The name he gave to Sarah Hardy wasn’t the one on his original driving license, but it was a match for the one in his wallet. When you were in his position, setting up a false identity or two was neither hard nor expensive.

On a secular level he could appreciate that Sarah was a very beautiful woman and had the kind of body others torture themselves in the gym to achieve. That didn’t matter to him. His appreciation of her lay in a different direction:

Her beauty will dominate headlines; her picture will be broadcast everywhere and will eclipse the bold move he planned to make before turning her into a dragon.

The copper will garner a lot of attention when she’s found. The damaged damsel with the wings on her back. A hunter who fell prey to a bigger predator. Yet because of the copper’s disfigurement, the newsreels will focus on Sarah.

He brought his attention back to the moment. Sarah was talking to him in a way that was a step over the line of professional flirtation. Her clothes showed off her body and she angled herself in ways that displayed her figure.

When she’d climbed into the passenger seat, she’d made no effort to pull down her skirt. He noticed this only because that’s how he stayed ahead of others, by noticing things. He didn’t feel any attraction to her, but then, he didn’t feel a physical attraction to anyone. He hadn’t for years. To him, sex was little more than an abstract idea, a tool that could be used to manipulate other people. It used to be different for him, but became something he’d managed to eradicate from his thoughts.

To his mind, in this moment, Sarah is displaying herself like a wanton hussy. It’s obvious she fancies him and that’s just what he planned on. He’d picked up on the signs on Sunday when he’d entered the showroom looking for a new car. Spotted her appreciative glance at his watch. He’d dressed to impress her today, and he’d seen the way she’d run her eyes over him. There had been a mixture of lust and greed. He supposed she thought of him as a meal ticket, his obvious wealth a way for her to clamber up the social ladder and better herself.

Her spiel about the car was delivered in a soft, almost seductive tone. How much of her flirting was a professional desire to make the sale and how much was aimed at snaring a rich husband didn’t matter. He liked the car and would have bought it even if the salesman was a fat bald man in his fifties, complete with halitosis and BO. That he’d found a delicious addition to his project was nothing more than an unexpected bonus.

He made a little joke about another driver and her laugh carried on that beat too long. She was trying hard to impress him. He could sense it in her every gesture and mannerism. When she leaned over and pointed out the controls for something or other, she brushed her palm across the knuckles of the hand he’d rested on the gearstick, her fingers trailing across the back of his hand in a way that was suggestive.

He flicked the indicator on and joined the M6. The car was a powerful one and he wanted to get it up to speed, see how it handled. See how Sarah coped. Would she get an adrenaline rush as the speedometer crept to twice the speed limit, or would she pin herself in the seat, terrified they’d crash?

Either way, the high-speed drive would leave her flushed and with heightened emotions.

Once he’d got past a couple of wagons, he planted his right foot to the floor. ‘Let’s see what this bad boy’s made of.’

‘Sure.’

He tossed a look at her. She was relaxed, calm. The speed didn’t yet worry her.

The powerful car forged past a hundred. Still there was no concern or censure in her movements. When the speedo reached 130 she laughed and clapped her hands together.

‘Remember, it’s limited to 155 miles per hour.’

‘Will it do it?’

‘There’s only one way to find out.’

From the corner of his eye he could see her shuffling her legs, pressing one thigh against the other.

Ahead of them a car pulled into the fast lane. They were closing on it at pace, so the man eased off the throttle and feathered the brake.

‘We got to 153.’ He smiled at her as he indicated to come off at the next junction. ‘That’s good enough for me. If I order one today, how soon will I get it?’

‘Depending on the spec you want, it’s eight to ten weeks.’

‘I’ll have the full spec thanks. If I’m buying the fur coat, I want it to come with a pair of knickers.’

His little joke had her both laughing and blushing just as he’d hoped it would. The reference to underwear was a deliberate one, designed to add to the sexual charge of the high-speed drive.

He noticed that she took the front of her blouse between her fingers and flapped it back and forth to cool herself down. He also paid attention to the fact that her fingers landed on a closed button and alighted from an open one. It was a subterfuge of hers. She’d made the professional sale, now her focus was on making the personal one. He didn’t have to do anything beyond allowing her to ensnare him.

As they travelled back to the showroom her chatter ranged back and forth from details about the car to the forthcoming weekend. The opportunity to ask her out was being presented time and again, but he kept playing dumb as he enjoyed watching her try ever harder to get him to suggest a date.

It was when they pulled up in the forecourt outside the showroom that she made her boldest move yet. He was putting the handbrake on when she leaned across him, her blouse gaping open to give him a look at her cleavage. He didn’t like how obvious she was, but he had brought it on himself with his playing hard to get. Still, he didn’t bite. Teasing her was enjoyable.

An hour later he used his phone to transfer payment and signed the last of the paperwork for his new car.

She’d never admitted defeat and had manoeuvred herself around in ways that let him either see a lot of leg or the gap between the buttons of her too-tight blouse that showed off her patterned bra.

The way her eyes had widened when he’d transferred the money from one of his shell companies and paid for the car outright told him she’d underestimated his wealth.

‘I know this may be a strange request, but are you free for dinner on Friday? I’d like to mark my new purchase with a celebratory dinner in the company of a gorgeous woman. And who better than the beautiful saleswoman who sold me the car?’

She gave a self-deprecating smile at his compliments. ‘I’d love to. Thank you very much.’

He made the necessary arrangements about where and when to collect her and suggested they dine at Sharrow Bay. The luxury hotel had an excellent reputation for its food and was sure to wow her. It was important to him that she was relaxed in his company. It would make snatching her so much simpler.