PROLOGUE

      THE group of international journalists was miserable. Ignaz was fourteen thousand feet up in the Andes. The near-vertical track had challenged even the state-of-the-art Land Rover. The rain was relentless, the disaster site was a uniform mud colour and the press officer was clearly out of his depth.

      ‘What the hell am I going to photograph?’ muttered Elegance magazine’s star feature writer.

      ‘It will stop in half an hour,’ said a crisp voice behind them.

      They all swung round. And saw a Greek god in khaki shorts. There was a silence filled with something between awe and screaming resentment.

      ‘Jack,’ said the press officer with unmistakable relief. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, this is Dr Jack Armour.’

      ‘Oh, wow,’ said Elegance magazine reverentially.

      It was not difficult to see why. Dr Jack Armour was tall. Not just tall, but somehow larger than life. His skin was tanned to dark gold and you could see a lot of it. In contrast to the journalists huddling in their protective clothing, he wore the minimum, magnificently impervious to the steady downpour. Droplets ran down the muscled chest, darkening the dusting of hair there to black. His long legs were bare.

      ‘Dr Armour is the American expert I was telling you about. It is he who will show you round the emergency recovery site. Please feel free to ask him anything you want.’

      ‘Dr Armour!’ muttered Elegance magazine. ‘That is sex on a stick.’ She raised her camera.

      ‘Good morning,’ said the Greek god, amused.

      He led the way up the hillside, moving as easily as a mountain goat, while he kept up a level of informed commentary. The muscular legs made nonsense of the mud, the slope and the ice-rink-slippery patches of exposed rock. Rain dripped off him. He seemed unaware of it, even though his sleeveless cotton jacket left his arms and much of his bronzed chest naked to the elements.

      The journalists breathed hard.

      ‘Sorry about the pace,’ he said over his shoulder. ‘I’ve got to wind this up fast. I’m flying to Paris today.’

      ‘Lucky you,’ said one of the panting journalists ruefully.

      ‘I hate the place. But there’s a meeting I can’t miss.’

      Elegance magazine was shocked and said so. ‘Hate Paris? City of culture, city of lovers?’

      Jack Armour laughed aloud at that. ‘When I go to Paris I’ll be concentrating on natural disaster statistics. No sightseeing. No sex.’

      She pursed her red-painted mouth. ‘So when do you do your—sight-seeing?’ The last two words were loaded with meaning.

      The laughter died out of his face, leaving his eyes so dark they looked black in the sulphurous light.

      ‘Shut up,’ hissed a British journalist out of the corner of his mouth. He knew the man and his sore points.

      Jack Armour ignored him and fixed Elegance magazine with a level gaze. It made her shift uncomfortably, a new experience for her.

      ‘A guy in my line of work has no time for—sight-seeing,’ he said deliberately.

      ‘But—’

      ‘Shut up,’ the British journalist hissed again.

      Jack’s expression was as yielding as steel. ‘Tried it. Found it doesn’t work. End of experiment.’

      Something in the harsh voice silenced even Elegance magazine.