In the Shade of the Blossom Tree Read online

  IN THE

  SHADE OF THE

  BLOSSOM TREE

  (previously published as

  FORBIDDEN PLEASURES)

  JOANNA REES

  PAN BOOKS

  For Araminta

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  CHAPTER FORTY

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

  CHAPTER FIFTY

  CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

  CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

  CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

  CHAPTER SIXTY

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  BEHIND THE HOURGLASS

  1. INVENTING MISS CASEY

  2. SIXTY SECONDS

  3. KING’S CROSS

  4. HEADLINES

  5. EROS

  6. THE GIRL IN A GREEN COAT

  7. TAXI

  THE TIDES OF CHANGE

  THE GIRL FROM LACE ISLAND

  If there was one thing that Savannah Hudson was good at, it was making an entrance. And tonight, at the industry’s holy of holies, boy was she going to make damn sure it was a good one.

  Her face ached from smiling as she walked into the circus ring arena where the plush dinner tables were laid out below the high trapeze. It was a typically over-the-top venue for the awards ceremony, but a fittingly dramatic one.

  Bright spotlights criss-crossed the excited crowd, but fell on her as she walked towards the Hudson Corporation’s table in its prime position next to the stage. She felt a gratifying shift in the atmosphere – a hiatus, as everyone realized that the most talked-about guest of the evening was finally here.

  Holding her head high, she strode towards her team, her famously bright smile eliciting smiles in return from everyone she passed. The Hudsons had always been the kind of people that others loved to hate, and Savvy was used to causing a stir. Posing, greeting, tripping off those witty sound-bites for the press and being the shining centre of attention was what she did best.

  Yet tonight?

  Savvy kept her smile tight and wide.

  Tonight, this was all one great big façade.

  She might be making fairytale copy, but the truth? Christ, she hardly dared think about the truth. Because the truth was that she was living a nightmare. And there wasn’t a goddam soul in the whole world she could tell about it.

  Which meant that she couldn’t let her guard down for even a second.

  She smoothed the chiffon of her long dress before taking her seat at the head of the table. The white Grecian-style piece was actually a wedding dress – a freebie from one of the designers this morning. After the week she’d had, there’d been no time to find another show-stopping outfit. With her blonde hair piled high and bound with thin golden rope, Savvy hoped she’d pulled off the look.

  After all, every move she made, every detail of her appearance, every mannerism, would be scrutinized by her colleagues, admirers and enemies alike. With admiration? Animosity? She hardly cared any longer.

  She needed a cigarette so badly, she thought, as another photographer flashed his camera in her face, but there’d be no let-up until the awards ceremony was over and the winners were announced. She stared at the glass on the table in front of her, wishing it contained something stronger than water. When she reached out for it, her hand was shaking.

  But she would have to see this through. No matter what. Because it was all about reputation and nobody, nobody, was going to know that she was anything other than supremely confident.

  The future was bright for the Hudson Corporation. That was her message. They were the best. Her presence here tonight proved it. She would win the coveted Best Casino award. She’d memorized her acceptance speech already.

  But what if . . . ?

  She glanced over at the other top table. Roberto Enzo, her father’s greatest rival, was in rude good health, even at seventy. He looked like a member of the original Rat Pack, his Italian-American good looks only enhanced by age, with his mane of silver hair swept back from his distinctive tanned face.

  And beside him, as always, was Lois Chan. The woman who’d made Savvy’s ultimate success so elusive. Her rival.

  Lois’s long, shiny black hair was piled up into a glossy chignon and she was wearing a dress of heavy red silk. She looked every inch the formidable Asian businesswoman she’d become.

  She watched as Roberto Enzo put his hand over Lois’s and laughed delightedly at something she said.

  Savvy felt her heart swell with jealousy. They looked so united on their table. So together. So much a team. Deliberately so, Savvy guessed. Despite everything that had happened in China in the last few weeks, they’d come out fighting.

  But that was why Savvy was here. To fight back. Tonight’s awards would prove it. They had to. Because this business was her life.

  It was all she had left.

  Lois Chan took a long sip of her white wine, grateful that the show was finally starting and the lights had lowered. An expectant hush had fallen over the crowd.

  In the sudden darkness, she felt her skin crawl with self-loathing.

  How the hell had she got herself into this mess?

  But then it wasn’t as if she’d had a choice, she told herself. Roberto had insisted that they come here tonight and front it out.

  Roberto. Lois swallowed hard, feeling his presence next to her, his hand over hers, but she could hardly bear to look at him.

  Dear, kind Roberto. He’d been her rock. The man who had rescued her from the ashes of her marriage break-up and her failed career in the police force and put her back on her feet. He’d nurtured her, trusted her, promoted her. He’d given her the freedom and the tools she needed to make a difference to this industry. And she had. A big one.

  Which was why it hurt so much that she was about to betray him.

  In fact, Lois could safely say that nothing had hurt this much since she’d lost custody of her daughter, Cara.

  Lois longed with all her soul to take Roberto away from here and to explain what she’d done. But she knew she couldn’t. Too much
was at stake.

  The irony was that her intentions had been so good. All she’d set out to do was make the world – particularly the gambling world – a fairer and better place. But instead, she’d become embroiled in a level of corruption beyond her wildest dreams.

  ‘I see she’s finally here,’ Tristan Blake, one of Lois’s most trusted employees, whispered, leaning in close and flicking his eyes towards Savannah Hudson. ‘I can’t wait to see her face when she doesn’t win.’

  Lois tried to smile back at Tristan. He was wearing an old-school tux with a thin tie, and his bright tanned face and twinkling eyes made Lois realize how much this meant to him. ‘You really think we’re going to win? After what happened? Come off it, Trist. We don’t stand a chance.’

  Lois felt Savannah Hudson’s gaze on her, even in the dark, like a malevolent force. The cheek of the woman, Lois thought. Flaunting herself here, as if she owned Vegas. And what in God’s name was she wearing? Tonight’s ‘virgin bride’ look was surely one reinvention too far.

  Lois breathed out, forcing herself to keep calm. But Savannah Hudson’s presence riled her.

  Well, she hoped Tristan’s confidence was justified. Tonight Lois needed to prove to Savannah Hudson that her underhand games hadn’t worked. To prove to the entire industry that she, Lois Chan, would not be beaten. Especially by someone as low as Savvy Hudson. The girl would sell her soul for a dime.

  How strange, Lois thought, that it had all become so personal, when she had once considered business rivalry to be futile. But then Savvy Hudson had always annoyed her. Even from the very first time they’d met.

  It must have been more than five years ago now, Lois thought, but it seemed so much longer. A lifetime ago. Back when they both still had it all to play for. When the stakes were so different to now.

  Back when all of this started.

  Five long years ago.

  That Fight Night in Vegas . . .

  CHAPTER ONE

  Fight Night in Vegas. You couldn’t beat it. On the thirty-third floor of the Enzo Vegas, Savannah Hudson tumbled out of the door of the penthouse suite into the corridor, giggling with anticipation.

  ‘Let’s do it, let’s do it,’ she urged Marcus, pulling him by his sleeve towards the SkyBird – the Enzo Vegas’s famous glass-bubble elevator, which provided the occupants of the hotel’s most exclusive penthouse suites with a direct and dramatic route down the side of the building to the casino. ‘Much as I’m loving your company, darling, we’ll miss the fight if we don’t get down there soon.’

  ‘O-kay, dah-ling,’ Marcus replied, mimicking her.

  Despite his gentle teasing, Savvy knew that, like most American men she met, he adored her accent. Technically she was half-English, even if she hadn’t actually lived there since she’d been expelled from boarding school when she was seventeen. But Savvy by nickname, savvy by nature, she knew that impeccable pronunciation, along with impeccable manners, marked her out from the crowd and opened doors for her almost everywhere – especially here in the States.

  Savvy punched the button on the wall and the elevator door slid open. She waved her foot, clad in a sparkling sandal, in mid-air before stepping over the threshold.

  ‘Wow,’ she gasped, throwing her arms out wide.

  The whole of Vegas was spread out before her, the neon blazing so hard it could have been midday, not midnight. Yet in the very distance she could still see the desert, its silky blackness merging into the deepest indigo sky.

  Giant billboards glittered, cars streamed along the freeway. She felt immediately humbled, but powerful too – as if she were a god and everything she was seeing was hers.

  Down below on the strip, stretch limos queued up bumper to bumper. Two colossal searchlights swept back and forth across the casino’s mirrored façade, glittering lake and laser-tinted fountains. News and sports channel helicopters beat the dry air above. This was the kind of publicity money just couldn’t buy.

  Because tonight would be where millions of people all over the globe would tune in to the Enzo Vegas, where the WBC World Heavyweight champion Cornelius ‘The Hammer’ Hamilton would defend his title against Russian bad-boy Oleg Olin and settle a rivalry that had escalated from a war of words into a media frenzy.

  And Savvy was going to be right there. Right beside the action.

  ‘Come on,’ she said, turning and holding out her hand to Marcus. He stared up the corridor, shrugging his leather jacket on to his shoulders and flipping down the brim of his baseball cap, but there was no time for his posing now. Besides, Savvy was immune to it.

  Marcus Maitlin, notorious playboy, failed actor and heir to a Hollywood fortune, most of which he’d spent the last ten years frittering away, laughed as Savvy yanked him in next to her. Only now did she realize how high she was – both physically and mentally. After the fat line of cocaine she’d just had in their suite, she felt like the top of her head was about to blow off. Marcus had been right that the Peruvian Flake he’d brought along was the best cocaine in the world. This shit was magic.

  The elevator started moving and Savvy swayed her arms above her head and bumped hips with Marcus.

  ‘Oh, here we go, baby, here we go,’ she chanted.

  ‘That’s some dress,’ Marcus said, moving behind her. The layers of midnight-blue silk barely skimmed her buttocks and showed off her tanned legs.

  ‘Dress? It’s not a dress, Marcus. It’s a top,’ she said.

  Savvy had pointed it out to him in one of the hotel’s boutiques shortly after they’d arrived. Marcus had had it delivered just in time for her to change into before they left.

  ‘All the better . . .’ Marcus’s voice became a husky whisper in her ear as he ran his hand up her thigh and kissed her neck. ‘Easy access. I like being able to get at you.’

  Savvy pushed her hands up behind his neck, looking at their reflections in the elevator glass. She shuddered as his fingers expertly brushed away her tiny lace thong and dipped inside. She felt the hard bulge in Marcus’s leather trousers pressing up against her bottom.

  She couldn’t exactly pretend to Marcus that she wasn’t feeling horny too. He could feel that for himself. But that was more an effect of the cocaine than Marcus’s familiar touch.

  It amused her that she always managed to get herself into these situations with him. They’d have to stop this mucking about some day soon, but Marcus was an attractive guy. Funny. Generous. The best. A partner in crime.

  But the truth was that they could never be real lovers. She wondered whether it was the same for Marcus, but Savvy found the sex rather meaningless. Although as sex went, she had to admit it was pretty good. But to her, it felt like they were diluting their friendship. Because whilst she gave him her fierce and unswerving loyalty as a friend, she gave almost nothing at all as a lover. Nothing real.

  Then again, after what she’d been through, maybe there wasn’t anything left to give.

  She laughed now, pulling away from him. Did he really think they had time to do it in the SkyBird elevator? Even by their standards, that was pretty risqué.

  ‘Easy, cowboy,’ she said, ducking out of reach. ‘You’d better keep that thing holstered, my friend. We’ve got a long night ahead of us.’

  ‘Aw . . . come on, Sav. Just a quickie. It’ll be fun!’ Marcus jiggled his thick black eyebrows up and down at her.

  ‘Oh, you’d love that, wouldn’t you,’ she laughed. ‘To do it in front of the whole of Vegas,’ she said, pointing to the view.

  ‘I don’t care who’s looking. It’s just that you look so damn horny in that dress . . . top,’ Marcus corrected himself.

  ‘Good,’ she said, jiggling her famously pert bottom at him, making the layers of her dress shimmy. ‘That’s the idea. Now . . . let’s focus on important business. Drink on the way to the arena? What’ll it be?’ she asked him, twirling round to lean back against the bar, so that she could face him.

  Marcus rubbed the stubble on his chin. ‘Hmm,’ he ruminated. ‘Tequila
?’

  ‘Yes!’ Savvy said, clapping her hands together, excited at the thought. ‘I do so love the simple pleasures in life.’ Holding her hand up, she counted off on her fingers. ‘Drinking, drugs and gambling. The Holy Trinity of Fun.’

  Marcus laughed. ‘The Holy Trinity of Fun. I like that. You know, you really are an incorrigible party girl.’

  ‘Oh, like I’m the one leading you astray.’

  She looked down, seeing the ground zooming up to meet them. She could feel the casino’s pull just as surely as if she were a silver ball on a spinning roulette wheel, being drawn inexorably towards its centre.

  ‘You know, it’s hard to say what would give your father the bigger heart attack. The fact that you’re here. Or the fact that you’re with me,’ Marcus said.

  Savvy grinned back at him. He knew as well as she did that being here behind her father’s back was giving her a delicious thrill. And it was clearly giving Marcus one too.

  Savvy’s father, Michael ‘Hud’ Hudson III, the self-made and notoriously outspoken Vegas casino mogul, had been trying to put Roberto Enzo out of business for years. This, the Enzo Vegas, was his nemesis, the thorn in his side. The reason that his own nearby casino La Paris had never claimed the reputation he craved. As far as Hud was concerned, the Enzo Vegas was strictly out of bounds to his friends and family, or anyone who valued being in Hudson’s inner circle.

  He’d be livid if he knew she was here. Not to mention how much this would get up Elodie’s nose, Savvy thought, with a frisson of satisfaction.

  Savvy’s twin sister had called five times this week to remind Savvy that Hud was flying back from Europe and Savvy mustn’t miss the planned family get-together tonight, under any circumstances.

  It was so typical of Elodie to suck-butt their father, desperately hunting his approval by jumping every time Hud snapped his fingers. And so typical of Hud to demand everyone come to him exactly when he wanted them to. As if none of them had anything – or anyone – better to do.

  Which was why, when Marcus announced he had tickets for the fight tonight and no date, Savvy had pounced on the chance to join him.

  Why not? Her father and her sister clearly thought her life was superficial, so she might as well prove them right and have a good time. She felt it was her duty to enjoy the privileges she’d been given without any guilt. After all, someone had to stop and take time out to spend some of the money her father was so busy making. And she sure as hell couldn’t see anybody else trying very hard.