‘See you at eight thirty then.’ Before Kate could answer, the phone went dead.

Meet Willy for a meal? She pushed the thought from her mind and went back to the papers in front of her. She’d decide later what she was going to do.

Patrick walked into the drawing room and grinned.

‘Where you going, all poshed up?’

Willy had on a dinner jacket and smelt like a poke of devils.

‘I’ve got a date, actually.’

‘A what! You ain’t been out on a date for years.’

‘Well, there’s always a first time, ain’t there? I got meself a right classy bird for the evening.’

Patrick laughed out loud.

‘Good bleeding luck to you and all. How much is she rushing you?’

Willy looked annoyed.

‘If you don’t mind, Pat, just ’cos you spend most of your time with bimbos don’t mean we all have to. This is a very respectable woman. Got a good job and everything. In fact, if you saw her you’d fancy her.’

Patrick looked at him and smiled. Willy usually went out with women who made a Japanese Tosa look good. But he kept his own counsel.

‘Well, you use the Rolls, Willy, that’ll impress her.’

‘Thanks, Pat. What time’s your table booked for?’

‘A quarter to eight. Don’t worry about driving me, I’m quite capable of taking one of the motors.’

‘Okey doke then, Pat.’

Willy watched Patrick leave the house and then sat down for a minute. He hoped Kate turned up.

Kate decided she would meet Willy. If nothing else at least she could find out how Patrick was. The thought of being seen with him in public worried her, though. He looked like a bad accident, did old Willy, lovely as he was inside.

She had bought herself a new trouser suit. It was deep red and showed off her dark hair perfectly. She slipped it on with a white camisole top underneath, then stepped back from the mirror and admired herself.

Not bad.

She pulled up in the car park of Cartella at eight twenty and there, waiting for her in Patrick’s Rolls Royce, was Willy. As she locked her car he walked over to her.

‘You look lovely, Kate.’

She grinned at him, the overpowering smell of his aftershave making her cough. He looked almost presentable in his dinner jacket and she felt an enormous surge of affection for him. As they walked into the restaurant she took his arm. He patted her hand and smiled at her.

Patrick smiled at the girl opposite him. She really was very lovely. Since he had phoned Kate’s house that night and a man answered, he had gone all out to have a good time.

He had met Michelle three days before. She was stunning, and he had watched every pair of male eyes assess her as they walked to their table. She was five foot ten, slim, and like her predecessors had enormous breasts. In the white sheath dress she was wearing, though ostensibly covered up, her breasts were actually in full view of everyone because of the way the dress moulded her tanned and healthy body. She had long blond hair and violet eyes.