The Persian Price by Evelyn Anthony

between them. She pulled back from him and laughed.
    â€˜Who’s been suffering from night starvation? Give me a moment, darling. I’d like a drink first.’
    There was no fuss about her; she was as direct as a man. It was an attitude that profoundly excited him.
    â€˜I’ve ordered champagne,’ he said. ‘After all we’ve got something to celebrate.’
    She sat down while he opened the bottle; she slipped off her shoes and pulled her legs under her. Logan gave her a glass and she raised it to him.
    â€˜To you,’ she said.
    â€˜To us.’ He sat beside her, one hand resting on her ankle. She knew that he wasn’t going to waste too much time on talking. He wanted sex and this was not the moment to say she was tired. She realized with surprise that this was the first time she hadn’t been completely natural.
    She had refused him on other occasions if she didn’t feel like going to bed, but not now. He was determined to force the issue for both of them. She understood him so well that she sensed the self-defiance in his attitude. He wanted her to celebrate with him, to show that she was as untouched by conscience as he insisted that he was himself.
    She wriggled her foot and he gripped her ankle and began to massage it.
    â€˜You look tired,’ Janet said. He did. There were deep lines either side of his mouth and his eyes were tired. ‘What’s happened with Khorvan?’
    Logan put his glass down.
    â€˜I don’t want to talk business now. I want to talk about you and me. I’m going to get a divorce.’
    She sipped her champagne.
    â€˜Are you sure, Logan? I love you, but I don’t want you to do anything you’ll regret.’
    â€˜It couldn’t go on,’ he said. ‘Eileen faced me with it and I told her. Things have been going from bad to bloody worse for months. I’d had enough of it anyway.’ He poured into his glass and it frothed over.
    â€˜That’s lucky,’ Janet said.
    â€˜I want you to marry me,’ Logan said.
    Janet looked at him calmly. It was the most important moment of her life and she felt the frozen calm of the great gambler as the ball drops into the numbered slot that means a fortune.
    â€˜Only if you’re sure you love me,’ she said.
    â€˜For Christ’s sake,’ he said angrily, ‘you know bloody well I do. Come here.’
    An hour later, Logan woke. She was already up, dressed in a long jersey dress that showed her figure. She stood by the bedside and smiled down at him.
    â€˜You’re a marvellous man, Logan. The most marvellous lover a woman ever had. I’ll marry you, darling. Just don’t try and get away from me!’
    â€˜It’s after seven,’ he said. ‘I’ve asked Kelly to have dinner with us and bring Paterson. I told them to come here.’
    â€˜That’ll be a gay little gathering,’ Janet said. She sat on the edge of the bed and held his hand. ‘Kelly can’t stand me; he doesn’t like women with minds of their own, and Paterson bores me. He never stops talking finance.’ She brought his hand up and kissed it. ‘They’ll sit there looking stuffy and disapproving. I thought we’d spend the evening alone.’
    â€˜They’re good men,’ Logan said. He wasn’t offended. If Eileen had criticized any member of the company, he would have been irritated. As far as Janet was concerned, they were all part of the family.
    â€˜Kelly’s done a fantastic job out here. And I need Paterson more than anyone else in Imp at this moment. Go and run a bath for me, darling. Then I’ll tell you all about it.’
    He got out of bed and stood naked, stretching. Janet watched him openly admiring. He had a good body, well-muscled and without surplus fat. He looked a middle-aged man at the peak of fitness and virility. Only his face showed that something fundamental had happened to him since he