Lydia shifted her legs and he caught a momentary glimpse of white thigh. “What do you want me to tell you?” she asked.
“Nothing. I didn’t come here for advice. I just want you to know exactly how things stand because I think you deserve to know. After all, we’ve been going together for two years.”
“Yes,” she said wryly.
“At times I’ve wondered if I was in love with you. Sometimes I’ve been sure of it. I’ve even thought about asking you to marry me. But I’ve been so damned gun shy ever since the jolt Betty gave me eleven years ago, I couldn’t quite bring myself to the point. Now if you want, you can tell me to go soak my head.” He drained his beer glass.
“I won’t do that,” she said. “I appreciate your honesty in letting me know the exact situation. But I have no intention of meekly stepping aside.”
“How do you mean, stepping aside?”
“As you say, we’ve never discussed our emotional feelings for each other. You never brought the subject up, and I was raised to believe the man should make the first move. But since you have brought it up now, we may as well clear the air completely. I’ve been nuts about you practically since the day we met. I’d marry you in a minute, any time you asked me.”
He smiled with embarrassment.
“You don’t have to start feeling hemmed in,” she said dryly. “I wouldn’t even want you unless you really wanted me. It’s not a case of hoping to snare you by any means, fair or foul. That’s why I’ve never pushed. I don’t think, as many women do, that you develop a vested interest in a man simply because he’s taken up a certain amount of your time. I wouldn’t ever marry you if I thought your sole reason for asking me was that you felt obligated because you’ve used up two years of my life. I’ve enjoyed the two years as much as you have. And I was aware from the beginning that you were shy of marriage.”
“You’re a rather unusual woman,” he said. “I’ve had women resent my not proposing because I took up two weeks of their time.”
“I know I’m unusual. I’d be quite a catch. But it would have to be entirely your idea, because you’ll never get a prod from me. On the other hand I’m not a meek little mouse who instantly gives up when faced by competition. The minute you tell me Betty is your choice, you’ll be rid of me without a bit of trouble. But so long as I’m still in the running, I’ll fight to keep you every way I know how.”
“Now you’re sounding a little more feminine.”
“I am feminine. I’m just not feline. If you think I’m not jealous of Betty, you’re wrong. But I don’t hate her. I don’t even blame her for wanting you. Most any woman would. I have no intention of fighting with her. I’ll fight by trying to offer you more than she can. And I think I have at least one advantage there.”
“What’s that?”
“I doubt very much that she’s as good in bed as I am.” He laughed.
“Well,” she said, “you have to admit I’m pretty talented.”
“You were a rank amateur when we met,” he said. “I taught you everything you know. Even in the beginning you were pretty enthusiastic, as I remember, though.”
“Would you like to refresh your memory?” she asked, shifting her legs again.
He caught another flash of white inner thigh, this time all the way up. As he had suspected, she wasn’t wearing any panties.
“I guess the air is pretty well cleared,” he said with a grin.
Instantly she was on her feet and had pulled her sweater off over her head. She gave her head a shake to cause her tousled dark hair to fall back in place and arched her back provocatively. Her breasts were even larger than Betty’s, but as firm and upright as a young girl’s. Merely his gazing at them caused their dark tips to begin to swell and harden.
Kicking off her shoes, she stepped out of her skirt and dropped it across the chair she had been sitting in. She had been wearing no stockings, so she was now completely naked. Trotting to the bedroom door, she reached around the corner to switch on the overhead light and looked back at him.
“Last one in is a pussy-cat,” she said, turning to disappear into the room.
He left his clothing in the front room. She was waiting for him on the bed when he entered the bedroom. Her arms were about his neck before he was fully settled alongside of her and her lips were moistly pressed against his.
Without preliminaries their bodies joined together in a savage embrace which went on and on in mounting fury until both reached such a peak of agonizing ecstasy that they strove wildly for release. It came to them simultaneously just short of their limit to endure such excruciating rapture without their passing beyond the limit into unconsciousness.
They lay limply in each other arms, unmoving, for a long time.
Finally she said against his lips, “What happened? That was the best ever.”
“I don’t know,” he said. “It just happened.”
“I think I know,” she said dreamily.
“What?”
“I finally told you I love you. It must have released some last bit of inhibition that prevented me ever before from completely surrendering to you.”
“My God!” he said in mock alarm. “You mean it’s always going to be that frenzied from now on?”
“You loved it,” she said, gently kissing his lips. “I told you I was going to fight. This is the best way I know how.”
Drawing her head onto his shoulder, he said, “Just don’t fight so hard that you kill me in the process.”
She snuggled against him. “Maybe I ought to add something to that long dissertation of mine.”
“What’s that?”
“When I said that as so long as I’m still in the running, I’ll continue to fight, I meant within limits. I don’t perpetually expect to remain one of your harem. Within a reasonable length of time you’re going to have to make up your mind one way or the other.”
“I know it,” he said, kissing the end of her nose. “Betty wouldn’t put up with a harem either, I’m sure. Will you give me a month?”
“I’ll give you two, if it takes that long. Even three. But as long as we’re being completely frank, I just want you to know there’s a limit to even my patience.”
Neither of them mentioned the possibility that Betty might soon be permanently out of the running by receiving a life sentence or the electric chair. He was sure the thought must have occurred to her, and he appreciated her sense of fair play in keeping it to herself. As for him, he refused to imagine any outcome but Betty’s eventual vindication.
Later that night, in his own bed, he thought back over the evening. He felt better for having brought everything out in the open with Lydia, but it hadn’t resolved his basic problem. He no longer had a sense of guilt, but he was even more mixed up about which woman he was in love with.
Chapter XI
On Wednesday morning Marshall stopped by to see Chief Meister. The state police crime lab had reported that the rope fragment found on the roof had definitely come from the coil in the garage, the chief said, and the district attorney was ready to move. He showed Marshall a warrant for Betty’s arrest on a charge of first-degree homicide and told him it would be served immediately after the funeral.
A preliminary hearing was set for nine o’clock the next morning.
Marshall contemplated phoning Betty to warn her what was in store for her, then decided against it. A warning would accomplish nothing, but it would upset her during the funeral, and as long as the arrest was inevitable anyway, he saw no point in making her brood about it before it took place. Instead, when he left police headquarters, he dropped in at Henry Quillan’s law office. He found the lawyer alone.