A Dangerous Game (46 page)

just good friends.
 
Did she feel the same?
 
She wasn't sure.

Felix was intelligent, humorous and physically attractive.
 
They seemed

to have interests in common.
 
So why did she feel apprehensive?
 
Was it

because she had the distinct impression that he would not be interested

in a casual affair?
 
He would want commitment?
 
The kind of commitment

she was not prepared to give?

Or was it because she found it difficult to trust him emotionally?
 
Was

he too good to be true?
 
Would he end up letting her down, just like

Faisel?
 
And Peter Draven?
 
Would he start pressuring her into

domesticity, like Anton O'Rhiann?

At least I knew Nicolas was going to be a bastard before I even met

him, she thought.
 
And Leonardo is just a pleasant diversion.
 
I know

where I am with both of them.
 
Felix Connaught is an unknown, and that

bothers me.

She gave herself a mental shake.
 
What's the matter with you, Jacey

Muldaire?
 
she asked herself.
 
Why concern yourself with Felix

Connaught?
 
You've got what you wanted.
 
You know that Lohaquin doesn't

represent any kind of trouble in Guachtal.
 
You can tell Major

Fairhaven that anyone who wants to invest in future logging can go

right ahead.
 
They can decimate the rain forest, and make a lot of

money.
 
No one will stop them.
 
In fact, Nicolas Schlemann will

encourage them and he's probably working on it right now, with Mr.

Curtis Telford.

She looked out at the trees which bordered the rough road.
 
That's what

you want to hear, isn't it, Major?
 
she thought.
 
Congratulations, Dr.

Jacey Muldaire you've completed your mission.
 
But she also knew that

particular achievement did not make her feel happy or fulfilled.

Chapter Seven.

Nicolas stretched out his legs, and smiled at Jacey across her office

desk.

"Are you going to tell me what you've been doing for the last week, or

shall I tell you?"

Jacey smiled back at him sweetly.

"You can tell me," she said.

"You've been giving English lessons to baby Leonardo.
 
And you've

visited that crazy American, Felix Connaught."

"Crazy?"
 
Jacey repeated.

"I would call Felix Connaught intelligent and interesting."

"I suppose he told you the Indians can solve the world's health

problems with a few plants and some mud?"
 
Nicolas scoffed.

"And the spirits of the rain forest will destroy Techtatuan if anyone

cuts down the trees?"

"Something like that," she agreed.

"You're a scientist, Jacey," he said.

"Don't you find it pitiful when a westerner starts believing in all

that superstitious rubbish?
 
If Connaught was ill, he'd rather chew a

few leaves from the rain forest than ask you for help.
 
Does that sound

intelligent to you?"

"Chewing the right leaves might help him more than I could," she

responded.

"I doubt it Nicolas said.

"There's nothing special about Indian medicine.
 
If you could show me

an Indian who lived for five hundred years, because of some potion or

other, I might be impressed.
 
But Indians get sick and die, just like

everyone else."

"You don't know what's in the rain forest until you investigate," Jacey

said.

Nicolas laughed.

"I know what's in the rain forest.
 
Trees.
 
And trees equal money."

"And you intend to exploit that," she said accusingly.

"You and Curtis Telford.
 
You'll destroy the rain forest, and destroy

the Indians."

"My dear Jacey," he said patronisingly.

"You often have to lose something to gain something.
 
And we won't

destroy the Indians, we'll resettle them;' "And what if they don't want

to be resettled?"

He smiled cynically.

"Too bad.
 
They've had plenty of time to assimilate into our culture,

but most of them won't even try to learn Spanish.
 
The rain forest is a

resource, and I intend to see that Guachtal gets full benefit from

it."

"It isn't yours to use like that," she said.

"I suppose you're going to tell me it belongs to everyone?"
 
Nicolas

sneered.

"That we all live in a global village?
 
The kind of nonsense Connaught

preaches?"

"It's a treasure house," she said.

"It's the Indians' home.
 
And it's irreplaceable.
 
We should cherish

it."

Nicolas laughed.

"Don't be naive, Jacey.
 
This is the real world.

Phoney spiritual idealism doesn't pay national bills."
 
He gave her a

calculating look.

"I'm surprised at you.
 
I didn't think you cared so much about a few

trees."

"I didn't," she said.

"Before I came here."

"And now Mr.
 
Connaught's propaganda has persuaded you to become an

eco-warrior?"
 
He smiled but it was a cold smile.

"Well, take a little advice, Jacey.
 
Don't go off and join Lohaquin and

his supporters, wherever they're hiding, because they won't have a safe

haven in the rain forest for much longer.
 
And neither will Connaught.

Or the Indians.
 
When the logging gets under way, they'll all be

flushed out, and there's nothing any of them will be able to do to stop

it."

"That's disgusting," she said.

"That's progress," he answered.

Later, Jacey wondered why Nicolas had left her office without demanding

any sexual favours.
 
It was the kind of situation she thought he would

have relished.
 
It would have been easy to tell her to lock the door,

easy to take her quickly, over the desk, or force her to pleasure

him.

Perhaps he's already getting tired of me, she thought.
 
She didn't feel

any disappointment at having been denied what was usually a satisfying

sexual experience.
 
Perhaps the novelty of our affair is wearing thin

for me too, she reflected wryly.

She decided that the same could be said for her liaison with

Leonardo.

While he still delighted in playing the submissive innocent, he was

also getting more knowledgeable, and more demanding.
 
Their sex games

were no longer spontaneous journeys of discovery.
 
She was enjoying

them less and less.
 
At their last meeting, after hinting that he had a

surprise for her, he had produced a complicated piece of equipment that

seemed to consist mainly of thin, black leather straps.

"Look at this," he said proudly.

"I made it."

"What is it?"
 
she asked unenthusiastically.
 
She had never been

attracted to leather gear.

"It's for me," he said.

"A restraint."
 
He handed it to her.

"Tell me to undress, and then you can put it on me."

She took the tangle of straps, still unclear about their purpose.
 
She

knew that Leonardo expected to be ordered to remove each item of his

clothing in turn.
 
It had become a required ritual, but now, even

though he would be aroused by this enforced humiliation, it no longer

excited her.
 
It had been fun when he was an unsophisticated boy,

unsure of what was coming next.
 
It had given her a feeling of erotic

power to sense his apprehension, and to know that he would do whatever

she told him.
 
Now she was no longer his teacher; she was an accessory

to his games.
 
He had lost his innocence, and with it, she thought, a

lot of his appeal.

He was fumbling with the buttons of his shirt.

"Shirt first?"
 
he asked.

"Or trousers?
 
You must tell me."

"Leonardo," she said.

"Don't give me orders."

"But I want you to use the restraint," he said.

"I have to undress first."

There was a note of impatience in his voice that annoyed her.

"Maybe I don't want to use any restraint," she snapped.

"But you'll like it," he insisted, and added, "Please.
 
I want you to

see it."

"All right," she agreed.
 
But she was unconvinced.

She went through the routine list of orders, and watched him strip, but

although he had an erection by the time he was naked as he usually did

she felt unaroused.
 
I'm glad one of us is enjoying this, she

thought.

He took the restraint from her.

"Look," he said, demonstrating.

"This goes round my waist, and this down between my legs.
 
Then you

have these four little straps to buckle up."
 
His eyes were bright with

anticipation.

"Do it as tight as you like.
 
Very tight."

She wondered why she had not sussed it out before.
 
The long straps