page9 (1/2)

‘Next ti your trap a little more cleverly A seductive little whisper in a very public place that underneath the very respectable skirt you’ve got on you’re wearing nothingworks wonders, or so I’ve been told’

‘You’re disgusting,’ Poppy told hi as she realised what he meant ‘And, for your information, I would never—’

“Oh, no, Poppy,’ Ja, but you most certainly are naïve very naive

‘Now, didn’t you say so here to work? I want you to send a fax for ood as your roups; their linguist spent two years in Tokyo’

‘Probably as a geisha,’ Poppy muttered disrespectfully under her breath as James finally walked out of the bathrooet dressed

It didn’t matter that she was his cousin and that there had been countless occasions in their shared childhood when he had seen her naked She could even re her seven-year-old self stripped of her torn and filthy clothes, summarily dumped into the bath and virtually scrubbed clean by him at the same time as he delivered a lecture to her on as likely to happen to her if her nored her instructions that she was not to play in the streaarden

Then she had foolishly actually been grateful to James and, even more ridiculously, seen him as her saviour Now she knew better, she decided

Jaht as she waited for hied She had already talked to several other people whonised from other conferences and they had confirmed what James had aheady told her

It seeer had overestianising such a large-scale event

‘They say that two of the chefs have already left and that they’ve had to bribe the others to stay,’ a Gerer whom Poppy had met at Frankfurt the previous year had confided to her

At the tiently that Gunther Weiner was obviously attracted to her, and as she’d listened to hily that it were Chris’s attraction for her that they were discussing and not another man’s

She heard Gunther asking her if she had again attended the conference with her cousin

‘Yes,’ she told hi his way towards them

Excusing herself to Gunther, she went to meet him

‘Who was that?’ Ja over her shoulder at Gunther

When she told him he demanded, ‘What did he want?’

The aggression in his voice surprised her ‘Well, not our co hih you may find it to believe, he is more interested in me’

She looked at hi for hiatory response, and then looked curiously across the rooer to tighten hisGunther walking away from them

Dinner, predictably, was a chaotic and hurried affair, although the food was surprisingly good-not that she had very much of an appetite