She stood, and walked over to the closet, looking inside of it, and
finding only herself in the mirror. And then she checked out Richard’s closet,
and the bathroom just in case.
    The
feeling of danger faded, replaced by curiosity. “I’m not the crazy one, am I?”
she asked, well aware that just asking it made it much more likely that she
was.
    She
slid herself back up to the head of the bed, and picked up her book. Lady
Chatterley’s Lover had all sorts of provocative horseriding scenes, and her
dream had clearly come from that, it was a normal thing. But the sound of her
closet door falling open – it was one more thing she needed to fix, and good
thing she hadn’t fired Mrs. Dudley earlier, such a good thing – had startled
her and in her half-asleep state she’d assumed the worst.
    Right?
    She
set Lady Chatterley’s Lover down and picked up Rebecca instead. And when she
felt tired she set the book aside but left the light on.
     
    Daphne
met Arthur for breakfast downstairs at eight on the dot. He seemed pleased to
see her and for Mrs. Dudley’s culinary talents not to go to waste.
    “And
what are your plans today, Ma’am?” Arthur asked, after she had eaten a polite
amount of everything and the table needed to be cleaned.
    Daphne
bit her lip. The bedroom was nearly finished, she couldn’t just hide in there
anymore. “I’m going to give myself a tour of the second floor, and see where I
should turn my attentions next.”
    “Very
well, Ma’am. I hope to finish the library today, if I do I will find you and
ask for instruction.”
    “Thank
you Arthur,” she said, pushing her chair back from the table. “And thank Mrs.
Dudley too, that was lovely.”
    He
bowed politely, and she left.
     
    Daphne
took her time walking up the stairs. She wasn’t tired, though she ought to be,
since she’d left the light on all night. Instead, she felt excited – invigorated,
even – at the chance to see the rest of the house, in the bright light of day.
    The
upstairs was organized into two massive wings, accessible only from the
wide-winged stairs in the hallway out front. She felt like a detective, trying
to piece together what each room had been. Four old divots in the hardwood, as
if from a desk? Then perhaps it’d been a study. An abandoned