Persian eyes. For an hour, only an hour. You can spare that.
Despite himself, he felt the pull of temptation, the dull ache of it at
the base of his belly - and he was angry at her for the power she could
still exert over him.
If it's important, then come here/ he said brusquely, and she sighed at
his intransigence.
All right, Nicholas. How will I find you? The Rolls was parked
opposite the dockyard gates and Nicholas crossed the road and stepped
through the door that the chauffeur held open for him.
Chantelle lifted her face to him. Her hair was cloudy dark and shot
with light like a bolt of silk, her lips the colour of ripe fruit, moist
and slightly parted. He ignored the invitation and touched her cheek
with his lips before settling into the corner opposite her.
She made a little moue, and slanted her eyes at him in amusement.
'How chaste we are, Nicky. Nicholas touched the button on the control
console and the glass soundproof partition slid up noiselessly between
them and the chauffeur.
Did you send in the auditors? he asked.
You look tired, darling, and harassed. Have you blown the whistle on
Duncan? he avoided the distraction. The work on Golden Dawn is still
going ahead. The arc lights were burning over her all night and the
talk in the yards is that she is being launched at noon tomorrow, almost
a month ahead of schedule. What happened, Chantelle?
'There is a little bistro at Mindin, it's just across the bridge DAmn
it, Chantelle. I haven't time to fool around. But the Rolls was
already gliding swiftly through the narrow streets. of the port,
between the high warehouse buildings.
It will take five minutes, and the Lobster Armoricaine is the local
speciality - not to be confused with Lobster Arnoricaine. They do it in
a cream sauce, it's superb/ she chatted archly, and the Rolls turned out
on to the quay.
Across the narrow waters of the inner harbour humped the ugly
camouflaged mounds of the Nazi submarine pens, armoured concrete so
thick as to resist the bombs of the R.A.F. and the efforts of all
demolition experts over the Years since then.
Peter asked me to give you his love. He has got his junior team
colours. I'm so proud. Nicholas thrust his hands deep into his jacket
pockets and slumped down resignedly against the soft leather seat.
I am delighted to hear it, he said.
And they were silent then until the chauffeur checked the Rolls at the
toll barrier to pay before accelerating out on to the ramp of the St
Nazaire bridge. The great span of the bridge rose in a regal curve,
three hundred feet above the waters of the Loire River, The river was
almost three miles wide here, and from the highest point of the bridge
there was an aerial view over the dockyards of the town.
There were half a dozen vessels building along the banks of the broad
muddy river, a mighty forest of steel scaffolding, tall gantries and
half-assembled hulls, but all of it insignificant under the mountainous
bulk of Golden Dawn. Without her pod tanks, she had an incomplete
