The grand ballroom of the Ritz Hotel was packed to capacity for the charity event of the year, a masque ball for the great and good of society with a chance to see and be seen by those who mattered, a chance to show one’s generosity for a good cause and at the same time be photographed for the back pages of Tatler. The event was a riot of colour, light, opulence and sensation. Beautifully attired men and women mingled, da...

The London streets were packed with the usual Saturday night traffic, and in the back of a black cab, the man glanced anxiously at his watch. He had been stuck in this bloody traffic for ten minutes now, and he was worried that he may have missed his opportunity with the mystery woman who so intrigued him. He breathed deeply and consoled himself that she had only left five minutes before him and was probably held up in th...

Two things woke him from his slumber, the sunlight pouring in through the open curtains and the sound of the shower running in the en suite bathroom. He got up and padded across the thick fur rug that covered the cold marble floor and cracked the door to the bathroom. Steam leaked out, obscuring his view, so he pushed the door open and stepped inside. The bathroom was huge, bigger than his kitchen at home. A long deep bat...