Part 1 (2/2)

'Try me.'

'She is not human.'

'She looked more than just a touch human to me,' Hector commented.

'It's an illusion, old boy. Done with b.l.o.o.d.y mirrors or something. I will say no more. You can find out for yourself.'

'What does that mean?' Hector demanded.

'You are taking her for a run, matey.'

'When?'

'First thing in the morning, day after tomorrow. Meet 0530 hours sharp at the main gates. Ten miles, she stipulated. I would hazard a guess that the pace she sets will be somewhat faster than a stroll. Don't let her lose you.'

For Hazel Bannock too it had been a long and demanding day, but nothing that she couldn't wash away in a hot bubble bath. Afterwards she shampooed her hair and used the electric dryer to style the blonde wave above her right eye. Then she put on a blue satin robe that matched her eyes. All her luggage had been sent on ahead of her days before. Her matched set of croc-skin cases had been unpacked by the servants and her clothes were freshly pressed and hanging in the commodious cupboards of her dressing room. Her toiletries and cosmetics were arranged in neat ranks on the gla.s.s shelves above the wash basins in her bathroom. She dabbed Chanel perfume behind her ears, then she went through into her sitting room. The drinks cabinet contained every item that her personal a.s.sistant, Agatha, had stipulated in the email she had sent Bert Simpson. Hazel filled a long gla.s.s with crushed ice and freshly squeezed lime juice and added a very small amount of Dovgan vodka. She carried it next door into her private communications centre. There were six large plasma screens on the facing wall so she was able to watch simultaneously the stock prices and commodity prices on all the major bourses; the other screens displayed the news channels and the sports results. At the moment she was particularly interested in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamps in which she had a horse running. She grimaced with disgust when she saw that it had run a disappointing third. This confirmed her decision to fire her trainer, and take on the young Irishman. She switched her attention to the tennis. She liked to follow the efforts of the young Russian and Eastern European girls. They reminded her of those days when she was eighteen and hungry as a she-wolf. She sat at her computer and sipped the vodka which tasted like a fairy potion while she opened her emails. Agatha in Houston had screened them for her so there were fewer than fifty for her personal attention. She went through them rapidly. Although it was 0300 hours in Houston Agatha slept with the telephone on her bedside table always ready for her call. Hazel raised her on the Skype connection. Agatha's image appeared on the screen. She wore a nightgown with embroidered roses around the collar and her grey hair was in curlers and sleep filled her eyes. Hazel dictated to her the replies to the mail. Finally she asked, 'How is your cold, Agatha? You don't sound as croaky as you were yesterday.'

'It's so much better, Mrs Bannock. And thank you ever so much for asking.' That was why her employees loved her, their caring employer, until they slipped up and then she fired them into orbit. She cut the connection to Agatha and checked her wrist.w.a.tch against the digital clock on the wall. It would be the same time aboard the Amorous Dolphin Amorous Dolphin. Hazel disliked the name that Henry had christened the yacht and always referred to it as simply the Dolphin Dolphin. Out of respect to the memory of her husband she could not bring herself to change it, besides which Henry had a.s.sured her that it was the worst possible luck to do so. The name was the only thing Hazel disliked about the vessel, which was 125 metres of pure Sybaritic luxury, with twelve double guest cabins and a palatial owner's stateroom. Her dining salon and other s.p.a.cious entertainment areas were decorated with colourful murals by sought-after modern artists. Her four powerful diesel engines could drive her across the Atlantic Ocean in under six days. She was equipped with state-of-the-art navigation and communications electronics, and she could deploy all her expensive toys and gadgets for the amus.e.m.e.nt of even the most spoilt and sophisticated guests on board. Hazel dialled up the contact number of the Dolphin Dolphin's bridge and it was answered before it rang twice.

'Amorous Dolphin. Bridge.' She recognized the Californian accent.

'Mr Jetson?' He was the first officer, and the tone of his voice became awed as he realized who was calling.

'Good evening, Mrs Bannock.'

'Is Captain Franklin available?'

'Of course, Mrs Bannock. He is here beside me. I will hand you over to him.'

Jack Franklin greeted her and Hazel asked at once, 'Is all well, Captain?'

'Very well indeed, Mrs Bannock,' he a.s.sured her.

'What is your present position?'

Franklin reeled off the coordinates from the satnav screen, then quickly translated them into more intelligible form. 'We are 146 nautical miles south-east of Madagascar on course for Mahe Island in the Seych.e.l.les. Our ETA at Mahe is noon Thursday.'

'You have indeed made good progress, Captain Franklin,' Hazel told him. 'Is my daughter on the bridge with you?'

'I am afraid not, Mrs Bannock. I understand that Miss Bannock has retired early and has ordered her dinner served in your stateroom. I beg your pardon, I meant in her her stateroom.' stateroom.'

The daughter was allowed to occupy the owner's stateroom when Mrs Bannock was not aboard. Franklin had always thought that the Gauguin and Monet oils, and the Lalique chandelier were rather wasted on an unbridled teenager who considered herself every bit as important as her ill.u.s.trious parent. However, he knew better than to even hint at the child's defects to the mother. This pretty but unpleasant little b.i.t.c.h was Hazel Bannock's only blind spot.

'Please put me through to her there,' said Hazel Bannock.

'Certainly, Mrs Bannock.' She heard him speak to the radio operator. The line clicked dead and then came to life again with the ringing tone. She waited for twelve rings and she was becoming restless before the receiver was lifted. Then she recognized her daughter's voice.

'Who is that? I left orders that I was not to be disturbed.'

'Cayla baby!'

'Oh, Mummy, so lovely to hear your voice. I have been waiting for you to call all day. I was beginning to think you didn't love me any more.' Her delight was evident, and Hazel's heart swelled with maternal joy to hear it.

'I have been awfully busy, darling. So much is happening here.' Cayla, the pure one: the name she had chosen for her daughter was so appropriate. The image of the girl's face appeared in her mind's eye. Cayla's skin always seemed to Hazel to be fas.h.i.+oned from translucent jade beneath which the young blood pulsed and glowed. Her eyes were a lighter, more ethereal blue than Hazel's own. Purity of mind and spirit seemed to s.h.i.+ne from them. At nineteen years of age she was a woman trembling on the brink, but still untouched, virginal, perfect. Hazel felt tears s.h.i.+mmer in her eyes as the strength of her love overwhelmed her. This child was the most important element in her life, this was what all the sacrifice and striving was for.

'That's my darling mummy. Only one speed. Full throttle!' Cayla laughed sweetly, and slowly rolled off the masculine figure on the bed beneath her. Their naked bellies were stuck together with their sweat and they came apart with sucking reluctance. She felt his p.e.n.i.s slither out of her followed by a warm gush of her own v.a.g.i.n.al fluid. She felt empty without him deep inside her.

'Tell me what you have been doing today,' Hazel demanded. 'Have you been studying?' This was the reason why she had left the child on the Dolphin Dolphin. Cayla's term results had been abysmal. Her professor had threatened that without considerable improvement she would be sent down at the end of the year. Up to now only her mother's large donations to the university coffers had saved Cayla from that fate.

'I have to admit that I have been terribly lazy today, Mummy darling. I did not get out of bed until almost 9.30,' and she smiled with a wicked slant of those innocent blue eyes and thought to herself, and not until Rogier had given me two monumental o.r.g.a.s.ms and not until Rogier had given me two monumental o.r.g.a.s.ms. She sat up on the white sheets and wriggled closer to his beautifully sleek and muscled body. His skin was glossy with sweat like melting chocolate. They were still touching and she drew her knees up to her chin and turned slightly so he could have an uninterrupted view of the nest of fine blonde hair nestling between the backs of her thighs. He reached out and parted her thighs gently and she shuddered as he spread the swollen lips of her v.u.l.v.a and his forefinger sought out the pink rosebud between them. She held the telephone receiver to her ear with her left hand and with the right reached down to his p.e.n.i.s. He was still fully tumescent. Cayla had come to think of this organ as a separate ent.i.ty with a life force of its very own. She even had a pet name for it. Blaise, the master of Merlin the magician. Blaise had bewitched her. He was stretched to his full majestic length, hard and glistening with her own sweet essence with which she had anointed him. She encircled his girth with her thumb and forefinger and began to milk him with slow voluptuous strokes.

'Oh baby, you promised you would apply yourself to your studies. You are a clever girl, and with only a little effort I know you can do so much better.'

'Today was an exception, Mummy. I have been working very hard all the other days. Today I started my monthly thing. I have had a terrible tummy ache.'

'Oh, poor Cayla. I hope you are feeling better now?'

'Yes, Mummy. I am much better. I will be fine again tomorrow.'

'I wish I was there to look after you. It's only a week since I left you in Cape Town,' Hazel said, 'but it seems an eternity. I miss you so, baby.'

'I miss you too, Mummy,' Cayla a.s.sured her. Then she had no further need to reply as now her mother went on talking about the running of her grotty old oilfields and the problems she had with the coa.r.s.e unwashed oafs who ran them for her. At intervals Cayla made small noises of agreement, but she was studying Blaise with a little frown of concentration. He was circ.u.mcised. The others she had known before him had all had that untidy hood of skin dangling from the tip. Only after meeting Rogier had she come to realize how ugly they were in comparison to this beautiful shaft of flesh she now held reverently between finger and thumb. Blaise was dark blue-black, smooth and glossy as a rifle barrel. A clear droplet oozed slowly from the slit in his head. It trembled there like a drop of dew. It was so exciting to watch that it made her s.h.i.+ver with delight and goose b.u.mps rose on the unblemished skin of her forearms. Quickly she dipped her head over him. She took the droplet on the tip of her tongue. She savoured the taste of him. She wanted more, much more. She began to milk him more urgently, her long delicate fingers flying up and down his shaft like a shuttle in a loom. He thrust his hips forward to meet her. She saw the muscles in his belly contracting. She could feel Blaise swelling, hard and thick as a tennis racquet handle in her grip. Rogier's features contorted. He threw back his marvellous dark head and his mouth opened. She saw that he was about to groan or cry out. Quickly she released his p.e.n.i.s and clapped her hand over his mouth to silence him, but at the same time she leaned forward and took as much of Blaise's length as she could into her own mouth. She could engulf less than half of him and the tip of his swollen head pressed against the back of her throat starting her gagging reflex. But she had learned to control that. She risked taking her hand away from over his mouth. She wanted to feel the building up of his seed deep inside him. She slipped her hand down between his thighs and grasped the root of his s.c.r.o.t.u.m. Still sucking and bobbing her head up and down she felt his e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n begin, pulsing and pumping in her hand, and his t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es were drawn up tightly against the base of his belly.

Even though she was prepared for it, the force and volume took her by surprise every time. She gasped and swallowed as rapidly as she could but she could not take it all and the excess overflowed and drooled down her chin. She wanted to suck every last drop out of him. She went on drinking it down and now despite herself she was moaning softly. Her mother's voice roused her from her daze of ecstasy.

'Cayla! What's happening? Are you all right? What is happening? Speak to me!' Cayla had dropped the telephone receiver and it lay squawking on the bed beside her. She s.n.a.t.c.hed it up, and gathered her wits.

'Oh! I spilled the coffee all over myself and the bed. It was hot and it gave me a start.' She laughed breathlessly.

'You didn't scald yourself, did you?'

'Oh, no! But the duvet is a mess,' she said and ran her fingertips through the slippery outpourings that were splattered over the silk coverlet. It was still warm from his body. She wiped her fingers on his chest and he grinned up at her. She thought he was the most beautiful man she had ever laid eyes upon. Her mother changed the subject and began to reminisce about their recent visit to Cape Town where the Dolphin Dolphin had stopped over for two weeks. Cayla's grandmother lived in a magnificent old Herbert Baker-designed mansion amongst the vineyards just outside the city. Hazel had purchased the wine estate with the idea of retiring there one day in the far distant future. In the meantime it made a perfect home for her beloved mother, who had scrimped and saved every penny to enable her daughter to follow her quest to the great tennis tournaments of the world. Now the old lady had a magnificent home, filled with servants, and a uniformed chauffeur to drive her to the village in the Mercedes Maybach every Sat.u.r.day, to do her shopping and to drink tea with her cronies. had stopped over for two weeks. Cayla's grandmother lived in a magnificent old Herbert Baker-designed mansion amongst the vineyards just outside the city. Hazel had purchased the wine estate with the idea of retiring there one day in the far distant future. In the meantime it made a perfect home for her beloved mother, who had scrimped and saved every penny to enable her daughter to follow her quest to the great tennis tournaments of the world. Now the old lady had a magnificent home, filled with servants, and a uniformed chauffeur to drive her to the village in the Mercedes Maybach every Sat.u.r.day, to do her shopping and to drink tea with her cronies.

Rogier stood up from the bed and made a sign to Cayla. Then he sauntered naked to the bathroom. His muscled b.u.t.tocks oscillated tantalizingly. Cayla jumped up from the bed and followed him, with the telephone receiver still held to her ear. Rogier stood at the urinal and she leaned against the bulkhead beside him and watched with complete fascination.

She had met Rogier in Paris where she was studying the art of the French Impressionists at the Universite des Beaux-Arts. She knew that her mother would never approve of her relations.h.i.+p with him. Her mother was only a lip-service liberal. She had probably never been brought to bed by any man with darker skin pigmentation than orange skin pith. However, on first sight Cayla had been enthralled by Rogier's exoticism: the glossy iron blue patina of his skin, his fine nilotic features, his tall willowy body and his intriguing accent. She had also been t.i.tillated by the accounts of the girlfriends of her own age, those with more experience than her, when they described in prurient detail how men of colour were so much more abundantly endowed with masculine apparatus than those of any other race. She recalled vividly that when she had first seen Blaise in his full imperial tumescence she had been terrified. It seemed impossible that she would be able to accommodate all of him inside herself. The task had not proved as difficult as she had at first imagined. She giggled at the memory.

'What are you laughing at, baby?' her mother asked.

'I was just remembering Grandma's story about the wild baboon that got into her kitchen.'

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