She saw the look on his face.
-At least let me dry my hair,” she said.
He smiled.
-You are impatient!” she said. “I’m glad.”
She went into her bedroom. He took a swallow of and followed her into the bedroom. She was sitting at a orously drying her hair with a towel. She smiled at his r( the mirror. He sat down on the bed.
,You didn’t go to the game? Or they called it off?. VVI is that you’re earlier than usual.”
“I was with Bill Donovan,” he said. “The President sc plane for him. He gave me a ride.”
“How nice,” Cynthia said.
“He wants me to work for him,” Chesty said.
She turned to look at him.
“Are you?” she asked, and he nodded. “They really hate Donovan at the State Department,” she said. “He’s trying over the whole intelligence setup.”
“If he hasn’t taken over yet,” Chesty said, “he will. He w to be one of what they call the Twelve Disciples.”
“Oh, then they hate you, too,” she said. “Will you?”
“With one notable exception, I have never cared wh think of me.”
“And I’m not even a diplomat,” she said. “More on the or an uppity female.”
“Jimmy,” he said. “I’m worried about him.”
“Oh my God, I didn’t even think about him!”
“You should have,” he said. “When he gets back, Barbara ini to pair you off with him. If he gets back.”
“He’ll get back,” Cynthia said. “The pairing off is somet else, of course.”
“Jimmy has excellent taste in women,” Chesty said. “He w( really appreciate you.”
” Are you trying to send me some sort of messa2e?”
“Every time I see how young and beautiful you are,” Chesty said, “it takes me some time to adjust to our situation.”
“Every time I see how handsome and distinguished you are,she said, “it takes me some time to believe how lucky I am.”
“Having a dead-end affair with a man old enough to be Your father can hardly be called lucky,” he said. “Odd, maybe. Interesting.”
“Not satisfying?” she asked. “I’m satisfied.”
“I feel guilty,” he said. “Your father was my friend.”
“Don’t start that again,” she said.
“I love you,” he said.
“That you can say,” she said. “And I love you.”
She turned away again and brushed her hair while he propped himself against the headboard, sipped his cognac, and watched her. On top of the headache he had some kind of damned indigestion again. He tried to belch and could not.
She finished brushing her hair, walked to the side of the bed, and looked down at him. Then she shrugged out of the robe.
“My God, how beautiful you are!” he said.
He started to get off the bed. She pushed him back.
“Let me undress you,” she said. “It makes you horny when I undress you, and I like it when you’re horny.”
“Before you’re so nice to me, I had better tell you that you’re going to be evicted.”
“I don’t understand that,” she said as she untied his shoes and pulled them off.
“Donovan wants this house for cloak-and-dagger purposes,” he said. “I told him he could have it.”
“Well, he gets me with it,” she said. “Did you tell him that?”
“Certainly” he said. “I said, “Bill, our old pal Tom’s daughter isn’t just livin’ in the garage apartment, she’s my mistress.”‘ 9
“I don’t like that word,” she said. “It suggests I’m doing it for money.”
“No offense, my darling,” he said. rog LAST 203 14ROES u refuse to ac qlm your lover@” she said.
“I don’t know why YO Cept that.”
,Possibly because I am afraid there is an element of gratitude in our relationship.” -Who seduced who?” she asked.
461 Wish I really knew,” he said.
11 don’t know whether to cry or throw something at you,” she said.
They looked at each other for a moment, and then he shrugged. 46will you ask if I can keep the apartment?” she asked.
“Or I’ll get you a better place’ ” he said.
“If I can’t stay here, J,11 get another place,” she said. “Maybe that will shut you up once and for all about this. I want you in my bed because you’re you, not because you’re paying the rent.”