Enthralled

by Ann Cristy

  "The woman must have a computer mind if she can remember them all." Teel smiled and sipped from her glass of chilled Riesling.

  "Don't be nasty, love." Chazz's menacing smile appeared. "I'll have to paddle your lovely derriere." He seemed not to hear her gasp of anger as he steepled his hands and gazed toward the ceiling. "Now, let's see, where was I? Ah, yes, I was saying that Pritch is quick to point out my flaws. Did I mention that she dotes on me? That she is looking forward to being nanny to my many offspring when I marry? Interested in the job?"

  "I'm interested in tipping you off the George Washington Bridge with a cement block fixed to your neck," Teel snapped, hoping to keep her face expressionless. She couldn't keep the thought of a gurgling baby with black curly hair and golden eyes from invading her mind.

  Who would bear that child? The question was like an electric prod to her insides.

  "I take it that means you won't marry me?" Chazz inquired, leaning forward to pour her a cup of coffee from the silver pot.

  "How like you to poke fun about something as beautiful as marriage!" Teel took a mouthful of scalding coffee and tried to cool her burning tongue with a quick swallow of ice water. She coughed when the water went down the wrong way. Chazz rose to stand next to her and proceeded to slap her back with all the gentleness of a sledge hammer.

  "Better?" he asked.

  "Better?" Teel cried, wiping tears from her eyes. "Were you trying to break my back, slapping at me like that?" She took a deep, ragged breath, and sent him a murderous look when he sauntered back to his seat, took his chair, and smiled at her benignly.

  When Mrs. Pritchett walked into the room with a cheese board and more coffee, Teel was still so furious that she could only shake her head when the housekeeper offered an alternate dessert of cheesecake.

  "That will be all, Mrs. Pritchett," Chazz told her. "We have to leave shortly. Miss Barrett has children entered in the Special Olympics tryouts."

  Mrs. Pritchett's interest seemed genuine, and as she left the room she told Teel that she must come again soon.

  "You've made a hit with her," Chazz commented as he came around the table and held her chair.

  Teel felt his breath on her neck, "I must get back," she choked. "We still have a few minutes. Let me show you the terrace." "No need," Teel said. "I've seen terraces before."Chazz chuckled and led her down the hall to the room with the beautiful seascape over the mantel. He motioned her through glass doors that opened outward onto the terrace.

  "Nice," Teel managed. "Large."

  "Nervous, darling?"

  "No."

  "Good." Chazz put his arm around her and led her around a corner toward the swimming pool. "Would you like to swim?" He pushed a tendril of hair from her forehead, then leaned down and pressed a feather-light kiss on her cheek.

  "No time," Teel gasped, feeling his mouth continue down her neck. Heat curled in her lower abdomen as his lips forayed across her shoulder. Somehow the zipper on her sweat jacket had come down, and Chazz had pushed the material away from her skin. "Too soon after eating," Teel protested through cardboard lips. "Getta cramp."

  "I would save you, darling," Chazz crooned into her ear.

  "Gotta go. Late," Teel gasped, trying to rally her defenses and free herself from the velvet heat of his hold.

  "All right, love. We'll go this time. But you won't always get rid of me this easily." Chazz chuckled, letting his hand cruise down to the end of her spine, his palm making circles on her derriere, then patting it, not so gently. 'This time you get away." His voice was like a liquid chain manacling her to him. "But not the next time."

  Teel looked up at him, wanting to bite his nose off, wanting the words in her throat to scorch him. Instead a pain burned behind her eyes. Drat the man! He was giving her a headache. How would she ever survive the two days in New York if he was going to be everywhere. The man short-circuited her nervous system, interfered with her digestion and de-activated her antiperspirant. He affected her like poison ivy, like the bubonic plague.

  "I can't go out with you tonight. We've all made plans to see a show. The tickets are already bought. Ten coaches and teachers will all be sitting together. No ticket for you," Teel finished woodenly, her eyes on his throat.

  "What show are you seeing?" Chazz asked casually, steering her from the apartment into the elevator.

  Since Teel's secretary had booked the show, paid for the tickets, and already given them to Teel, the answer should have been on the tip of her tongue. But her mind went blank. She struggled to remember. "Palace Theater," she managed.

  "Very good show. You'll enjoy it." Chazz took her hand as they stepped from the bright elevator to the more dimly lit underground garage. When Teel turned left, he pulled her back. "No, this way, love. See, there's the car."

  "Oh." Why wasn't he fighting her on going to the theater? On the circuitous trip back to the Garden, Teel agonized over what he was thinking.

  Chazz parked the car, then led her into the chaotic din of screaming children, shouting coaches and applauding spectators. Cheers and general pandemonium surrounded them.

  Teel didn't believe Chazz would want to help out until she saw him observe the activities for a few moments, then whisper to one of the moderators, and go over to where several youngsters were lined up for the fifty-yard dash. She watched in wonder as Chazz coached, instructed, hugged and encouraged the young people as they competed in this event.

  Again he was defeating her on her own ground. Cold perspiration coursed down Teel's back as she tried to concentrate on the broad jump, the event she was moderating. Her forehead felt hot. Now he was making her feel as though she had the flu! What in heaven's name was she going to do about Chazz Herman?

  That evening she and Nancy returned to the hotel hot, tired, and dirty. Instead of running, they were transported in the Ferrari.

  Teel knew Nancy wanted to ask her about Chazz, but she forestalled her friend's questions by saying she needed a nap before they dressed for the theater.

  What a relief to throw herself face down on the bed. She was asleep before the thought could surface that she wouldn't be able to sleep for thinking of Chazz.

  She awoke to the ring of the telephone. "'Lo," she mumbled into the receiver, trying to unstick her eyelids.

  "Were you sleeping, love? Ummm, how nice. I'd love to join you." Chazz's voice set her on fire and made her leap up in dismay, sending the lamp on the table next to the bed tottering on its base.

  Chazz chuckled. "Look outside your door before you shower."

  Even after the phone clicked to indicate that the connection was broken, Teel stood there holding the phone to her ear. She took a deep breath, replaced the receiver, and tiptoed to the door, opening it just a crack. A spray of white roses in a tall crystal vase was accompanied by a smaller florist's box and an even smaller parcel. Looking up and down the corridor and not seeing anyone, she reached out and pulled the items into her room one by one. "Who the hell does he think he is? Rockefeller?" she muttered as she pulled the card from the rose spray and read "Love, Chazz." She held the card with the tips of her thumb and index finger as though it carried typhoid. "I'll bet there are two dozen roses in that arrangement," she murmured, counting to herself. There were three dozen. "Plutocrat."

  She opened the smaller florist box and discovered a wrist corsage of baby orchids with a thin gold bracelet lying underneath. The card read, "Love, Chazz." She unwrapped the smaller parcel slowly. The jeweler's box was marked Cartier's. Inside were drop earrings in filigreed gold interspersed with emeralds. A pendant in a similar design hung from a thin gold chain. Again the card said, "Love, Chazz." "Damned unoriginal," Teel moaned, backing away from the array of gifts. She felt as though she were in an arena with a wise and canny bull who was slowly backing her into a corner without her cape or sword.

  She bolted for the bathroom and took a cold shower. After she had shampooed her head and finished with a hot shower, she felt better. She stepped back into the bedroom, feelin
g more confident. She would keep the vase of flowers. She loved flowers. But she wouldn't wear the corsage. Tomorrow she would arrange to return the jewelry by messenger.

  After she had put on her silk slip, it suddenly struck her that she couldn't keep such valuable gems unprotected in a hotel room for the entire evening. When she called down to the desk, they assured her that, if she labeled the package, they would arrange to send it by messenger.

  Relieved, Teel put on a hunter-green silk chiffon dress that was almost the same color as her eyes. It had tailored styling and looked much like a shirtwaist, but when she moved the inverted pleats belled full and drew attention to her long, well-shaped legs. The dress just touched her knees. With it she wore black peau de soie slings with a matching peau de soie clutch bag. Her only ornaments were a pair of jade earrings, the moon shape following the curve of her ear. Of course she wore her gold watch, which had been a college graduation gift from her parents. She shrugged at her image in the mirror and thought she didn't look half bad. Over her dress she wore her satiny raincoat in steely green that had a mandarin collar and was belted at the waist.

  She almost forgot the jewelry Chazz had sent and went back to the room to retrieve it. She then counted it good luck that the elevator sped her right down to the lobby. She went directly to the desk and when she had attracted the clerk's attention, said, "I'm Miss Barrett. I called a short time—"

  "Never mind, darling. Don't bother the man." Chazz took her arm, smiled at the clerk, and turned her toward one of the couches in the lobby. He was wearing an evening suit with a cream silk jacket that made his shoulders look even more powerful. The black silk trousers fit so perfectly that he might have been sewn into them.

  "Go away," Teel said, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "I'm not keeping this." She held the jeweler's box out in front of her.

  Chazz smiled, his eyes glinting dangerously. "You'll keep them, or I will begin sending more jewelry every half hour until your room is filled." He pulled a cheroot from a gold case and flicked a lighter under it as he held it between his teeth. "I'm getting tired of indulging your foolish whims."

  "Foolish whims! How dare you patronize me!" Teel sensed the interested gazes of several passersby and lowered her voice. "I'm not one of your kept women, and I am not going to keep these gems."

  "Then throw them away!" Chazz snarled, tossing the partially smoked cheroot into a receptacle. "They belong to you. Either keep them or throw them away."

  "Throw them away!" Teel was horrified. She looked down at the box in her hand. "I can't do that." Her voice sounded alien to her ears. She felt the web Chazz had cast about her on the Deirdre beginning to tighten once again. "You can't come with me tonight." She tried to struggle free of his invisible hold. "We're going to a show. You don't have a ticket."

  "I called your friend Nancy and asked her for the numbers on the tickets," Chazz explained kindly. "I... ah... was able to procure one in the same row."

  "I'll bet you bribed the mayor," Teel accused him, her voice throbbing.

  "Don't be silly, darling." He looked past her shoulder. "Here come Nancy and some of the others." He took the jeweler's box from her hand and slipped it into the clutch bag he had taken from her limp fingers.

  "They won't have evening clothes on," Teel muttered, not looking around at her approaching friends.

  "Wrong again, my dove. The three men are wearing dark business suits. Perfectly acceptable for evening," he pronounced in sonorous tones, mocking her.

  Without thinking, Teel lifted her foot and kicked him in the shin. It gave her great pleasure to see Chazz flinch.

  He leaned down to graze her cheek with his mouth. "Another one I owe you, darling."

  Teel whirled away from him and fixed a smile on her face, ignoring the questioning look Nancy gave her. Rena Listman, another of the teachers at Mary Dempsey School, was eyeing Chazz with speculative interest. Teel felt a sudden aversion for the buxom woman. She introduced Chazz to Buz Denton, the vice principal, Clint Wills, the athletic director, and Dave Chess, the vocational director.

  In minutes Chazz had explained his presence and informed everyone that he had booked a table for supper after the show at a club where the music was good to dance to.

  Teel wanted to smack Nancy when she "Oooohed" right along with Rena. "We'll be too tired for that," Teel struggled to say.

  "Come on, old girl, we only get to New York once in a while," Clint said, smiling down at her. He took her arm and lead her out to the street. To Teel's jaundiced eye, his face had a Machiavellian cast.

  When she saw the chauffeur behind the wheel of the Rolls-Royce, she gritted her teeth. "There won't be enough room for all of us," she pointed out hopefully.

  Chazz proceeded to show her the jump seats in the back. Buz and Dave were only too glad to ride up front with the driver.

  Teel gave Chazz a sweet smile and wished with all her might that a piano would fall out a window when he alighted from the limousine. The thought mollified her, making her smile widen.

  Chazz's eyes narrowed on her as he helped the others into the back seat. "Plotting my murder, are you?" he muttered.

  Teel sniffed and turned her back on him to engage Clint in conversation. It was a tight squeeze in the Rolls but not uncomfortable for the short ride. She was annoyed when Rena spoke to Chazz and he responded readily.

  They alighted in front of the theater, and the car seemed to melt away into the traffic.

  Teel was very conscious of the feminine glances aimed at Chazz. Several people spoke to him. When they walked through the lobby, a uniformed attendant said, "Good evening, Mr. Herman."

  Teel felt frown lines form on her forehead. When the woman usher came forward to show them their seats, she would have followed, but a strong hand gripped her elbow. "Let me go", she hissed.

  Chazz smiled down at her but didn't release her arm until they were standing in the aisle the usher had indicated. "Of course, darling. Here you are. Your seat is right next to mine. Nice, huh?" Chazz purred, helping to remove her raincoat and folding it with his over the seat in front of him.

  "The person who has that seat won't appreciate that you've thrown coats over the back of it," Teel said, her lips stiff.

  "Relax, love. I bought that seat for the evening too," Chazz soothed.

  "What?" Teel cried out, making heads turn toward them. Both Rena and Nancy leaned forward in their seats to look at her quizzically. She smiled weakly back at them, then turned to Chazz, her jaw clenched. "You— you philistine, you," she sputtered.

  "No—no, love, you must have misunderstood. I'm Jewish, not Philistine." He took her hand, lifted it to his mouth, and pressed his lips to the palm.

  For long seconds Teel just stared at him, horrified, while her body betrayed her by responding eagerly to his touch. She fought against falling into his arms. "Stop that. People can see," she hissed, trying to order the hand he held to free itself.

  Chazz laughed, then pulled her arm through his just as the lights dimmed and the overture began.

  The show was good. Teel knew by the laughter that penetrated the lavender fog enclosing her. When Nancy leaned forward and stage-whispered, "Isn't this great?" Teel whispered back, "Marvelous," but she really had no idea whether it was marvelous or not.

  At the intermission they all headed up the aisle for a cool drink. Teel looked at the glass of white wine in her hand and wondered how it had gotten there. She glanced up to see Chazz watching her. He saluted her with his glass and flashed a devastating smile that turned her knees to jelly. She rubbed her hand along her cheek, which ached from keeping her jaw clenched. She moved away and glared from a distance at the cause of all her misery, a man who seemed to hold in her in thrall much like a fox with a rabbit.

  "You're awfully quiet, Teel," Rena pointed out as Teel joined her, not taking her eyes from Chazz. "Chazz said you spent a great deal of time on his yacht—alone— with him."

  "Hardly alone!" Teel returned. "There was a full crew with us a
s well as the captain and Darby, who took care of me most of the time"

  "Oh?" Rena's tone indicated that she didn't believe Teel. "I'll tell you right now, I wouldn't care if the whole world knew that I'd slept with Chazz Herman," she murmured softly, as if to herself.

  "Slept with him!" Teel's sharp tone turned a few heads in her direction, including Clint's and Buzz’s. Nancy was busy talking with Chazz.

  "You never used to be so.. .so noisy, Teel." Rena glowered at her, coin-sized red spots appearing on each cheek. "It's embarrassing."

  "Tough." Teel lifted her chin and looked away from the two puzzled men. She spent the rest of the short intermission pretending to be interested in the other theater-goers.

  Sitting through the rest of the musical posed serious challenges for Teel as she tried to concentrate on the show, ignore Chazz, and keep her body from overheating at his nearness. She breathed a sigh of relief when the curtain fell and applause rose like a wave. She watched in sightless concentration as the actors came out for several curtain calls, then she stood like a robot so that Chazz could put on her coat before ushering her back up the aisle toward the exits.

  It gave her a measure of satisfaction to see that the Rolls was not in front of the theater.

  "I'd thought we would walk from here," Chazz explained. "The club isn't far." He smiled down into Teel's stiff face before taking her arm and adjusting his long strides to her shorter steps.

  Despite her agitation, Teel began to feel better, able to push the lavender fog to one side. The animated crowds moving along the sidewalk lent it a festive air, as though the show had imbued them with new life. Teel became preoccupied with looking in the windows of shops that were shut tight with latticed steel gates.

  When Chazz threaded his fingers through hers, she stiffened momentarily, then, seeing that he wasn't about to release her, she shrugged and relaxed.