“That was a lovely hunk of man you were talking to,” a voice said.
Frowning, she looked up to find Mavis Bensinger had taken a lounging chair beside her. She and Mavis were confidantes. Mavis had married a man twenty years older than she, but although he was fat and balding and had the disgusting habit of sweating in bed, he was rich. Mavis looked elsewhere for romance.
Happily Bensinger spent a lot of his time in Washington, so there were only a few days in the month when he pestered Mavis.
“I guess,” Sheila said with a satisfied smile. “I’ll know tonight. I’ve invited him home. Perry is in LA.”
“Home?” Mavis sounded startled. “Is that wise, Sheila? I thought you went to a motel as I do.”
“I’m sick of motels.”
“But suppose one of your creepy-crawly neighbors saw him? You don’t want a divorce, do you?”
“Sometimes I think I do. Perry and I are always fighting. We haven’t slept together for a couple of months. I think I’d like to be free. There are so many men to choose from.”
“But think of the money Perry makes! He does spoil you. You might not find another man all that easy with money.”
“Oh, shut up!” Sheila got up. “I’m taking a swim.”
“Well, baby, it’s your funeral. I wouldn’t divorce Sam. I have only to put up with him for three or four days a month, and I can spend what I like.” Sheila took a header into the pool.
She returned to her home at 7:00 p.m. to find Liza laying the table.
“I got a nice hors d’oeuvres and two good lobsters, Mrs Weston,” she said. “Will that be all right?”
“That’s fine,” Sheila said. “You get off when you’ve finished. I’m taking a bath.”
She spent the next half hour making herself seductive, and she was an expert at that. As she was fixing her false eyelashes, she heard Liza drive away. Now, she had her home to herself!
At exactly 8:00 Julian Lucan arrived in his rented Mercedes 200 SL. Sheila was standing on the open patio and pointed to the double garage.
Lucan drove his car into the garage beside her Volvo, then he got out of his car, closed the garage door and walked quickly to where she was standing.
“Hello, there,” he said, smiling. “Well, here I am.” The small but luxurious house was screened by high hedges and trees. There was no problem of the neighbors seeing Lucan’s arrival.
That Saturday night with Lucan was the most exciting Sheila had ever experienced. For the first time in her life a man left her completely exhausted.
His sexual technique was, to Sheila, like a shot of LSD. She floated away under him, out of her body, which he manipulated in a way that made her cry out, clutch him and groan for more.
She came out of a heavy sleep to find him dressing. For a long moment she didn’t know what was happening. Then she remembered it was Sunday and, looking at her bedside clock, she saw the time was 11:50.
“You’re not leaving?” she asked in dismay, sitting up in bed. “It’s early yet.” He smiled at her.
“Yes, honey, I have a date in the City.”
“But it’s Sunday!”
“That’s right. These people don’t keep Sundays.” He stood before the mirror of her dressing table and adjusted his tie.
Looking at his long, strong back, Sheila released a long, moaning sigh.
“I’ll get you coffee.” Naked, she swung off the bed and put on a wrap.
“I’d love that, honey,” he said. “Did you have a good time?”
“You don’t have to ask... didn’t you?”
“I sure did.”
While she was heating up the coffee which Liza had prepared, she thought of the past night. This had been a fantastic experience! She mustn’t lose this fantastic lover. It was a shock to hear he wasn’t staying until Monday morning, but although she was only twenty three years of age, she did know that to put pressure on a man was fatal. Next time, they would go to a motel. Then the next weekend, when she could get rid of Liza, they would come here. She carried a tray of coffee and cups into the living room to find Lucan wandering around, staring at the various objets d’art that Perry had collected. To her irritation, Perry was a collector, and, even more irritating, he knew good antiques.
“It’s a kind of instinct,” he had told her, when they had wandered around various antique shops, something that had utterly bored her, but that was in their first months of marriage. He liked small things. Articles she wouldn’t be bothered to look at. He had tried to educate her when he had bought a gold George IV snuffbox. “In a few years’ time, this will be worth a lot more than I’m paying for it now.” She couldn’t care less. Nor could she care less having thrown a valuable Chinese vase at him. Who cared for junk like that?
“Ah, coffee,” Lucan said and joined her at the table.
“Honey, you are one of the most beautiful women in the world.” Sheila felt a rush of blood, and a driving sexual urge. “Stay a while, Julian. Please don’t go.” He drank the coffee, still smiling at her.
“With the greatest regrets, I have to go.”
“When will you be back?”
“Not for a while. I will be busy all this week.”
Her heart sank.
“When can we meet again?”
He poured more coffee into his cup.
“We’ll have to see. I don’t often come this way.”
She felt a sudden uneasiness.
“But, Julian, don’t you want...?” She paused, then stared at his smiling face.
“Oh, sure. I loved it, but I have to move around. Maybe I’ll be your way in a month or so. Suppose I give you a call?”
“But Julian—”
“I said no way, honey.” She was aware that those sexy grey eyes were suddenly hard. “And before I go, how about my stud fee?”
She stared at him, her fists clenched on the table.
“What do you mean?”
His smile broadened.
“Be your age, honey. You don’t imagine I spend a whole night with a woman without getting a fee, do you? It was good, wasn’t it? You enjoyed it. So—”
“You mean you are asking me for money?” Sheila said, her voice a husky whisper.
“Let’s settle for five hundred dollars,” Lucan said, his smile still wide, but his eyes now like chips of ice. “For a full night, I usually charge a thousand, but seeing it is you...”
She sat for a long moment, motionless, then she jumped to her feet, her eyes flashing, her face contorted with fury.
“Get out!” she screamed at him. “Get out or I’ll call the police, you filthy blackmailer!”
Lucan shook his head sadly. He had been through this scene a number of times.
“That’s a great idea, honey,” he said. “Call the police. It’ll be headline news tomorrow. Your husband and the guys he works with will love it. So will all your girl friends. Go ahead, call the cops.”
Sheila felt her fury drain out of her. God! What a fool she had been! She didn’t care what Perry thought, but her friends mattered. Okay, most of them were having it off with each other’s husbands, but, so far, they hadn’t been caught. She could imagine the gossip. She wouldn’t be able to show her face at the club again.
“Hurry it up, honey,” Lucan said, seeing her dismay. “I’ve another babe with hot pants waiting.” They stared at each other, then Lucan smiled.
“Well, you didn’t perform badly... the dinner was good. So, okay — this time I’ll let you off the hook. There are times when I can be generous. When you get hot pants again, be seeing you,” and he walked from the room.
When she heard the front door slam, Sheila sank onto the settee.
God! What a crazy fool she had been! she thought. When her girl friends wanted a change in bed, they always picked on their friends’ husbands. That way, there was security. To think she could have picked on a stranger! Her shame and fury was such, she burst into tears.