inside both of them were soaked and plastered with mud.
Even at that moment Denny felt his blood quicken a trifle when he saw Stella in the light. Her jersey and skirt clung to her figure, revealing every line. The superb sweep of her hips down to her feet and the curve of her firm full breasts enchanted him. He said, “You look cute like that.”
She turned her head. “Oh, don’t look at me,” she said. “Please go and help Gerda.”
He laughed a little nervously and turned away from her. Gerda stood in the doorway watching them. The wet jersey on her big figure made her look even more mannish than she actually was.
She said: “I’ve locked up the car. The rain isn’t getting in. I think it will be all right to leave.”
Denny shrugged. “It’ll have to be,” he said. “I’ve had enough of that wind for tonight. My God! I’m wet through. Maybe I’d better get a suitcase in.”
Gerda went to the door. “You’ll need some help,” she said, and together they battled their way once more to the car. Denny was a little piqued to see that Gerda managed the wind much better than he did. In fact, once she came to his aid and shoved him forward. He was equally astonished at her strength. Together they brought the suit-case back and closed the door on the storm.
“You’re hellish strong,” Denny gasped, wrenching off his sodden collar. “Quite a Samson.”
Gerda didn’t say anything. She disappeared into the kitchen.
Denny wandered into the lounge, where Stella was standing shivering before an empty grate. She held her wet skirt away from her body as he came in.
“Have a nip of this,” Denny said, producing his flask, “otherwise you’ll catch a cold.” He was feeling shivery himself.
They both had a long pull from the flask and immediately felt better for it.
“You ought to get out of those things,” Denny then said with a grin, “although they suit you like that.”
Stella flushed hotly. “You’re making me feel awfully uncomfortable, Mr. Merlin,” she said. “I wish you wouldn’t.”
Denny took another pull from his flask. “Well, I guess I don’t want to do that,” he said. “But you shouldn’t have such a nice little figure.”
Gerda came in with some paper and wood. “Get those things off, Stella,” she said, “the bathroom’s down the passage. There’s an electric geyser and I’ve turned it on. I’ve found a wrap for you. Hurry up.”
Stella went away and Gerda knelt down before the fire. In a few minutes she had a roaring fire going.
Denny looked at her admiringly. “I can see why you’re the boss of the outfit now,” he said. “Are you always as efficient as this?”
Gerda looked over her shoulder at him with her hard green eyes. “I have to be,” she said. “You aren’t a great help, are you?”
Denny scowled. “You didn’t give me much time,” he retorted.
She got to her feet. “Don’t let’s fight,” she said. “Suppose you change too. I’ve had a look in the pantry. There’s some food there. I guess we can make ourselves quite at home.”
Denny scratched his head. “Bit rough on the owners,” he observed.
“I see you haven’t my philosophy,” Gerda returned, moving across the room to the door. “Still, you have plenty of money, haven’t you? Leave them something. That’s what money is for, isn’t it?”
Denny undressed quickly after she had gone, and gave himself a brisk rub down with a towel. He couldn’t help thinking how much more pleasant it would have been to be in this house with Stella alone. He dressed in a pair of flannel trousers and heavy sweater over a white silk shirt and took his wet clothes into the kitchen.
Gerda, dressed in a dark red dressing-gown, her long slender feet in a pair of Turkish slippers, was preparing a meal. On the table close at hand stood a large cocktail-shaker and three glasses.
Denny picked the shaker up and sniffed at it. “Gin and du Bonnet,” he said. “Hell! This is going to be quite a party.”
Gerda said, “You like Stella, don’t you?” She said it very casually, without looking at him.
Denny paused, his hand hovering over one of the glasses he was about to pick up. “What do you mean?” he asked sharply.
“What I say,” Gerda went on, turning a thick slice of ham on the grille. “I know what you’ve been thinking. You’d like to sleep with her, wouldn’t you?”
Denny controlled himself with an effort. He poured out the cocktails and then came over and put one of them close beside her. “I’m not used to that sort of talk,” he said quietly. “I suppose it is pretty general where you come from?”
Gerda sipped her drink. “That still doesn’t answer my question,” she said, suddenly looking at him. “You would like her in bed, wouldn’t you, Mr. Merlin?”
Denny finished his drink and poured out another one. “I’m certainly not going to discuss a subject like that with you,” he said abruptly. “After all, you’re the third party, and as such you have no business at all to suggest such a thing.”
Gerda put her drink down and went to fetch eggs from the pantry. When she came back she said: “In a way, I suppose I’m unfortunate. I think along the same lines as a man. I noticed your eyes when Stella was showing off her body. It rather gave you away. Not that I blame you in the slightest. I’m sure I’d feel exactly the same in your place.”
Denny said acidly, “Don’t you?”
“You mean am I one of those?” She shook her head. “Oh no. I might have been if I let myself go, of course, but I saw what an awful mess it would get me in. Stella is very much in love with me, but I don’t do anything about it.”
Denny lit a cigarette. “You know, you’re rather an unpleasant person,” he said. “I’m damn sorry I ever had anything to do with you.”
Gerda smiled. “Suppose we stop fooling around like this. You want Stella. I know you do. You are wishing I wasn’t here so that you could be alone with her. You have a lot of money. I haven’t any. I want money. I don’t make any bones about it. I must have it. Tell me, Mr. Merlin, how much would you pay to have Stella alone for tonight?”
Denny took a step towards her. His face had gone suddenly white. “Shut your beastly mouth, you bitch!” he said, “I’ve taken all I’m going to from you. So shut up, do you understand?”
She stood very still, looking at him, then her mouth smiled. “Does that mean you’ll think it over?” she asked, putting two eggs and the ham on a plate and putting it into his hand. “But eat this. I’ll go and hurry Stella. I should like a bath too.”
She left him standing staring after her with an angry, puzzled expression on his face.
Stella was still in the bath when Gerda came in. She looked up and smiled. “Am I keeping you waiting, darling?” she asked, cupping her breasts in her hands and lying back on her elbows.
Gerda looked at her beautiful white figure and sat on the edge of the bath. “No,” she said, “take your time. I want to talk to you.”
Stella’s face clouded. “What do you want now?” She laid stress on the word now.
“What do you think I want?” Gerda said, her hard eyes suddenly brightening. “There’s five hundred thousand dollars outside wolfing ham and eggs. I want a little of him.”
Stella swirled the water with her legs. She didn’t say anything.
“Go out and start on him. He’s really soft on you so he’ll treat you right. Leave it to me to get the dough out of him.”
Stella shook her head. “No,” she said, biting her lip. “No—no—no!”
“You can do it. It would be easy. I’ll go to bed and then you go to him. Tell him you’re frightened by the wind. Play up to him. Give him the works. He’s only waiting for you to start. Then I’ll come in and you can go to bed. You don’t have to go far with him—just enough to get him going”.”
Stella said “No” again.
“Think what it will mean. I could knock him down for a grand. Think what that would mean. You and I could go to the best hotel in Miami. We could buy clothes and we could eat what we wanted.”
Stella put her hands to her face. “And when the money was finished you would find someone else to sell me to. Like you did in Daytona Beach, like you did in Brooklyn, in New Jersey. No—no—no!”
Gerda got slowly to her feet. “You are the only capital we have,” she said. “You wanted to come with me,
