The elevator door slid open and Nick stepped out onto the thick carpeting and moved slowly down the long hallway. He paused outside the door then pushed the bell.
The butler answered immediately and was very cordial and Nick was surprised when he said Mrs. Dennison was expecting him. Nick followed the butler down the corridor and into the massive ornate living room.
Frances Dennison got up from her chair and put her tea cup down. "Well, young man, I'm glad to see you again," she said.
"Pardon me for barging in on you this way," Nick said.
"Don't be silly," she said. "You said you'd have my ad campaign ready in two days, so I've been expecting you."
"Well, I have an idea," he said. "But I'm afraid I no longer have an agency."
She picked up her cup and took a sip. "Oh, yes, I know all about that," she said. "Marshall Connors called. I imagine he's called everyone he can think of by now. He only told me he fired you, but that you had done terrible things to his daughter and that she had broken the engagement."
"That's not exactly how it happened," Nick said. "I broke the engagement and I wasn't fired, I quit. But it's important to me that you know I'm capable of coming up with an imaginative campaign, and on the deadline."
"I never really doubted that you would," she said, and leaned over and pulled a heavy cord, and in an instant the butler appeared in the door. "Get this young man a double scotch with water, and fill my cup. And bring in a bottle of scotch and a bottle of gin and leave them."
The butler took her cup and left the room and Mrs. Dennison sat down again, and motioned to a chair for Nick.
"We have a great deal to discuss, young man," she said. "Of course, I'm anxious to hear your plans for my wretched beer. But if you don't mind an old lady prying, there are other things you ought to know."
"I appreciate your interest," Nick said and leaned forward.
"Well, I think you're a damn fool," she said. "Though the fact that you had enough sense to throw over that silly, frigid Connors girl gives me hope. I assume it was because of Holly."
"Yes, Mrs. Dennison," Nick said. "I was an utter fool about Holly. It was a mistake that will cloud the rest of my life. I don't think I'll ever be able to look at another woman without thinking of Holly and the brief time with her."
The butler brought the drinks and put the two bottles on the carved table beside Mrs. Dennison's chair. They drank silently for a moment. Then Mrs. Dennison smiled deeply, the heavy wrinkles creasing her face.
"I'm taking my account from Connors and Ross," she said. "I would like you to come to work for me as my advertising director. You can decide which agency will handle your proposed plan."
Nick was so stunned it took him a full minute to reply, and all the time, she sat there smiling and taking dainty sips of gin.
"Mrs. Dennison, I don't know how to thank you," he said. "I would consider it an honor to work for you. And I promise that you won't regret the decision."
"Oh, I'm sure I won't," she said. "But that's not the main thing I wanted to tell you. I mean the most important thing."
"What could possibly be more important," he asked.
"Oh, come now," she said. "I know the job is important, but be honest. What do you most want more than any job in the world?"
"Is it really possible, Mrs. Dennison," Nick asked. "Where is she? I'd go to the ends of the earth to find her but I don't even know her last name."
"You only have to go a few doors down the hall," Mrs. Dennison said. "When she heard you were coming, she refused to stay and see you. So you might have some trouble."
"But how did she get here," Nick asked. "When I left your apartment, I knew perfectly well she was going to leave," Mrs. Dennison said. "And I knew she wouldn't have any money. So I waited for her and brought her here. And she's brightened this dingy old apartment and made the past couple of days the most pleasant I've had in a very long time."
"Can I go to her now," Nick asked.
"Of course," she said. "And you convince her of the way you feel, and you spend as much time as necessary. And when you get out of bed, we'll have dinner and you can explain your campaign to me. She is in the fourth room down the hall."
"Mrs. Dennison, you're some girl," Nick said and stood up. He walked from the room and down the corridor to the fourth door and knocked. There was no answer, so he knocked louder.
"Who is it," Holly called.
Just the sound of her voice made Nick go warm. He started to answer, then opened the door and went in and closed the door behind him.
Holly turned from the window and the sight of her blue eyes and golden body made Nick catch in his breath. She wore only a pair of thin, blue, shortie pajamas, and Nick's breath came in rushes as he looked up and down the hills and valleys of her body.
"I don't want to see you," she snapped and reached over and picked up a robe. She put the robe on and turned back to look from the window.
Nick walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder, but she twisted away. "I love you, Holly," he said softly. "I love you more than anything in the world. And I want to marry you."
"Your confession of feeling comes a little late, Nick," she said. "You have a fiancee and a very important job."
"Didn't Mrs. Dennison tell you?" he asked.
"Tell me what?" she said. "She only told me to expect you over today."
"I no longer have a job with Connors and Ross and I no longer have a fiancee," Nick said.
Holly turned from the window and stared at him, her blue eyes narrowed.
"When did all this happen?" she asked.
"Yesterday," Nick said. "When you left and I realized how I felt about you, I went through sheer agony, Holly. And when I saw Julie again, and realized what I had lost, I told her to go to hell."
"Well, you can go to hell yourself, Nick Harrison," Holly said and walked past him.
Nick stood fascinated at the sight of her rounded buttocks beneath the tight robe and pajamas, and he licked his lips and started over to her.
"I'm not going to get involved with you again, Nick," she said. "Not after what you put me through before, and what you said to me."
Nick's heart sank as Holly reached for the handle. She turned the handle and then shoved at the door.
"It's locked," she said as Nick came to her.
He tried the handle too, and the door was definitely locked. "Be quiet a minute," he said and pressed his ear against the door. "Hear that?"
"I hear something," she said. "But I don't know what it is."
Nick grinned. "I know what it is," he said. "It's an old lady laughing."
Holly grinned too. "By God, she's locked us in here," she said.
"She's not taking any chances," Nick said.
"Damn her and damn you," Holly said. "She knows if I spend just a few minutes alone with you, we'll wind up in bed."
"Holly, I love you and I would do anything to make up for the misery I caused you," he said. "But I'm half crazy with desire, and half crazy with fear I'll lose you again. And so I'm afraid you're dealing with a crazy man who is in no mood for a debate."
Nick put his hands on Holly's waist and she stiffened, but she did not pull away. He pulled her to him, and when her lush, warm body pressed against him he went warm all over.
He lowered his head and kissed her soft, damp lips and slid his hands down to cup her luscious buttocks through the sheer material. She made no response and he shoved her body harder against his and drove the kiss harder and marveled at the texture of her lips.
Then he pulled from her lips and stepped back a moment. She stared up at him, her blue eyes wide and without expression. Nick slowly pulled her robe off and then slipped the shortie pajamas off. And still she made no move or sound.
Fever raced over his body when he looked at her, looked down to the enormous breasts, with the huge nipples, down the narrow waist to the flare of her hips, and over the whole expanse of copper toned skin.