Tara (41 page)

The next moment Harry had him pinned against the wall, holding him by his throat.

'That little darling is our Tara,' he spat into Josh's face, blue eyes turning almost black. 'You thieving bastard!'

'Your Tara?' Josh croaked. He knew Harry was an only child like himself, and he didn't remember a cousin or other close relative.

'You got it.' Harry's mouth was a thin angry line and Josh thought he was going to kill him. 'It's bad enough gettin' a kid to spend all her spare time making frocks for you, but when you don't bleedin' pay 'er properly and boast about it behind 'er back, that's fuckin' disgustin'.'

'I'm sorry, mate,' Josh stammered out as best he could with a hand at his throat. 'If I'd known who she was ...'

'You shouldn't treat any girl like that,' Harry thundered. 'You bloody yids are all the same, sell yer own grandmother for tuppence. But I'm marking your card now, Josh. Pay her what she's due, or else.'

He let go of Josh suddenly as Tara came bounding into the shop from the stockroom with an armful of dresses.

'Hullo, Harry. What brought – ' She stopped in mid-sentence, suddenly aware she had interrupted something. She looked from one to the other, her eyes narrowing as Josh rubbed his throat.

'What's going on?'

'Nothing, sweetheart.' Harry smirked. 'Just been havin' a chat about how late at night you work. Josh was saying he was goin' to give you a bonus, weren't you, Josh?'

'Er, yes.' Josh gulped hard. 'We'll have to work out some commission or something.'

'That will be nice.' Tara still looked anxious.

'It certainly will.' Harry picked up his coat from the stool and waved his car keys. 'Come on, now, it's tippin' down outside. I'll be in touch, Josh. Good to see you again.'

That night he'd made up his mind to sack her. He didn't want Harry on his back or poking around in his affairs. But reason got the better of him in the small hours. He weighed up the money Tara had made him, and the money she'd continue to make him, and decided that a slightly higher commission on every garment she designed and a rise in salary wouldn't break him.

But it rankled. It cramped his style knowing Harry was watching him. At Christmas he might have been able to seduce her when she'd had too much to drink. He was frightened to ask her out, even to kiss her under the mistletoe in case it got reported back. He made up his mind he would get his own back one day.

The trouble was everything about Tara was desirable. He could sense she shared the same hunger as himself for money and position, a sure sign of a childhood pitted with deprivation. But her cool front excited him more than anything. She didn't giggle with the other girls about men, he'd never seen her flirting. Yet this wasn't the timidity of a virgin; rather a girl that knew about men and was biding her time until she met someone special.

One day all the care and attention he'd paid her would pay off. He intended to have her.

'You look pleased with yourself,' Angie said as Josh came into the shop a few days later. He practically bounced through the door, flashing a brilliant smile at the customers.

'I am,' he said, and swept through the shop up to his office.

'I wonder what's got into him?' Angie asked Tara.

'He had his dark suit on,' Tara mused. 'And his briefcase. Maybe he's done some deal?'

The phone in the shop pinged a few minutes later, which always meant he wanted someone to go up.

'I'll go,' Tara said. 'I expect it's about a design, anyway.'

Josh was sitting in his chair when she reached the office, his feet up on the desk, looking smug.

'I've got a new shop,' he said. 'I want to discuss it with you, but not here and now. How about coming out with me for a drink after work?'

Tara's heart leaped. This could be the opportunity to get what she wanted.

'OK.' She looked down at her dress, considering the image she needed to portray. 'I'll have to nip home first to change and leave a message.'

'Don't mention this to Angie.' Josh's brown eyes flashed a warning. 'You can leave half an hour early. I'll use that time to tell her everything.'

Tara wasn't sure if it was the drink part he didn't want getting out, or all of it. Something told her not to ask.

'All right,' she said. 'What shall I say you wanted me for?'

'To look at some trimmings.' He put his feet back on the floor. 'Off you go. I've got a lot of phone calls to make. I'll pick you up outside the library at six.'

Josh smirked with delight. Everything was coming together. Two days ago he'd seen the perfect shop in Kensington Church Street; today he'd got the finance from a merchant bank. But best of all was the whisper he'd heard last night.

Harry Collins was in trouble. He didn't know the details yet, but his source had said it was serious stuff, some blag that had gone wrong. When whispers like mat were going around it meant the police wouldn't be far behind. Soon he'd be able to make a move on Tara.

Planning seduction was so pleasurable, like a snake luring a rat into its mouth. Tonight he'd just leave the bait and, if he was right about that ambitious little girl, she'd snatch it right up.

Josh waited until Tara had left the shop, then went downstairs, closed and locked the door.

'It's only five,' Angie reminded him.

She was wearing a short, tight red skirt, a clingy black blouse and very high heels. As always her makeup was a touch overdone, especially the false eyelashes, but her blonde curly hair gleamed as a spotlight caught it.

Josh smiled seductively. Tara was caviar and Champagne but it would be sometime before he managed to charm her out of her knickers. Angie was fish and chips, and available at any time.

'Come on upstairs.' He nodded towards the back of the shop. He was always ridiculing Angie for her South London voice and loud taste in clothes, but he had to admit she was a little sex-pot.

'Is that why you said Tara could go early?' She had been hurt about that, assuming it was favouritism, but now he had that lustful look in his dark eyes she felt warmer towards him.

'Yes, and because I had something to tell you.' He grinned.

He wasted no time in the office, remembering he had to meet Tara at six, and pulled Angie on to his lap.

'What's the secret?' she asked, smiling as his fingers moved to undo her blouse.

'Promotion for you,' he said, sliding his hand over her bra and tweaking her nipple. 'I've got another shop and I want you to be manageress here.'

'But I already am, aren't I?' She couldn't think straight when he was touching her.

'Not really, because I'm always in and out and Tara's here. I want you to take sole charge and take on another two girls under you.'

'You mean Tara's going to the new shop?' It sounded as if Tara was getting the breaks, not her.

'Yes. I'd have sent you both, but I can't leave this one without someone reliable running it.'

'Where is the other shop?' For once she didn't respond quite so readily to his hands; she smelled something fishy.

'Kensington.'

Angie wanted to cry. She knew exactly why Tara had been chosen instead of her – because of her looks and the way she spoke. Her lip quivered and she bit back the tears.

'It isn't like that.' Josh guessed what she was thinking and the last thing he wanted was for her to leave him in the lurch with no-one running the shop. 'I want you here because I trust you, you know the people round here, and so I can see more of you.'

'Do you really love me, Josh?' She wanted to believe him, but he'd promised her so much in the past and never come through with it.

'Would I be here with you now if I didn't?' he asked. He had her blouse undone and was unfastening her bra. 'Give me a kiss, Angie. I've been thinking about you all day.'

He had been thinking about sex all day, because deals always made him randy. Any willing girl would do, but Angie was available.

She slid her arms round his neck. Josh was the best kisser she'd ever met, she had only to touch her lips on his and she got excited. His tongue slithered into her mouth as he played with her breasts.

One of the reasons she never quite gave him up was because he was such a good lover. Most men she's been with just jumped on, fucked her, then rolled over, but Josh turned it into an art form.

'What would you like me to do to you?' he whispered, his hand creeping up her skirt, lingering on the smooth skin above her stocking-tops.

Her lips went back to his, but she took his hand and pushed it up against her fanny.

'It's hot and wet already,' he murmured, fingers finding their way around her tight panties. 'You're a rude little girl, Angie, you've been thinking about me, too.'

She writhed as he pushed hard into her, his lips on her neck, moving down towards her breasts to bite them.

He could make her do anything he liked once his fingers started to move in and out of her. Somehow sitting half undressed on her boss's lap just feet from a window overlooking a busy street heightened it still more. If a bus passed she could be seen, but Josh knew that.

'I wonder what men out there would think if they saw you,' he whispered, pulling her skirt up and panties right off with one hand and turning her round on his lap so she faced the window. He kept pushing into her with two fingers and with the other hand he stroked her clitoris. 'Play with your tits, Angie, turn all those men on.'

In reality she knew the window acted as a mirror and the only person who could see her clearly was Josh, but it was all part of the fantasy. Her head began to swim, her eyes closed and she undulated her hips as his fingers moved faster.

'Harder,' she croaked, pressing her bottom back against him, feeling his hard cock straining to be loosened from his trousers. She opened her eyes and saw herself mirrored in the window, long hair falling over her naked breasts, her body so white against Josh's hairy arms and her black suspender belt. 'Fuck me, Josh.'

Josh smiled to himself. He loved to have women in his power this way. They would do or say anything under the influence of sex.

'No fucking tonight,' he whispered. 'I just want to make you come.'

She was bucking against him, making so much noise he was sure the people out there in the street could hear, and then suddenly she was still, lying back on his shoulder.

'That was wonderful,' she said a faint voice. 'I love you so much.'

He turned her round to kiss her. He was so hard it hurt, but if he stayed to fuck her now he'd be late to meet Tara, and he didn't want to go smelling of sex.

'What about you?' she said softly as he fastened her bra and buttoned up her blouse.

'I'll come round later tonight,' he said. 'I wanted to take you out tonight but I've got to meet someone.'

'Shall I cook you something?'

Josh smiled. She was very pretty, sexy enough to meet any man's approval and a first-class worker, but her cooking was awful and the bedsitter was so dingy he didn't like to linger in it.

'No, don't bother,' he said. 'I'll be late, I expect. Just keep yourself warm for me.'

She stood up, pulled her panties back on and smoothed her skirt down. She was aware of a part of him she never quite reached and it saddened her. Other men would go home with her right away, be glad to spend the whole evening with her, and she suddenly remembered Josh never did that.

'I won't ever go cold on you,' she said, bending to kiss him. 'I love you, Josh.'

Tara was outside the library ten minutes early. She'd had a quick shower and changed into a cream short-sleeved dress that Josh had turned down because he said it was too expensive. It was one of the things they argued about, he always wanted things to be cheap and insisted girls wouldn't pay for quality.

It felt as if she was betraying Angie by having a drink with Josh. Although common sense told her she had to look out for herself as far as her career went, Angie might suspect her of trying to lure Josh away from her. But whatever Josh's motive was for asking her out tonight, Tara's was straightforward ambition. If she could hang on in while he fought his way to the top, seize every chance to get known in the trade while she honed up her skill, then one day she'd stop holding the ladder for him and start her own company.

'This is lovely.' She smiled across the table at Josh. 'I never knew there were such pretty places in London.'

She had never been to Highgate village before, and it felt more like being back in Somerset than in a city. They had plumped for sitting in the pub garden as the sun was still hot, and the scent of honeysuckle and roses was wonderful.

'It'll be packed out later.' Josh looked round at people parking their cars in the already crowded road. 'But maybe we'll go somewhere else then. I wanted to talk to you away from the shop, because it's vital I know how committed you are to working for me.'

'Very.' Tara shrugged her shoulders. 'I mean, I don't see myself leaving.'

Josh looked pensive for a moment, his eyes half-closed and his thick lips set in a straight line.

'You see this new shop is in Kensington, and I'll want you to be manageress.'

'Kensington!' Tara's heart began to pound. She was always going there on her days off, wandering around the streets, looking in shop windows, dreaming of the day when her clothes would be in those boutiques.

'Bethnal Green was just putting my toe in the water.' He smiled smugly. 'One day I'll have shops in every major town.'

Tara listened to his plans carefully. Kensington was just the start, he wanted to open branches in Chelsea and Oxford Street soon after. Just the thought of what this could mean brought her out in goose-pimples – it was as if he was laying out her own private dream.

'What about Angie?' she asked. 'Is she in on this too?'

'Angie isn't right for Kensington,' he said carefully, knowing how loyal the two girls were to one another. 'She'll run everything at Bethnal Green. Don't worry, she's quite happy about it.'

Tara knew now that at least part of Josh's plans rested on her. But he was as cunning as a snake, he never came right out with anything, he had to sidle up, even attack from behind.