There were half a dozen thick white terry toweling robes in the
glass-fronted warming cupboard, and he selected one and went through
into the bedroom, belting it around his naked waist. In his briefcase
there was a draft of the agreement of sale of Ocean Salvage and Towage
to the Sheikhs. James Teacher and his gang of bright young lawyers had
read it, and made a thick sheaf of notes. Nicholas must study these
before tomorrow evening when he met them in London.
He took the papers from his case and carried them through into the
sitting-room, glancing at the top page before dropping them carelessly
on to the low coffee table while he went to pour himself a small whisky,
heavily diluted, He brought the drink back with him and sprawled into
the deep leather armchair, picked up the papers and began to work.
He became aware of her perfume first, and felt his blood quicken
uncontrollably at the fragrance, and the papers rustled in his hand.
Slowly he lifted his head. She had come in utter silence on small bare
feet. She had removed all her jewellery and had let down her hair
brushing it out on to her shoulders. It made her seem younger, more
vulnerable, and the gown she wore was cuffed and collared in fine soft
lace.
She moved slowly towards his chair, timorous and for once uncertain, the
eyes huge and dark and haunted, and when he rose from the armchair, she
stopped and one hand went to her throat.
Nicholas/ she whispered, I'm so afraid, and so alone. She moved a step
closer, and saw his eyes shift, his lips harden, and she stopped
instantly.
Please/ she pleaded softly, don't send me away, Nicky.
Not tonight, not yet. I'm afraid to be alone - please. He knew then
that this had been going to happen, he had hidden the certainty of it
from himself all that evening, but now it was upon him, and he could do
nothing to avoid it. it was as though he had lost the will to resist,
he stood mesmerized, his resolve softening and melting like wax in the
candle flame of her beauty, of the passions which she commanded so
skilfully, and his thoughts lost coherence, began to tumble and swirl
like storm surf breaking on rock.
She recognized the exact instant when it happened to him, and she came
forward silently, with small gliding footsteps, not making the mistake
of speaking again and pressed her face to his bare chest framed in the
collar of his robe. The thick curling hair was springing over hard flat
muscle, and she flared her nostrils at the clean virile animal smell of
his skin.
He was still resisting, standing stiffly with his hands hanging at his
sides. Oh, she knew him so well. The terrible conflict he must suffer
before he could be made to act against that iron code of his own. Oh,
she knew him, knew that he was as sexual and physical and animal as she
was herself, that he was the only man who had ever been able to match
her appetites. She knew the defences he had erected about himself, the
fortressing of his passions, the controls and repressions, but she knew
so well how to subvert these elaborate defences, she knew exactly what
to do and what to say, how to move and touch. As she began now, she
found the deliberate act of breaking down his resistance excited her so
