Trewin cuffed her to the bed and got in beside her then, while Cordwainer politely took his leave.
“You like artichokes, then?” he asked, shifting on his side to look at her face in the half-light.
“Of course I do, sir. They’re expensive, though. I only offer them to favoured guests.”
“I see. Well, I’d rather you didn’t offer them to me again. Good honest fare, that’s what I like.”
Good honest trans fats, thought Michelle scornfully. No wonder your trousers are so tight.
“Charles, I mean Mr. Cordwainer, likes them.”
“Never mind what he likes. He only pretends to be sophisticated anyway. At heart, he’s a plain man, like me.”
Nothing like you.
“Do you really think so?”
“I know so. From the way he does business. Takes no prisoners, does our Mr. C.”
“He ought to get rid of his handcuffs, then.”
Trewin guffawed. “You’re a game lass, Michelle. I can see what he saw in you.”
Saw?
“Thank you, sir.”
“So, come on, then. How did you get mixed up with him? I bet that’s a good story.”
“It’s nothing glamorous. I was working in one of his guesthouses—the Ocean Breeze, do you know it? By the pier. Just a little B and B, nothing like this place. Of course, I was married at the time and my husband was the manager. I did the accounts, though, and ran the domestic side of things. Cooking breakfasts, making beds. That seemed to be all I did, day in, day out. And things were stale in the bedroom department—more than stale, to be honest.”
“Was he kinky?”
“No. He was barely up to the monthly shag. I think he was seeing someone else, actually. At least, he shacked up with some tart soon enough after I left him.”
“So you left him for Cordwainer?”
“I suppose so. Business started to drop off and the books weren’t balancing. I found out later that Jim had had his hands in the till but I couldn’t understand it at the time. If you know Mr. Cordwainer, you’ll also know that there’s nothing he likes less than losing money. He hauled me into his office for a private meeting about the finances.”
“Oh.” Trewin perked up, propping himself on an elbow. “What happened at the meeting?”
“Oh, that meeting.” Michelle shut her eyes for a moment, rapt in memory. “He gave me two options. One, Jim and I get out of the guesthouse and pay him back his money, or he goes to the police.”
Trewin snorted. “The police. Cordwainer. Right.”
“Well, I thought he was on the level. I didn’t know any better back then. Though he could’ve got one of his tame cops to put the frighteners on, I suppose. Anyway, the second option was more interesting.”
“I’ll bet.”
“The second option was that I pay him back…in kind.”
“And what did you think of that?”
“I have to admit, I’d always fancied him. Thought about him in bed at night while Jim snored next to me. I mean, he made it clear it would be a long-term debt and I wouldn’t be able to pay it with a one-off shag. I would be his mistress, basically, for as long as he wanted me.”
“So that was what you chose.”
“Yeah. That was what I chose. It was vanilla at first, just for a little while. I think Charles got off on thinking I wasn’t a willing partner, even though I was. I used to pretend I was angry and upset about it. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it made me feel like less of a whore. Perhaps because I knew it turned him on. Perhaps because it turned me on. After a couple of weeks, he worked out that I was getting just as much pleasure from the arrangement as he was. My orgasms couldn’t lie.”