The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous Read Online Free PDF Page B

the garden.'
        The full moon was rising rose-coloured like the inside of a pink grapefruit. Martha's limo was apple green, open and very long with the number plate: MARTHA 30 'Elmer gave it me for my thirtieth birthday. That was when he was doing everything to prise me away from my ex. Hardly the ideal gift to hide under one's mattress!'
        In her distress Martha grazed an incoming Cadillac as she stormed out of the car-park. Lysander slumped beside her, gazing at the stars, which seemed to be shooting around a lot, tunelessly singing: 'A Groovy Kind of Love'.
        Elmer's house in the heart of smart Palm Beach was surrounded by a thick, impenetrable ficus hedge. Two scowling security guards, restraining snarling Dobermanns, gave Lysander a malevolent once-over as they opened massive electric gates.
        'Friendly fellows,' observed Lysander as they glided through a huge shadowy garden filled with darkly dipping trees. 'What are those dishes on those big black poles?' 'Microwave units to pick up on any intruder. There are also sensors under the lawn. Not a rabbit or a racoon goes undetected. Inside the ficus hedge is hidden a chain-link fence topped with razor wire and an electronic intrusion detector.'
        'I'd guard someone like you,' said Lysander.
        'Not me, himself,' said Martha flatly. 'Safus screen
        high-risk computers, Elmer's sewn up most of the Government contracts. As only he holds the password to all the computer installations, he needs protection twenty-four hours a day. No-one breaks in here.'
        Ahead, ghostly in the moonlight, rose Elmer's pale pink fortress, so like nougat that Lysander felt he ought to take a large bite out of it to sober himself up.
        'Amazing place.'
        'Was,' said Martha bitterly. 'One of the oldest houses in Palm Beach stood on this site. Elmer razed it and built another. He's not into longevity.'
        Going into the living room, Lysander found himself gazing into the mouth of a cannon and ducked.
        'That thing was fired in the Civil War,' said Martha.
        'Nearly as old as Elmer. Why the hell did you marry him?'
        'I was called in to redecorate his office. Underneath a big desk you don't see a guy's clay feet.'
        Only marred by too many photographs of Elmer fraternizing with the famous, the room was charmingly decorated in pale golds as though Midas had idly trailed his fingers over sofas, carpets, walls and huge bunches of deeply scented yellow roses. On an easel was a half-finished portrait of Elmer looking virile. The two ponies he was riding and leading were only roughly sketched in.
        'God, you've flattered him,' grumbled Lysander.
        'It's not finished. He can't decide which pony he wants to ride.'
        'Cut out holes; then he can ride a different one each day. Did you do that?' Lysander turned to the waving corn field above the fireplace.
        'No, that's by Van Gogh.'
        'Yours is better. And much better than that one.'
        'That's Paul Klee,' said Martha in gentle reproof. 'It cost several million dollars.'
        'Really.' Astounded, Lysander peered at it again. 'Perhaps I should take up painting.'
        They were interrupted by another huge Dobermann hurtling into the room, fangs bared, growling horribly.'Stay, Tyson,' screamed Martha. 'Don't touch him.'
        But Lysander went straight up to the dog, hand outstretched.
        'Hallo boy, aren't you beautiful?'
        Disarmed by such genuine admiration, Tyson, after a few dubious growls, started wagging his stubby tail and writhing his shiny solid black body against Lysander.
        'That dog is a serial killer,' said Martha in amazement. 'Elmer and Nancy, his ex, have endless legal tussles over him. Nancy has custody and Elmer visitation rights on weekends, but he's always playing polo so the dog goes crazy. Now Nancy's threatening to take it to a dog shrink in New York so that's another two