page19 (1/2)

Sienna flinched ‘Go on,’ she said, in a pinched kind of voice

‘You realised that you had an extraordinary gift which few are given The gift of beauty’ His voice became cold as he recalled how he had fallen for the oldest trick in the book ‘Sirens had it, and lured sailors to their death Men are driven mad by beauty And you decided to use it as wo of ti tool’

Sienna silling herself to float out fro down at this horrible little scene to hear the words of vitriol which were spitting from his lips

‘With you, presumably?’

He shrugged ‘With me, yes—or with anyone else who happened to fit the bill at the time I do not flatter myself that I would not have been moved aside if somebody even richer than I had stepped into the frame You wanted a wealthy benefactor and for that you decided to play the Cinderella role You chose a humble job as a receptionist, where your beauty stood out like…’ He frowned, as if he was trying to reether, and then his face cleared ‘Ah, yes! Like a dia and plotting that someone would sweep in and take you away from all that

‘And Iher thoughtfully ‘Even I was taken in by your deceit You really did coirl In a way, I suppose I should co ability!’

‘Your English is quite perfect, Hashim,’ she said unsteadily

‘I know it is,’ he agreed arrogantly ‘I had an English tutor as a young child, and I ae as I ae the subject, Sienna?’

‘Why do you think?’ She felt as she iht feel That after a while the punches no longer seeh and eventually the slurs would simply run off their skin like water Let him rant and have his poisonous say, and then it would be over

He narrowed his eyes at her ‘And still you do not contradict me?’

‘What’s the point? You are the worst kind of bigot—for you do not open yourYou haveis so—and therefore it must be I’m a topless model without any er to boot! Nothing will change the way you view ?’

‘Because you have no defence against what I say!’ he accused