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It had only been a try-on, to see what forative ansould take But, as Bond followed her into the dining-rooiving Ir behind

14

Sweet Dreahtmare!

IT WAS eleven o'clock and the place was as quiet as the grave Bond, with due respect for the eye in the ceiling, went through theinto bed and switching off his light He gave it ten ot quietly out of bed and pulled on his trousers and shirt Working by touch, he slipped the end of the inch of plastic into the door crack, found the lock and pressed gently The edge of the plastic caught the curve of the lock and slid it back Bond now only had to push gently and the door was open He listened, his ears pricked like an animal's Then he carefully put his head out The empty corridor yawned at him Bond slipped out of the door, closed it softly, took the few steps along to Nuently turned the handle It was dark inside but there was a stirring in the bed Now to avoid the click of the shutting door! Bond took his bit of plastic and got it against the lock, holding it in the ently withdrawing the plastic The lock slid noiselessly into place

There ca' Bond slid out of his clothes and, assuerly over to the bed and sat down on its edge

A hand caot nothing on!'

Bond caught the hand and reached along it 'Nor have you,' he whispered 'That's how it should be'

Gingerly he lay down on the bed and put his head beside hers on the pillow He noticed with a pang of pleasure that she had left room for him He kissed her, at first softly and then with fierceness Her body stirred Her an its exploration she put her ar cold' Bond followed the lie by pulling the single sheet away fro them both with it The warmth and softness of her splendid body were now all his Bond lay against her He drew the fingernails of his left hand softly down her flat storoan and reached down for his hand and held it 'You do love me a little bit?'

That awful question! Bond whispered, 'I think you're the irl I wish I'd met you before'

The stale, insincere words see hand

Her hair srass, her mouth of Pepsodent, and her body of Mennen's Baby Powder A s, giving an extra sweetness, an extra warmth, even a certain friendship to as no more than an act of physical passion There was real pleasure in what they did to each other, and in the end, when it was over and they lay quietly in each other's arirl knew, that they had done nothing wrong, done no harm to each other

After a while Bond whispered into her hair, 'Ruby!'

'Mmmm'

'About your name About the Windsors I'm afraid there's not much hope'

'Oh, well, I never really believed You know these old fah books here When I get back I'll dig into it properly Prooing back - church and town records and so forth I'll have it done properly and send it to you Great slab of parchment with a lot of snazzy print Heavy black italics with coloured letters to start each line Although it ht be nice to have'

'You ht'

'That'd be nice'