The Carpetbaggers Read Online Free PDF Page B

mouth, Robair struck a match and held it for me. I dragged deep. "That's all right, Robair. I don't think she'll be with us much longer."
    Robair put out the match and carefully deposited it in an ash tray. "Yes, sir."
    I looked at the staircase speculatively. Oddly enough, I hesitated.
    Robair's voice came over my shoulder. "Mrs. Cord is in her room."
    I looked at him. His face was an impenetrable butler's mask. "Thank you, Robair. I’ll go up and tell her."
    I started up the staircase. His voice held me. "Mr. Cord?" I turned and looked down at him.
    His black face gleamed. "What time shall I serve dinner, sir?"
    I thought for a moment. "About eight o'clock," I answered.
    "Thank you, sir," he said and started for the kitchen.
    * * *
    I knocked softly at Rina's door. There was no answer. I opened it and walked in. Her voice came from the bathroom.
    "Louise, bring me a bath towel."
    I walked into the bathroom and took a large towel from the stack on the shelf over her dressing table. I started for the enclosed bathtub just as she slid back the glass door.
    She was gold and white and gleaming with the water running down her body. She stood there for a moment surprised. Most women would have tried to cover themselves. But not Rina. She held out a hand for the towel.
    She wrapped it around her expertly and stepped from the tub. "Where's Louise?" she asked, sitting down at the dressing table.
    "Downstairs," I answered.
    She began to dry her face with another towel. "Your father wouldn't like this."
    "He'll never know," I answered.
    "How do you know I won't tell him?"
    "You won't," I said definitely.
    It was then that she began to sense something was wrong. She looked up at me in the mirror. Her face was suddenly serious. "Did something happen between you and your father, Jonas?"
    She watched me for a moment; there was still a puzzled look in her eyes. She gave me a small towel. "Be a good boy, will you, Jonas, and dry my back? I can't reach it." She smiled up into the mirror. "You see, I really do need Louise."
    I took the towel and moved closer to her. She let the big bath towel slide down from her shoulders. I patted the beads of moisture from her flawless skin. The scent of her perfume came up to me, pungent from her bath warmth.
    I pressed my lips to her neck. She turned toward me in surprise. "Stop that, Jonas! Your father said this morning you were a sex maniac but you don't have to try to prove it!"
    I stared into her eyes. There was no fear in them. She was very sure of herself. I smiled slowly. "Maybe he was right," I said. "Or maybe he just forgot what it was like to be young."
    I pulled her off the seat toward me. The towel fell still further until it hung only by the press of our bodies. I covered her mouth with mine and reached for her breast. It was hard and firm and strong and I could feel her heart beating wildly beneath it.
    Maybe I was wrong but for a moment, I thought I could feel the fires in her reaching toward me. Then, angrily, she tore herself from me. The towel lay unheeded on the floor now. "Have you gone crazy?" she spit at me, her breast heaving. "You know at any minute now he could come walking through that door."
    I stood very still for a second, then let the built-up pressure in my lungs escape in a slow sigh. "He'll never come through that door again," I said.
    The color began to drain from her face slowly. "What— what do you mean?" she stammered.
    My eyes went right into hers. For the first time, I could see into them. She was afraid. Just like everyone else that had to look into an unknown future. "Mrs. Cord," I said slowly, "your husband is dead."
    Her pupils dilated wildly for a moment and she sank slowly back onto the seat. By reflex, she picked up the towel and placed it around her again. "I can't believe it," she said dully.
    "What is it that you can't believe, Rina?" I asked cruelly. "That he's dead or that you were wrong when you married him instead of me?"
    I don't think she even heard