Free Dress Her in Indigo by John D. MacDonald Page B

would have to believe you. That is the tricky part, because you lie so much. And you lie so well! No woman ever knows a man, or ever really trusts him until they have made love. Then, of course, she often discovers she has trusted some absolute scoundrel. But then it would be too late, would it not?"
    "Let me see. You picked me off the sidewalk in front of this place. You have not had enough booze to cloud the mind of a mouse. You are damned attractive, Becky. And I am sitting here on a fag's patio in lovely Oaxaca letting you put a ring in my nose so you can lead me off to the sack. Such things don't happen."
    "Such a horrid, suspicious, nasty little mind. You are a towering chap, showing signs of rough use, and I find you monstrously attractive. Your pale eyes and your big hands and the way your lips are made and the way your voice sounds; all these things have just made me terribly randy.
    So I choose not to blush and simper and flirt, because men are horribly anxious to protect their pride and quite often never make the attempt for fear of failure. And life is awfully short, and each day it is Khorter by one day. And there is something else about me which I might or might not tell you later. It depends."
    "All right. Such things happen."
    "But in case you feel overwhelmed or anything, we don't have to make it definite, not at this moment. I can provide a nightcap and we can cast ballots or something. But let's find those two dear boys and say goodnight."
    When we were halfway across the patio, David and Bruce appeared in the corridor, walking Page 35

    toward us. Bruce had hold of David's arm. David Saunders was staggering, mumbling, making sweeping gestures, tripping on the irregularities of the tiles. "Whas'm never'n standa menshunenny."
    He peered at us, feet planted wide, and wrenched his arm out of Bruce's grasp. He started to say something incomprehensible and made another big gesture which swung him off balance. He melted down onto the tile and sagged over onto his back and began to snore.
    "I think he drank a little too much," Bruce said. "Would it be too much of an imposition for you to put him up for the night, dear?"
    "Gracious, no!"
    "Want me to help you with him?" I asked.
    "Thanks, I can manage. Becky, the gate is on the latch. When you shut it, give it a try to be sure it's locked, will you?"
    "Of course," she said. We thanked him for the dinner. He acknowledged it in absentminded fashion. He sat on his heels, worked one arm under David's shoulders, another under his thighs, poised for a moment, and then came up smartly with the slack meaty burden. The head lolled and an arm swung limply. In sleep the sullenness was gone. David was a large dreaming child.
    His burned features looked more delicate. Bruce's feat had been impressive and I suspected it had been done for my benefit. He could indeed feel quite able to take care of himself.
    We went in her Lotus. She said my rented car would be quite safe where it was parked. She drove through the dark streets alertly and competently, sitting tall, chin up, hands solid on the wheel, through the rush of wind, past dark buildings.
    She said her place was in La Colonia. Wider streets. High walls. Gates. She swung in and stopped, the headlights shining on an iron gate. She gave me the keys, indicating the one for the gate. I unlocked it and swung it open. She drove in and waited while I closed and locked the gate. Then along a curving drive paved with white gravel. Night lights on in the house. Left the car in front. Went through large formal rooms and out into a walled area in back. She turned on lights, little spots and floods and the lights below the water level of a large curved pool.
    "I know," she said. "It left rather a bad taste. But Brucey will not be sordid about it. He'll undress poor David and tuck him into a big bed and leave him quite alone. In the morning he'll be tearful and terribly upset and accuse poor David of all manner of amorous aggression, and