‘I’M SORRY, DADDY’S out,’ said Leonora, hoping that Guy hadn’t come round to complain about her lack of interest at the gallery. ‘He won’t be back until about three in the morning, and we’ve got an important visitor for dinner so I’m afraid I can’t ask you in to see my stepmother.’ She was pleased about that, because if Guy was there to complain then Rose would be more likely to believe him than her father.
Guy gave a slight smile. ‘I’m the visitor,’ he said softly.
Leonora swallowed hard and hoped she didn’t look as foolish as she felt. Wondering why Rose hadn’t told her this, she stood to one side and let Guy walk into the entrance lobby.
For the first time that she could remember she was grateful to Rose. If it hadn’t been for her she wouldn’t have bothered to put on her skirt for the evening, and she knew very well that Guy had a keen eye for women’s clothes. He was looking devastating himself, in an Italian suit that was dark taupe in colour with a single-breasted jacket. His dark blue shirt had wide-set collar wings, and the severity of the outfit was offset by a flamboyant red and blue tie with white rectangles woven into the silk.
Leonora couldn’t think of a word to say to him, and she was casting around desperately in her mind for something that would be sufficiently witty when Rose drifted down the stairs. Her simple cream dress fitted her like a second skin and Leonora saw Guy’s eyes light up with appreciation, just as all men’s eyes lit up whenever Rose appeared on the scene.
Luckily, before Leonora could go into a sulk, Piers arrived, and soon after that they were all in Sir Peter’s study having pre-dinner drinks. To Leonora’s surprise Rose took an unusual amount of interest in Piers, which meant that Guy was left to talk to Leonora.
Guy, who had been able to read every single emotion that had passed through Leonora’s mind from the moment she opened the front door to him, was delighted by the way things were going. He could see the attraction that Piers held for Rose. The boy was about twenty, he thought. He was well built and confident on the surface, but once Rose got to work on him that self-confidence would soon disappear and she’d have the pleasure of taking on the role of sexual teacher just as Guy intended to do with Leonora.
He knew that the gallery didn’t interest Leonora – Marcia’s complaints had made that clear – so he asked her about her plans for the future, and as she chatted away about her forthcoming visit to Italy he watched her face carefully and tried to picture it when she was at the height of sexual passion.
This was an unusual evening for him. Normally he spent his time with experienced women – either Marcia or else the young wives of older men who needed to gain their satisfaction discreetly elsewhere, without jeopardising their marriages. This suited him very well, although in the past few days he’d found himself thinking quite a lot about Cressida Farleigh and what it would be like to make love to her.
Leonora was clearly so inexperienced that almost anything he did would have very satisfying results, but he did wonder now why he’d wanted her so much. He supposed that he must be getting tired of women who knew it all, but there had to be a middle path – a young woman who knew quite a lot but was still anxious to discover more about her sexuality, Leonora was almost a blank sheet. It was impossible to imagine that she and Piers did anything more adventurous than straight sex in the back of the boy’s car.
At dinner the two women sat at opposite ends of the table, and by the time they were eating dessert Guy knew from Piers’s flushed cheeks that Rose was already making her intentions clear. She’d probably been touching his leg beneath the tablecloth from the moment soup was served, he thought with amusement, but he himself hadn’t made any move towards Leonora, who had talked endlessly about total trivia.
They moved from the dining room to the lounge for coffee, and once there Rose’s intentions became even more clear as she patted the arm of her chair in an invitation for Piers to sit next to her. Guy felt Leonora’s body stiffen with shock as her young lover immediately went and sat where Rose had indicated, and then heard her quick intake of breath as she watched her stepmother’s hand rest on his knee, her fingers scratching lightly through the heavy denim of his jeans.
Guy, who’d been standing behind Leonora’s chair, rested his hands on her shoulders and moved them over the surprisingly cool skin, skimming the surface as softly as he could so that for a few seconds Leonora wasn’t sure what he was doing. Then, when she did realise, she sat perfectly still and never even turned her head to look up at him.
Rose smiled at her stepdaughter across the room and then very deliberately began to unfasten the buttons on Piers’s shirt. Her hand moved inside and she rubbed his chest. ‘You work out a lot, don’t you?’ she asked huskily.
Piers, who could hardly speak, nodded and made a sound of assent.
‘I like a well-muscled body,’ continued Rose. ‘I work out a little myself, mostly on my exercise bike. Not that I manage to do many miles on it, but it all helps, don’t you think?’
Piers nodded. ‘Yes, of course,’ he muttered. ‘I don’t think you need to worry too much, though. You’ve got a lovely figure.’ Rose gave him one of her most enigmatic smiles and Guy had to increase his grip on Leonora’s shoulders as she started to rise up from her chair.
‘Shall I show you the bike?’ went on Rose, getting up from her seat and catching hold of Piers by the hand. He didn’t need to be invited twice and without a glance back at Leonora he followed Rose from the room.
‘Well,’ said Guy softly, ‘I think we’d better go and keep an eye on them, don’t you?’ As he spoke he walked round in front of her and caught both her wrists in one hand so that for a fleeting moment he had her imprisoned in his grip. Leonora stared at him, her cheeks pink and then she too rose and followed him out of the room.
Rose had taken Piers to the second bedroom, one of the few rooms in the house that Guy considered to be tastefully decorated, and as he and Leonora entered he paused for a moment as his eyes took in the quietly sensual appeal of the room.
Two large eighteenth-century armchairs had been covered in a pink and white check design while the walls and curtains were in a soft pink and fawn Braquenie print. The same colours were picked up in the deep pile carpet, which also featured a Braquenie design.
On the walls there were numerous pictures of French origin: cafe and restaurant scenes, and one evocative painting of a couple standing outside a restaurant, their bodies half-turned away from each other as they began to part. The look of infinite sadness on the face of the woman always had a profound effect on Guy because it made him wonder why the relationship was ending. Despite the sadness there was an eroticism about the couple that made you feel that in the time leading up to the parting they’d experienced something incredible, something that would live with them for ever. He thought Rick Marks would probably like it.
The decoration of the room held no interest for Leonora, but what was happening on the large double bed did. Her eyes were wide with astonishment as she saw that her stepmother was totally naked, lying on her side watching as Piers hastily finished removing his jeans and boxer shorts. Once he was naked he was on the bed in seconds, and with a soft laugh of excitement Rose rolled him on to his back with his head on the pillows.
A strange tightness formed in Leonora’s chest, and she couldn’t take her eyes off the bed as Rose positioned herself on top of Piers with her carefully shaven sex lips resting just above his mouth. As she lowered herself on to him, the fingers of her right hand fondling his testicles as her mouth closed about his already rigid penis, Guy moved Leonora into the room and closed the door softly behind them.
Piers was making strangled noises of pleasure as he sucked vigorously at Rose’s vulva. She turned her head back and gave him one of her strange smiles. ‘Slow down, Piers,’ she murmured. ‘Use your tongue more. Lick me like an ice cream cone, up and down, and then swirl the tip around my clitoris. That’s what I really like.’
Guy glanced at Leonora. Her face and neck were flushed and she was trembling all over. When he reached out and began to stroke the nape of her neck she gave a soft sigh and leant backward. He knew then that it was all going to work out as he’d intended. Piers and Rose were turning her on, and in a few more minutes she’d be ready for anything he chose to do; anything that could ease the desire that was already building inside her.
For Leonora it was both shocking and arousing. She wanted to look away from what was happening on the bed, but she couldn’t. She and Piers had never done anything like this. She’d suggested it once but he’d reacted as though she’d asked him to do something immoral. Clearly his inhibitions had vanished now that he was with Rose.
She was also acutely aware of Guy Cronje standing behind her and the gentle touch of his hand as he stroked her neck. She realised that this entire evening had been planned, and obviously Guy intended to make love to her just as Rose was making love to Piers. Leonora didn’t know whether this knowledge was making her tremble with fear or desire. All that she knew with absolute certainty was that the scene she was witnessing was making her feel more aroused than she’d ever felt before, and when Rose gave a sudden involuntary gasp of delight as Piers’s tongue touched the side of her swollen clitoris, Leonora jumped and felt her nipples harden beneath her skimpy top.
Piers had never known such incredible sensations. Not only was Rose stroking and licking his testicles as she played with him, she had also pushed a hand beneath his buttocks and eased a finger into his rectum until she was able to softly massage his prostate gland. When she first started to do this Piers felt his orgasm beginning and tingles shot up his shaft as his testicles tightened and his stomach muscles contracted sharply.
Rose had expected this and she changed the pressure so that suddenly she was pressing deeply on the gland. To Piers’s surprise this stopped his orgasm seconds before the point of no return so that all he was left with was a throbbing erection and the sensation of the moment of impending release dying away. He made a sound of protest but Rose ignored him. She was nowhere near ready for their lovemaking to end and the knowledge that he was frustrated only increased her own pleasure.
‘When I’ve finished, then you can come, Piers,’ she murmured and immediately Piers redoubled his efforts to please her as his own climax ebbed further away. He slid his tongue up and down the channel between her sex lips and caressed the side of her clitoris with its tip until he felt her shudder above him and then grind her vulva down hard against his mouth.
Leonora and Guy watched Rose’s first orgasm, and when she tipped back her head and closed her eyes Guy knew that he couldn’t wait any longer before he started making love to Leonora. She turned to face him and he peeled her top off over her head and then took off his own clothes as she removed her skirt. When she started to remove her high-legged lace panties he stopped her, and before she realised what was happening he had picked up the discarded tank top and with one swift movement drawn her hands behind her back and used it to fasten her wrists together.
Nothing Leonora had ever experienced had led her to expect this and she gave a squeal of surprise. Guy smiled at her, licked the middle finger of his left hand and then drew it down through the centre of each of her rigid nipples in turn so that both breasts started to swell.
‘It will be more fun this way,’ he assured her, but Leonora wasn’t sure he was right. She now had no control over what happened, and that was both frightening and darkly exciting at the same time.
Rose, who had Piers’s tongue deep inside her vagina, spasmed in pleasure for the second time and swirled her tongue around the ridge beneath the head of his penis as a reward for his efforts. The problem with Piers was that whenever she did something particularly delicious he threatened to climax, and she had to keep checking him. This time, just as he felt the wonderful prickling feeling in his glans, Rose squeezed firmly with her thumb at the spot where the head of his penis joined the shaft and at the same time pressed hard on the opposite side of the penis with her forefinger. He could feel her fingers curled around his shaft as she squeezed but to his dismay the firmness of the pressure in those particular spots meant that his erection subsided slightly and all chance of him climaxing vanished. He moaned with disappointment and Rose laughed softly.
‘There’s a long way to go yet, Piers, but it will be worth it, I promise you. I’m going to change position now and you can enter me from behind, but slide in slowly and make sure you massage my clitoris at the same time.’
Piers wished she wouldn’t be so explicit in her directions. Her words only increased his excitement and he felt like a sixteen year old rather than a twenty year old as his penis grew rock hard again. The constant arousal and then denial of gratification was becoming painful, but despite this he didn’t want it all to end. As the lightly tanned, slender body moved athletically round on the bed and he slid into her from behind, he knew that he’d never have the chance of making love to such a beautiful and experienced woman again and must make the most of this moment.
Because Rose was facing the bedroom door, she was able to see what was happening to Leonora, and this gave her arousal an added edge as she watched Guy lowering her stepdaughter on to the carpet before crouching over her. Because her wrists were tied behind her, Leonora automatically arched her upper torso and this meant that her breasts were in a perfect position for Guy to suck and lick at them. He began slowly but gradually increased the pressure of his tongue until finally he nipped lightly at the soft tissue around her left nipple. Leonora hissed and tried to wriggle away from him, but she was trapped by his arms resting on either side of her, and without the use of her hands there was nothing she could do.
Guy smiled down at her. ‘You liked that,’ he said quietly. ‘Your nipples are so tight they must be painful. You’re aroused, aren’t you? You want an orgasm and you want it now. Isn’t that true?’
Leonora had never been spoken to like that. She and Piers rarely talked when they were having sex and in any case she couldn’t imagine him asking her such a question even if he did speak. To her surprise she found that she couldn’t reply; it was impossible for her to talk in the same way as this sophisticated man, especially with her stepmother on the bed uttering tiny cries and urging Piers on to greater efforts.
‘You don’t have to answer,’ whispered Guy. ‘I know what you want, and I promise you, you won’t be disappointed.’
Leonora stared at him and felt herself shaking even harder as his hands moved lightly over her burning skin. All at once Piers cried out, begging Rose to let him come, but again his request was denied and Leonora began to wonder if Guy intended to play the same kind of game with her.
Guy spread Leonora’s legs apart and rubbed his thumbs along the creases of her inner thighs, occasionally allowing them to stray across the tight material of her panties. Leonora started to squirm as strange prickles and tendrils of arousal fluttered through her lower body. Her hips started to twist and turn, but Guy pushed a hand firmly against her flat stomach until she was lying against the carpet again.
‘I want you to keep still,’ he instructed her. ‘Don’t move more than you can help. I want you to savour every sensation tonight, and the more you control your movements the more intense the pleasure will grow.’
As his mouth moved between her thighs and she felt his warm breath through the material of her panties, Leonora thought she was going to come immediately. The pressure behind her clitoris had never been so great and she wondered what would happen when it was finally released.
Guy heard Rose utter a single tiny cry that meant she’d had another climax and then heard Piers pleading for his own satisfaction, but again Rose denied him it. He began to utter frantic mewing noises that served as an aphrodisiac for both Guy and Leonora, who found that the thought of Piers in a state of perpetual frustrated arousal was very erotic.
After a few more minutes Guy carefully eased down the panties that had been pressing tightly against Leonora’s sex. Once they were removed he spread her legs even wider apart, covered the tip of a finger with some lubricating gel that he’d taken from Rose’s dressing-table drawer, and then lightly touched the acorn-shaped protruding edge at the entrance to Leonora’s urethra.
He knew that this was an exquisitely sensitive place for a woman and kept his touch as light as possible, but despite this the result on Leonora was electric. Her lower body shot up off the carpet and she began to shout out as pressure inside her pelvis and lower belly ballooned until she felt that she was going to explode.
Strange searing sensations coursed through her lower body and the intensity of feeling between her thighs was almost unbearable. She felt as though she was about to come but the orgasm proved elusive. It was there, creating this terrible hot need but every time Guy touched her the sensations simply increased without her point of release growing any nearer.
Her bladder felt full and strange, and knowing that this would be happening Guy spread some more of the gel around the soft tissue that surrounded her most sensitive spot. As soon as he began, the tissue swelled beneath his touch and Leonora thrashed around even more violently, crying out incoherently as these strange, darkly exciting feelings spread through her entire body until she felt that if she didn’t come soon she’d lose consciousness.
‘Bear down,’ whispered Guy. ‘Push down so that I can lick your clitoris, then you’ll come.’
Leonora obeyed, and as she bore down she heard her stepmother give another tiny cry of satisfaction while Piers shouted out, gabbling that he couldn’t wait any longer and that Rose had to let him come.
Leonora felt the same, but she didn’t dare cry out because she sensed that if she did Guy would simply stop everything and leave her stranded. Instead she concentrated hard on doing what he’d said and as the tip of the retracted clitoris re-emerged Guy let his tongue caress the side of the shaft before drifting across the almost unbearably sensitive head so that finally, with a scream that could have been heard all over the house, Leonora’s over-excited and stimulated body exploded into the most intense orgasm of her nineteen years.
Guy waited until she was nearly still and then slid his erection into her, making sure that he brushed against her G spot as he moved in and out in a slow rhythm. ‘Tighten yourself round me,’ he said suddenly. ‘Quickly, I want to feel your muscles gripping me.’ She was already tight, far tighter than Rose or Marcia, but Guy wanted to feel the soft velvet walls gripping him even harder. When Leonora contracted her muscles it increased her own pleasure too, so that all the hot pressure built up once more and she heard herself give a cry of protest because she wasn’t sure that she could bear such intense pleasure again.
Guy didn’t care. He knew that she’d climax again – it was what he’d intended – and if anything this time it would be even better than the first and leave her totally sated. His hips moved faster, and at the precise moment that he felt Leonora’s body draw in on itself prior to release, he heard Piers utter a strange gutteral howl of demented relief and excitement as he was finally allowed to come.
This was the trigger for both Guy and Leonora, and as Guy’s body was shaken by his orgasm Leonora uttered another scream, a scream that was almost one of despair as the sensations pierced every centimetre of her body, shattering every over-stretched nerve until at last she slumped back onto the carpet with her eyes closed.
Guy looked down at her and then up at the bed where Rose lay with her chin propped on her hands. She smiled at him. ‘That sounded exciting!’
‘I think Leonora enjoyed herself,’ responded Guy, realising with a tinge of regret that the excitement of the moment was already over. He’d done what he wanted to do – introduced Leonora to an entirely new kind of eroticism – and that was it. The pleasure he’d gained had been fleeting, very little more than when he made love to any other woman, and he was disappointed. For some reason he’d imagined that this would be different, that it would provide more excitement than a normal seduction, but he’d been wrong.
‘Piers was brilliant,’ continued Rose. ‘He’s fallen asleep, poor boy. Do you think he and Leonora will want to repeat the evening?’
‘If they do they’ll have to manage without me,’ said Guy shortly.
Leonora heard his words and opened her eyes, her arms reaching up round his neck. ‘That was wonderful,’ she enthused. ‘Please, don’t say we can’t do it again. I couldn’t bear it if we never made love again.’
Guy lifted himself carefully off her and turned away. ‘I didn’t make love to you,’ he said shortly. ‘We had good sex; it isn’t the same thing.’
Leonora’s eyes clouded in bewilderment. ‘But you were so clever at knowing what I wanted. You made it special for me,’ she protested. ‘That’s what lovemaking means.’
Rose laughed. ‘Not to Guy. Guy’s a sexual expert; he knows how to turn a woman on but not how to love. Isn’t that right, Guy?’
‘Yes,’ said Guy, dressing quickly and glancing across at the sleeping Piers. ‘I don’t suppose your boyfriend’s under the same illusion,’ he told Leonora, trying to soften his voice a little even though the girl was now irritating him. ‘He knows it was just sex.’
‘I’d like to do it again with him,’ Rose said softly. ‘Why can’t you and Leonora join us? It doesn’t have to be love, as she’ll come to understand.’
‘I know it doesn’t have to be love with you,’ retorted Leonora, propping herself up on one elbow on the carpet. ‘You don’t even love Daddy. You just love his money.’
‘It doesn’t have anything to do with love,’ said Guy wearily, wishing he’d never thought of the idea in the first place and desperately anxious to be gone. ‘I’d be bored next time. You were a delicious novelty, Leonora, and I hope it was as pleasurable an experience for you as it was for me but that’s the end of it.’
‘What if I tell Daddy?’ demanded Leonora.
There was a terrible silence in the room. Rose stared at her stepdaughter in disbelief and then looked at Guy, whose face had gone very pale. He fixed his eyes on the young girl lying on the floor and then spoke very slowly, softly and deliberately. ‘If you tell your father, Leonora, you and your whole family will regret it. Do I make myself clear?’
For a few seconds Leonora tried to maintain her challenge, but despite his quiet tone there was something so menacing about his words that she quickly turned her head away and shrugged.
‘I was only joking,’ she mumbled.
‘You should be careful. That kind of sense of humour could get you into trouble,’ retorted Guy. He then walked past her and out of the room without giving her a second glance.
Rose scrambled from the bed and hurried down the stairs after him. ‘What’s the matter with you?’ she asked crossly. ‘I arranged this because it was what you wanted and now you’re behaving as though you’ve been forced to go to a party that didn’t interest you.’
‘I made a mistake,’ said Guy.
‘There’s no need to take it out on Leonora. You treated her shabbily.’
Guy laughed. ‘That’s rich coming from you! I suppose you treat your husband well, do you?’
‘My relationship with my husband is a private matter,’ said Rose stiffly.
‘Hardly private to me or to Marcia!’
‘Guy, why can’t you behave like a gentleman for once?’ demanded Rose.
‘Look, Rose, you married Sir Peter because he was rich, good looking for his age and adored you. He is a gentleman, and you wanted respectability. Well, I’m not a gentleman, and that’s why you like having sex with me. Don’t start expecting me to behave like Peter. We’re two very different kinds of animal.’
‘But you wanted to make love to Leonora. You couldn’t wait to show her what real sex, good sex, was like,’ shouted Rose. ‘Why are you in such a bad mood now when you virtually blackmailed me into setting tonight up for you?’
He shrugged. ‘I’m disappointed that’s all. I expected it to be better than it was.’
‘We all had a great time. I don’t see why you’re complaining.’
I’m not asking you to understand,’ snapped Guy, and a muscle twitched in the corner of his right eye, a sure sign that he was in a bad mood.
‘All right,’ said Rose quickly. ‘You’d better go then. I’m sure Leonora will be able to find someone else just as good as you. I know one or two other men who might like to give her a good time if Piers proves too dull after tonight’s excitement.’
‘I’m sure you do. I’ll ring tomorrow when Peter’s back. I need to speak to him about that Holbein we’re cleaning for him. It’s proving a bit more difficult than our man anticipated so it will be another couple of weeks before he gets it back.’
Rose, who wasn’t in the least bit interested in her husband’s collection of old paintings, looked bored. ‘Does it matter?’
‘It might to Peter, that’s why I want to speak to him myself.’
‘He’ll probably want it back by the end of the month,’ said Rose. ‘His brother’s coming to stay then and he always goes round the art collection gloating over the pictures as though they’re naked women.’
‘Perhaps he prefers them to naked women,’ said Guy. ‘Right at this moment I think I would too! Incidentally, was it really good with Piers?’ he added curiously.
Rose moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue and sighed softly. ‘It was incredible. I had such a feeling of power. You know what it’s like with Peter; I have to be so careful not to break his concentration or he can’t even get started. To have a strong young man who had difficulty in stopping was bliss. Maybe I’ll keep him around for a time. He seemed very enthusiastic!’
‘Be careful, Rose,’ cautioned Guy. ‘Just because you and I have got away with an affair it doesn’t mean you can do what you like, and he’d never forgive you for taking a toy boy.’
Rose pouted. ‘I don’t see why not. Older men always have young girls on their arms and in their beds.’
Guy smiled thinly. ‘Yes, well, it’s just one of those things I’m afraid. Life isn’t fair and you have to accept it. Be grateful you’re Peter’s toy girl!’
Before Rose could say another word Guy was out of the front door and hurrying down the steps.
As Rose watched him leave from the front door, Leonora leant against the upstairs bedroom window and saw him drive away. Her whole body was tingling from the sexual excesses he’d inflicted on her, and she was determined that one way or another she’d get him to make love to her again.
Both women would have been surprised to know that as Guy drove the car through the London streets he wasn’t thinking about sex at all; he was thinking about Sir Peter Thornton’s Holbein.
On the Saturday evening Cressida stood by the window of her front room waiting for Rick to arrive. She’d been out shopping that morning and bought herself a navy and ivory spot-print trouser suit with short sleeves, and a pair of bright red strappy sandals. Rick had put great emphasis on the fact that his friends were a casual crowd, and that the evening wouldn’t be at all formal. Because she was anxious to get it right she’d decided to buy something new for the evening.
Her undercover wardrobe that she’d already purchased had been for rather more high-powered events, and her normal everyday clothes were too conventional for artists. She only hoped that Detective Chief Inspector Williams didn’t start going through her expenses with a fine-tooth comb.
She felt quite nervous as she waited. She’d become used to the gallery and the people she met and worked with there, but Rick lived an entirely different kind of life and she was anxious to fit in. If she didn’t then she’d lose her chance of getting information from him; at least, that was how she justified her anxiety to herself. In truth, quite a lot of it was because she wanted him to keep seeing her so that they could sleep together again.
He arrived nearly an hour late but didn’t seem to realise, and Cressida decided not to mention it. She didn’t want him to know how much this evening mattered to her. He drove them to Clapham and as they walked towards a block of flats he turned to look at her and then gripped her hand. ‘Why the trouser suit? Do you want to make things difficult for me later on?’ he asked with a grin. Cressida felt relief surge through her at this promise of later intimacy.
‘I want to see how good you are with buttons,’ she replied.
‘I just pull them off! Look, this place isn’t much,’ he added as they climbed the stairs because the lifts were out of order. ‘These mates of mine are all struggling for recognition. I’m the only one who’s been lucky enough to get anywhere as yet.’
‘I thought most artists had to struggle for years,’ said Cressida truthfully.
‘That’s right, they do. It doesn’t mean they’ve got less talent than me. In fact, I’d say two of them are better, but they haven’t found the right outlet. I’ve tried to interest Guy, but with no success.’
‘Why are you telling me this?’ asked Cressida.
Rick looked slightly uncomfortable. ‘I’d rather you didn’t mention that you were working at Guy’s gallery. Sometimes there’s a bit of resentment. You can’t blame them for that. If they think I’ve got myself a stunning new girlfriend through the gallery as well then I think they’ll be pretty fed up all round.’
Cressida wondered why he kept in touch with them if they resented his success so much, but before she could ask him the door to the flat had been opened for them and they were inside, swiftly swallowed up by a milling crowd of young men and women.
Rick went off to get them a drink and Cressida felt very awkward. No one showed much interest in her, and even her new outfit was out of place. Everyone else was in jeans and casual tops, with several of the men bare chested.
A tall grey-haired man who probably wasn’t much over 30 finally walked over to her. ‘Hi, I’m Kevin, the famous Rick’s best friend. I expect he’s told you about me.’
‘Well, he probably has but I get a bit confused with names,’ said Cressida diplomatically.
Kevin’s eyes changed and some of the warmth went out of them. ‘You mean he hasn’t mentioned me, right?’
‘I mean, I can’t remember,’ said Cressida carefully.
‘Do you paint?’
Cressida shook her head. ‘No, I’m useless. I like writing poetry, but it isn’t publishable, it’s just a hobby.’
‘Where did you meet Rick?’ demanded Kevin as a small auburn-haired girl approached him and slipped her arm through his.
‘He picked me up in a cafe at Covent Garden,’ said Cressida, hoping that Kevin wouldn’t ask Rick the same thing. Luckily Rick was already close behind her with their drinks and heard what she’d said.
‘Wasn’t I lucky?’ he said with a grin, putting an arm round Cressida’s waist.
‘Aren’t you always,’ retorted Kevin. ‘I want to talk to you,’ he added, drawing Rick to one side.
The auburn-haired girl began to chat to Cressida about the use of oil paints and how all her creative talent vanished if she had to use any other medium. Cressida listened with half an ear, nodding and giving the occasional encouraging comment, while at the same time trying to hear what Kevin was saying to Rick. All she managed to grasp were small fragments that meant nothing on their own but were enough to arouse her curiosity.
‘I told you it was difficult,’ Kevin said at one point. ‘You should have let me do it.’
Rick muttered something that Cressida couldn’t hear and Kevin gave a harsh laugh that wasn’t a laugh. ‘You mean you wanted the money for yourself.’
Again Rick’s voice was pitched too low for Cressida’s ears but she could tell that Kevin was getting annoyed. ‘Doesn’t he trust anyone else?’ he demanded loudly. ‘What’s so special about you, apart from the fact that you like painting women in chains? Anyone can copy a –’
‘What do you think?’ asked the auburn-haired girl.
Cressida blinked. ‘Sorry?’
‘Do you think I should carry on as I am, or should I give in and try my hand at watercolours?’
‘Watercolours do very well at the gallery,’ said Cressida without thinking.
She knew the moment the words were out that she’d made a terrible mistake. Rick spun round to look at her and Kevin’s head turned sharply in her direction. ‘You’re not another of Guy Cronje’s protégées are you?’ he asked with a sneer.
‘Guy who?’ asked Cressida, playing for time.
‘Cronje, the chap who thinks the sun shines out of Rick’s backside.’
‘I’m afraid I don’t know anything about Guy Cronje,’ said Cressida.
‘But I heard you say that watercolours sell well in the gallery. I thought you were a poet.’
Cressida was sweating. The room was hot and she’d made a big mistake, especially as far as Rick was concerned. Her mind raced as she tried to think of a way out of the mess. ‘I didn’t say I was a professional poet,’ she reminded the angry-looking Kevin. ‘I work in an arts centre. We sell all kinds of things from doughcraft to watercolours, all by local artists. We even sell copies of works by members of our local writers’ group, so none of it’s very high powered. Why? What does it matter what I do?’
She forced herself to sound aggressive, and Kevin immediately backed down. ‘Sorry, no, you’re right, it doesn’t. The truth is, I’m trying to make contact with Guy Cronje. I think I could help him make a lot of money and Rick knows how I feel. If he’d even got himself a girlfriend through the gallery I –’
‘You’d what?’ demanded Cressida. ‘Ask us to leave?’
The auburn-haired girl laughed. ‘You tell him! He’s got a real chip on his shoulder because the one time he showed his work to Guy Cronje he was told he wasn’t good enough.’
‘But that was my own work,’ said Kevin ‘I’m good at reproductions.’
Cressida felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle. Clearly Kevin knew a great deal about Guy Cronje and what went on at the gallery, and equally clearly he didn’t know that this was something he was meant to keep secret.
‘At our art centre we sell bought in reproductions of famous paintings,’ she said casually. ‘Does this Guy prefer to pay artists to do the same thing? I’d have thought that would be very expensive. Prints are cheap. We make a good profit on them.’
Kevin laughed. ‘We aren’t talking about your usual Monet landscape reproduction here! No, what Guy wants are people who can –’
‘Cressida isn’t interested in what Guy wants,’ interrupted Rick, taking hold of Cressida’s arm and starting to steer her away from Kevin. ‘This is meant to be a party. I don’t want to talk about work all the time.’
‘You usually do,’ said the auburn-haired girl. ‘We have to listen to all your angst about artist’s block and how you can’t get a girl who’s different enough to inspire your next piece of erotica. Why shouldn’t Kevin have his say for once?’
‘I am quite interested, Rick,’ said Cressida. ‘It’s always good to get new ideas from people and as our centre isn’t doing that well Kevin might be able to give me some hints.’
‘I’m surprised Rick hasn’t introduced you to his mentor,’ said Kevin. ‘Maybe he’s afraid Guy would steal you away from him. He’s not only a very sharp businessman, he’s also an inveterate womaniser. Isn’t that right, Rick?’
Rick was clearly angry. He put his hand on Cressida’s arm and pulled her towards the door. ‘I don’t much like your attitude tonight, Kevin,’ he said shortly, with none of his usual amiability. ‘I think Cressida and I could have more fun on our own. Come on, Cressida, let’s go back to my place.’
Cressida didn’t like to refuse, but she wished that she’d had just a few minutes alone with Kevin so that he could finish his description of the kind of artists Guy wanted. However, she couldn’t afford to antagonise Rick at this stage or she’d never get the chance to meet up with Kevin again, so she gave him and his girlfriend a rueful smile and left with Rick.
Once they were outside Rick rounded on her. ‘You certainly know how to make things difficult. I told you not to mention you worked at the gallery and then you have to start talking about what you do there.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Cressida, with what she hoped was the right amount of humility in her voice. ‘It just came out. I’m not used to deceiving people and I didn’t realise it was such a big deal.’
Rick’s face softened. ‘No, I’m the one who should be sorry. You’re one of the most honest people I’ve ever met, and I shouldn’t have put you in that position. I can’t explain, but Guy’s very protective of his business and Kevin’s been really difficult, pestering him to take him on in some capacity or other.’
‘He’s certainly on the wrong track with reproductions,’ said Cressida lightly. ‘I should know. I sell enough prints. I suppose there might be a market for paintings that look like the real thing though. You know, the nouveau riche trying to build up an “old” family art collection that’s really all fakes, that kind of thing.’
‘Guy wouldn’t be interested in that. He loves art. He’d see it as a form of prostitution to encourage people in a deceit of that scale,’ said Rick fervently.
‘I’m sure you’re right,’ agreed Cressida as they drove towards Rick’s house. Privately she thought Rick was turning out to be less than astute when it came to summing people up.
Much later that night, when Rick had returned her home after some more passionate lovemaking in his attic, Cressida made a phone call to Detective Chief Inspector Williams and told him all she’d learnt.
‘Well, that clinches it,’ said her chief with satisfaction. ‘All we have to do now is catch him. Be careful, Cressida. If he ever learns there’s a spy in the gallery he could turn very nasty. You’ll be safer if you can get him interested in you in another way, if you take my meaning. At least until we’re sure we’ve got him cornered.’
‘I’ll see what I can do,’ promised Cressida.
In bed that night she remembered her superior’s comment and shivered beneath the duvet. She had a feeling that if she ever did get involved with Guy Cronje in a sexual way then her life might never be the same again.