Silver
Penny Jordan is an award-winning New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author of more than 200 books with sales of over 100 million copies. We have celebrated her wonderful writing with a special collection of her novels, many of which are available for the first time in eBook right now.When her father died Geraldine Frances's lifestyle changed forever. As a plain and overweight teenager, her dreams were shattered when the man with whom she was infatuated bitterly betrayed her, leaving her with one all consuming passion . . . revenge.She resorted to the drastic measures of plastic surgery and rigorous exercise to create a stunning new face and slender body. She had become ‘Silver’ - a hauntingly beautiful and mysterious woman few men would be able to resist. Dramatically transformed, she was almost ready to confront the man who had rejected her years before. Just one final hurdle had to be overcome and here, the ruthless, uncompromising Jake Fitton could provide all the necessary expertise – and so an extraordinary alliance was formed!
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Table of Contents
PART ONE: Silver
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
PART TWO: Geraldine Frances
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
PART THREE: Jake
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
PART FOUR: Silver
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
THERE were just the two of them in the ski-lift. The avalanche warning issued that morning by the Swiss Federal Avalanche Institute was keeping the other skiers away from these dangerous off-piste slopes.
In Gstaad Silver had overheard a group of guides mourning the loss of income the avalanche threat would bring.
Since the British heir to the throne had come so close to death on off-piste snow at Klosters, the authorities had clamped down heavily on guides foolish enough to allow the persuasion of their clients to overrule their own better judgement.
She, though, had no need of a guide. Neither, it seemed, did he. She recognised him. In his twenties and thirties he had been famous as an amateur racing driver, and it seemed he had never lost that need for the exhilarating thrill of speed. Especially when that thrill went hand in glove with death.
She knew he was watching her, and she knew why. In her mindâs eye she re-created an image of herself, tall and slender, wearing a cerise ski-suit, the kind that speed-skiers wore. It moulded her body, revealing high, taut breasts that owed nothing to silicone injections or indeed any other artifice. She had a narrow ribcage and waist, flaring out to feminine hips and long, long legs. It was a body which could have been that of an athlete, but which, in her, was softened into voluptuous femininity.
Her head was covered with a snug-fitting hood, and her profile as she stared silently down into the valley would have made a poet cry for the inability of mere words to convey the perfect, haunting quality of her features.
As he looked at her, Guido Bartoli wondered what it would be like to make love to her, here, high above the mountains where the air sang crystal-clear and the snow cracked ominously under its own weight. He mused that if he were to make love to her, and if she were to scream her pleasure noisily into the silence, as he liked his women to do, it would undoubtedly bring about the avalanches that were threatened. Life, death, loveâthe eternal triangle. He dwelt for several cynical and pleasurable moments on the possible consequences of his mental meanderings.
To be destroyed in that moment of ecstasy by the displeasure of nature at having her virgin world of silence splintered. It would be a fitting way for him to die⦠But for her⦠He looked at her again.
Deep in her eyes was that fierce, hungry look he remembered from his own youth. No, she was not yet ready to join him in mutual destruction.
He was forty-two years old, a wealthy, good-looking man whose company was still much sought after in bed and out of it. He felt the familiar clutch of excitement tighten his muscles as he watched her.
She knew he was looking at her, but she didnât betray it. He liked that. It showed style. He wondered who she was. Most of the regular Gstaad crowd were known to him. This woman wasnât. Neither was she someone it would be easy to overlook.
She puzzled himâintrigued himâsome sixth sense telling him that there was a dichotomy about her, a mysteriousness, that in itself was a challenge.
He spoke to her, softly, so as not to arouse the wrath of the snow. In English first, since her pale skin made him think she must have Celtic origins, and then, when that got no response, in French, and finally in Italian, half a dozen ruefully apologetic words that drew no response other than a coolly enigmatic look that for some reason made him feel slight chagrin. She had eyes like those of a young hawk he had once tamed: wild and feral; dangerous both to herself and others; green eyes that threw back the reflection of the trees edging the snowfields.
The lift stopped. He had to step past her to get off. She stood back from him and apologised.
In Russian.
The shock of it made him stand and stare at her. Russian, for Godâs sake! Just who the hell was she?
He stood watching her as the lift swung her upwards. Silver permitted herself a small smile. Sheâd heard about Guido Bartoli and wondered if theyâd meet. He was an Italian count with a very Catholic marriage and a reputation for treating his mistresses with extreme generosity, as indeed he could afford toâbut his wealth wasnât what interested Silver. She had contemplated using him for the final test and then had changed her mind, but it was a good omen that they should have met, and by accident, today of all days.
