"Which way, baby—doing or watching?" Gloria waved her hand impatiently to signal that he needn't answer. "It doesn't matter. In spite of her job, Eve Mason is too naive to hold a man like David. The way she kept begging him to listen to her, to understand, made me sick. How could David continue to want her?"
"Maybe she has something you're not able to recognize, my dearest. Maybe she was flattering to his ego. Have you stopped to think that he might actually be in love with her?"
"That's it—she flattered his ego. David's not in love with her; David's not the type. I think he's going to be hard as nails when he finally grows up. Like you, Howie. And like me. But as it is, I don't like competing with dear Eve's ghost."
Watching her over his martini, Howard said dryly, "I can hardly see you having to compete with anyone, Gloria. Ghost or not. There are very few men who can resist you. Why bother with David? Wait until he grows up, as you put it, and then sample him."
"I hate waiting for anything—you know that. And in a few weeks I'll be tired of David. He'll be all yours then."
Howard raised his eyebrows.
"Gloria, my love, you know I never play with the hired help. Besides, David is a damned good attorney. As you so perceptively remarked, he's going to end up with no illusions, like the rest of us, and then he'll make an even better lawyer. So when you're through with him, don't be too hard. Try to part friends with him; it'll make everything much easier."
"Darling, your advice, as always, is excellent, and I'll take it." Gloria had finished her drink, and now she put the glass down on the table decisively. "However— there's now. Would you mind if I dragged David away from the office a little early and took him down to the house? I feel like a swim."
"GO ahead. But sweetheart, if you plan on doing your lovemaking outdoors, be sure the servants aren't around, hmm? I'll try to come down myself, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it or not—I have to meet with Senator Tidwell in about a half hour."
Gloria's smile was mischievous.
"Don't forget the binoculars, darling, in case you do come down in time for the fun."
After she had left, Hansen let a slight smile come to
his lips. How well he and Gloria understood each other! He was lucky to have found a mistress who was as understanding as she was.
Gloria stood in her own office looking out of the window, and now she was not smiling. She was thinking about David Zimmer, who had made the mistake of being hard to get. If he had shown himself aware of her initial, exploratory flirtation with him, she would probably have forgotten all about him by now. But he had pretended—and when she'd asked him down to Howard's big country house for a weekend house party, he had asked if he could bring his girl friend along. Stupid David! Or was it clever David? Had he played hard-to-get on purpose, to intrigue her?
Gloria had a devious mind; Howard had often said so. Devious or not, she was usually pretty good at figuring other people out and finding their weaknesses. It had been her spur-of-the-minute idea to have David and Eve allotted different rooms, and then to have Archer go to Eve, playing drunk. Everyone switched partners at the weekend house parties. Everyone knew this except the two newcomers—David and Eve Mason, his date.
As Gloria had hopefully anticipated, Eve had not put up a fight at all, until she had suddenly realized that the man in her bed wasn't David. And then all she had done was whisper to Archer to get out, she was the wrong girl. But by this time Archer, who wasn't a slow worker by any means, wasn't about to stop what he was doing. And it was this pretty scene that David had walked in on....
He was supposed to act sophisticated about it, shrug his shoulders, and go off with Gloria, who was standing right beside him. She wouldn't really have minded if they could have joined them on the same bed. But David had flown into a rage and had made a terrible scene. In the end Archer had had to take Eve home, and although Gloria did succeed in luring David to her bed after he had had far too much to drink, the party had turned out to be something of a fiasco. And David, drunk, hadn't been very good in the sack, either.
Well, she was going to give him a second chance, which was more than he deserved—more than she gave most men. But Gloria had a kind of sixth sense about men, and this feeling told her David could be very good if he was really trying—very exciting. So, lucky David— today she'd give him a chance to seduce her. Impatiently, Gloria waited for him to return.
CHAPTER SEVEN
WHEN DAVID ZIMMER ARRIVED in his office after a late lunch that hot afternoon, the first thing he noticed was the latest copy of Stud magazine lying in the center of his desk.
Frowning, David rang for Stella on the intercom. Her voice came over from the next room, quiet, ladylike.
"Yes, Mr. Zimmer."
"Stel, did you happen to leave a magazine lying on my desk?"
"Why, no, Mr. Zimmer, I didn't."
"Well, has anyone been in here since I went out to lunch?"
There was an almost imperceptible pause at the other end. Then Stella's voice said primly, "Gloria Reardon was here. With a memo from Mr. Hansen."
In spite of his annoyance, David repressed a half-smile. None of the other secretaries knew quite how to refer to Gloria, who was Howard Hansen's mistress as well as his "administrative assistant."
"Thanks, Stella."
David sat down before he reached for the magazine. If Gloria had left it here for him, that meant there was something in it that Gloria wanted him to see. "Bitch" was a word that described beautiful blond Gloria perfectly; and already, even before he started flipping through the pages of the magazine, David half-suspected what Gloria meant him to discover.
In spite of his lunch and the two martinis that had preceded it, he started to get a hollow feeling in his stomach. Eve wouldn't—she couldn't have, not even to spite him! But she had, and, mixed with his rising anger, David could not help the unwitting, unwilling tightness in his loins.