Two Faced Woman. Lucy Gordon

you anything you want. But take these.”

      “No, thank you. Put them away. You may need them for some other woman.”

      “No other woman, sweetheart. From now on it’s just you and me.”

      He was looking like a poleaxed steer again, she noticed with interest. She was beginning to wonder about herself. Evidently her own powers were greater than she’d dreamed. Anyway, she was having fun.

      “I’ll have our lunch served here,” he said.

      She laughed. “I don’t think so, Lucky. You’re not a safe man for me to be alone with. But I’ll allow you to take me to the Ritz.”

      “The Ritz it is,” he gabbled.

      At the Ritz she feasted off caviar and champagne, and afterward Lucky drove her home in his Rolls-Royce. She allowed him to see her to the door but no farther. Lucky studied her cramped little hallway with disfavor. “I’m going to get you out of here into a decent place,” he declared.

      “Thank you, Lucky, darling,” she cooed, “but I’m quite happy here.”

      “I don’t want to visit you in a place like this.”

      “But you won’t be visiting me,” she assured him sweetly. “My home is my sanctuary, and I don’t allow men inside.”

      Lucky scowled, but all he said was, “As long as you stick to that. No men in here. Ever.”

      She gave him a peck. “Who else could I ever want but you? Run along now. I need my afternoon nap.”

      He obeyed reluctantly. Debbie entered her flat and started the water in the shower. She’d just stepped out when there was a knock at her door. Wrapping the towel around her, she opened it cautiously and found a delivery boy with a package for her. Inside was a diamond bracelet that couldn’t have cost less than five thousand pounds.

      * * *

      For perhaps the hundredth time Jake consulted his watch. The hands showed 3:30 a.m. and he was very weary of waiting, especially as the cramped little landing outside Debbie’s flat offered nowhere to sit except the floor. It would have been easy to get inside as he’d done before, but it wouldn’t have been wise. If Lucky returned home with her, and she invited him in, Jake would be discovered.

      At last there was a noise from the street outside. He crept to the window, moving the curtain a crack. A Rolls-Royce had glided to a halt by the entrance to the apartment block. A man got out and held open a rear door, offering his hand at the same time. The woman who emerged was clad in a tight, black satin dress that showed off her curvaceous charms. Diamonds flashed in her ears, her elegantly coiffed hair and on her wrists.

      As they came through the front door Jake positioned himself on the stairs that led up to the next apartment, ready to vanish from sight. He heard the woman say, “No, Lucky...you promised.”

      “C’mon, Silver, just for a few minutes.”

      “Not even for a few minutes. I told you that I don’t allow men into my home.”

      “But that was before we got to know each other so well...” The man was pleading.

      “Lucky, we don’t know each other well. We don’t know each other at all.” Her voice had a throaty huskiness that made Jake’s forehead start to sweat. He knew that note in her voice. It meant that this man was her prey, and she was leading him on, teasing him, making use of him.... And then, one day, the act would be over, the cat would pounce, showing her claws, revealing that it had all been a cruel game. Jake almost felt sorry for Lucky Driver.

      There was the sound of a slight scuffle from below. “Just one more kiss, sweetheart,” Lucky murmured.

      “No. You don’t know when to stop.”

      “After all the stuff I’ve given you why should I have to stop?” Lucky demanded. “Hey, what are you doing?”

      “Returning your diamonds,” the woman said in a suddenly firmer voice. “And you can have everything else you’ve given me.”

      “Hey, now, c’mon...”

      “I never asked you for expensive gifts, Lucky. And you can have every last one back if you think they buy you any rights over me.”

      “Okay, okay, I didn’t mean it. I’m sorry. I should have known better. Say you forgive me.”

      “Only if you’re really sorry.”

      “I swear I’m sorry. It’ll never happen again.”

      “Now be a good boy and run along.”

      After a moment there came the sound of the front door closing, then the rustle of satin as the woman walked up the stairs. She paused a moment, watching through the window as the Rolls glided away. Then she turned and gasped when she saw a man standing in the shadows just behind her. Instinctively she raised her hand to defend herself but he grabbed her wrist just in time. “It’s only me,” he said.

      “So I see,” she said crossly. “Don’t take me by surprise like that. Another moment—”

      “You’d have slugged me and and I’d have been lying unconscious at your feet,” Jake finished ironically. “No way. This is one man who’s never going to be at your feet.”