Lindsay had fallen head over heels in lust. “Pleased to meet you,” she croaked, feeling gauche and adolescent. “I’m Lindsay Gordon. I’m doing a shift for the newsdesk.”

“Ah,” said Alison. “Pity you’re not a photographer, then I could call you Flash Gordon.”

“If I get the front page tonight, then you can call me Splash Gordon instead.”

Lindsay hadn’t made the front page splash that night, but she’d still been Splash from then on to Alison. To Lindsay’s surprise, the feature writer seemed determined to include Lindsay in her busy social life, inviting her out to dinner, to parties, and to her flat for drinks. It wasn’t long before they became lovers. But it was Alison who made the first move. If it had been up to Lindsay, they would never have got beyond a peck on the cheek when they parted. Lindsay would have been happy to leave Alison on her pedestal, having no confidence at all in her own power to attract a woman so different from her previous lovers.

At first, Lindsay was in a daze of lust fulfilled by exotic and imaginative sex. But once the initial infatuation wore off, she began to see Alison more clearly, and she grew to dislike and distrust what she saw. Lindsay gradually came to understand that Alison Maxwell was a woman who was incapable of simple human relationships. She was too in love with power to have love left over for people. That power was usually exercised through the nuggets of information she’d acquired in the bedroom. It took only a matter of days for Lindsay to discover that she was far from being Alison’s only lover. In a matter of weeks, she had reached the bitter conclusion that Alison was sexually omnivorous.

Faced with this, Lindsay had made up her mind to end their relationship. That was when she had discovered the cruelest streak in Alison. For Alison was a woman who only let go when she was ready. She had to have control over every situation, and that included the ending of her sexual relationships. When Lindsay had announced her intention to sever their connection, Alison had wept and raged, and finally threatened. She would claim that Lindsay had got her drunk and seduced her. She would make sure everyone knew what a twisted little dyke Lindsay was. And she’d make sure that Lindsay never did another day’s work at the Clarion. Her venom had unnerved Lindsay, and she had allowed herself to be swallowed up in the passion of their reconciliation.