TWO DAYS LATER Mark told Kate there was nothing wrong with either the financial or moral conduct of Pharescault. ‘Are you sure?’ she asked. Mark looked at her. ‘You sound almost disappointed.’ She was. She had spent a lot of time thinking about Nero since his visit to the Mayfair flat —and the one thing her thoughts always came back to was that she didn’t trust the man. Not one little bit. She enjoyed his body, she even revelled in it. But his mind was a different matter. And she was now positive that, despite his protestations, it was uppermost in that mind that he now held sway over her. He had the power to wreck her career and she had no doubt that he would use that power if he saw fit. To illustrate that, he had left her no money. It was his way of demonstrating that he didn’t owe her — he owned her. Kate looked blankly at Mark. She was disappointed, she thought. If she had been able to find damaging information about Nero his hold over her would be destroyed. She, instead, c

‘No ...” she moaned. ‘No, Elodie ... don’t do this ... don’t do this to me. Please. I can’t stand it...“ But Elodie carried on, greedily and voraciously lapping and probing at the burning channel of Kate’s sex. Now she was at her clitoris, teasing the rigid, straining bud, nibbling at it with impossible gentleness. Kate wriggled beneath her, madly excited yet deeply frustrated. Again she wanted to reciprocate, to rouse herself from the groaning passivity of her position. And again Elodie understood. She raised her head from Kate’s swollen, streaming, sex and, more aggressively this time, pressed her entire body against Kate’s. Their mouths met again, mingling together and creating juices to make a strong, powerful female nectar of unparalleled sweetness. Their breasts meshed together, softness seeming to multiply against softness until their nipples touched and a. sharp, electric jolt passed between them. And further down, Kate experienced a new sensation that eclipsed anything she had

SHE WAS READY when the doorbell rang. Ready and waiting. She had spent the last hour in the Mayfair flat, finalising her plans, preparing to do to Nero what he had done to her. She smiled at the prospect. Thanks to the man from the opera, the prospect looked a great deal more attractive than it had earlier in the day. She had been right to suspect that Nero would be devious in every area of his life; right in her supposition that he would cover his tracks in everything he did. But now she had uncovered them. Now she was the huntress and he was her prey. She held all the cards. Once again, she had the power. She smiled as she answered the door. So did Nero. She was charming to him as she ushered him inside and offered him a drink. He was polite to her. They chatted, made small talk. She could tell from the expression in his eyes that he was enjoying toying with her. She hoped he couldn’t read the expression in her eyes. He was playing a waiting game. So was she. He broke first. ‘You

MILES COURTENAY’S SUICIDE made headline news. His disgrace, on the other hand, was not aired in public. Charles Grant, the new company chairman, decided that Courtenay de Witt could easily ride out the losses he had incurred. For all of their sakes, he pleaded, the facts of the case should remain secret. It wasn’t difficult to keep them secret — few people knew them. And only one person knew them all. ‘There’s something,’ said Mark to Kate as they walked out of Charles’s office, ‘that you’re not telling me, isn’t there?’ ‘Mmm?’ Kate, feigning disinterest, didn’t look round. ‘Come on, Kate. Don’t play games with me. You marched into Miles’s office yesterday after your “day’s research”, and half an hour later Miles resigned. I simply don’t believe one day was enough for you to trawl through the records of God knows how many dodgy holding companies to get incontrovertible proof against him. You must have had something else - what was it?’ It was a tape, she thought. A tape from whic

(A short story)I NEVER REALISED I could be this happy, thought Madeleine blissfully as she accepted a peach from Delrina’s golden bowl. Laying aside her book, she bit into the fruit’s velvet skin, and as its ripe, sweet taste exploded on her tongue she sighed with pleasure, and felt the peach-juice dribble over her chin and drip down on to the slope of her breast. Licking her lips, and taking another large bite, she lolled back amongst the silk-covered cushions, - Closed her eyes, and remembered how she’d come to this place... ***It'd all begun when her father couldn’t pay the Prince's tribute. The shame had been terrible, but there’d been worse to come when the Royal Chamberlain had suggested a solution. Madeleine hadn’t known which to fear the most: year after year of debt and dishonour as her family struggled to find the money, or the total surrender of her body when she entered the Prince’s service. Madeleine had heard tales of such delicate arrangements, but had always dismi