Read Online Maloney's Law by Anne Brooke - Free Book Online Page B

satisfying moments, work-wise, and one of the most lucrative, too. My client had been grateful enough to wangle me an invite to their posh summer do in the City and, as Jade had been nagging me for ages to get out and meet more people, in the end I’d gone along. Taken her with me, too. I’m not one of those who likes to flaunt his sexuality. What’s private is private.
    When we arrived, the party was seething with suits and sparkle, canapés and champagne, and Jade’s eyes shone in the glow.
    ‘Hey,’ I whispered. ‘Bet you’re glad you’re best friends with this old queen now, aren’t you?’
    She giggled, and the next thing I knew we were engulfed in a tide of laughter, glasses, and talking to strangers. Jade disappeared, and I didn’t see her again to talk to until we both left at 1.15am. In the glimpses I had, she was laughing or dancing.
    After nearly thirty minutes, I’d said the same things to at least twelve people I’d never meet again and spoken twice to my client. Pushing my way through the crowd and seeing a side door marked “No Exit”, I opened it and slipped out into the clarity of the night air.
    At once the heat and brightness of the hotel was cut off, and I breathed in deeply, filling myself with the relative silence you get in the City sometimes. As far as I could tell, I was in a small garden, lavender and rosemary from the faint traces of scent. I’ve always thought that, at times like that, you needed a smoke, even if you were in the early stages of trying to give the demon up, and so I retrieved my emergency pack from my jacket and started to search for the lighter.
    No luck.
    ‘Damn,’ I muttered.
    A rustling sound to my left and one of the shadows detached itself from the hedge, fire flashing at its centre.
    ‘Here,’ said a voice, male, powerful, older. ‘Allow me.’
    I lowered my cigarette to the flame he offered and took a quick first drag. ‘Thanks. I’m trying to give them up.’
    ‘So I see.’
    He took out a cigarette of his own, lit it, and we both stood for a minute or two in silence. The smoke warmed my throat like a kiss.
    ‘Do you like parties?’ he said.
    Peering into the gloom, I tried to make out his face, but it was too dark.
    ‘No. Not my scene. I’m Paul, by the way. Paul Maloney.’
    ‘I know.’
    Something inside me jack-knifed, and I stubbed out my cigarette on the wall behind me. ‘Oh. How?’
    ‘I asked around. I have my sources.’
    ‘I’m sure you do. Why would you want to know?’
    He didn’t reply at first and I fought the urge to get out. Fast. There was something about him that drew me to stay. Besides, I assumed it was business, and, as always, I needed the cash. His problem would be something domestic: divorce or maybe even fraud. When it came, his answer told me nothing.
    ‘That’s not important, not yet,’ he said. ‘The important thing is that neither of us wants to be in the hotel right now.’
    ‘What makes you say that?’
    ‘You’re very curious, aren’t you?’
    ‘Questions are my business,’ I said and then added, stupidly, ‘No, they’re my life.’
    Another silence then, but the quality of it had changed, as if something between us was beginning to ease itself up, out, free, into a form I couldn’t comprehend. My heart was beating fast. And still I couldn’t see his face.
    ‘There are other ways of communicating, Paul,’ he said at last. ‘Questions don’t always give people what they want.’
    ‘Maybe. Maybe not,’ I replied, my voice scratchy and strange. ‘Anyway, Mr. Cigarette Lighter Provider, just what is it you want? And, yes, I know that’s a question, but you’ll just have to live with it.’
    ‘All right,’ he said. ‘I’ll tell you what I want, although I would have preferred a little more time to lead us there. I want to have sex with you.’
    I couldn’t help it. I laughed. ‘What, here?’
    ‘Yes, here. It’s quiet, it’s not cold, and it’s dark.’ I stopped laughing.