Agent Provocateur by Faith Bleasdale

Grace, and Grace has no bearing whatsoever on her marriage. Why she should think otherwise, no matter how fleetingly, is a mystery.
     

 
    Chapter Eight
     
    A week after the lunch with Betty, Grace is preparing to read the proposal from Modern Woman . She is sitting upright in her little office. The proposal is lying on the small glass desk, partially obscuring the keyboard. The computer is on, but showing only a blank screen. Files are neatly piled in one corner: pending jobs in red folders; completed jobs in blue. Grace is wearing an old tracksuit, and her hair is scraped off her face. She is idly fiddling with a pen as she stares at the front page of the proposal. No matter what, she can’t shake the feeling that reading it will take her to a place she doesn’t want to go. The irrational fear that somehow this proposal, lying across her desk, is going to disrupt her life. What she really thinks, though, is that it isn’t the proposal that is such a threat to her equilibrium, but the author of the proposal. The smug, posh, married journalist who obviously hated her on sight. Reluctantly, she turns the covering letter over with her newly painted bright red nails, and she begins to read.
     
    The Honey Trap feature and interview with Grace Regan
     
    The feature will cover a total of four pages, and at the moment is set to run in the October issue of Modern Woman , which will be on shelves at the beginning of September. This is subject to change. There will be photographs but those photographs will not be of the interviewee and that will be made clear.
    As well as a case study and a ‘week in the life’ of Grace Regan, there will be a general description of the occupation, some statistics (gleaned from Grace), and a short interview with a woman who has hired a honey trapper.
     
    Grace stops reading for a second. It all seems quite straightforward. As she finishes the rest of the proposal she feels a little bit of trepidation. She tells herself she is doing this for Nicole, who loves the idea of publicity, not for herself. She calls Nicole, and reads it to her, just to ensure that Nicole thinks it is alright. They have a pros and cons discussion, which involves Grace outlining her reservations, and Nicole telling her that they are unfounded.
    ‘But I really got the feeling that Betty didn’t like me. What if she reflects that in her article? It’ll make the business look bad.’
    ‘Don’t be ridiculous. What’s not to like about you? Grace, if they do try to make you out to be anything other than you are, I will sue them. They wouldn’t dare risk that.’
    ‘But what if they make us out to be home wreckers? They might do.’
    ‘No way. Because we’re not. We save these women from a lifetime of lies and misery. We’re more like Samaritans than anything.’ Nicole really believes this.
    ‘What if I say the wrong things?’
    ‘You won’t.’
    This discussion carries on for about half an hour, before Nicole, wearily, terminates it: ‘Grace, you will do me proud. Bye.’
    Grace puts the proposal on her desk and turns her attention back to her work. Betty will get the call she wants, but she won’t get it straight away.
    She goes through her files of the jobs that she has done this week. She had four jobs: all of the men proved themselves to be cheats, or wannabe cheats. She shakes her head. The only problem this week was Mark, a boyfriend and a very sexy man. She almost slept with him, but she changed her mind at the last minute. Sex isn’t in short supply; she doesn’t need another man. But he was attractive and she was tempted. It isn’t often that her libido makes an appearance when she’s working, so when it does, it takes her by surprise. She turned him down but she did so reluctantly. Because it was the right thing to do. She might ‘chat up’ men for a living but she isn’t a slut, and therefore she works strenuously hard to prove that. Although she is a young, modern, single woman, she