Cassandra's Conflict Read Online Free PDF Page A

possibly win any game devised by the baron? She couldn't. Dieter had only said that to make her uneasy, but she would make sure she played the game well.
    Dieter's world of dark, bizarre eroticism was the only world she'd ever felt at home in. She doubted if she could exist outside the house in Hampstead.

2
    Cassandra was both excited and nervous as she watched the young driver take her two shabby suitcases out of the boot of the sleek black Daimler and carry them in through the front door of the baron's house. It was wonderful to feel needed, to know that someone actually wanted her to work for them, but it was also frightening to cut herself off from everything that she'd ever known before. She knew it was ridiculous, but in some ways this house in Hampstead seemed like a foreign country, and she had never had the courage to travel abroad.
    At last she took a deep breath and followed Peter inside. There was no one in the hall. Her two cases had vanished; she assumed they'd been taken upstairs, and once again everywhere was silent. After a few seconds she heard light footsteps on the upstairs landing, and briefly remembered the strange cry that had come from that direction just as she was leaving after the interview. At the time she'd thought it was one of the children, but later, with time for her imagination to run riot, she'd convinced herself it was more like an adult's cry of pain and the thought had worried away at her like an intermittent toothache.
    'I thought I heard the car!' a woman's voice exclaimed, and Cassandra looked up to see a young woman with a mass of silver-blonde hair that fell to her shoulders in a cascade of curls, coming down the stairs.
    She was tiny, only a little over five feet tall, with delicate bones and her face glowed with a golden tan which accentuated her startling green eyes. To Cassandra she was like some wonderful exotic bird and the clinging minidress that she wore outlined the kind of figure that usually indicated hours of aerobics and swimming and a dedication to perfection that Cassandra always found unbelievable when she read about it in papers or magazines. However, looking at this young woman and guessing that she was the baron's fiancee, she couldn't help but realise that for women with enough time and money it undoubtedly made sense. A man like Baron von Ritter would only be drawn to beautiful things, and this young woman was definitely beautiful. It was the first time Cassandra had ever studied another woman's body so objectively, and as she realised what she was doing she quickly averted her eyes as she felt a blush spreading up her neck.
    Katya had spent a considerable amount of time that morning getting ready for her meeting with this woman who, without knowing it, was her adversary in the game that was about to begin, and she felt a glow of satisfaction as she saw Cassandra's blush. She smoothed her hands down over her hips, as though straightening out some invisible wrinkles in the dress but actually emphasising her curves, and then held out her right hand in greeting.
    'You must be Cassandra Williams. I'm Katya Guez, I live here with the baron and his adorable little daughters. They're such fun, but far too energetic for me I'm afraid. I'm a night owl, and they're a couple of larks. Now that you're here at least I'll get my beauty sleep again!'
    She gave a girlish giggle, and Cassandra smiled back, totally unaware that Katya had never got out of her bed to see to either of the girls in her life, and that if she had her way they'd both be sent off to boarding school as soon as they were eight.
    'I'm quite good in the mornings,' Cassandra responded.
    'But not at night?' asked Katya, her voice suddenly soft.
    'I'm usually in bed by ten,' Cassandra admitted. 'My parents always said you couldn't burn the candle at both ends.'
    'How boring they sound. My parents hardly ever found time to sleep. They couldn't bear to waste a minute of their lives.'
    'Do they live in England?'