Free The Sea Star by Jean Nash

appetite lately had been spare. “I am hungry,” she confessed, “ravenous, in fact.” She reached for the telephone. “I’ll have something sent in. Will you join me, Mr. Grainger?”
          “Jay,” he corrected her, moving the telephone out of her reach. “And, no, I won’t join you. You’ll join me. I’m taking you to the United States Hotel for a meal that will delight you.”
          “I couldn’t,” she protested, but Jay rose, took her arm and propelled her to her feet. “I have too much work to do. I can’t possibly leave the hotel in the middle of the day.”
          “Oh, yes you can,” he insisted, directing her toward the door. “I’m your partner. You must do as I tell you.”
          She looked up at him swiftly, ready to do battle, but then she saw in his dancing eyes that his command had been in jest.
          “Will you obey me?” he said in that same tone of mock authority.
          His hold on her arm, pleasurably warm and protective, left her absolutely powerless to resist him.

 
    Six
          Outside the Sea Star, a small crowd was gathered around an unfamiliar vehicle.
          “Why, that’s an automobile, isn’t it?” Susanna asked as she descended the porch steps with Jay. “I wonder whose it is.”
          “It’s mine,” he said. “I had it shipped down from New York the last time I was here. Have you ever ridden in one before?”
          “Ridden in one? I’ve never even seen one, except in photos.”
          “You’re in for a great treat, then.”
          The crowd stepped aside as Jay and Susanna approached the vehicle, which resembled a brougham. The body was black with a discreet touch of gold, and it shone from a recent polishing like a thoroughbred racehorse. Inside the auto, across the leather seat, lay two linen coats, a length of veiling, and a driving cap.
          “Put these on,” Jay said, handing her one of the coats and the veiling, “or you’ll be covered with road dust by the time we arrive at the United States .”
          He helped her into the coat, then put on his own and handed her into the auto. As they pulled away with a jolt, Susanna said, surprised, “It’s so quiet. I thought automobiles made a terrible racket.”
          Jay maneuvered skillfully down the curved driveway. “This is an electric. It’s much more pleasant riding in one of these than in a gasoline-driven auto, but it only has a range of thirty-six miles or so. If the batteries go dead, we’ll have to suffer the indignity of hiring a team of horses, hitching them to the auto, and being towed to the electric plant on New York Avenue . That’s already happened to me several times and, invariably, some wiseacre of a pedestrian has shouted, ‘Get a horse!’”
          Susanna laughed, feeling very jaunty and au courant in her driving togs. As the automobile purred down Pacific Avenue toward the United States Hotel, people on the street turned to stare (some to jeer), and more than one skittish horse reared in fright as they passed by. Riding in the auto, with no visible means of propulsion, Susanna felt as if she were on a magic carpet piloted by the dashing hero in Oehlenschläger’s Aladdin , the fairy tale that represents the attainment of all yearning.
          “This is wonderful!” she exclaimed.
          Jay glanced over at her and smiled. “I had a feeling you’d enjoy it.”
          She turned to him curiously, but his attention had returned to the road. How had he known she would enjoy it? Why, in fact, should he care about her enjoyment? He was indeed a sorcerer, this man whom she alternately resented and admired. In the space of less than an hour he had lifted her spirits, dispelled her animosity, and made her feel as unburdened as a schoolgirl.
          Susanna tried to dislike him again and found that she couldn’t. Moreover, it was too lovely a day to be angry. And he