tomorrow morning. Wetherell will get you safely to Jargahal. He’s looking forward to seeing you again.”
Penny could not have said the same.
“Now I’m about ready for another fuck,” Macdonald said. “You were damned good, Penelope, but not up to Ishani’s standard. Of course, she’s been properly schooled in the art of pleasing a man, but I enjoyed you too. It’s pleasant to have an enthusiastic amateur from time to time.”
“Damn you,” Penny said in bitter humiliation. “You didn’t have to let that girl see me. The story will have spread through the whole household before noon.”
“And the rest of the street by dinnertime,” Macdonald agreed, laughing. “And this time tomorrow it will be all over town. But don’t worry. By then you won’t be in Peshawar to hear it. Unless you’d like to stay and do an encore?”
She snatched up her handbag, half-tempted to reach for the gun inside. He met her dagger look with another grin as he pulled Ishani onto his knee.
“Consider yourself lucky, Penelope. I did think of fucking your arsehole too.”
Penny could summon no dignity whatever under the barrage of laughter from Macdonald and the girl. She slunk from the room.
The ride back to the hotel in the rickshaw was an experience she never wanted to repeat. Before she was halfway there the crotch of her French knickers was soaking wet with the fluids leaking from her sex.
Penny consoled herself with the knowledge that at least Macdonald had given her the information she needed. She was one step closer to getting her girls back. What she found less comforting was that her nipples were still achingly hard when she reached her hotel room, and to her complete amazement the moment she took off her soggy underwear her clitoris swelled to a stiff little point. For a moment, Penny almost reached for it, and had to sternly remind herself that there were far more important matters to be dealt with.
*
Julia stumbled when the man behind her gave her a hard push towards the door at the end of the passage. She had only just awoken and was still groggy from the effects of the ether that had knocked her out.
Her mind felt numb and strangely detached. She knew what was happening, yet everything seemed distant and slightly insubstantial, even the floor beneath her bare feet. Her head ached, and despite the water Kate had given her when she had woken up, her mouth was dry and tacky. But through her confusion Julia was horribly aware of one thing – she was very, very afraid.
The door before her stood open, and another shove sent her tottering into the room beyond. She blinked in the bright light coming through the large window in front of her. As her vision cleared, she saw a spartanly-furnished room dominated by a big desk, and a figure sitting behind it with his chin resting on his steepled fingers. Kate staggered into her and she felt the redhead clutch at her forearm and closed her fingers over the girl’s hand.
“Oh God, you’re a white man!” Kate gasped. She pulled free of Julia and stepped towards the man at the desk. “What the hell is going on?” she demanded. “You can’t get away with treating us like this. We are Englishwomen. You’ve no right.” Kate thrust her chin indignantly forwards, breathing hard.
Julia thought she looked faintly ridiculous standing in only her underwear and telling the man what a mistake he had made. Her gut went suddenly tight as she realized that she too was dressed in nothing but her chemise and lace-trimmed panties.
The man raised his head and lowered his hands to the desktop. His craggy face was tanned and weathered, and deeply lined at the corners of his eyes and mouth. It remained expressionless as he regarded Kate’s angrily quivering form. Abruptly, she seemed to recognise her state of undress and took a step back, covering her upper-garment with her hands where her breasts poked against the semi-transparent silk.
Julia heard the sound of the door