“That’s an interesting theory,” she said.
“You want my advice?”
“Why not?”
“She’ll probably come to her senses,” she said.
“Sooner or later. Are you willing to wait?”
“Oh, yeah. I don’t have any choice in the matter.”
“Then wait,” she said.
“It may not take as long as you think it will. “And, in the meantime, you don’t happen to know when the next tram will be along, do you? To tide me over?” Whittaker saw her face change. You did it again, Motor mouth! Jesus, what’s wrong with you? “I’m sorry,” he said.
“I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”
“No offense taken,” she said.
“I knew what you meant.”
“I’m about to have another of these,” Whittaker said, raising his glass. “How about you?”
“I won’t even say I shouldn’t,” she said, drained her glass, and handed it to him. He reached for the bottle of Scotch. “Have you ever wondered why there are two apartments?” she asked. “Why I lived here, and my husband in a separate apartment?” The question confused him, and when he turned to look at her, it showed on his face. “I suppose that goes back a long time,” he said. “The purpose of marriage between the nobility is to ensure the line, to buttress alliances,” she said.
“That sort of thing.”
“I’m about to misinterpret this whole conversation,” he said. “No,” she said.
“You already have misinterpreted this conversation, with that sweet, hopeless look on your face when I told you Edward is listed as missing.”
“You said you missed him,” Whittaker said. “As indeed I do,” she said.
“He’s a fine, amusing, decent human being, and I pray he’s all right.”
“But?”
“We were married because it was expected of us,” she said. “One does what one is expected to do. And avoids what one is expected to avoid, which includes doing anything that would cause talk. In other words, I had to be Caesar’s wife while I was assigned to the War Office.” He looked at her in surprise. He saw in her eyes that he had not misunderstood her meaning. “This isn’t the War Office,” Whittaker said.
TELL SECRET WARRIORS 0 ass “And we are alone in the house,” she said.
“I was thinking that perhaps we both have been waiting for the same tram.”
“Jesus H. Christ!” Whittaker said. She licked her lips nervously.
“I shock you, don’t I?” she asked. She stood up.
“Would you rather I leave?”
“No,” he said, a tone of excitement in his voice.
“For Christ’s sake, you can’t leave now.” She nodded her head.
Carrying her fresh drink, he went to her and handed it to her. She took a sip and then set the glass on the table beside her chair. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this,” she said.
“But I just realized I have been hoping that something like this would happen from the moment I saw you looking at my breasts.”
“In the kitchen, you mean?” he asked. She nodded. She put her hand to his face. “You looked so hungry,” she said.
“So love-starved. I know the feeling.))
She took her hand from his cheek, caught his hand with hers, and directed it to the cord of her robe. He tugged on it, and it came loose.
He lowered his head and took her nipple in his mouth. She held him there for a moment, then shrugged out of the robe and let it fall to the floor. She stepped away from him and, looking into his eyes, pulled the towel off her head and shook her hair. Then she turned and walked naked to the canopied bed, threw the cover off, and slipped under the sheets.
“If Canidy finds out about this,” he said, “both our asses will be in a crack.” 11
“Then,” the Duchess of Stan field said, we shall have to be careful that he doesn’t find out, shall’t we?” He went to the three doors to the apartment and carefully locked them. Then he walked toward the bed, shrugging out of his clothes.
He was later glad that he had locked them, for at ten minutes after four, several minutes after the duchess had woken up feeling frisky and had awakened him in what he thought was a delightfully wicked way, Lieutenant Jamison attempted entry without knocking. “Whittaker!”