Chapter Nine
SHE WALKED INTO the hotel lobby and chose a seat in a discreet out-of-the-way corner. Opening a copy of Vogue that she had carried with her, she glanced through it idly. Anyone looking at her would think her an attractive girl, young, sun-tanned, healthy, waiting for her boy-friend. Which was just what she was doing—in a way.
A few minutes passed. Then a bellboy stopped in front of her. “Room three-eleven,” he said in a low voice.
“Three-eleven,” she repeated, a smile on her lips.
He nodded. “Right. He’s waiting there now.”
“Thank you.” She smiled, holding out her hand.
“You’re welcome, Miss,” the bellboy answered, taking the two bills from her. He walked away quickly.
Slowly she closed the magazine, glancing around the lobby as she stood up. It was normal. The house dick was looking the other way, the desk clerks were busy with check-ins, the other people in the lobby were all guests. Satisfied with her quick check, she sauntered toward the elevators. She had nothing to worry about. Everyone was taken care of. Mac, the landlord of the rooming-house, had put her wise to that.
“Pick a place to operate from,” he had said knowingly. “Then before you do anything, make sure that everybody who might be interested is paid off. They’ll leave you alone then, even help you.”
She nodded. “That makes sense.”
He looked at her intently. “Just be careful you don’t bring nobody here. I’m runnin’ a straight joint. I’m not lookin’ for no trouble.”
“I’ll get out, then, if you want,” she said.
He thought for a minute. “No, wait. I got an idea. A friend of mine is bell captain at the Osiris. I’ll talk to him. Maybe he can set you in right.”
The Osiris was one of the new hotels on the beach. The bell captain had been more than willing to co-operate. There was always a call for new girls. In little more than a month she had made more money than she had ever seen in her life, but by the time she was through paying off she kept only a small part of it.
She averaged four visits a day, as she called them. They were spread out among all the hotels that the bell captain had contacts in, so that she wouldn’t become too conspicuous. At ten dollars a visit, it came to forty dollars a day. Thirty dollars went into the payoff.
She pressed the button and waited for the elevator. While she waited she took out another bill. The elevator-operator had to be tipped, too. A hand fell on her shoulder.
Involuntarily she jumped as she turned.
Gordon Paynter grinned at her. “I didn’t mean to startle you, Miss Flood.”
She held her breath. “Mr. Paynter!”
“I was wondering what had happened to you,” he said quickly. “You never came back to the beach.”
“The act broke up that day,” she said. “I was busy looking for somethin’ else.”
“Come into the bar and have a drink with me,” he said. “We’ll bring each other up to date.”
The elevator doors opened and the operator stuck his head out. “Up, please.”
She looked up at Gordon. “I can’t,” she said. “I have an appointment.”
“It can keep a few minutes,” he said. “I’ve been looking all over town for you.”
She smiled to herself. She was easy enough to find if you knew the right people. All he had to do was to check into the hotel and order a young blonde. “No, really,” she said. “I got to see this man. It’s about a job.”
“I’ll wait,” Gordon said. “Will you be long?”
She thought for a moment “Not long. Half-hour to an hour.”
“I’ll be in the bar,” he said. “You’ll be able to recognise me easy. I’ll be draped over a martini.”
“All right, Mr. Paynter,” she said.
“You had already got around to Gordon,” he said, smiling.
“Okay, Gordon,” she said, going in to the elevator. “I’ll try not to be too long.”
The door closed and the operator turned toward her. “Friend or customer?” he asked in a curious voice.
“Fourth floor, nosey,” she said, holding the dollar out to him.
He took it, grinning. “Don’t you give anybody discounts, Mary?”
She smiled at him as the elevator stopped. “Can’t afford to. Operating-expenses are too high.” The doors opened and she walked out.
“Maybe on your night off,” he called after her.
“Save your money, bub,” she flung back over her shoulder. “I got no nights off.”
She heard the door close as she walked down the corridor. At the door of room 311 she stopped and knocked gently.
A man’s voice came muffled through the door. “Who is it?”
She spoke softly but strongly enough to be heard through the door. “Room service.”
She looked at her watch as she came into the bar. Three-quarters of an hour. She paused, waiting for her eyes to get used to the dimness. He was sitting in a booth at the back. He waved to her and got up as she walked toward him.
“Get the job?” he asked as he made room for her.
“In a way,” she answered, sitting down.
A waiter came to the table. “Another martini for me,” Gordon said. “What about you?”
She looked at him. “Cassis and soda.”
“Vermouth cassis and soda,” the waiter repeated.
“No vermouth,” she corrected. “Just cassis and soda.”
As the waiter walked away, Gordon said: “That’s a strange drink.”
She met his gaze. “That’s the way I like it.”
“You’re a strange girl,” he said, finishing the remainder of the drink before him.
She looked at him sharply. Maybe one of the bellboys had put him wise. She didn’t speak.
“You never came back, never called. Nothing,” he said. “If I hadn’t happened to run into you, I might never have seen you again.”
“Maybe you would have been better off,” she said solemnly.
His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
She looked straight at him. “I’m no bargain. I’m not the kind of a girl you ordinarily run around with.”
His lips parted in a smile. So she had heard about him. “What kind of girls are they?” he asked.
“Society an’ stuff,” she said. “You know what I mean.”
“And because you’re a working girl I can’t bother with you?” he said.
She didn’t answer.
The smile left his lips. “You’re the real snob.” he said. “It’s not my fault I don’t have to work. It could have happened to you. Nobody picks his parents.”
She smiled suddenly. “It should have,” she agreed. “I could think of worse things.”
His hand reached for her hand across the table. “So could I.” He smiled with her.
The waiter placed their drinks on the table. Gordon picked up his martini and held it toward her. “A toast,” he said.
She picked up her drink. “To what?”
“To us,” he said. “And to our dinner tonight. Tom’s been waiting a long time to roast a duck for you.”
She hesitated.
“I won’t take any refusal,” he said quickly. “I’m taking you right out to the beach after this drink.”
She took a deep breath. A feeling of disappointment ran through her. He was no different from the others. He wanted the same thing. “Okay,” she said.
He still held his drink toward her. “And to no more mysteries. I want to see a lot of you.”
She nodded slowly.
“Tom and I think that you’re the prettiest girl in Miami Beach,” he said. “I think we’re both in love with you.”
Slowly she put her glass down on the table. “Don’t say that,” she said. “Don’t say it if you’re joking. You don’t have to.”
Chapter Ten
“COFFEE AND BRANDY out on the terrace, Tom,” Gordon said, pushing his chair back from the table.
Tom hel
d Mary’s chair while she got up. “It was great Tom.” She smiled. “I never ate so much in my life.”
The old man grinned at her. “You sho’ got a powerful appetite, Miss. You eats like a puhson oughter.”
“Thanks to you, Tom. Nobody can resist that food.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” He bowed, grinning.
Gordon held the door for her. She stepped out into the night. The sky was clear, and a soft, cooling breeze blew in from the ocean.
She took a deep breath. “This is like heaven,” she said.
He smiled. “It’s not simple, but it’s home.”
She turned to him quickly. “You invite everybody to your home like this, Gordon?”
He was puzzled. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, without knowing them? Really? For all you know, I might be on the make for yuh. It could be nothing but trouble.” Her face was serious.
He grinned. “That kind of trouble I like. Make me.”
“I’m serious, Gordon,” she insisted. “You’re a rich man and well known. Somebody could take advantage of you.”
“I wish they would,” he said, still laughing. “It would save me the trouble of trying to take advantage of them.”
She walked to the railing. The moonlight sparkled on the water below. “There’s no use talking to you,” she said.
He put his arm on her shoulders and turned her around. His lips were smiling, but his eyes were serious. “Keep talking, baby. It’s nice having someone to worry about me for a change. Usually everybody’s after me for something.”
She stared into his eyes. “You’re a nice guy. I don’t want nothin’ from you.”
“I know you don’t,” he said. “If you did, you would have been back.”
She didn’t answer.
“You’re the first person in a long time who doesn’t give a damn that I’m Gordon Paynter,” he said.
“I like you,” she said. “You’re decent.”
His hands dropped to his sides. “Famous last words. Just when I was trying to set you up, you take the wind out of my sails.”
She smiled at him. “Don’t get discouraged. There’s a fresh wind coming in from the ocean.”
She put down her coffee cup. “You drink an awful lot,” she said. “What for?”
He put down his fourth brandy and looked at her. “I like it,” he said. He was beginning to feel the liquor. The words weren’t coming right. “Besides, there’s nothing else to do.”
“Nothing?” she asked in a wondering voice.
“Nothing,” he answered heavily. “I keep away from business because every time I try something I lose money. Finally I gave it up. I get all I need without working.”
She didn’t speak.
He stared at her. “You think that’s wrong, don’t you?” he asked accusingly.
She shook her head.
He grabbed her arm. “You do, really, don’t you? Everybody else does. They think it’s terrible that I don’t have to work while half the world is starving.”
“I don’t give a damn about the rest of the world,” she said. “I only worry about me.”
He let go of her arm. He felt incredibly sad and lonely. “Well, I do,” he said. “I think it’s terrible.”
Her eyes glowed in the dark. “Then why don’t you do something about it?”
“They won’t let me,” he said. He was near tears. “My lawyers won’t let me. I can’t even give my money away if I want to. They would stop me.”
“Poor Gordon,” she said, patting his hand.
“Yes, poor Gordon,” he agreed.
“I wish I could feel sorry for you,” she said.
His head snapped up. His eyes were suddenly clear. “What do you mean?”
She smiled at him. “Nobody ever had it so good.”
He began to laugh. He threw his head back and the laughter rolled up from deep inside him. It roared against the house and down toward the surf.
She looked at him with wide eyes. “What’re you laughin’ at?”
He managed to control himself for a moment. He looked into her face. “Of all places to find an honest woman!” he gasped. “I’d never have believed it. Miami Beach!”
A puzzled look came into her eyes. “What’s wrong with Miami Beach?” she asked. “I like it fine.”
“I do, too,” he said, still laughing. He went to the railing and looked down at the water, then turned back to her. “I have extra bathing-suits inside. How about a swim?” he asked.
She nodded silently.
They came back to the terrace wrapped in big Turkish towels. “Tom!” he yelled. “Some hot coffee. We’re freezing!”
There was no answer.
He walked over to the doors and called: “Hey, Tom! Get us some coffee.”
Tom’s voice came back faintly. “Git it yo’self, boss. I gone to bed already.”
Gordon came back from the door shaking his head. “I can’t do a thing with him. He’s been with me too long.”
She smiled. “I can make coffee.”
“Would you?” he asked.
“I insist,” she said. “I’m cold too. The water’s great but you gotta be used to it.”
He led her into the kitchen. There was coffee on the stove. She lighted the burner under it. A few minutes later they were sitting on the big chaise sipping the coffee from steaming mugs.
“This is good,” he said, putting down his cup.
She nodded.
He stretched out flat. “Did you ever notice how big the stars are down here at night?” he asked.
She glanced up at them for a moment, then back at him. “They look the same to me.”
He turned towards her. “Woman, have you no romance in your soul?”
She smiled. “It’s late. I better be getting dressed.” She started to get up.
His hand caught her arm. “Mary Flood,” he said.
She looked down at him. “That’s my name.”
“Don’t go away now that I’ve found you,” he said.
“Yuh don’t know what you’re sayin’,” she said.
He pulled her down on the chaise. She looked into his eyes. He put his hands on her cheeks and drew her face to his. His mouth was warm and soft. It wasn’t like all the others. A warmth ran through her. She closed her eyes.
She felt his hands on her breasts. She moved her shoulders and the straps slipped off. She heard his breath catch in his throat and she opened her eyes.
He was staring at her. “You’re beautiful,” he whispered. “Beautiful.”
Her arms went around his neck, pulling his head down to her bosom. She could hardly hear his voice.
“Ever since you came out of the water the first morning I saw you,” he was saying. “I knew you’d be like this.”
She slipped her hands along his waist. She heard him gasp as her fingers touched him.
“I waited and waited,” he whispered. “I waited so long.”
“Shut up!” she said huskily, a strange fierceness in her. “You talk too much!”
Two days later he asked her to marry him.
Chapter Eleven
THE COFFEE WAS bubbling on the stove when a knock came at the door. “Who is it?” she called without turning around.
“Me,” came the heavy, muffled voice. “Mac.”
“The door’s open,” she called. “Come in.” She filled two cups with coffee and carried them to the table.
He had the papers in his hands. “Yuh see these?” he asked.
She looked at him. “No,” she answered. “I been too busy.”
“That’s what the paper says,” he said quickly. “You’re in all of them.”
Her brows knitted in puzzlement. “Me?”
He nodded. “It says here you’re goin’ to marry Gordon Paynter.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “What’d they print that for?” She sipped her coffee. “What’s such a big deal? People get married all the time.”
He stared at her. �
�You kiddin’? Not Gordon Paynter. He’s one of the richest guys in the state.”
She didn’t answer, just reached for the papers and began to scan them. One of them had printed a picture of her leaving the licence bureau with Gordon. She hadn’t thought anything about it when the photographer snapped the picture. She remembered what Gordon had said before they went to the licence bureau: “They’ll make a big fuss. Don’t pay any attention to them. Nothing they can do will change the way I feel about you.”
She had looked up at him, her eyes sombre. A sudden fear had begun to come into her. “Maybe we shouldn’t do it, Gordon. Maybe we ought to wait a little. You don’t know nothin’ about me.”
He had smiled reassuringly at her. “I know everything I want to know. I don’t care what you do. I only know what you are to me. That’s the only thing that matters in the end …”
The landlord sipped his coffee. “Is it true, Mary? Are you really marryin’ him?”
She lifted her eyes from the paper and nodded slowly. “Yes.”
He whistled. “That’s a real break. Does he—?”
She didn’t let him finish his question. “He says it doesn’t matter. That nothing matters,” she said quickly, evading the truth.
“He must be real crazy about you.” Mac put down his cup and got to his feet. “I guess this means that I lose a tenant.”
She didn’t answer, just looked at him. Something in his manner had changed. It was a subtle change, but it was there all the same. She sensed a subservience in him that had not been there before. She shook her head. “Not for a while, Mac,” she said. “It’s three days before we can marry.”
He walked to the door and opened it, then stood there looking at her. “If there’s anything you want, Mary,” he said in a low voice, “just yell. I’ll come a-runnin’.”
“Thanks, Mac,” she said.
He hesitated a moment. “I jus’ don’t want yuh to forget I always been your friend.”
“I won’t forget, Mac,” she said. The door closed behind him, and she picked up the cups and put them in the sink. Name and money changed a lot of things. Her lips tightened into a grim line. Her mind was made up. It had taken Mac to show her the way. She would have them both. Then let anybody try to step on her.
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