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Her "Hi," the smile on the wide mouth, and the handshake were greetings to an equal. He ush
her in, saw her drape the suede coat and a bag that was half purse, half equipment satch-el, on
closet doorknob. Everett's crockery rattled again.
David Engels hurried toward them. "What'd I miss?"
"That's what I do," Everett said, pointing to the coat and bag. "But I put my coat in the cl
tonight to to you know," he said feebly.
Gina nodded, then studied the closet door. "If you'd put a dozen doorknobs on that wall,
wouldn't need a closet. I'll bill you later," she said, shaking hands with Engels. "Or you can buy
off now with whatever I smell in the air."
In five minutes, Everett had forgot his fidgets over Gina Vercours. She sipped the steaming to
and asked for more rum, then knelt to warm her hands at the fire. She meddled with the ant
kettle that swung on its bracket over the hearth. "God, this iron kettle must weigh ten pounds."
"Five kilos," Everett corrected.
"I'm old-fashioned," she said, grinning.
"Sure you are. I don't think it's polite to fly false colors."
Still grinning, she said, "Then I don't think you should ever do it," and he laughed again. It
his own stance, here I am, take it or leave it; but she wore it more gracefully.
Engels, an expert interviewer, drew Gina out with ease, dropping asides on Everett now and t
A service brat, Gina had attended schools in Texas, Virginia, Texas, California, Massachusetts,
Texas before parlaying a tennis scholarship into a business degree at Arizona State.
"Funny," Engels frowned in faked concern, "you don't look like a jock."
"The hell I don't," she countered, pinching her browned forearm. "I'll have skin like an allig
when I'm forty."
"Which will be ?"
"In four years, Mr. Engels, don't be coy. I'm not." Everett inwardly seconded her observat
She had no reluctance to list her strengths or her weaknesses. Health, lack of attachments,
media training were her perceived strengths. "But I'm not really a people person, if you follow m
she admitted. "I like to live well, and I'm pretty selfish."
"That's laying it on the line," said Everett. "Why are you interested in this escort, bodyguard,
kind of work? It isn't exactly steady employment, Gina. As you must know, I may not need yo
all."
For the first time, the smile she turned on him was wily, secretive, somehow very female,
wide-set hazel eyes steady on his. "You'll need me," she insisted softly. "Maybe not tomorrow
next month, but if you have heavy clout in media, sooner or later you're going to need somebo
She smiled to herself. "I still keep ENG contacts in Phoenix, and of course I mix around when
on duty with Conklin. If you never before saw reporters looking over their shoulders, you can s
now. It's a feeling you can reach out and touch," she finished.
Everett persisted. "So why do you like it?"
"I don't like it, Mr. Everett. I like the money. Let's say you use me twice a year and Wally d
the same. Added to my fees in tennis, that's a new 'vette every year." She arched an eyebrow. "
could use some work on the courts, Com-missioner. Work off some of that, ah, good liv-ing."
Engels laughed at Everett's discomfort. "He thinks he's a bear, Gina. Fattens up every autu
snores all winter, runs up mountains every spring. Catch him early in the morning and you'll t
he's a sure-nough grizzly."
"I don't expect to be chasing him early in the morning," she replied smoothly, and patted Ever
knee as he flushed the hue of berry juice. "Nothing personal, Mr. Everett but it seemed w
clarifying."
Everett cleared his throat, wondering how he had triggered this conversational trap. "Underst
But you can be personal enough to call me Maury. I don't know what to call a Corvette freak, bu
think of something suitable."
David Engels sat back, watching the au-tomobile buffs unload on each other. Everett's dislike
`big iron' was easily supported by every datum an ecologist might cite. At one point he threatene
show photographs of Mini-Coopers beating factory Corvettes at Laguna Seca. Gina claimed to
wary of any car that could be stolen by a tumble-bug. "Not that I blame the tumble-bug,"
cracked; "one little ball of crap looks pretty much like another."
Eventually, after a pizza had been delivered and demolished, Gina Vercours stretched the str
svelte legs and yawned. Everett noticed the highly developed calf muscles swelling above sle
ankles, and remembered something else as she arose. "You used to have differ-ent hair, didn't yo [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]