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To those who did not know him well he was extrovert, amusing, full of charm, ideas and energy. But Penny had watched him become increasingly erratic. He rarely came into the office nowadays before noon,' he had started making many private phone calls, getting agitated, disappearing suddenly. His constant hay fever and sneezing were unpleasant, but Penny was devoted to him. She did not understand many of the odd ways he had developed -particularly why he would not sleep with her. She had that strange blindness for him which comes with daily familiarity and strong affections. But she knew he depended on her. If he didn't need her in bed, he needed her practically every other moment of his day. It wasn't the same as love, but her warm heart responded anyway. She would do
almost anything for him.
'You got up this early just to come and woo me, didn't you? You can't resist me after all,' she teased.
'Shut up, you little tart, and cover up those gorgeous tits. That's not fair.'
Smiling wickedly, she lifted her breasts up towards him, goading him. 'Can't resist them after all. Well, who am I to refuse an order from the boss?'
Playfully she threw the bedclothes off her naked body and moved over on the mattress to make room for him. O'Neill's eyes couldn't help but follow the line of her long legs, and for the first time since Penny had known him he began to blush. She giggled as she noticed him staring hypnotically at her body, and he made a grab for the bedclothes to try and cover her up but instead succeeded only in losing his balance and getting tangled up in her long brown arms. As he lifted his head off the mattress, he found a rigid dark nipple staring at him from less than three inches away, and he had to use all of his strength to tear himself free. He retreated to the other side of the small room, visibly shaking.
'Pen, please! You know I'm not at my best this early in the morning.'
'OK, Roger. Don't worry. I'm not going to rape you.' She was laughing playfully as she pulled the sheets loosely around her. 'But what are you doing up so early?'
I've just left this incredibly beautiful Brazilian gymnast who has spent all night teaching me a whole series of new exercises. We didn't have any gymnastic rings, so we used the chandelier. OK?'
She shook her head firmly.
'How could one so young and beautiful be so cynical?' he protested. 'All right. I had to make a delivery in the vicinity and I thought I'd come and say good morning.'
He didn't bother to add that Mattie Storin had nearly caught him as he was placing the document amongst the newspapers, and he welcomed the chance to lie low in his secretary's room for a while. He was still elated at the trouble which the leaked poll would cause the Party Chairman, who had been openly hostile to him in the last few weeks. Through his paranoia, worked on by Urquhart, he had failed to notice that the hard-pressed Williams had been short with most of his colleagues as well.
Penny tried to bring him back down to earth. 'Yeah, but next time you come to say good morning, try knocking first. And make it after 8.30'
'Don't give me a hard time. You know I can't live without you.'
'Enough passion, Roger. What do you want? You have to want something, don't you, even if not my body?'
'Actually, I did come to ask you something. It's a bit delicate really...'
'Go ahead, Roger. You can be frank. You've already seen there's no one else in the bed!' She started laughing again.
O'Neill began to recover his salesman's charms, and started upon the story which Urquhart had drummed into him me previous evening.
'Pen, you remember Patrick Woolton, the Foreign Secretary. You typed a couple of his speeches during the election, and he certainly remembers you. He asked after you when I saw him last night and I think he's rather smitten with you. Anyway, he wondered if you would be interested in dinner with him but he didn't want to upset or offend you by asking direct, so I sort of offered to have a quiet word as it might be easier for you to say no to me rather than to him personally, you see'
'OK, Roger'
'OK what, Pen?'
'OK. I'll have dinner with him. What's the big deal?' 'Nothing. Except... Woolton's got a bit of a reputation with the ladies. He might just want more than - dinner.' Hoger, every man I've ever been out with since the age of fourteen has always wanted more than dinner. I can handle it. Might be interesting. He could improve my French!' She burst into fits of giggles once again, and threw her last pillow at him. O'Neill retreated through the door as Penny was looking around for something else to throw.
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