AFTER RICK AND Cressida left Marcia’s house, Guy watched his mistress as she straightened cushions and tidied up some of the glasses. ‘Leave that,’ he said curtly. ‘Your cleaning woman can do it in the morning. Tell me what you thought about Cressida’s explanation of her dinner date with that policeman.’
‘I didn’t believe her,’ said Marcia. ‘Perhaps he was the man I saw at the gallery with her, but that doesn’t mean he first met her there. As for all that nonsense about discussing their sexual fantasies, well, she simply isn’t the type of girl who’d do that. I’ve watched her with Rick and although they’re lovers she still seems to be keeping part of herself back from him. Why should she suddenly begin discussing sexual fantasies with a virtual stranger?’
‘More to the point, why should he discuss his with her?’ murmured Guy. ‘No, I have to admit that I was unconvinced. It may well be that she lied because she felt we were prying into matters that didn’t concern us, which would be reasonable, but in case there’s a more significant reason for the elaborate story I think I’d better check her out.’
‘How do you intend to go about it?’ asked Marcia. ‘I suppose I could ring Sue. After all, she was the one who recommended Cressida for the job.’
Guy shook his head. ‘No, I don’t want Sue involved. Since she put Cressida forward the pair of them might be in on something together. I think I’ll operate on a more personal level.’
Marcia’s face tightened. ‘Meaning what?’
‘I think it might be necessary for me to get a little closer to our Cressida,’ said Guy with a smile. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll try not to enjoy myself too much! And I trust you know me well enough to feel certain that I’ll take care of anything I feel needs my attention.’
‘Yes,’ agreed Marcia. ‘But hopefully it won’t take you too long to find out what you need to know.’
‘Anyone would think you didn’t trust me,’ retorted Guy.
‘You’ve never given me any reason to trust you,’ said Marcia bitterly. ‘Look at Lady Alice and Rose Thornton. I know perfectly well that you see them on their own as well as with their husbands.’
‘I can hardly see Lord Summers now that he’s dead,’ pointed out Guy.
‘I think it’s time you left,’ snapped Marcia. ‘I’m tired after the evening’s excitement.’
Guy rose from his chair and walked over to her, placing one hand on her shoulder in a gentle but restraining grip. ‘You seem tense tonight, Marcia. I think you need to relax a little.’
The blonde woman shook her head. ‘I just need a good night’s sleep.’
‘But you might lie awake for hours if you can’t get rid of some of that tension. I tell you what, why don’t you use the flotation tank?’
Marcia felt her stomach tighten at the prospect. This was something that always drove her into a frenzy of need, but there were times when Guy would manipulate her senses so skilfully that it could be hours before she finally emerged from the tiny bathroom that had been converted into a flotation area, and sometimes even then she was more strung up than when she’d entered. It all depended on Guy’s mood, and at this moment she couldn’t judge that.
‘The choice is yours,’ said Guy.
Marcia struggled to decide what she most wanted, and in the end frustrated sexual desire, aroused by watching Alice earlier, won over common sense. She loved it when Guy took her to the boundaries of sexual excess, but it was the rare occasions when he pushed her beyond the limits she’d have chosen for herself that she resented it, although even then her pleasure was earth-shattering.
‘Well?’ asked Guy impatiently, glancing at his watch.
Marcia remembered that soon he’d be pursuing Cressida, and her last lingering doubts vanished. They’d have such an incredible time together that nothing Cressida could do would provide any threat.
‘I think I’d like that,’ she agreed.
Guy nodded and held the door open for her, standing back to allow her to go first up the two flights of stairs to the tiny room where sexual excess was the order of the day.
Before they entered the flotation room itself, Guy and Marcia went into a small room off it where Marcia removed her clothes as Guy prepared everything that would be needed later during her time in the tank.
Once she was naked he helped her into a very thin wetsuit that fitted her so tightly it seemed to be embracing her, but there were holes cut out between her shoulder blades, her thighs, her buttocks and in the middle of her belly, while her breasts protruded through circular holes that gripped the fullness of the outer edges, pushing them erect.
Marcia stared at herself in the mirror on the wall and knew that she looked incredibly sexy and desirable with her long blonde hair and firm, upthrust breasts, the nipples already hardening. Guy smiled and then fastened her hair on top of her head before picking up a waterproof blindfold. ‘Let’s go in,’ he said huskily.
It was impossible for Marcia to see what he’d put inside the small black box he was carrying with him, and she trembled with rising desire. ‘We will be on our own, won’t we?’ she asked at the door.
Guy shrugged. ‘I haven’t decided yet, but your chef is still around if I need him, isn’t he?’
Marcia remembered Bradley and her last passionate encounter with him only a few nights earlier. ‘Yes,’ she whispered, her throat dry.
‘Good; I’ll put you in the tank and then I’ll ask him to be on standby for the next hour. It’s often more fun with three. You can have so much more variation when there’s an extra pair of hands available.’
With that he opened the door into the already darkened room that was nearly filled by a wide bath that had fitted rings on both the sides. Marcia paused on the threshold, her eyes trying to adjust to the darkness of the room, but before they could, Guy had placed the waterproof blindfold round her and was tying it tightly at the back of her head. ‘Remember, it’s only by removing all visual stimuli that your other senses can be at their most intense,’ he murmured, and Marcia did remember – she remembered very well.
Guy’s eyes adjusted rapidly to the semi-darkness and within a few moments he was able to study the imposing figure standing before him, her full breasts protruding proudly through the clinging wetsuit. For a fleeting moment he tried to imagine what it would be like to have Cressida there instead of Marcia, but then he pushed the thought aside. Pleasures with Cressida were still to come. He was determined to enjoy tonight to the full and appreciate Marcia’s more obvious but also more sophisticated charms.
Marcia stood waiting. Usually Guy helped her into the heavily salted water immediately, but tonight she could hear him opening his black box and her body rippled as it waited to see what he had in store for it.
Guy pulled on a large latex glove that fitted over his hand but had holes in the end so that his fingers were free. The palm of the glove was covered with probes of varying sizes and after a slight pause, just long enough to get Marcia tense with anticipation, he pressed the palm of the glove against the area of her belly that was exposed by one of the cut-out areas. Then he began to massage, gently at first but soon more deeply, and as he did his fingers dug into the wetsuit around her flesh until he heard her breathe in quickly as the blissful tingles began to fill her lower body.
For Marcia it was like being licked by hundreds of knowing tongues, and whenever Guy pressed the glove more deeply against her flesh a heavy ache filled her belly and her thighs started to shake despite the fact that she knew her first orgasm would be delayed for a long time yet. Once he knew that she was near the edge of a climax, Guy switched his attentions to her breasts, and as she felt the insistent massaging on the undersides of her rounded globes Marcia moaned with desire.
Guy worked systematically over every exposed area of her body, except for the space between her thighs which he avoided for the moment. While he was massaging and kneading her buttocks Marcia felt a rush of heat suffuse her entire body and her head started to go back in a reflex action which alerted Guy to the danger of an early climax.
‘I think we should stop there,’ he said calmly. ‘You haven’t really relaxed at all, have you? Time for the flotation part of the session. I’ll help you into the water and then fetch Bradley. He may be useful later.’
Despite the fact that they had been lovers for over a year now, Marcia still didn’t totally trust Guy. His behaviour was too unpredictable, his changes of mood too swift, for her ever to relax totally with him, and her body was taut with tension as he led her towards the bath of water.
‘Why are you so tense tonight?’ he murmured, running his fingers over the nape of her neck. ‘You know how much you enjoy this.’
She did, but not the fact that she was blind and helpless. ‘I’m too vulnerable,’ she said sharply.
There was a short silence. ‘Then I’d better let you go,’ said Guy slowly. ‘You can use the flotation tank on your own and see if that’s sufficient to relax you, but I hope you won’t mind if I don’t stay around to watch. I might get a little bored, I think.’
Marcia cursed her stupidity. She knew that it was the very fact that she was totally under his control that excited her so much. If he were to go and leave her alone in the room then there would be no special sexual charge; no undercurrent of danger that added so much to their sex life. He’d be gone, and she would be alone and bored, because Bradley was no substitute for Guy.
‘No, don’t go,’ she said quickly. ‘I didn’t mean that. It’s the waiting that’s put me on edge. You’ve made me wait too long.’
Guy laughed. ‘You’ve got some time to wait yet, but at least we can get you in the water. Here, let me lift your leg in. Lean on my shoulder.’
The water was pleasantly warm, very buoyant and about six inches deep. Marcia’s head rested on a floating headroll and a rubber ring was placed beneath her hips so that the area below her hip bones was more easily accessible for Guy.
‘Arms here,’ she heard him murmur, and then each of her wrists were strapped into the rings on the sides of the bath and she was floating in the darkness with the water lapping soothingly against the areas where her wetsuit left her flesh exposed.
‘I’ll put on a little music for you while I fetch Bradley,’ said Guy. ‘That should relax you even more.’
She heard him switch on a Mozart tape and then heard the click of the bathroom door as he went to fetch her young chef. Alone in the dark, her breasts, belly and buttocks still tingling from their earlier massage, Marcia was left to contemplate what sexual delights awaited her when her lover and his companion arrived.
Despite the music, she heard the two men approach and moved her head blindly on its support. ‘Keep still,’ said Guy calmly. ‘You know you can’t see anything. Just relax, let yourself go, and make your mind a blank. I’ll switch on the jets so that the water stays warm.’
Now Marcia felt tiny currents of slightly warmer water rising up beneath her, and when they tickled against her buttocks and the sensitive flesh at the backs of her knees that were also revealed by the suit, she sighed with delight.
‘That’s better,’ said Guy in a gentle voice, and at last Marcia began to relax.
Above her sightless eyes, Bradley was standing waiting with an ice bucket in his hands. At a nod from Guy he bent over the supine form of his employer and, using a pair of stainless steel tongs, carefully placed a large cube of ice on each of her breasts.
The contrast with the warmth of the water and her previously relaxed muscles was almost cruel, and Marcia gave a cry of shock as the ice cubes, trapped by the edges of the wetsuit, stayed perched on her breasts and began to melt.
As the ice-cold drips trickled across the swollen surfaces of her breasts, Marcia arched her belly upward off the supporting ring, and Guy firmly pushed her back down. ‘Let the water take your weight, float on it and keep weightless,’ he reminded her. This was the part that was always difficult, because as her arousal grew Marcia’s body became tight with desire and it needed incredible self-control to remain limp on the surface of the salt water. Guy waited. He always enjoyed this moment, the point in time when Marcia had to subdue her natural inclinations and force her body into submission in order to gain her pleasure.
When she was finally level on the water once more, revelling in the heat of the tiny jets beneath her and the rapidly melting ice, Guy fitted a piece of plastic over the cold tap of the nearby basin and then, without any warning, he played a jet of cold water over Marcia’s belly and watched the muscles twist and ripple beneath the surface of the skin.
Marcia tried to move herself away from the jet, but this was impossible because the bath was narrow and her arms were fastened. She felt the pin-pricks caused by the water spreading through her whole abdomen and then down towards her thighs and vulva. A climax began to build but almost immediately the water was turned off and the ice cubes removed, and she was left floating with her body aroused but unsatisfied.
Whenever that happened Marcia’s pelvic area would start to ache, and her hips moved without her knowledge to try and ease the restless need that was consuming her. Then she felt Guy’s hand slide beneath her in the water and he carefully slipped an anal plug into the space between her buttocks.
The plug was wide and spread the walls of her rectum, touching every sensitive surface so that the ache of frustration in her pelvis increased and she gave a whimper of protest. Guy only laughed. ‘What do you think, Bradley? Should we let her have a climax now or make her wait a little longer?’
‘She needs to come,’ said Bradley quietly, and Marcia could have sobbed with gratitude.
‘In that case, you may give her her first orgasm,’ said Guy casually. ‘Use this waterproof vibrator; it works very well at times like this.’
Marcia’s buttocks tightened around the anal plug as she sought to give herself additional pleasure, and the stimulation this caused meant that sparks of hot excitement rushed through to her vagina where Bradley was slowly passing the tip of the vibrator over her swelling labia and around the area of the clitoris.
The vibrations from this, together with the sensations from her rectum, at last gave Marcia the release that she so desperately sought, and as she tightened all the muscles in the lower half of her body a shudder ran through her as the overstretched nerves at last found momentary relief and the pleasure engulfed her.
As soon as she’d climaxed the vibrator and the anal plug were removed and she heard Guy ordering her to let herself go totally limp once more so that she was again floating calmly on the surface of the water.
‘I can’t,’ protested Marcia. ‘I’m still aroused. I need more.’
‘You won’t get more until you relax again,’ said Guy, and she heard him start chatting to Bradley as though she wasn’t even in the room. Marcia forced herself to take slow, deep breaths and to listen to the music that was still playing softly in the background. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, she knew that she’d achieved what Guy had demanded.
‘I’ve relaxed,’ she said loudly, hoping that he wasn’t going to simply unfasten her wrists, remove the blindfold and call it a day as he had done two or three times before. Guy wasn’t; tonight he too was in the mood for more.
‘I’m going to give you a special massage, Marcia,’ he whispered, and then she knew why he’d used the anal plug and she felt her body shaking with delight. This was one of the things she enjoyed him doing most to her, and she found that she could hardly breathe she was so excited. She also knew that very few women liked him doing it, and felt sure that Cressida wouldn’t take pleasure from it despite the fact that Guy was such an expert.
She heard the snap of the latex glove as he put it on his hand, and then his other hand was beneath her, spreading a waterproof jelly around her anal area. When the protected hand started to tickle lightly around her anal rim, Marcia exhaled with gratitude at the prospect of the pleasure that lay ahead.
Very slowly Guy eased his index finger into her back passage and at the same time Marcia contracted her anal muscles and inhaled, before relaxing them and exhaling. The sensation that this aroused in her brought her close to ecstasy. A heavy warmth seemed to fill her rectum but the heat also spread up through her entire body and a delicious tremor kept running through her nervous system as he gently vibrated the finger.
Once he felt her start to shake, Guy slowly turned his finger in a rotating movement, pushing against her delicate tissue until finally he was able to move deeply enough inside the rectum to massage her coccyx before lazily pressing against her sacrum bone through the flesh in a zig-zagging move that drove her wild with ecstasy.
Marcia was totally out of control now as the muscles of her abdomen coiled and slithered in response to his touch. She thrashed around on the surface of the water, screaming for Guy to keep going, to probe harder and more deeply as the heavy, hot sensation expanded until she thought that it would totally consume her.
Her body was swollen with excitement, her belly pressing up through the gap in the wetsuit and her breasts so full that the watching Bradley couldn’t resist bending down and drawing each of the rigid nipples in turn into his mouth where he nibbled and sucked on them, increasing her frenzied movements in the water.
As her orgasm continued to build, Marcia was almost afraid of how it would feel when it finally broke. For Guy, the sight of the normally controlled blonde helpless and screaming in a delirium of need was too much, and without thinking he withdrew his finger from her rectum and, ignoring her cry of disappointment, tore off his clothes before climbing into the bath and crouching over her floating body.
Marcia hardly had time to whimper her despair before Guy was thrusting his erection between her swollen labia, allowing the head to play briefly over her clitoris before sliding himself inside her vagina.
Now that her vaginal walls were being stimulated, the pleasure centre started to move there, but then Bradley decided to re-insert the anal plug and suddenly Marcia found that both entrances were full. As Guy managed to press down above her pubic bone with one hand, massaging her clitoris through its protective hood of flesh, her body at last erupted into a shattering climax that had her sobbing in total abandonment as the agony of her previous frustration was finally broken.
Guy felt her internal muscles shuddering and gripping him tighter than he could ever remember. Even he was shaken by the power of her orgasm, so that when it was over and she lay limply on the surface of the water he wondered briefly whether or not he was doing the right thing in pursuing Cressida when this blonde-haired woman was capable of such intense sexuality.
As usual, Guy returned to his own home soon afterwards, and as he was putting his key in the lock he heard his phone ringing.
‘Hello?’ he said quietly.
‘Guy, it’s Rick here. I thought you ought to know that Cressida seemed unduly interested in my reproduction painting work tonight,’ said Rick nervously.
Guy’s fingers tightened round the cordless phone. ‘How does she know about it?’ he asked softly.
‘It was my fault,’ confessed Rick. ‘We’d had a fantastic evening, you know what it’s like, and I wanted her to share everything with me. Well, not everything, but my work – my talent if you like.’
‘I don’t like any of this,’ retorted Guy. ‘Go on.’
‘Well, I thought she’d just say how brilliant I was, how multi-talented, that kind of thing!’ laughed Rick nervously. ‘The trouble was, she kept trying to get me to say that I did the work for you.’
‘What did you tell her?’ enquired Guy calmly.
‘That it was a sideline of my own. That I sold the works to the nouveau riche who were out to impress their friends.’
‘Why did you have to say you sold them to anyone?’ demanded Guy angrily. ‘Wasn’t showing off your talent enough? Some people do that kind of thing for a hobby, you know.’
‘I know, only I thought that if she knew I did other things then she might realise I wasn’t quite as broke as I appear to be. She’s not as keen on me as I am on her, I know that, and I’m sure it’s because she thinks I’m always going to be hard up. This was my way of showing her that I do earn other money, apart from the work I sell at the gallery.’
‘You cretin!’ snarled Guy. ‘If, as you surmise, Cressida isn’t as much in love with you as you’d like, it isn’t likely to have anything to do with money. She’s not that kind of a girl. You could be a millionaire and still not have that vital sexual chemistry for her. It’s a sad fact of life and I wish you’d asked me before showing her the paintings. Now you’ve put a lot of people at risk and probably all for nothing.’
‘You don’t know anything about the sexual chemistry between us,’ protested Rick. ‘Anyway, I’ve let you know now; I could have kept it to myself.’
‘Yes, and put your own income in jeopardy,’ Guy pointed out, less than impressed by this apparent display of unselfishness. ‘If she’s a spy and finds out what’s going on then you’ll be a loser just as much as the rest of us, won’t you?’
‘I don’t know what to do now,’ confessed Rick. ‘I knew I’d made a mistake as soon as she started questioning me, and I think she sensed it.’
Guy sank down into an armchair and thought for a moment. ‘Leave it all to me,’ he said at last. ‘Marcia and I have already agreed I need to find out more about her. Set up an evening out for next Tuesday – say you’re going to take her to dinner, then you’ll be struck down by a nasty virus and I’ll take your place.’
‘You’re not to hurt her,’ said Rick sharply.
Guy laughed. ‘Hurting her was the last thing on my mind! I’m sorry, Rick, but you’ve blown your chance with her. From now on she’s mine and in case you start getting overcome by an attack of jealousy at any stage, I’d like to remind you that unless I continue to recommend your work you won’t do very well. I’m the one with the contacts, and should you displease me there are plenty of other artists, like your friend Kevin, for instance, who are equally talented in that particular direction.’
‘Kevin’s useless!’ shouted Rick.
‘His own work’s terrible, but his reproductions are excellent. Now get off the line. I need some sleep, and I’m sure you do too. I hope your last night with Cressida was one to remember,’ he added with a chuckle.
As soon as he replaced the phone his laughter died away. It looked as though Cressida wasn’t all that she appeared to be and that was worrying. On the other hand, the prospect of becoming more intimately acquainted with her was distinctly appealing. With that pleasant thought he went to bed.
On the Tuesday morning Cressida was extremely busy. The previous day Leonora had been exceptionally sulky even by her standards and today she hadn’t bothered to put in an appearance at all. When she failed to ring in Cressida asked Marcia if she should telephone to find out what the problem was.
‘I don’t think so,’ said Marcia lightly. ‘Guy isn’t anxious for us to keep her on. He says she’s become a liability that even his friendship with her father can’t overcome. In other words, she’s got a schoolgirl crush on him and he wants her out!’
Cressida wasn’t bothered about losing Leonora – she’d never been good company – but at least she’d been an extra pair of hands, and as the summer progressed the gallery was getting busier and busier. She was pleased that at least she’d be seeing Rick that evening. Detective Chief Inspector Williams had made it plain he was anxious for her to keep a close eye on Rick’s reproduction paintings. Even without that order, she was in the mood for some more good sex with him.
At lunchtime she finished wrapping a painting for a customer and then started to collect her things together before leaving for her break. When the phone rang she was tempted to leave it, but seeing that Marcia was busy at the far end of the gallery she sighed and picked up the receiver.
‘Yes?’ she said abruptly.
‘Cressida, is that you?’ asked a familiar voice.
‘Rick! Sorry, I was about to go for lunch and must have sounded a bit brusque. What time are you picking me up tonight?’
Rick coughed down the line and then she had to wait while he blew his nose. ‘I’m really sorry, but I’m not going to be able to make it after all. I’ve got this summer flu virus that’s going about and I feel lousy.’
‘Oh no!’ protested Cressida. ‘I mean, I’m sorry, of course, but I was really looking forward to seeing you.’
‘I was looking forward to seeing you,’ said Rick, and there was no doubting the sincerity in his voice. ‘I know it’s late to let you down and I wondered if –’
‘Shall I come round and soothe your brow?’ suggested Cressida. ‘I’m quite a good nurse and I’m sure you’re not too ill to see me. I know what men are like. You’ve probably only got a cold.’
There was another rather long bout of coughing. ‘Honestly, Cress, I’m pretty rough. You don’t want to catch it, but I was talking to Guy on the phone a moment ago and when I told him about our date he said that perhaps you’d like to take Marcia’s place at a dinner he’s got to go to tonight. She’s apparently got to see her mother who’s not well and he needs a partner.’
Cressida looked down the gallery to where Marcia was laughing and chatting with a customer. ‘She hasn’t said anything to me about her mother being ill,’ she said doubtfully.
‘I hardly think Guy would have made it up,’ retorted Rick before he was overcome by another fit of coughing. ‘Look, I’ll have to hang up. Guy said he’d be in touch with you during the afternoon to see if you could make it.’
‘I’ll ring you tomorrow,’ promised Cressida, but Rick had already put the phone down.
For some reason Cressida’s appetite for lunch had vanished now. She knew that this was an important moment. Although going out with Rick had been good for her police work, going out with Guy – the man wanted by Interpol – would be considered far more advantageous, but she was scared.
For one thing, her policewoman’s instinct told her that there was something wrong about all this. Rick had coughed too much and despite blowing his nose loudly he hadn’t sounded full of cold. Then there was the fact that Marcia’s mother had so conveniently been taken ill on exactly the same night as Rick.
Common sense told her that this meant Guy had planned it all, but whether he’d planned it because he was suspicious of her or simply because he fancied her she didn’t know. The former seemed more likely, although he had made it clear that he was attracted to her on Saturday night.
‘Something wrong?’ asked Marcia as her customer left.
Cressida shook her head. ‘Not really. It was Rick on the phone and he’s got some flu bug so we won’t be going out tonight.’
‘That makes two of us,’ said Marcia sympathetically. ‘I was meant to be going to Lord and Lady Truscott’s dinner party with Guy tonight but I got a call from the nursing home to say that my mother’s not very well and I’ve had to cry off.’
Cressida studied the other woman carefully. She sounded genuine enough, and there was no suggestion from her that Cressida should take her place. ‘I’m sorry about your mother,’ she said politely.
Marcia gave a rueful smile. ‘Don’t be; she’s always having “turns” but she’ll probably outlive me! Aren’t you meant to be at lunch?’
‘Yes,’ murmured Cressida, finally picking up her handbag and getting to her feet. ‘I’ll only take half an hour today – that way you can get a break as well. Are you going to replace Leonora?’
‘That depends on a lot of things,’ said Marcia slowly. ‘The final decision will rest with Guy. He prefers to keep the number of people we employ as low as possible. A small, efficient unit is what he aims for, and sometimes it’s difficult to get people you can trust. We’ve been so lucky with you!’
Blushing with embarrassment, Cressida hurried out of the door, and Marcia smiled to herself. She’d be interested to hear what Guy found out about Cressida during the next week or two.
When Guy called in at the gallery that afternoon and invited Cressida out, she accepted with as enthusiastic a smile as she could manage. There was no choice. She’d rung her chief in her lunch break and he’d been over the moon with excitement, so all her personal fears had been put firmly to one side. Even if Guy was suspicious of her, and Detective Chief Inspector Williams had agreed he might well be, she still had to play along with him and learn what was going on behind the scenes at the gallery.
‘I’ll pick you up at seven-thirty,’ he told her before he left. ‘It’s pretty formal but they’re a very nice couple. Hugo, that’s Lord Truscott, is sixty-five, but his wife Venetia’s only in her early thirties so it’s never stuffy there!’
‘You know a lot of men with much younger wives, don’t you?’ remarked Cressida casually.
Guy’s eyes narrowed. ‘Do I?’
‘Well, yes. There were quite a few at Marcia’s on Saturday night.’
‘I suppose that’s what being rich does for men. They can keep casting off their ageing wives and taking on new young things. Probably they truly believe the women are in love with them too!’
‘No doubt the women believe it as well,’ remarked Cressida. ‘Money’s a great aphrodisiac, or so they tell me.’
‘I take it from that, you don’t know this from personal experience?’ asked Guy.
Cressida shook her head. ‘The few really wealthy men I’ve met have never held any sex appeal for me, but maybe I just happened to meet them on the wrong day!’
‘Maybe you’re looking for something else,’ suggested Guy, leaning over the desk. ‘I have a feeling you’re more attracted by danger than money.’
‘Danger?’
‘Yes, I think that beneath that placid surface you enjoy living a dangerous secret life,’ said Guy.
Cressida forced herself to look directly into his dark brown eyes. If he was suspicious about her true reasons for working at the gallery then now was the moment to try and allay his suspicion. ‘You’re quite wrong,’ she said firmly. ‘I’m rather a timid person I’m afraid.’
‘Well, I shall have to try and teach you some courage,’ he whispered.
Cressida felt goosebumps rising on her forearms, as though she was sitting in a draught, and for a moment she was almost hypnotised by the look in his eyes as he searched her face for clues.
‘I hope I don’t need courage for the dinner party tonight,’ she said lightly, but both she and Guy heard the slight catch in her voice as she fought to control the strange feeling that his proximity created.
‘None at all; wear one of your most alluring dresses and leave the rest to me. It will be a good night out, I promise you.’
She remembered his words when she was dressing. For once she decided to go for a conventional little black dress, which she felt would be safe, but it also looked very sexy. It was short and made of flowing crepe with tiny diamanté shoestring shoulder straps. She dressed it up with large silver earrings and a diamanté necklace and wore her highest heels to accentuate her long legs and shapely calves. Then she sprayed herself lavishly with Dior’s Dune, checked her make-up and hair, and decided that she definitely did look good enough to partner Guy.
For a brief moment she wondered what Tom would make of her now, but quickly dismissed the thought. He’d be horrified at the change in her, and since it was a change that she rather enjoyed she wondered where that left her and Tom when her undercover work was over and Guy was behind bars. She was surprised at how disturbing she found that idea, and when he rang the doorbell she was still frowning. ‘Not late am I?’ he asked, glancing at his watch.
Cressida shook her head. ‘No, I was thinking about something.’
‘Nothing very nice by the expression on your face!’ his eyes assessed her and he gave a brief smile. ‘Nice; not your usual style but definitely nice. Rick’s done you good.’
‘He didn’t make the dress,’ retorted Cressida, wishing she hadn’t thought about what was going to happen to Guy when she finally managed to trap him.
‘Maybe not, but he certainly taught you something about discreetly displaying your feminine charms. You’ve changed a lot since you joined the gallery, you know.’
Cressida climbed into his XJS and thought how much better he looked in a dinner jacket than Rick. ‘I hope I’ve changed for the better,’ she said teasingly, deciding that a small display of flirtatiousness was called for since she had to encourage his interest.
‘It’s always a good thing when women start to learn the truth about themselves,’ said Guy quietly. ‘Mind you, I think you’ve still got a long way to go before you discover the real you.’
‘Why do you imagine you know the “real” me better than I do?’ asked Cressida with a laugh.
‘Because I’ve watched you very closely over the past few weeks, and women are my hobby.’
‘Then I’d better take your word for it,’ said Cressida with mock resignation.
Guy turned and smiled at her. ‘There’s no need to take my word for anything. I hope I’ll have the opportunity to show you precisely what I mean.’
Suddenly Cressida’s breathing felt constricted as she realised that she was now totally committed to following this through. She had to go wherever Guy Cronje chose to lead her, because only then would her superiors be able to finally close the net about him, but that journey could well be far more frightening than she’d appreciated. Frightening, but also highly pleasurable too, because as he’d said, he was a man who’d made women his hobby and probably knew more about their bodies and responses than anyone she’d met.
‘Not cold are you?’ he asked, pulling off the road and into the drive of a house near Hampstead Heath.
‘No, someone must have stepped on my grave,’ she replied.
Guy parked the car behind several others at the front of the double garage, then got out and walked round to open the passenger door for her. ‘Don’t worry, Cressida,’ he murmured. ‘Before the night’s over you’ll feel much warmer, I promise you.’