Sleeping Cruelty

Chapter eleven

The villa was hidden in darkness, but the car headlights lit the main veranda. Justin jumped out and ran inside, leaving William and the driver to remove the suitcases from the boot. The lights came on in the gardens, throwing the villa into focus, and the driver stood open-mouthed as the magical garden came to life with fountains and shaded lights over the rock pools and flowers. Justin returned to help with the cases.

Suddenly Marta was running towards them. She flung herself at Justin and kissed him frantically, held him at arm’s length then kissed him again.

‘Is she here?’ Justin whispered, and Marta nodded.

After unpacking, William found his way to the dining room. The table was beautifully laid, with candles, bowls of salad, and every conceivable cold cut. He heaped a plate, poured some chilled Chablis and sat down. After a few moments, Justin joined him and helped himself to food and wine.

‘She asleep?’ William asked, his mouth full.

‘Yes.’

‘So I won’t get to meet her tonight then?’

‘Maybe, maybe not.’

Laura did not make an appearance. It was after two in the morning when they both decided to go to bed. ‘You want to see her?’ Justin whispered. ‘Come with me...’

Laura was lying on her side, naked, one arm stretched out, the hand cupped as if begging to be touched. One slender leg crossed over the other, leaving her hip rising like a wing. Her breasts were partly hidden by her other hand, which rested against them almost in an attitude of piety. Her silken blonde hair splayed across the pillow and fell over her shoulder like gossamer. Even in the flickering candlelight, the beauty of her sleeping face was heart-stopping. She had high sweeping cheekbones, fine arched brows and the lashes resting on her cheeks were dark. Her nose was straight, in perfect symmetry with her cheeks, and her wide pink lips were parted. She was almost too beautiful to be real.

‘What do you think?’ whispered Justin.

‘She’s perfect,’ was all William could say.

‘She is the bait, William.’

William went to his suite, changed and slid between the cool cotton sheets. He was aware of a strange sensation of fear in the pit of his stomach. He had no notion of why he felt afraid. He had spent enough time with Justin to think that he knew him... but did he? At some point he fell asleep, so he did not hear the soft moan or the conversation that went on for hours. He didn’t hear a sound from above as brother and sister lay entwined like lovers, their perfect bodies catching the light of the candles: he so bronzed, eyes deep and tortured, she with the paleness of lilies that belied a terrible darkness.

‘Morning,’ William said to Marta, who was setting the breakfast table. She was hardly able to give him a pleasant look, never mind a ‘good morning’ in return. ‘Lovely day,’ he said. He had just received a call from his lawyers that two more toys were being inspected, and the chink-chink of the money it would cost the Baron was music to his ears.

Marta moved closer to him. ‘Get away from this place,’ she said tersely. Her expression said more, but she stopped abruptly when Justin appeared and swept her into his arms.

‘Who is the love of your life?’ Justin asked, kissing her cheeks.

‘You both are,’ she said.

William thought she seemed near to tears as she hurried out of the room, but he put it to the back of his mind. He beamed at Justin. ‘Just spoken to my legal boffins, I’m going to squeeze Baron von Garten’s balls so tightly. It’s gonna cost him millions.’

‘You ever think of anything else but accruing dosh, old man?’

‘I do now. The dosh, as you call it, has nothing to do with my good humour. It’s getting that stuck-up son-of-a-bitch.’

‘That’s good,’ Justin said, and now he smiled. ‘Like I’ve always said, payback is the best feeling you can have. You’ll more than pay him back. You’ll hit his reputation as well as his pocket, right?’

‘Right,’ said William, grinning.

Laura did not come down to breakfast that morning, but William saw Marta carrying a tray up to her room. He was going up to the roof for a swim. Perhaps Justin would be up there. He was. Peering over his dark glasses as William approached, Justin held out the copy of Vogue that he had been reading. ‘Have a look at page forty,’ he suggested.

William sat down next to him and picked up the magazine. Flicking through the pages, he stopped at the spread of his bedroom on the island. ‘Good God!’ he said. He read aloud, ‘“This extraordinary bedroom suite, with its canopied bed festooned with exquisite fabrics, its tasselled curtains and gorgeous rugs, like an Empire period fantasy in French opulence, announces the secret owner to be a man of taste and immense wealth. No doubt the fortunate guests will be universally famous, beautiful and strictly millionaires.”’ William dropped the magazine. ‘My name isn’t here, is it?’

‘’Course not,’ laughed Justin. ‘Don’t want to put them off.’

William read on, ‘“Everything in this room, from the wallpaper to the doorknobs, is handmade, its grandeur counterpointed by its elegance and restraint. It is a room to inspire, and indulge a man’s dreams. Only a high-flyer could come to rest in a bed that would have suited the Sun King himself.” Did you write it, Justin?’

‘Don’t be ridiculous, it’s that slag Meryl Delaware. I gave her the photos and the specifications. Now she’s wild to see the place for herself. She believes it’s owned by a mystery consortium of reclusive millionaires or royalty.’

‘Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to tell them whose island it is soon. I mean, we’ve got them all wondering now, and that thing with Sylvina has put me back on the social map.’

Justin had to admit that William was right, but he had grown bored with this exchange and was moving inside.

‘Justin!’ called William. ‘Look!’

He was pointing towards the wooded area below them in the gardens. He stepped back in shock as Justin sprang on to the balcony rail and proceeded to climb down the front of the house, clinging to the ivy. ‘Laura! Laura!’ he shouted, as he ran towards the woods.

William shaded his eyes to watch Justin tear across the gardens. In a long white dress and a wide-brimmed picture hat, Laura waited among the trees. Justin caught her in his arms and swung her round, her feet off the ground, her arms around his neck.

William made his way down the stairs and out through the big french windows, then strolled through the paved Japanese gardens, past the fountains, ferns and palm trees. ‘Justin?’ he called, but there was silence. He headed into the forest of tall pines. ‘Hello, where are you?’ he called.

‘Hello.’ It was a woman’s voice.

William turned to face her. She was standing in deep shadows between two massive fir trees, her hands resting on their bark. She was barefoot, and her dress was transparent so the light shone through.

‘Laura?’ said William shyly.

‘You must be William.’ Her voice was light with a hoarse quality.

‘I saw you from the balcony,’ he said, rather lamely.

As he moved closer, William noticed that she had threaded daisies between her toes. He felt like a schoolboy. ‘Justin has told me a lot about you,’ he said hesitantly, wishing he could think of something more interesting to say.

‘Did he?’ she said. He still could not see her face clearly: her long hair fell like a curtain, obscuring her profile.

‘It’s cold out of the sun,’ he said, looking upwards.

‘It’s nice and cool. Don’t you find it refreshing?’ She lifted one hand and brushed her hair off her face.

William was mesmerized by her incredible blue eyes. They were deep like her brother’s, but so pale and weirdly expressionless, that it seemed as if her thoughts were trapped miles away.

He felt awkward, and his body was covered in goose pimples. ‘I find it chilly,’ he said.

She cocked her head to one side. ‘Chilly? C’est quoi, chilly?’ Her accent was quite strong, unlike Justin’s.

Suddenly she moved towards him and slipped her arm through his. William’s heart lurched. Her perfume smelt familiar, of lilies. He realized she was very tall.

‘I’m hungry,’ she said, and her voice had no trace of an accent at all.

‘How odd,’ William said. ‘One moment you sound French and the next you speak perfect English.’

She laughed. ‘I was brought up in England, so if I wish I am English. But I can also be French.’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘I think, for you, I should always be English.’

‘Yes... but you are a very good actress,’ he mused, then asked, ‘Have you ever been on the stage?’

‘Oh, no, I would hate to be constantly portraying other people. I’d lose myself. I have a hard time holding on to who I am anyway. Does that happen to you?’

‘I’ve never thought about it, but I suppose so. When I am in a good mood, I feel like I have more energy to deal with people, but when I’m in a bad mood, I feel inadequate and then I wish I could be my other self. Does that make sense?’

‘Of course, because sometimes it is hard to be confident. Do you envy people who are always confident?’

‘You mean like Justin?’

She looked up into his eyes. ‘Justin is not always confident. He may appear to be so, but I know sometimes he goes to a place of deep despair.’

William was interested, he had never considered that Justin might be prone to depression. ‘Sometimes he feels very lonely, so he hides. We are very alike.’

‘You feel lonely?’

She hesitated a moment, then shook her head. Her voice was soft and hardly audible. ‘I am alone if I am not with Justin.’

Her eyes brimmed with tears and he wanted to hold her, protect her, wrap his arms around her frail beauty. Instead he coughed and changed the subject. ‘Er, I’m hungry too. Shall we make our way back to the villa?’

As they broke from the darkness into the splendour of the gardens, he said, ‘It’s wonderful, isn’t it? Everything so alive, growing...’

‘Mmm,’ she said lightly, then, almost as an afterthought, added, ‘Everything but me.’

It was a disquieting remark, which played on William’s mind.

They walked in silence for a while. Then, wanting to make conversation, he said, ‘I’ve grown very fond of your brother.’

She smiled, ‘I adore him, I could not live without him.’

‘He speaks well of you.’

‘He loves me too much — but then I love him too much. Sometimes it leaves no room for anyone else. It has always been that way.’

‘Do you work?’ William changed the subject.

She frowned. ‘Has he not told you about me?’

‘How do you mean?’

She gave a soft laugh. ‘He obviously hasn’t, or you wouldn’t ask. It’s just that I have a frail constitution. I get very nervous of people. It’s silly, but I get agitated very easily and then... I get sick, just a nervous condition, but Justin looks after me, and Marta too. She’s like a mother, we love her.’

Her voice was soft, musical, and there was a childlike innocence about her that took his breath away. William recalled Andrew Maynard’s description of her, and could understand why the young man had been so drawn to these two creatures. The more time William spent with them, the more he, too, fell under their spell.

‘Lunch is served,’ bellowed Justin, from the first-floor balcony, and the moment was broken.

Laura picked at the food with her fingers. Often brother and sister ate from each other’s plates, sometimes popping morsels into each other’s mouths. The conversation revolved around the island: Justin described it all to her in minute detail, and told her how hard he had worked since she last saw it. Then he showed her the magazine articles. Laura watched him intently, and at one point she reached over and used her napkin to wipe the side of his mouth. Marta served coffee, and hot water and lemon to Laura who had refused wine, leaving William and Justin to consume a bottle each. Afterwards Justin jumped up and said he would be waiting for William in fifteen minutes to go waterskiing, and Laura disappeared. Marta materialized and proceeded to stack a large tray with all the plates and glasses.

William pushed back his chair and stood up. ‘This morning, Marta, at breakfast, you were about to say something but stopped when Justin came in.’

‘You must have been mistaken.’

‘I distinctly heard you say something about—’

‘I didn’t say anything.’

As she went out with the tray, William held open the door for her. ‘Laura is very beautiful,’ he said softly, and he saw the look of sadness in Marta’s face. ‘A rare thing. A very delicate, fragile woman.’

William went to his room to change for the beach, then set off to find Justin. He was waiting in the garden. ‘What did you think of her, then?’ he whispered, his face close to William’s.

‘She’s gorgeous.’

‘Perfection. Lovely firm natural tits, big pink nipples, and her pussy is like a silk purse.’

William pulled away from him. ‘For Christ’s sake, Justin, she’s your sister!’

‘Oh, God,’ Justin sneered, ‘don’t be such a prude. She’s an experienced woman. She knows what’s going to be needed of her. Like I said, she’s going to be the bait. You telling me any man would turn her down? She may not be every man’s trip, but let me tell you, if they fuck her, they always go back for more. Laura is an adulteress with more tricks than—’

‘Stop it!’

‘What’s the matter?’

‘I don’t think you should talk about her in that way.’

‘You see? She’s got you hooked.’ He laughed. ‘Imagine fucking her, William. See the swan turn into a demon. She’ll have every man on that island, every woman and child eating out of the palm of her tiny innocent hand. And she can bite, you know, and draw blood like no other woman.’

William refused to listen. He hated Justin when he talked like a pimp. But he was angry with himself too — because he couldn’t stop thinking of her asleep, naked, her perfect thighs, her breasts, and it made him feel ashamed.

‘Maybe you should try out the goods, huh?’ Justin said, hopping into a jeep parked outside.

‘Why don’t you shut your foul mouth before I put my fist in it?’

Justin started up the engine as William got in. ‘Anything you say. You’re holding the purse strings. I don’t suppose she’s told you how much she wants yet, has she?’ William refused to answer. ‘Well, you can discuss it tonight, but her services don’t come cheap.’

‘Services?’ William was appalled.

‘She’ll charge a lot more than those Mayfair whores you got hammered for screwing. Laura isn’t a cheap hooker, she’s a courtesan. If you get Matlock, he’ll bring his wife and his son. If you leave them alone with Laura she’ll have each one of them.’

‘Really?’ William said flatly. He was sure now that Justin was joking, but refused to join in with his sick humour.

Justin smiled to himself. He’d never met a man who hadn’t wanted to protect Laura on first meeting. Tonight William would witness the other side of Laura — the temptress or maybe the seductress. She had numerous different personalities and Justin loved every one of them. He admonished himself, though, for his reckless conversation: sometimes he forgot that his strait-laced friend did not think as he did. He must not do anything that might make William scuttle away from the trap, which was now in place.

When they got back from the afternoon’s waterskiing, William rested until almost nine. He was so tired he hardly felt like dressing for dinner. As he sat morosely by his dressing-table, Justin came in, wearing a white suit and a black T-shirt.

‘Every bone aches. I’m not hungry, I am totally exhausted,’ William said.

‘Just get dressed. I’ve a little something to give you a boost.’

William went to his wardrobe, selected a cream linen suit, then saw that Justin had chopped out four lines of cocaine on a small hand mirror. ‘I don’t do drugs,’ he barked.

‘Just this once,’ cooed Justin. ‘It’ll give you some energy. We don’t want you falling asleep half-way through dinner. Go on, everyone should try it once.’

William hummed and hawed, then accepted the rolled bank — note and snorted. His eyes watered and he coughed, but Justin pointed to the next line. ‘That’s enough,’ William said.

‘Do the other line and stop stalling.’

‘Justin, I have never used drugs. I abhor them,’ he said, but he bent his head to do the other line as he spoke. ‘I really don’t approve of this,’ he justified himself, blinking back tears. ‘And I don’t feel anything but a runny nose,’ he said, sniffing.

‘Believe me, you’ll be needing this tonight. Let’s go down,’ Justin said.

William sniffed again. He wondered why Justin thought he’d be needing the cocaine. As he started down the staircase, it hit him like a thunderbolt. His head cleared and his body felt weightless. He felt incredibly fit and alert, almost jumping down the last few stairs. ‘You know, I bet any money if I went back on the skis tomorrow I’d be able to stay up. We can do it first thing before breakfast.’ William crouched on the stairs with his hands held out in front of him, as if he was waterskiing.

Justin turned and looked at him, then gave that wonderful, slow smile. ‘You should trust your friend. He’s always going to take care of you. Now we’ll have a little caviar, some iced champagne, and party.’

‘Fine by me,’ William said, with an inane grin.

What William had not been expecting downstairs, though, was dinner guests. ‘What the hell are they doing here?’ he muttered.

‘Don’t fret, old boy, this is all part of the plan. I’ve arranged a small soirée so that you can drop the news that it’s your island everyone’s been getting excited about.’

‘We never discussed this.’ William was anxious.

‘Trust me. Now is the right time. That Sylvina thing has made you look all squeaky clean. Go ahead, give it a go. You’ll enjoy it.’

Before he could argue, one of the guests, in the shape of the blowsy Meryl Delaware, almost threw him sideways. She was aiming for Justin, but he sidestepped her and she stumbled into William.

‘Miss Delaware,’ he said, thankful for the wall behind him.

‘Oh, good evening. Sir William Benedict, isn’t it?’

‘Generally speaking,’ he said, and she looked almost puzzled.

‘You look very different. Is it your hair?’

‘Maybe the lack of it,’ he said, with a charming smile, as she backed away and bumped into Terence Hampton.

William looked around. Rent-a-crowd, he thought. He helped himself to a glass of champagne, and drank it down as if it was water. He had such a thirst! He wasn’t in the least bit self-conscious or worried that no one was approaching him. Instead, he was enjoying surveying the room, and quickly realized that Laura was absent. Marta was moving quietly around, collecting used glasses and half-empty dishes of caviar, the remnants swimming in melting ice. As she passed William he asked if Laura was joining them.

‘I believe so, Sir William,’ she answered, and reached out to catch a glass that Princess Constantina had inadvertently knocked off a bookcase.

‘I was so sorry to hear about your break-up with Countess Lubrinsky.’ Meryl had had to resort to talking to William.

‘I’m still broken-hearted,’ he said, smiling. ‘As you can see. Inconsolable.’ He dipped into some caviar. He was enjoying himself and decided that this was the right moment. ‘Actually, I’ve been recovering on my island in the Caribbean.’

‘The Caribbean?’ Meryl’s mind was whirring.

‘Yes, I think you wrote an article about it. “Billionaire’s Paradise Island Home”,’ he quoted.

He laughed inwardly when her jaw dropped.

‘Tragic about Lord Bellingham’s son, wasn’t it?’

Meryl blinked her mascara-caked eyelashes and nodded. Rivulets of lipstick gathered in the crevices around her mouth, giving it the appearance of a tight pink arse-hole. ‘I was in the Caribbean when it happened,’ she said, adopting a sorrowful expression.

‘So was I,’ said William. ‘My island is next door to theirs.’

‘Really?’

‘I noticed you at the party, too.’

‘Party?’ she said guardedly.

‘I’d say it was one of the most decadent evenings of my entire life.’

Her hands were trembling. ‘My dear,’ she whispered, ‘a little word of advice. Don’t discuss that evening. It’s best forgotten. I left early. I had a dreadful migraine.’

‘I remember you being there well,’ he persisted. ‘Life and soul of the party as I recall.’

Meryl pursed her lips. ‘I suggest you forget it.’ She glared over his shoulder and caught Terence Hampton’s eye. ‘Ah, Terence, dahling! Are you my chauffeur for this evening?’ She rolled her eyes towards William. He did not miss it. ‘We should really be thinking about leaving.’

‘I only just got here,’ he moaned, but Meryl grabbed him and bundled him away.

William strolled out on to the balcony. Princess Constantina stood with her back to the open doors, having a heated discussion with Count Capri. ‘Well, it was drugs as well,’ she was saying, ‘but he’d been abused and tied up. That’s what I was told. You know Lord B, he’d never let that out. It was bad enough that the boy was always in a drugged stupor.’

William was eavesdropping and didn’t care if he was caught. Tonight he didn’t hover or hide his new slimline figure, but leaned confidently against the balcony viewing the Eurotrash. He would have happily remained so, if Laura hadn’t appeared. She was wearing a long gold satin gown that draped her breasts, while the skirt was cut on the bias and swung around her body as she walked. Her pale skin shimmered and her hair had been drawn back tightly against her head, one long plait hanging down the centre of her back. She wore no jewellery at her ears or throat, but a gold bracelet hung low on her slender wrist. ‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ she announced, ‘I do apologize but we are expected at dinner, so if you will excuse us...’ She stood poised in the doorway. Frederick Capri gaped. ‘Who’s that?’ he squawked.

In the drive below the cars started revving up to take the guests to dinner. A Rolls and a large open SL Mercedes were preparing to leave. The room emptied fast, leaving William and Marta alone.

‘Well, that was all very...’ He tailed off and shrugged as the cars disappeared up the drive.

‘Typical Justin,’ Marta said. ‘He bumps into someone and the next minute he has that wretched group here. Laura hates it. She won’t have any part of it. He’s such a bad boy. Dinner has been ready for over an hour.’

William made his way to the south veranda, where dinner was being served. As he approached, he heard a loud crash.

‘That was a stupid thing to do,’ Justin shouted.

‘No. You are stupid. Why did you let those wretched people in here? They are freeloaders, gossips. I hate the filthy bastards!’

There was another crash and the ominous sound of tinkling glass. ‘That’s seven years’ bad luck, you soft cow.’

‘I don’t care. You have those people in here and you’ll have more than bad luck. They are trash, Justin, and that fat bitch Delaware is the worst of them all. You could see her scrawling her filthy little articles in her head as she talked to you.’

‘Well, you’ll be all right — you hardly showed your face,’ Justin snapped.

‘You know why? If we go through with this, the fewer people see me the better.’

William coughed and stepped into view. Broken glass and china littered the long table, which had been so elegantly laid.

Justin waved at William. ‘She’s throwing a tantrum. Are you hungry? If you can find a space between the broken crockery we’ll get Marta to dish up. I’m starving.’

Suddenly Laura seemed to calm down, and took a seat opposite William. ‘Careful you don’t cut yourself. Justin’ll clear up.’ She picked up a napkin. ‘So, William, did you enjoy these ghastly clingers-on?’ She pronounced the word ‘ghastly’ with a wonderfully accented lilt.

‘No,’ he said. ‘I loathe them. Especially Meryl Delaware.’

‘William, we all loathe them,’ said Justin. ‘They would turn up at a public lavatory if they thought there was a free drink in it.’ He gathered the broken crockery into a napkin. ‘But Meryl is very useful. How do you think we’ve had such a terrific press about the island? You could feed her dog-shit and, with the right price tag, she’d make it smell like roses.’ He walked into the house.

William had almost reverted to his usual self-conscious self. The cocaine had worn off, his nose was running and his head ached. Laura poured him some wine. ‘Justin has told me what those horrible people did to you. I am so sorry. But we’ll get back at them. It’ll be fun... Well, it will be for you. They won’t think so,’ she said, and crumbled a bread roll. ‘If you would like me to help, I am available. But I don’t want to be paid in cash.’

William said nothing, watching her. She was one of the most perfect creatures he had ever met and in the glow of the flickering candles she seemed like an exotic bird. A long finger traced the rim of a glass, and William watched as she dipped her forefinger into the wine, lifted it, and caught the drop on her tongue. ‘According to Justin, you are going to hire me. But I need to hear it from you. If you do want me to help you, then I must make arrangements.’ He leaned forward and she moved her hand across the table to touch his lips. ‘Don’t interrupt.’

‘I’m sorry.’ She was like a different woman: colder, more sophisticated, as if the childlike quality he had found so appealing had been a figment of his imagination. There was no trace of any French accent. She was speaking like a well-educated upper-class débutante.

‘Justin suggested that I should be your woman, but not in the ridiculous way you were engaged to Sylvina. It’s public knowledge in Europe that she prefers women. Ours should be a more loving match. It’s usual, is it not, for British men to like younger girls? Perhaps it is that they fall in love with what they could not acquire before they had amassed a fortune.’

William smiled. It was so true. As a young man he could never have hoped to date a woman as beautiful as Laura. Not even with his fortune had he ever attracted a woman like her.

‘What about this? We met in Paris, and you fell in love with me. You are desperate to propose. Would you find that acceptable?’

Had Justin arranged the candles so they formed that Madonna halo?

‘Falling in love with you would be any man’s reaction. You look so beautiful, Laura, you take my breath away. I doubt if anyone would ever believe that I could be fortunate enough.’

She giggled seductively. ‘But you do have a fortune, William, and I mean to please you. But tell me, what do you think about what I’ve just said? Do you think it’s a good idea? Or do you have another plan?’

‘I’m not sure how much Justin has told you. To be perfectly honest, I don’t know all the details myself,’ he said, pouring more wine. Truth was, he didn’t want to get into the sordid ‘hidden’ cameras, the plan to catch his enemies engaged in compromising sexual activities. And Laura frightened the life out of him.

Laura continued, staring into space, ‘Justin has explained the details.’ It was as if she was reading his mind and he flushed. ‘Justin suggested that I compromise each of your guests. I am to have a sexual relationship with all of them... or use whatever or whoever is necessary.’

William was sweating. It sounded so unlikely that he wanted to say it had been some kind of fantasy.

Laura moved closer to him. She lifted his arms away from the chair and sat on his lap. Taking his right hand, she wrapped it around her waist. Resting against him, her face close to his, she was silent. She lowered her hand and began to rub him lightly. Her body heat warmed him and he felt his loins stirring. He could hardly breathe. She held his face between her hands and kissed his lips, so softly. ‘I don’t want money,’ she said, and now her lips brushed his ear.

She stopped stroking him and eased away to perch on the edge of the table.

‘I will play your game.’ She laughed. ‘I think the men will be easy. The women will be more difficult to seduce, especially if they have never had a lesbian relationship.’

‘Women?’ he said, flushing deep red.

‘Yes, of course. The wives and sons will be there, and I think one of your guests has a daughter, does he not — Lord Cedric?’

‘Yes, but—’

She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him, her gown sliding aside to reveal that she was naked beneath it. ‘I don’t want any money,’ she repeated, and slid away, returning to her seat, with the grace of a dancer. Languidly she picked up a champagne glass and sipped, then ran her tongue round her lips. ‘Payment will be...’ she paused, teasing ‘...a diamond for each conquest.’

‘Depends on the carat,’ he heard himself reply, trying to be nonchalant and failing.

‘You want to try the goods?’ She smiled, showing her small, white, even teeth. Then she yawned, stretched her arms above her head, and was gone.

William wasn’t clear about what went on around him after that. At some stage Marta brought him some coffee and a cigar. Justin had disappeared. After a while he decided to go to bed. He showered and lay down, but he was not ready to sleep. He considered reading, but in the end he turned out the lights and remained wide awake, staring at the ceiling. The Egyptian cotton sheets felt good against his skin — he had only taken to sleeping naked since meeting Justin. He did not hear her enter, but knew she was in the room by the strong smell of lilies. He also knew she was moving slowly round the bed, but he was too afraid to move. Then he felt the mattress dip to his right.

‘Give me your arm,’ she whispered, and he lifted it a fraction. She bound his wrist with a silk band, then fastened it to the bedpost. ‘Now the other.’ Her voice was barely audible. Next she drew the sheet away from him, tossed it aside, and forced his legs apart, tying his ankles to the foot of the bed. William lay spreadeagled, unable to move. He kept his eyes tightly shut, afraid to open them. She sat astride his chest and he winced at his impotency. His mind was aroused but his body was not answering.

‘I’m sorry, I can’t do this with you. Please,’ he mumbled.

First she licked each nipple till he felt goose pimples break out across his body, then his neck and ears. He wanted to feel her mouth on his, but she suddenly bit into his ear-lobe, which hurt. He nearly cried out, but she covered his mouth first with her hand, then she stuffed something into it. It felt hard, a roll of leather or plastic. He bit into it, as she drew blood from his ear and began to bite down on the vein in his neck. He felt as if he was being suffocated. Her hands felt strong, masculine, and they massaged and rubbed, twisted and pinched until he was on fire, heaving for breath. Then she inched down towards his now swollen cock. Easing him into her, she leaned forward across his chest, pressing her hands against his throat, so that what little breath he had was cut short. His gasps were painful, his head thundering as she rode him, strangling him, slapping and kicking at him, until he exploded with such intensity, such agonizing pleasure that he blacked out.

Later that night, William woke with a start and looked at the clock; it was three a.m. He thought he must have dreamed the sex, and Laura, but the bands still hung loosely around his wrists and ankles, although Laura had cut him free. He dragged himself from the bed and stumbled into the shower, rubbing his body hard, to bring the blood to the surface of his skin to stop bruises forming. He returned to bed, so tired he could hardly be bothered to wrap the sheet around himself.

Just as he felt sleep descending, she slipped into bed beside him. She snuggled up to him like a child and her kisses were soft and sweet. She whispered to him that he was special, that he was a king, a prince. He was the love she had dreamed of finding, he made her happy. He had never felt such a powerful emotion: a consuming need to protect and provide for the child-woman he held in his arms.

‘That must never happen again, Laura.’

‘What mustn’t?’

‘What we did earlier. I don’t ever want that to happen again.’

‘Why not? Don’t you like me?’

‘It’s because I like you too much, I respect you too much. I’m not a stupid man, I know it was to prove something to me and you succeeded. But I can’t use you, even if I desire you. It’s wrong.’

He was holding Laura in the crook of his arm when the naked Justin slipped in beside him and hooked his arm around them both.

‘She’s good, isn’t she?’ Justin said into the darkness.

Laura reached across William to kiss Justin. Then she flopped back. ‘That was just a free sample,’ she said to William. ‘What carat would you rate me?’ Her voice was singsong, a little girlish. ‘I want a big whopper each time. You promised me, William, that’s right, isn’t it?’

‘Yep,’ said William, out of his depth.

He was unable to think straight, aghast at the proximity of Justin’s nakedness.

Justin, who had hooked a long leg over William’s, said, ‘Listen, old boy, tomorrow we’re waterskiing again, so I suggest you get some kip.’ He brushed William’s face with his hand then kissed him sweetly on the cheek like a young boy. ‘Come on, Diamond Lil, bedtime. Get your beauty sleep.’

She jumped up and Justin, with his sister’s ease and grace, got up too. Naked, they walked out, arms around each other, leaving William alone.

William patted his pillow, afraid of all the demons inside him. He needed to step aside and look from a distance at what had taken place. He found he couldn’t do it. What was he thinking of? It had got out of hand, this talk of Matlock and vendettas, and his ex-girlfriend Angela. He would put a stop to it first thing in the morning because he was afraid. Suddenly he thought that the paradise trap might be intended for him.

As sleep enveloped him, his fears turned into nightmares. When he’d read Andrew Maynard’s secret diaries, he had envied his exploration of his sexuality. He remembered the blanked-out sections. Had Justin taken Maynard that step further, the step that William had half contemplated?

He knew without doubt that Justin had drawn the naïve Andrew Maynard into an erotic world that had eventually obsessed him, ultimately killed him. Yet that night he had experienced such powerful emotion, not just for Laura but for Justin as well and, no matter how he had protested, she had made love to him and it was as if she had opened a closed door in his mind or in his soul. Whatever had happened had not been merely an erotic excursion but some kind of baptism.

William forced himself to remember the night, on the island, with Dahlia and Ruby. He could see Justin laughing as he watched the video. He sat up quickly, his breath caught in his chest. Had they filmed him this evening? The aim of the game was to capture his guests in pornographic situations, but what if the intention all along had been to entrap William himself? Might this be an elaborate blackmail scam, into which he had unwittingly played? Fear consumed him, and then it subsided. He realized he was the one controlling the game; he had instigated it. From now on he would take control, not just of Laura and Justin but of his life. He knew he was the stronger; he knew he had become stronger. And he also knew that he had been taken on a journey. Far from destroying him, it had made him become a man. Tomorrow he would make it clear there was to be no further sexual intercourse between himself and Laura. That was the only way of knowing he was in control. He felt easier, and his eyes were heavy. He slept with the perfume of lilies, unable not to recall what it had felt like to have both their bodies entwined with his own.