“Go ahead, be snide, I deserve it; I’m not proud of what I did. He claimed their marriage was over before I came along, and I could lie and say I rejected his advances until after the divorce, but I won’t. We slept together, when he accompanied me on lecture tours…. My goodness, Nathan, why didn’t you kiss me when we were alone in those hotel rooms? Do you know how much time we’ve wasted?”
“Please…no salt in the wound. So there was love between you, in the beginning?”
“I never felt that for him.”
“How did he feel about you?”
“I’ve never been sure whether he viewed me as a valuable property he secured or really did love me, but I do know he…lusted after me. My goodness, this sounds like a meller-drama, doesn’t it?”
“All G. P. lacks is the handlebar mustache and the whip.”
“He was aware of my…proclivities. He knew that despite my fairly modest demeanor, that I, uh…”
“That still waters ran deep.”
“Thank you. What a generous way to put it. Anyway, I had a well-known, publicly stated aversion to marriage, but, uh, at the same time, the normal biological urges of a young woman and, perhaps in the view of some, some not so normal ones, as well. But I did, if not love him in those early days, admire him. He was an impressive man to me. I thought he was fascinating…publisher, explorer, socialite….”
“So you had a normal sexual relationship.”
“Yes. We, uh…don’t have much of one, now. He…he makes me feel dirty.”
“In bed?”
“No. Everywhere else. He’s the management, Nathan, and he still does a good job, but he goes too far. You’re a case in point…. He had no right to hire you to spy on me. We had an agreement, G. P. and I, before our marriage, not a formal agreement really, but I did put it in writing…”
“A prenuptial agreement, you mean?”
“Not exactly…just a letter I gave him on the eve of our wedding. But he accepted the terms.”
“The terms.”
“Yes. I told him I wouldn’t hold him to any medieval code of faithfulness, nor would I consider myself bound that way to him.”
“And has he been with other women?”
“Almost certainly, but it’s no concern of mine, is it? Then in the early days of our marriage, when we were more romantically active, he started getting possessive, and finally I did agree…Nathan, this is embarrassing for me, please forgive my reticence…I agreed that any future dalliances would be with members of my own sex.”
“You mean, it was okay with George if you fooled around as long as it was with other females.”
“That’s it.”
“But he wanted to be the only man in your life.”
“That’s right. Otherwise, it would be an affront to his manhood.”
I winced at the weird logic. “And you finding satisfaction in the arms of another woman wasn’t?”
“No. Frankly, I…I think he found the idea exciting. Is that a common male fantasy?”
“I think most fellas figure if two girls were going at it, and a real man happened onto the scene, he could straighten ’em out.”
She began to laugh. She laughed so hard, tears were rolling.
“Was that funny?” I asked. Usually I know when I’m kidding.
“You should write for the Marx Brothers…. Nathan, I believe I’m something of an exception, feeling as I do toward both sexes. But the notion of a ‘real man’ trying to make a ‘real woman’ out of Toni Lake, for example, is about as likely as a dog turning a cat into Rin Tin Tin…. Have I disappointed you? Did you think you’d made a real woman out of me tonight?”
Now I laughed. “Anything’s possible. Didn’t I make myself into a real fool?”
“A sweet fool.” She nestled under my arm again, the long tapering fingers of one hand entwining themselves in the hair on my chest. “You know, Nathan, this begins to make sense. If observing Paul and me together led you to believe we were ‘an item,’ then G. P. might have come to the same conclusion.”
I worked my fingers gently in her tousled curls. “Which means your husband might very well be behind those threatening notes.”
“It’s highly possible…. Nathan, your suitcase…is it my imagination, or is it packed?”
“Well, everything but my camera, if I can find the pieces.”
“I’m sorry…. Was it an expensive camera?”
“That’s your husband’s problem, ’cause it’s going on the expense account. So G. P. wouldn’t care about you and Toni Lake getting friendly?”
“Well…I’d rather you didn’t mention it to him. I learned some nasty things, from Toni, about what G. P.’s been doing to my colleagues, and I’d like to try to remedy that, but from within.”
“He wouldn’t mind you sleeping with her, but talking to her is another story.”
“Something like that.” She looked up at me. The blue-gray eyes were wide and clear; she had no makeup on at all and I never saw a lovelier face. “Will you protect me?”
