Today, Jill Dodd is known as a successful businesswoman and founder of international clothing brand Roxy.

But during the early 1980s, she was a young, naive model who had flown in to Cannes to party with friends when she met a short, balding and slightly overweight gentleman.

She would later learn that man was notorious billionaire arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. And she would become his 'pleasure wife'.

Jill Dodd (left) says she was the pleasure wife of notorious billionaire arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi (right, in an undated photo)

Dodd is a former model, who was featured in the pages of French Vogue, before she joined the harem

The first night they spent together, she says the Saudi businessman had watched her take a bubble bath, before they sat together on the bed in their caftans, the New York Post reports.

'We can't kiss until I tell you the situation,' he told her, taking her face in his hands, according to her new memoir. 'I want you to be one of my pleasure wives. By Saudi Arabian law, I'm allowed to have 11 pleasure wives and three legal wives.

'I won't kiss you until you agree to this contract.'

'Yes, I say and we seal the agreement as our lips meet. In that moment, I become a member of Adnan's harem, taking turns with other women to have sex with the man I love.'

Dodd says she fell in love with Khashoggi who was 24 years her senior and would shower her in gifts, from diamonds to solid gold necklaces. But she had to share her new lover with the rest of his harem.

The fashion designer had recently been signed with the renowned Wilhelmina Models aged 20, and had even started to land high profile jobs in the French editions of Vogue and Marie Claire, in Paris.

In August 1980, she and her booking agent were invited to attend the lavish Le Pirate party in Cannes.

That's when Khashoggi locked eyes with her from across the room, and took her hand to dance.

Jill Dodd shared how she met Khashoggi at a party in Cannes in the early 1980s, in her new book The Currency of Love: A Courageous Journey to Finding the Love Within

'Suddenly, my dance partner stopped, grabbed a chair and threw it into the fire. I hurled one in too. We laughed and slammed together like two magnets, whirling around before the flames,' she said.

'Giddy and out of breath, I finally sat down. My new friend gazed into my eyes as he tenderly pushed up my sleeves and used his fingertips to write 'I love you' in red on my forearm. It took me a minute to realize it was in blood. Accidentally or not, he had cut himself with a piece of glass.'

Moments later, she says her booker ran over to tell her who she had been dancing with.

The next day, Dodd received an invitation to join Khashoggi on his yacht, the 280-foot Nabila, which would later be features in James Bond film 'Never Say Never Again', before being sold to he Sultan of Brunei and was later owned by Donald Trump who sold it for $20million to pay off bankruptcy debts in 1991.

Khashoggi welcomed Dodd and her friend aboard and invited them to 'dress for dinner'.

He led them to a huge walk-in closet filled with designer dresses.

'At dinner, I realized I'd never met such an intelligent, worldly and amusing man as Adnan, a 44-year-old father of five,' she said.

'Yes, he had incredible wealth, but he also had a peaceful kind of strength. Slowly, I was falling for his charms. With heels on, I was seven or eight inches taller than him, something which would intimidate most men. But not Adnan.'

Dodd received an invitation to join Khashoggi on his yacht, the 280-foot Nabila, (pictured in 1983)

Khashoggi welcomed Dodd (on the yacht) and her friend aboard and invited them to 'dress for dinner' before he led them to a huge walk-in closet filled with designer dresses

She and Khashoggi spent the entire evening just talking until 5am, as he discussed how he had amassed his incredible wealth.

'Over the next few weeks, Adnan wined and dined me — always allowing me to pick out a couture outfit from his collection — but there were other girls in the picture. Some of them looked so young, they could have been assumed to be high schoolers.'

Khashoggi gained international notoriety for his role in the Iran-Contra affair where he acted as middleman in the arms-for-hostages exchange, before being acquitted of charges he concealed funds alongside Philippines First Lady Imelda Marcos, but Dodd admits she had no interest in his work.

He flew his new 'pleasure wife', along with another girl named Sabine, to join him at his Marbella, Spain, estate in September 1980. Dodd later found out that Sabine was another of his pleasures wives.

In Spain, Dodd and Khashoggi agreed on the contact.

As the months went on, Dodd, now a 57-year-old mother-of-three, felt herself falling for Khashoggi.

He was always surrounded by women, said Dodd. She described him as an extraordinary lover and says she reveled in the feeling that she was his favorite.

Khashoggi continued to shower her in gifts, once offering her a 20-carat diamond ring which she turned down when she felt it was too opulent - and he even bankrolled her Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising tuition.

Dodd (right) split up with Khashoggi (left) in the summer of 1982 after she says she felt 'increasingly weird about it all' and was becoming concerned about catching HIV

But towards the end of 1981, she began to feel uncomfortable with the unusual set up. On one occasion, she described the moment the billionaire came into her room while she was sleeping to give her a gift.

'When he saw my face, he whispered: 'Oh, I have the wrong room. Sorry, go back to sleep. Keep the gift.' Before I could respond, he was gone. My heart dropped. He had thought I was another girl.'

Dodd says she felt 'increasingly weird about it all' and was becoming concerned about catching HIV.

She also wanted to regain her independence and says she was concerned Khashoggi's lavish gifts might mean she owed him something.

The relationship ended amicably in the summer of 1982 and seven years later, Dodd went on to found the surfing brand Roxy.

Dodd, who lives in Marin County, California with her third husband, Jeff, said she felt ashamed about being a pleasure wife because 'people assume you're a hooker.'

'But I never forfeited my independence, ambition or creative expression when I was with Adnan and have no regrets.'

Dodd's memoir, The Currency of Love: A Courageous Journey to Finding the Love Within, is out soon.



