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phallus. “Sofia, Sofia,” he half-laughed. “Don’t you know that half erect is never enough?”
    She looked up at him. “Now you are making fun of me?”
    “You stupid cunt!” he said, his fingers gripping her hair. With his other hand he pushed himself into her mouth. “Suck it hard if you want to fuck it.”
    She pushed away from him angrily. “You’re talking to me as if I were a whore!” she said, tears filling her eyes.
    He looked at her for a moment, then brought her face to his own. “No, Sofia,” he said gently, kissing her mouth. “Not as a whore. But as a woman who has been denied too much too long.”
    ***
    She followed him down the spiral staircase to the main deck. He turned when she paused behind him. “Forward of the steps is the business office,” he said, holding the curtains apart so that she could see into it. Merlin was at his desk and there were two men, each at a desk with two data and word-processor screens before them. Merlin turned to see Judd.
    “Be with you in a moment,” Judd said, dropping the curtain and leading her back from the staircase. “First is the guest lounge, then the guest staterooms. Behind them are staterooms for the personnel, then the personnel lounge. Both lounges double as dining rooms.”
    Her voice was hushed, but impressed. “How many people do you have on this plane?”
    “Flight personnel, ten men plus the captain; cabin personnel, nine including the chef and the chief steward, five business personnel plus my assistant and my valet, you and myself making twenty-nine people on board. But we can sleep as many as fifty-one if we need to.”
    She shook her head. “It is like a house! Do you really need all that? Just for you?”
    He smiled. “I think so. I spend almost thirty-five percent of my life on this plane, traveling because of business. With the kind of equipment we have on board I’m always in touch with my offices and business everywhere in the world.”
    “Do all you American businessmen have planes like this?”
    “I don’t know,” he smiled. “But many of them have planes and some even more than two or three.”
    “Too much,” she said.
    “That’s very American,” he said.
    “That’s what we said when I went to college in the States.” She smiled. “Too much.”
    “Lunch in a half hour, too much too?” he asked.
    “No,” she said. “I’m getting hungry.”
    He watched her walk through the lounge to her stateroom, then went through the curtains to the office. Merlin rose from his desk. Judd looked at him. “Is it morning or afternoon?” he asked.
    “In India, it’s four in the afternoon, about twelve hours into the flight. But this is the next day,” Merlin answered.
    “I’ll never get it straight.”
    “We have today’s report,” Merlin said.
    “Let’s do it,” Judd said, sitting down at the small conference table. Merlin placed a loose-leaf binder on the table. Judd opened it for a moment and then snapped it closed. “Anything special?” he asked. “I’m wiped out.”
    “Not much really, it’s the weekend, you know,” Merlin replied. “Just one big one. Malaysia awarded the construction bid to us, fifty-five million dollars for the Pahang River bridge.”
    “Shit!” Judd said. “How did we fall into that one? I was sure we high-bid for it.”
    “We did,” Merlin said. “But that’s what you have to pay for a good reputation. They said even though we high-bid, they felt more secure with Crane Construction.”
    “Balls. We’re going to blow twelve to fourteen million.” He looked up at Merlin. “Check the Jap steel manufacturers. They’re cutting the shit under us and shipping from there is less than from the U.S. or Europe. Maybe we can save four to five million out there.”
    “I’ll work on it. I’ll get Judson to go on it out of San Francisco.”
    “Any other good news?” Judd asked sourly.
    “Doc Sawyer,” Merlin replied. “He said he doesn’t know what the hell you’re