by Tracy Quan
My trip to Provence was a lucky dream that almost turned into a nightmare. While Matt began drifting off, my jet-lagged brain was still adding, subtracting, calculating the odds.
What will become of Izzy and Serge? Katya can’t track me down in New York and embarrass me, can she? What about the police?
I held onto Matt a little tighter as I recalled Milt’s parting words. “Do something practical with your money, kiddo.” How some guys talk when your financial relationship is coming to an end.
The money makes it easier to let go. And he never, in all the time I knew him, found out my other name.
Friday, July 26 New York
A call from Jasmine. Given the attrition rate around here, her business is more welcome than ever.
“Harry’s gotta have it,” she said with a chuckle. “He wants to see us together, Monday noon.” At least her clients aren’t fleeing to Europe—and they’re quick.
“Sure thing.” I was anxious to hang up and throw out the paper before my husband returns from the office.
I buy all the tabloids, searching for news about Isabel, and I’m turning into a regular at the foreign newsstand on Eighty-sixth Street. Matt would find the sudden shift in my reading patterns bizarre—and what if he mentions my new habit to Elspeth?
There’s very little the French police can do to me here. I’m finally safe, truly out of their reach, but I can’t stop wondering about Izzy. I’m haunted by what happened to her, not just this summer, but twenty years ago when she entered the business.
Sunday, August 4 Easthampton, Long Island
Elspeth and Jason think they’ve found a solution to their problem: a house on the beach. Elspeth’s moved out here for the rest of the summer with the twins and her Prozac. Jason spends as much time in the Hamptons as he can—which isn’t enough, since he has to work in the city.
Last night, Jason and Matt cooked lobsters. I prepared a watercress salad with freshly toasted pine nuts and a parmesan custard—something Elspeth would never let me do alone. But now she’s content to sit on the deck reading Oprah magazine while I take over her kitchen.
Elspeth has changed! Her voice is flatter and sweeter. Not one question about Provence or my mother. Nor has she acknowledged the scary things she said to me in voicemail.
At breakfast today, I announced to the table: “I just got a message from my mother. After all that, she completely changed her mind and decided to go house-hunting in Normandy. She’s talking about a goat farm in Mortagne-au-Perche.”
Elspeth was surprisingly unaffected by this turn of events. “I wonder—” her voice was sunny and vague “—if I could persuade someone to get those beach towels out of the dryer.”
When she returned from her swim, she disappeared into the twins’ bedroom, played with them for half an hour, and emerged with a placid smile on her face.
“I’m going to Briermere Farm to pick up a blueberry pie,” she told me. “Want to come?”
In the past, I would have made an excuse but I actually felt safe sitting next to her in the car. The new Elspeth! But how long can it last?
Later, I gazed across the table at her while nibbling a piece of pie. After three years of dodging Elspeth’s phone calls and questions, I’m not sure what to think. My pulse used to go up whenever she opened her mouth.
Can we really trust the new Elspeth? She needs to be a prosecutor the way I need to turn tricks. It’s what she was born to do. If she doesn’t pursue her vocation, she’ll find other ways to prosecute—unless she’s neutralized by Prozac.
I should be glad, but it seems wrong to win the battle this way. And I can’t help wondering, if Matt were to put ME on Prozac, would I totally lose interest in my profession?
I don’t want to find out.
Six Weeks Later
September 6, 2002 New York
This morning, while my lips were savoring a new customer’s hard-on, we both heard my phone chiming in the other room. His erection was firmer now, more sure of its goal. Does the idea of another client turn him on? I flashed him a knowing slutty look.
While he showered, I checked Call History. The phone began ringing again and I answered in a discreet voice.
“I can’t believe my luck, kiddo. Getting you to answer at this hour.” Milt! “Admit it, you’re up to something. What are you wearing?” he growled.
With one eye on the bathroom door, I giggled. “Not much. I just came back from the gym. But … I need to call you back. Are you in town?” He’s calling from a blocked number.
“I’m in Luxembourg for a few days.”
“Again?”
“Have you ever been to the Cayman Islands? Leave your phone on, so I can reach you, kiddo. I’ve missed your body AND your voice.”
It looks like my life isn’t getting any simpler. If Milt wants to arrange a ticket from overseas, I have to tell him my other name. After being Suzy for almost thirteen years, that’s a taboo.
I waited for my customer to dress and leave. When I retrieved the message, I was shocked to hear Duncan’s voice. “I might be flying to the States next week. Something’s happening in Southampton. Will you be in town? I’ll try you again later,” he said. “I promise.”
Should I call back? I haven’t thought about Duncan—much—these last few weeks.
Replaying his message, I remembered how close we almost were, that day in the library. Is that when he knew he wanted to kiss me? The way he looked at me when I stood before him in my towel—I keep trying to forget how that felt.
The memory of our kiss returns whenever I listen to his voice. Another voice responds, Of course you won’t call. You have to wait—because he promised.
And we all know that waiting for a man to call is only the beginning.
Original Titles from Mischief
Exposure: Those who Love to Watch and be Watched – Various
The first erotica collection of its kind: explicit sexual fantasies exploring the risks and thrills of showing it all. Written by the best erotica writers around.
How much of sex is participation and how much is exhibition and voyeurism? Is being adored and worshipped enough for her? Can intimate insights and being teased to distraction be as thrilling as the chase for him?
These no-holds-barred erotic stories part the curtains and taken an opportunistic peek into the blink-and-you’ll-miss it world of tantalising private shows that you won’t find in any strip-club.
Kelly offers a between-the-shelves service at the local library that only the very lucky receive…
Gina can’t stop offering an eyeful to Brad, the boy next door…
Charlotte and Rodney get nasty in the dunes even though they know they’re being watched…
ISBN: 978-0-00-747763-0
Published 16/02/2012
At Your Mercy: Tales of Domination – Various
Restraint, bondage, corporal punishment, domination and submission: thrilling encounters in the realm of the kinkiest pleasures. An original erotica collection.
Extraordinary and secret desires drive the characters in these explicit and daring stories of sensual punishment, kinky power games and fetish play.
Penny loses at cards and her forfeit is to become the slave of Edmund and his friends for a day…
When Jessie can’t pay her bill in a restaurant, the owner devises a unique payment plan…
Annabel’s reputation as an ice maiden only thaws when a daring barman dares to light her fuse…
ISBN: 978-0-00-747765-4
Published 16/02/2012
Sisters in Sin – Primula Bond
A Mischief Petite Novel
Discover just how many sins one Venetian convent of silent sisters can commit.
Jennifer Coombes is lost in Venice. She is supposed to be sourcing glass for her business back in London, but instead she befriends a young nun, Natalia, who is torn between keeping her sacred vows and escaping to meet her lover for secret trysts. The worldly and frustrated Jennifer cannot understand such a di
lemma until she accompanies Natalia and experiences for herself the dark and mysterious goings-on behind the crumbling walls of the Santa Maria convent. Alongside the swift yet arousing punishments meted out to any sinner, obedient nuns are rewarded by the calm, silence, and sisterly sensuality of their enclosed way of life.
When the two girls swap places Jennifer is locked away in this silent, scented world but far from remaining celibate, she awakens her sisters to all the possibilities at their finger-tips, to the kinky passion that can be found in the vineyard, the confessional, even in the candle-lit silence of their cells. Or are they awakening her? By the time the carnal temptations of the Carnivale rage outside the walls, despite the demands of her life back home, Jennifer is so embroiled with the convent and the secret life with her sisters in sin she fears she may never be able to leave. But whenever briefly breaking from the dreamy and enchanting atmosphere of the convent, why does no one back in the world believe that the infamous convent even exists?
ISBN: 978-0-00-747766-1
Published 16/02/2012
Girl for Hire: The Secret Encounters of Amateur Escorts – Various
Everyday women leading a double life as high class escorts in a collection of original and edgy erotica. It’s not about the pay, the thrill is to play.
Imagine having a secret life as a high class call girl and mouth-watering hooker, with anonymous clients and cash in hand payments. These girls did more than just fantasise about it on a rollercoaster of hotel rooms and high stakes in high heels, where giving and receiving pleasure proved to be the greatest payment of all.
When Juliet receives a salacious text message in error, requesting the services of an escort, her curiosity wins…
Clara’s first assignment at an upscale address, leaves her clueless as to who the client actually is…
When Jane is caught misbehaving, her husband decides he likes it and begins arranging unusual encounters…
ISBN: 978-0-00-747767-8
Published March 2012
In her Service: A Collection of Dominant Girls – Various
Original erotica fantasy fiction exploring the curious and intense pleasures of submitting to female domination.
For many men nothing can compete with the intoxicating pleasure of a dominant woman in full control of the bedroom, playroom or office. So come visit the places where corseted matrons and cruel thigh-booted minxes make their slaves bow, kneel, scrape and sting before their heels. An explicit femme dom collection of empowered women and reduced men who learn to know their place…and wouldn’t have it any other way.
Pursuing a female celebrity for a scoop leads one journalist into a humiliating experience he’ll never forget…
Daisy is a harsh mistress, but when her slaves revolt, her punishment is greater than what even she could devise…
Kelly’s arrival at a female friend’s wedding, involves the renewing of special extramarital vows that have nothing to do with monogamy.
ISBN: 978-0-00-747768-5
Published March 2012
Power Play – Charlotte Stein
A Mischief Novel
Now she’s the boss, and everything that once seemed forbidden may well be deliciously possible…
When Eleanor Harding is abruptly promoted, she loses two very important things: the heated relationship she had with her boss, and control over her own desires. Without a restraining hand on her she finds herself suddenly craving something very different – and the office lackey, Benjamin, seems like just the sort of man to fulfil her needs.
He’s eager, lustful and willing to show her all of the things she’s been missing – namely, what it’s like to be the one in charge, for a change. Now all Eleanor has to do is decide…is Ben calling the kinky shots, or is she?
ISBN: 978-0-00-747769-2
Published March 2012
Kinky – Justine Elyot
A Mischief Petite Novel
‘There’s a place further down the street where I work that I can’t figure out at all.’ Rosie’s efforts to investigate a mysterious building lead to a meeting with an interesting stranger and a descent into excess.
Kinky Cupcake is much more than a meeting place for like-minded BDSM enthusiasts – it’s an all-purpose play space with dungeons, boudoirs and role-play rooms galore. So when Rosie and her new friend Dimitri blag their way in, they know they are going to have to convince everyone that they are a genuine scene couple. This isn’t easy, when you’ve known each other all of a few hours, but they give it their best shot.
The pleasures of domination and submission are explored, one by one, until Rosie and Dimitri’s faked dynamic becomes all too real. But how much of their emotional bond depends on their shared sensual experiences? And the truest test of their bond is whether they can be together outside Kinky Cupcake as well as inside its chambers.
ISBN: 978-0-00-747770-8
Published March 2012
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My heartfelt thanks to Charles Peck for being such a tenacious editor and vigilant reader, and for sharing his delightful insights.
I am very grateful to Essie Cousins, my patient yet persistent editor at HarperCollins. Her encouragement and guidance are deeply appreciated. Joy Chamberlain, Ilsa Yardley, Natasha Law, Joy Gosney, Lizzy Kingston, Rebecca McEwan, Georgia Mason, Mark Johnson and Kate Hyde: thank you for applying your talents to Nancy Chan’s checkered existence. Doug Pepper’s blessing is noted with pleasure.
Paul Shields has been a dear friend to my project and to its wayward author—I’m fortunate to know him. Nora Rety and Barnaby Lewis have inspired a great deal of mischief.
Katinka Matson,Russell Weinberger,Karla Taylor,Max Brockman, Michael Healey, and John Brockman of Brockman Inc;Peter Benedek, James Kearney, Craig Losben, Howard Sanders and Gary Gradinger at United Talent Agency; Dana Friedman and Chad Matheny of Dragonfly Technologies: thank you for taking care of me.
A special note of gratitude to Lloyd Grove.
Stephen Lee, Andrea Piccolo, Mike Godwin, James Wolcott, Ralph Martin, Carole Murray,Matt Weingarden, Steve Richardsoni-Ross, Nomi Prins, Pico Iyer, Melissa Ditmore, John Dizard, Noel Vera, Cynthia Connors, Richard Porton, Darren Star,Mark Farley, Steve Wasserman, Laura Agustin, Gretchen Soderlund, Rebecca Kaye, Gerard S., David Sterry, Mari Alden, Richard Adams, Giovanna, Lily, Joe Lavezzo, Bowie Snodgrass, Desmond Mervyn, David Andrew, Eliyanna Kaiser, Adrian, Frances, Rachel Aimee, Sylvia Federici, Louise Aibel, and the New York Society Library have been helpful in diverse, unexpected ways: thank you.
Will Crutchfield climbed a mountain with me, helped me find the byways, and made this possible. I’ll never be able to thank him enough.
About the Author
TRACY QUAN lives in New York City. Diary of a Jetsetting Call Girl is the third book in her Call Girl series. Her first novel, Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl, is being developed into a TV series by Darren Star, creator of HBO’s Sex and the City. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Financial Times, Cosmopolitan and South China Morning Post.
Visit the author at www.tracyquan.net
Praise for the Call Girl series:
‘Chock-full of bad-girl secrets … tantalizing’ Cosmopolitan
‘Bridget Jones with attitude’ Guardian
‘New York’s hottest literary sensation’ Independent
‘A page-turner’ New York Daily News
‘Hilarious’ New York Times
‘Wise, observant and – best of all – fun’ Los Angeles Times
‘A new perspective on infidelity and modern marriage … Reads like a multiethnic episode of Sex and the City, except this meticulously maintained 30-something does it for money … Catty call-girl competition abounds. Classic chick-lit’ Boston Globe
‘Chick lit, meet trick lit’ Time Out New York
By the same author
Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl
Diary of a Married Call Girl
Copyright
Mischief An imp
rint of HarperCollinsPublishers77–85 Fulham Palace RoadHammersmithLondon W6 8JB
www.mischiefbooks.com
This eBook edition 2012
First published by HarperPerennial 2008
Copyright © Tracy Quan 2008 Internal illustrations © www.joygosney.co.ukTracy Quan asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Find out more about HarperCollins and the environment atwww.harpercollins.co.uk/green
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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ePub edition 2012 ISBN-9780007479658
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