Julia didn’t let go of my hand. She looked calmly at her daughter. ‘Jasmine. We weren’t expecting you. Why aren’t you at university?’ 

‘University’s closed for face to face teaching. Everything’s online. Everyone’s gone home. It’s really boring there now. Bob gave me a lift.’ Bob was her latest boyfriend. Julia stood and led her out, to the drawing-room. They were in there for about ten minutes. I ate some food, drank some wine. Then I heard them going down to the kitchen; another five minutes and they reappeared, Jasmine carrying a plate piled high with food.

She sat down beside Julia, across the table from me, and looked seriously at me. ‘I’m sorry, John, that was rude of me. Mum’s explained the situation, and I’m glad you’re here for her.’

I’m here for me too, I thought, but just said, ‘It must have been a surprise for you, Jasmine. Is the uni closed for the term?’ 

‘Hmm. I’ll be here for a while,’ she said, around a mouthful of food. I thought I caught a mischievous glint in her eye, and glanced at Julia, who smiled back at me sweetly. I knew that look; it meant she had more to tell me, in private, so we talked of other things, like a family does, until it was time to go to bed.

‘What did you say to Jasmine when you took her away tonight?’ I was watching Julia pad around the room doing things to her face as, I understand, many women do before retiring. She was naked, so it was nice to watch her. I wondered if I would ever get tired of the way her muscles moved, her grace and poise. Poetry in motion. As she bent forward to peer at some invisible blemish in the mirror I felt a stirring under the bedclothes. 

She straightened and turned towards me, wiping at her face with a little cloth. ‘I told her why you were here, and that you were staying here for the duration of the lockdown, perhaps longer. I think she wants to get reacquainted with her riding crop, as wielded by you. I told her that the riding crop was the last thing she should worry about. I didn’t give her a taste of the cane tonight, but I’ve a feeling she’ll be feeling it on her impudent backside before too long. And I’m going to be using it, not you.’ I raised an eyebrow. ‘What, you think I can’t wield the cane effectively? I’ve had more practice than you, buster.’ 

She took a quick step, pulled back the covers. ‘Turn over,’ she said. This was getting interesting. I lay on my front, my growing erection digging into the mattress. I heard the cupboard door opening and then Julia was at my side, a thin cane in her hand. ‘Now,’ she said, ‘I won’t give you the full monty, just a little taste. Perhaps six of the best, just to show you...’

She lowered the cane so that it rested on my backside. Fear and anticipation built in me as I waited. My erection grew harder. Much more and it would lift me out of the bed. The cane disappeared, to crack hard across both cheeks. It felt like an iron rod. I gulped in a breath, to let it out with a gasp as the thin cane swished down and bit, harder this time into my cheeks. I gritted my teeth and tensed as it lay down a line of fire a third time. Four. Five. Six.

The swish as the cane whipped across my smarting backside was loud in the room. After six stinging blows, I felt a hand smoothing my soreness and then a kiss, on each cheek. ‘There. That wasn’t so bad, was it? Oh my. I must make this a regular thing,’ said Julia, as I turned over to reveal the erection that had been building during my caning. She smiled widely, put the cane down and climbed on. 

Later, we lay side by side in sated togetherness. We were even holding hands. ‘We haven’t spoken about what we do after this is over,’ she said. ‘You know, when it’s all back to normal. What do you think?’ 

I took my time to answer. Truth was, I’d been thinking about this a lot. Sometimes, at the stables, I’d look towards the big house, and wonder at the change in my life. From living alone - happily - to living as a couple, with a woman I’d fantasised over sexually for years, but, just as importantly, admired and liked as a person for just as long, was a huge leap. One that I was still getting used to. And now Jasmine was back.

‘I think that I like this arrangement we’ve got, this life, a lot. And I don’t want it to stop. I was happy on my own in my cottage, but you must know how I’ve felt about you all these years. It’s not just because of my love of the horses that I’ve stayed here so long, you know.’ 

Julia turned, put her leg over mine and her hand on my chest. ‘I’m glad you said that, but don’t you think it should be more than an arrangement?’ My heart started thudding in my chest. This was getting serious. ‘I was thinking more of a partnership.’ She sat up, and her hand migrated to my leg. The covers fell away, and she looked magnificent. At that moment I would have willingly agreed to anything she said. 

She put her hand on my manhood, which, true to form, was starting to get twitchy. ‘No, not right now.’ She smiled. ‘Perhaps later, though.’ Then a serious face. ‘I mean a partnership in the truest sense. Business.’ She noticed my disappointed look. ‘Well, ok, that too,’ and she stroked the inside of my thigh, tantalisingly close to my cock. This was like teasing, so I sat up in bed. 

‘Julia,’ I said, ‘will you please stop dicking around. What exactly do you mean?’

‘Yeh, sorry, I’m finding this kind of difficult. So I’ll just say it. I have no money. Or next to no money, anyway. Gerald left me the house and a lump sum, which is - was - invested. That money’s been dwindling, and some of the investments weren’t sound. I have maybe a year, year and a half left. That’s why I’ve had to put the house in the Highlands, and the flat in London, on the market. They should get enough for another year or so. Jasmine’s education is paid for by Gerald, so she’s alright.’

I took her hand from my thigh. ‘You have my cottage, and the stables,’ I said, ‘and some land, a few fields? You know, I’ve thought for a while now that the stables could do more. They’re only about a third full. We could run a livery business. A riding school. You’d be good at that, with your riding crop and your penchant for discipline.’ She snorted, and moved gracefully on to my lap, straddling my legs. She put both hands on my chest and leaned in to kiss me. 

‘That’s what I love about you, apart, of course, from your massive cock; your optimism. You never let anything get you down.’ She put her serious face on again. ‘But do you think we could? Would we be able to make enough to live on?’

‘Well, you’d need to curb your spending a bit. No more jetting off to Cannes for the weekend.’ I laughed at the pout. ‘But you’d have me here, with my massive cock. But yeh, I think we could. First thing you need to do, get an accountant, sort out the finances, make you - us - into a limited partnership.’ I wanted another kind of partnership too, but one step at a time.

She sat back and regarded me. ‘Not bad for a stable lad,’ she said. ‘I had no idea. I thought you were just good with horses. Umph!’ The 'umph' was a result of me flipping us both over so Julia was on her back and I was poised to show her that I wasn’t just good with horses. All that movement of her gorgeous backside on my lap had had the usual result. Without any further ado, I pulled her further down the bed and slid my erection into her waiting embrace.

When I was fully installed I lowered myself to kiss her on the lips, a long, sensuous kiss that made me swell even more inside her. Her eyes were shining as they looked up at me and she said the words that meant so much, that I’ll never forget. ‘I love you, John.’  

I moved inside her and we made love, slowly, without haste, without any thoughts other than each other’s pleasure. It was possibly the most profoundly sensual coming together in the history of the world. Or possibly not. It was pretty damned profound for me at any rate.

Julia came slightly before me, arms and legs wrapped tight around me as she gasped out her ecstasy. I came almost immediately after, my seed flooding into her as I disappeared into the moment. I held Julia in my arms, feeling her softness and her strength, marvelling. I held her as her breathing softened and she slipped off to sleep.

We were woken by a line of sunlight that appeared round the edge of the curtains. We lay together quietly for some time, then turned as one for a long, lingering kiss. Which ended when the door banged open and Jasmine was suddenly there, at the foot of the bed. She stood with her fists on her hips. ‘Are you two lovebirds EVER going to get up?’ Jasmine spoke in capitals a bit too much for my liking. She looked at me. ‘I’ve had my breakfast and I want to take Rosie out. I need her saddled and ready in ten minutes!’ 

Julia sat up in bed and flung the covers back. Her eyes glinted in a way that should have made Jasmine turn and run for her room. ‘How DARE you burst in here like that and PRESUME to order John about like some stable boy?’ I could see where Jasmine got her love of speaking in capitals from. I had never seen Julia so angry. ‘Get out of here THIS MINUTE and wait for me in the drawing-room.’ 

Jasmine stood her ground for a few seconds and then fled. Julia leapt out of bed and pulled on a silk dressing gown, fastening it tightly at the waist. ‘Come on,’ she said, picking up the cane she’d used on me. ‘I’m going to teach that madam a lesson she won’t forget and I want you to be there.’ I pulled on a dressing gown and hurried after her as she strode out and made her way to the drawing-room. 

Jasmine was standing by the window, leaning against the wall, chewing her thumb. She turned and saw the cane in Julia’s hand. ‘What, are you going to get John to cane me now?’ Her face was a sneer. It didn’t help Julia’s mood. 

‘First, Jasmine,’ she said, calmly, ‘our bedroom is private. If you ever want to speak to either of us, you knock and wait. Second, John is not a stable boy. He is my...’ I was transfixed. What was she going to say? ‘... partner.’ She stood tall after she’d said that, as if a decision had been made. ‘In all senses of the word. So you will give him the respect he’s due. And he won’t be saddling Rosie or anyone else for you. You can do it yourself. And third, John is not going to cane you. I am. I’m going to try and beat some sense into your impudent, spoiled arse, as I should have done years ago. Now get these riding breeches down and touch your toes!’  

I took a seat on the couch and watched with interest. Julia stood, tall and strong, flexing the cane in her hands. Jasmine’s face was white. She stood facing Julia, fists clenched, jaw clenched, everything clenched. ‘You? Cane me? I don’t think so! I’m not a child!’

‘That’s exactly what you are,’ Julia said calmly. In two quick steps, she was unzipping Jasmine’s riding breeches and pulling them down, ignoring her daughter’s cries of outrage and attempts to stop her. Once Jasmine’s trousers and panties were bundled around her ankles, Julia grabbed an arm and pulled her over to the couch opposite mine.

It was a solid old couch with high arms and back; Julia pushed her daughter until her hips met the arm and put her hand in the small of her back, forcing her inexorably down. Once Jasmine was bent over enough she measured the cane against her exposed backside, drew back and let fly. 

Smooth rattan met taut skin with a sharp crack and Jasmine let out an almighty howl. She tried to straighten but Julia is strong, and was like a woman possessed that day. Keeping her hand on her daughter’s back she whipped the thin cane across her backside again and again with hard strokes, fast and relentless. After about a dozen stinging cuts Jasmine grabbed the cushion of the couch, holding on for dear life, crying out with every stroke.

Seeing this, Julia released her hold on her daughter's back and stood back. She turned to me, blew me a kiss and smiled. I knew that look. It meant she was really going to get going. Jasmine’s backside wasn’t as full as Julia’s but it was rounded and eminently spankable. Just at that moment, as Jasmine stretched on the tips of her toes, it was striped with red marks and in a perfect position for more. Julia planted her feet and drew the cane back. 

Swish-Crack! The thin rattan bent as Julia whipped it hard across both cheeks. Jasmine’s eyes opened wide and her hands opened on the cushion as she cried out in pain and surprise. ‘Aaah! Jesus. Fuck. That was sore.’

‘At last I’m starting to get through to you,’ Julia said, and drew back again. The sound of the cane thrashing Jasmine’s backside was loud in the room as Julia laid it on hard and fast, relentlessly. Jasmine’s bottom was crisscrossed with red lines by now; I noticed that each time the cane laid a trail of fire across her cheeks it turned white, then red. A few were starting to puff up slightly. And still Julia, whipped the cane across those reddened, punished cheeks.

Jasmine was crying out through clenched teeth with each stroke, eyes alternatively squeezed shut and opened wide as the blows landed. She was just enduring, holding on while the storm of Julia’s anger broke on her. I lost count after thirty or so hard, stinging strokes. Julia had started adding a little upward flick to the end of each stoke, and it seemed to have the desired effect, making Jasmine’s legs kick her back arch as she tried to deal with the pain. 

At last, Julia stopped. Jasmine was still, panting slightly, eyes moist with tears. Her bottom was lined and red, with more than a few puffed out welts swelling painfully. Julia ran a hand over them. ‘There are a few weals there, perhaps riding Rosie wouldn’t be the best idea today.’ She took her daughter's arm, helped her to her feet. Jasmine groaned and her hands flew to her bottom, trying to knead out the pain. 

‘God, mum, I never thought you could cane that hard. My ass is on fire. And it feels huge, especially with these lines across it.’ She wiped her eyes with the heel of a hand, and gulped back her tears. ‘No-o-o, I think I might just go back to my room for a while.’ She stopped, looked at her mother. ‘If that’s alright?’ Julia smiled. ‘Of course it is. Just as soon as you’ve apologised to John and me for your behaviour.’ 

Jasmine turned to me. Hands clasped to her burning cheeks, she looked the very picture of contrition. ‘Mum, John, I’m sorry I behaved so badly. It won’t happen again.’ And she pulled up her pants and trousers, wincing as they stretched over her backside, and hurried from the room. Julia looked at me and smiled. She pulled the cord on her dressing gown. She looked magnificent and powerful, her breasts rising and falling as she breathed hard after her exertions with the cane.

‘I could cut glass with these nipples,’ she said, fondling them with one hand. She stopped, held the hand out to me and pulled me to my feet. ‘But right now, I’m going to fuck you senseless.’ That sounded fine to me, so I let her lead me, unprotesting, to the bedroom, and heaven.