AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Daisy raised her eyebrows. "Sex?" She and her mother talked about most things, but generally skirted around this subject.
"Pregnancy would do it," Olga said. "But that only happens for sure when you don't want it."
"What, then?"
"You need to give him a glimpse of the promised land, but not let him in."
Daisy shook her head. "I'm not certain, but I think he may have already been to the promised land with someone else."
"Who?"
"I don't know--a maid, an actress, a widow . . . I'm guessing, but he just doesn't have that virginal air."
"You're right, he doesn't. That means you have to offer him something he can't get from the others. Something he'd do anything for."
Daisy wondered briefly where her mother got this wisdom, having spent her life in a cold marriage. Perhaps she had done a lot of thinking about how her husband, Lev, had been stolen from her by his mistress Marga. Anyway, there was nothing Daisy could offer Boy that he couldn't get from another girl, was there?
The women were finishing their coffee and heading to their bedrooms for the afternoon nap. The men were still in the dining room, smoking their cigars, but they would follow in a quarter of an hour. Daisy stood up.
Olga said: "What are you going to do?"
"I'm not sure," she said. "I'll think of something."
She left the room. She was going to go to Boy's room, she had decided, but she did not want to say so in case her mother objected. She would be waiting for him when he came for his nap. The servants also took a break at that time of day, so it was unlikely anyone would come into the room.
She would have Boy on his own then. But what would she say or do? She did not know. She would have to improvise.
She went to the Gardenia Suite, brushed her teeth, dabbed Jean Nate perfume on her neck, and walked quietly along the corridor to Boy's room.
No one saw her go in.
He had a spacious bedroom with a view of misty mountaintops. It felt as if it might have been his for many years. There were masculine leather chairs, pictures of airplanes and racehorses on the wall, a cedarwood humidor full of fragrant cigars, and a side table with decanters of whisky and brandy and a tray of crystal glasses.
She pulled open a drawer and saw Ty Gwyn writing paper, a bottle of ink, and pens and pencils. The paper was blue with the Fitzherbert crest. Would that one day be her crest?
She wondered what Boy would say when he found her here. Would he be pleased, take her in his arms, and kiss her? Or would he be angry that his privacy had been invaded, and accuse her of snooping? She had to take the risk.
She went into the adjoining dressing room. There was a small washbasin with a mirror over it. His shaving tackle was on the marble surround. Daisy thought she would like to learn to shave her husband. How intimate that would be.
She opened the wardrobe doors and looked at his clothes: formal morning dress, tweed suits, riding clothes, a leather pilot's jacket with a fur lining, and two evening suits.
That gave her an idea.
She recalled how aroused Boy had been, at Bing Westhampton's house back in June, by the sight of her and the other girls dressed as men. That evening had been the first time he kissed her. She was not sure why he had been so excited--such things were generally inexplicable. Lizzie Westhampton said some men liked women to spank their bottoms; how could you account for that?
Perhaps she should dress in his clothes now.
Something he'd do anything for, her mother had said. Was this it?
She stared at the row of suits on hangers, the stack of folded white shirts, the polished leather shoes each with its wooden tree inside. Would it work? Did she have time?
Did she have anything to lose?
She could pick the clothes she needed, take them to the Gardenia Suite, change there, and then hurry back, hoping no one saw her on the way . . .
No. There was no time for that. His cigar was not long enough. She had to change here, and fast--or not at all.
She made up her mind.
