SILK WICKEDNESS 16

Anoushka put her pencil down. ‘You’re dying to know why I’m working after I tore everything up yesterday.’

Oh, that . ‘I was wondering. Has he threatened you with death?’

‘Worse.’

Claudia wondered briefly what could be worse. ‘Packing you off to some boarding school in the wilds of Scotland? The kind that believes in porridge for breakfast and lots of good healthy exercise?’

‘I’d run away.’

Yes, of course you would. ‘What, then?’

‘No ski-ing at Christmas.’

You poor child. Claudia thought of the pale little faces at Bruin Wood, who thought a few days in the New Forest akin to heaven. Still, it wasn’t Anoushka’s fault she was spoilt rotten.

‘And you think he means it?’

‘Yep.’ Her face was bent over an A4 pad, hidden by her hair.

‘Has he made threats before?’

‘Hardly ever, but I could tell he meant this one. Going to Switzerland at Christmas is the thing I love best in the world, and he knows it.’

‘You mean you go every Christmas?’

She nodded. ‘And every Easter. Ever since I came to live