Elephant Song - Smith Wilbur - Страница 65

The timbre of her voice had altered, it was softer and more resonant.

There was also a subtle change in the odour of her body as well.  He recognised the heady musk of female arousal; she was pumping the air full of pheromones which put his own hormones on red alert.

He was having difficulty concentrating as he ran off four copies of the agreement, one for each of them and another each for Eina and BOSS's legal department.

Bonny reached over him to sign all four copies, and now she pressed herself against his back and her breath was hot on his cheek.  She handed the pen to him and he signed below her.  Handshake?

He asked, and offered his open right hand.  She ignored it, and instead reached over his shoulder and unbuttoned his shirt.  She ran her hand down inside it.  I can-think of something more binding than a plain little old handshake, she whispered, and pinched his nipple between her fingernails.  He gasped; it was more pleasure than pain.

Danny boy, you and I are going to be alone in the jungle for six months or so.  I'm a girl of healthy appetites.  It's going to happen sooner or later.  It might as well be sooner.  It would be Hell if we waited until we got out there and then found that we didn't like it. Don't you agree? Your lo ic is irrefutable, he laughed, but it was shaky and rough.  She took a pinch of his chest curls and used it as a goad to force him to his feet.

Where's the bedroom?  We might as well be comfortable.  Follow me.

He took her by the hand and led her to the door.

Standing in the centre of the bedroom floor she stepped back when he tried to embrace her.  No, she said.  Don't touch me.

Not yet.  I want to draw it out until it's unbearable.  She stood facing him, an arm's length between them.  Do what I do, she ordered, and began to unbutton her shirt.

Her nipples were tiny, like miniature rosebuds, carved from pale pink coral.  You're as hairy and muscular as a grizzly bear.  It gives me goose bumps, she said, and he saw her nipples rise into rosy points.

The colour darkened and the skin surrounding them puckered.  His own flesh responded even more dramatically, and she stared at him shamelessly and chuckled as she unbuckled her own belt.

Her jeans were tight and she wriggled and squirmed to get them down.

Exodus, he said, chapter three.  That's not original.  She glanced down at herself complacently.  I've had the quotation applied to myself before, the burning bush.  She combed her fingernails lingeringly through the thick mop of flaming curls at the base of her flat white belly.  It was so crisp and dense that it rustled.  It was one of the most excruciatingly erotic gestures he had ever watched.  Come on, she encouraged him.  You're falling behind.

He dropped his own trousers around his ankles.  Who have we here?

She studied him frankly.  Standing to attention and positively aching to sacrifice himself in the burning bush?  And she reached out to capture him expertly.  Come along, my little mannikin, she murmured throatily, grinning that sly tomboy grin and led him to bed.

BOSS's head office was at Blackfriars in the City, just opposite the pub that stood on the site of the old monastery that gave the area its name.

Daniel and Bonny came out of the entrance of the tube station and paused to stare at the building.  Shit!  said Bonny sweetly.  It's imperial Roman rococo, with just a touch of Barnum and Bailey.  BOSS House made the Unilever building down the street look insubstantial.

For each of Unilever's Greek columns it had four, for each of Unilever's statues of the Olympian gods, it had a dozen.  Where Unilever had used granite, BOSS had built in marble.  If I'd seen this first I'd have held out for five thousand a week.  Bonny squeezed his arm.  I think I've been done in more ways than one.  They climbed the steps to the main entrance, while the statues of the gods frowned down at them from the pediment, and went in through the revolving glass doors.  The floor of the entrance lobby was in a chessboard pattern of black and white marble.  The roof was vaulted and gilded, with panels in the rococo style depicting either the Last judgement or the Ten Commandments.  It wasn't easy to tell which, but there was a great deal of action in progress between the nymphs and cherubs and seraphim.

Bless us, Father, for we have sinned.  Bonny rolled her eyes at the ceiling cheerfully.

Yes, but wasn't it fun!  Daniel murmured.

The senior public relations officer was waiting for them at the reception counter.  He wore a dark three-piece suit and projected the BOSS image of the young executive.  Hello, I'm Pickering, he greeted them.  You must be Doctor Armstrong and Miss Mahon.  He took Bonny's hand and eyed her quickly from the top of her flaming coiffure to her cowboy boots, clearly torn between disapproval of her denims and beaded leather waistcoat and hearty approval of her bosom.  I'm supposed to set up a Ubomo briefing for you.  Fine.  Let's get on with it then.

Daniel managed to divert his attention from Bonny's cleavage, and Pickering led them up the sweeping opera house staircase, giving them his tourist-guide patter as they went.

He pointed out the mirrored panels.  French, of course, from Versailles after the Revolution.  And those two are Gainsboroughs; the tapestry is Aubusson; that's a Constable.  . . They left behind them the splendours of the public rooms and plunged into labyrinthine corridors in the upper rear of the building, passing scores of tiny offices divided by prefabricated partitions in which the BOSS battalions laboured under the humming air-conditioning units.  Very few people raised their heads as the three of them passed.  Cattle.  Bonny nudged Daniel.  How can they stand life in this abattoir of the spirit?"

Eventually Pickering ushered them into a conference room.

Clearly it was the venue of the lower and middle-ranking executives.

The floors were covered with industrial stud-rubber tiles and the partition walls displayed charts of the company's administrative Organization and departmental structures.  The furniture was laminate and chrome, with plastic upholstery.

Daniel smiled as he imagined how this room would probably contrast with the magnificence of the main boardroom that must be situated somewhere in the front of the building, close to Tug Harrison's personal office.

There were four men waiting for them, clustered around the table of snacks and refreshments in the corner.  Pickering introduced them.

This is George Anderson, one of our senior geologists; he is in charge of the Ubomo mineral developments.  This is his assistant Jeff Aitkens.

And this is Sidney Green who coordinates the timber and fishing concessions in Ubomo, and this is Neville Lawrence from our legal section.  He will also be able to answer any questions you may have on the financial projections.

Now, may I offer you a sherry?  Bonny Mahon's presence did more than the cheap sherry to relax the atmosphere.

Pickering allowed them ten minutes, then he shepherded them to their plastic-covered chairs at the imitation-walnutveneered conference table.

Well, now.  I'm not going to stand too much on ceremony here.  This is enfamille.  My instructions are that this is to be a totally frank and open briefing.  You must feel free, Doctor Armstrong, to ask whatever questions occur to you, and we will try our best to answer them.  First of all just let me say how delighted and excited we are that BOSS is to be associated with this enormous project to uplift the Ubomo economy and to develop the rich natural resources of that beautiful little country for the good of all its citizens.  He allowed himself a sanctimonious smirk and then adopted a more businesslike tone.  BOSS's concessions fall into four categories.  Firstly, there are the mining and mineral deposits.  Secondly, the timber and agricultural developments.  Thirdly, the fishing and aquaculture projects, and lastly, the hotel, casino and tourist industry.  We hope that the development of all these resources will eventually lead to Ubomo becoming one of the most prosperous little countries on the African continent.  Before I ask our experts to discuss the economic potential of Ubomo in detail, I'm going to give you some background figures and facts.  Let's put the map of Ubomo up on the screen.