Now his laugh was genuine. ‘Well, maybe something like that,’ he said. ‘Though I don’t put them over my knee. Perhaps metaphorically. No, I’ve got my ways of making sure the vote goes the way I want it. Every business leader in this town wants me as their best friend. If I like them, the contract’s theirs.’
‘Really? You can make that decision alone?’
‘Oh, yes. If you came up to me tomorrow and said you wanted the contract for catering in the city’s care homes, I’d make sure you got it. As long as I was still happy with you, of course. In your case, I’d expect a bit of a reciprocal arrangement.’
He winked, but my breath was too high in my chest for me to respond flirtatiously.
‘Just in my case?’ I whispered.
He frowned, taking a warning from my body language.
‘I don’t have sexual relations with all my contractors, Ellie,’ he said sternly. ‘Like I said, they’re mostly friends.’
‘But are they friends with benefits?’ I asked, unable to stop myself now, even though this line of questioning seemed to be annoying him.
‘What is this? Are you jealous? It’s business, that’s all.’
‘Funny way to do business,’ I said. ‘I mean, what if your friends turn out to be rubbish?’
He stared at me, and I wondered if he could sense the dawning of my fight-or-flight response.
I knew I should probably be more subtle. But if I was too subtle, I might end up having to shag him and, good-looking as he was, I didn’t especially want that on my conscience. Perhaps I wasn’t cut out for espionage after all.
‘For someone who isn’t into politics, you seem to have some strong opinions there, Ellie,’ he said, his voice dangerously quiet.
‘Oh, no, I don’t mean anything by it,’ I said. ‘I’m just trying to understand what you’re saying.’
‘What I’m saying,’ he said, ‘is that I’m a powerful man, and you ought to make sure you respect that.’
‘Oh, I do,’ I rushed to assure him, cowed into abandoning this tack. ‘I respect you a lot. It’s good that you’re powerful. I bet your friends are really good people.’
‘They are,’ he said, sounding mollified, though his eyes hadn’t lost their suspicious intensity. ‘The great and good. Landowners, lawyers, pressmen.’
Pressmen? He must have meant Ed.
‘It must be good to have the papers on side,’ I said.
‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘I get a lot of support from the Clarion. Course, I know a thing or two about its editor.’ He tapped the side of his nose.
Resisting the urge to shriek, ‘Oh my God, seriously? What?’, I merely nodded and offered him more champagne.
‘But I’d better not spill the beans,’ he said, disappointingly. ‘You might find out for yourself some time anyway.’
‘Is he…?’
Keane’s lip quirked upwards. ‘One of us?’ he said. ‘I couldn’t possibly comment.’
‘Spoken like a true politician.’
‘Thanks. But that’s enough of politics, young lady.’ He put down his glass and took mine from my hand too before returning his full atten
tion to me.
‘Oh?’ I fluttered with nerves. I wasn’t ready to get down and dirty with him. Not yet. Perhaps not ever.
‘Yes,’ he said, lifting my chin so he could capture me in a claim-staking kiss. ‘We’ve got business of our own, haven’t we?’
‘I’m…I’m really nervous,’ I said, needing to stall him before he got my clothes all the way off.