Veronica frowned as she started to double-check what she had just been reading. In a detailed account for the work involved in treating both the wet and dry rot to Elsinore Hall, she had only just noticed something strange.          Just slipped in at the back of the file, was an additional sheet reporting on some dry rot infestation in the Rectory, Sasha’s private property, and with it was a brief note confirming that the work on the Rectory would be put in hand before the contractors started working on Elsinore Hall itself.          She could feel her heart starting to thump heavily with a mixture of anger and pain as she read the sheet again. It wasn’t unknown for the owners of the properties the Trust took over to try to drive as hard a bargain as they possibly could.     &nbs

          The fact that he was just shrugging on his jacket as she came down the stairs allowed Veronica to have an unwanted glimpse of the lethal maleness of the muscles in his torso and made her hesitate betrayingly just for a second before continuing walking down the stairs.          He had changed his clothes simply to have dinner with her… Why? Because Sasha knew very well the effect his appearance would have on any susceptible woman and because he intended to use that fact to distract her, to confuse her when she needed all her attention, all her concentration to ascertain the truth about what he did?          Or was she letting her imagination run away with her again? Was the woman he had dressed so elegantly her or was it…? Was he perhaps seeing the other woman after their meeting had finished?“We&r

          She had guessed that Wayne was his supplier but had naively assumed then that Wayne was no more than a generous-minded individual who had the contacts to supply his friends with drugs, and that it was they who pressured him into obtaining them for them rather than the other way around.          Without directly saying so, Wayne had implied that they were two of a kind, individuals who stood out from the crowd. His street-wise sophistication had reminded Veronica in some odd way of Sasha. Perhaps because, like Sasha, Wayne was older than her and the friends she’d mixed with.          Veronica had listened half enviously when he had told her of his plans to spend the summer with a group of eco-warriors, traveling the country, defending and protecting the nature.        &nbs

          He felt so good, smelled so good… Shyly, she opened her eyes and then her mouth, licking exploratively at his skin. In her ear, Veronica could feel the rapid increase in Sasha’s heartbeat.          His arms tightened around her and then, suddenly, Sasha was picking her up, carrying her over to the bed, laying her on it, touching her skin, stroking her body, kissing her in all the ways she had imagined and showing her at the same time just how far short of the astonishing reality her imagination had fallen.          In his hands, her breasts swelled and ached, her nipples taut, begging to be touched, kissed, sucked. Unable to stop herself, Veronica started to moan softly as his mouth tugged gently on her breast, her body arching, twisting, filled, driven by such an intensity of need that she herself was lost in i

“Hi, sweetie!”           Veronica smiled warmly as she recognized her boss’s voice.“J.J.,” she responded, “how are you?”“Fine, I guess. Listen, I’ve got to come over to England on some other business and I thought to come and see you and see how you’re getting on with Elsinore Hall.”           She laughed since she was expecting his visit. J.J. was like a child with a new toy whenever he acquired a new property, saying every time that he wasn’t going to visit it again until all the renovation work had been complete and then being totally unable to resist checking on how things were going.          Or not so much checking on how things were going, but sneaking another look, like a child sneaking a look at a hidden-away Chri