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was
looking at her with a furrowed brow.
    ‘ Hello Mr Holland,’ she said breathlessly – playing helpless
always worked with men.
    He came
closer to her and took his hand from his pocket, offering it to
her.
    ‘ Nice to see you Miss Lindholm. Are you here to see
me?’
    ‘ I am actually,’ she said. ‘I have a proposition to put to
you.’
    ‘ Lucky old you Holland,’ the other man said with a lecherous
sneer. Just looking at him, Iris could tell he was the sort who
liked kinky sex. She could tell them a mile off. Either that or he
was a closet homosexual. Sometimes the line between the two was
very thin.
    ‘ What’s that?’ Kenneth asked her. He then stopped. ‘Tell you
what, Leo and I were just going for lunch at Shepherd’s. Would you
like to join us?’
    ‘ That would be super,’ Iris beamed, hoping the receptionist
behind her was seething. There was nothing she liked more in life
than to be vindicated. ‘Thank you.’
    She
turned and smiled sweetly at the receptionist and walked swiftly up
to Kenneth and Leo.
    ‘ Miss Lindholm,’ Kenneth said.
    ‘ Iris, please.’
    ‘ Iris, this is Leo Andersson. Leo, this is Iris
Lindholm.’
    ‘ Enchanted,’ Leo said, taking Iris’s hand and bringing it to
his lips like some old Latin lover. But as she looked into his dark
eyes, they showed nothing but malevolence, and it excited her.
There was no bigger turn on than a touch of evil. ‘Lindholm?’ he
asked. ‘Are you Swedish too?’
    ‘ My father was.’
    ‘ Same here. See we have lots in common already.’
     
    Shepherds was on the corner of Great Peter Street and
Embankment, and was very popular with MPs and very important men.
Iris felt no fear in entering the rather stuffy restaurant, with
its wood panelling and waiters that looked as though they had rods
up their arses. She’d come here plenty of times with the various
men she’d escorted; but the good thing about places like this was
that they were discreet. No one was going to point her out and call
her a whore. After all, to know this, they would have had to have
used her services as well.
    She sat
with Kenneth and Leo, and Kenneth ordered a glass of ale for
himself and both Iris and Leo asked for vodka and
tonics.
    ‘ You don’t drink spirits?’ she asked Kenneth.
    ‘ I prefer not to. I’m not even that fond of ale, but one can’t
have water in a place like this.’
    ‘ So how do you know each other?’ Leo asked them.
    ‘ Iris is the girlfriend of Annie’s business
partner.’
    ‘ So you’re taken?’ Leo said with a mock frown. His gaze was so
intense that Iris blushed and looked away. It was as though he
could see straight through her.
    ‘ Yes, sort of,’ she replied.
    ‘ Well that is a shame?’
    ‘ So how do you two know each other?’ she asked, aware that she
sounded flustered.
    ‘ My father was friends with Michael Holland,’ Leo replied. ‘I
like to think I’ve been like a big brother to Kenneth,’ he said,
slapping Kenneth on the arm, which caused him to smile
uncomfortably. ‘He repaid me by letting me sit on the board of
Tanner Beresford.’
    ‘ So what is this proposition you’d like to put to me, Iris?’
Kenneth asked.
    ‘ I’d like to do something for your charity,’ she said.
‘Something to raise money.’
    ‘ Like what?’
    ‘ I was thinking of a fashion show, maybe at
Bruno’s...’
    ‘ Annie’s nightclub?’ Kenneth asked, wrinkling up his
nose.
    ‘ It’s really not that bad. You only think it’s sordid because
that’s how Annie’s allowed it to become. Clear away the sleazy
patrons and you’ve got a nice venue. I was thinking of a little
intimate fashion show. I’ve some model friends who could take part.
People could come and watch it, and profits from the drinks would
go to the charity. At the end of the night, they could bid for the
clothes and the money could also go to Tanner Beresford. How does
that sound to you?’
    ‘ Well we’ve never done such a thing before. I’m not sure