Free Let Me Whisper in Your Ear by Mary Jane Clark Page B

index finger, and the pearl-and-diamond one off her right ring finger, and placed both of Leonard’s lavish gifts on the ledge above the sink so that she could prepare dinner unencumbered.
    After expertly cutting the cubes of beef and dusting them with flour and paprika, Francheska sautéed them in butter and oil, adding minced onions and crushed garlic. She added the water and marjoram the recipe called for and slid the casserole dish into the oven to bake. A bottle of red wine sat already opened, breathing on the kitchen counter.
    Carefully, she set the table for two. A creamy linen tablecloth and napkins. The Villeroy & Boch dinner plates and the Christofle crystal wineglasses she had purchased at Bloomingdale’s. The two Tiffany sterling place settings that she had charged to the American Express Card that Leonard had given her. At five hundred dollars a pop, Francheska had known that Leonard wasn’t too happy with that, but that had been early on in the relationship, when he accepted anything she bought, so eager was he to keep her happy.
    Before he had started taking her for granted.
    Francheska loved beautiful things. She scanned the apartment living room and was satisfied with the way it looked. She had pored over issues of Architectural Digest and Town and Country long and hard, educating herself in the ways the wealthy decorated.
    She had instructed the painters to cover the walls in egg-yolk-yellow paint with a dramatic lacquer finish. She had ordered rich coral draperies to match the damask-covered camelback sofa. The armchairs that flanked the fireplace were upholstered in a Scalamandré paisley fabric that picked up the colors in the sofa and rug. Elegantly framed English prints graced the walls. A large Chinese-Chippendale-style gilded mirror hung over the fireplace, reflecting the light from a dozen candles perched in sterling holders that were grouped on the mantelpiece.
    Yes, she had made a beautiful place for their trysts. And, for a while, that had been enough.
    But where was she going? Though she denied it to Laura in their myriad conversations about her affair with Leonard, Francheska was not content with being the “other woman.” It was not how she had been raised. If her parents knew that she was being kept by a married man, it would kill them, and God knew they had already had a tough enough time of it.
    She loved her parents and their good and decent ways. And yet, she had wanted to escape them. She didn’t want to repeat their lives of hard work that got them nowhere. Francheska had realized early on that her looks were her ticket out of a world where one lived from paycheck to paycheck.
    She had still been living with her aunt since her parents had moved to Puerto Rico, working on a painfully sporadic modeling career, when she met Laura at the World Gym near Lincoln Center. As they got to know one another, panting through aerobics classes, Francheska learned that Laura had just moved into a small Manhattan apartment at a good address, but was having to budget carefully to come up with the ridiculous New York City rent each month. Francheska seized the opportunity to get away from home and asked Laura if she would consider a roommate.
    They had had a lot of fun together in that apartment, but Francheska’s modeling assignments were not dependable enough. Some months, Laura had to advance Francheska’s portion of the rent. When Leonard Costello came along, Francheska was ready to be taken care of.
    Glancing at her watch, Francheska realized that Leonard should be arriving in about a half hour. She went in to take a shower and dress.
    She dropped her clothes on the bathroom floor and, twisting up her long dark hair and clipping it to the top of her head, she stepped into the tub. The sliding glass shower door was covered with steam as Francheska let the hot spray douse her sleek body.
    She had to talk to Leonard. Maybe he did care enough about her to leave his