One Unforgettable Evening Read Free Page A

rising in
query.
    Georges nudged the wheel and drew her
to a smooth halt.
    “ All out who is getting
out.”
    The remark was pretty much lost on
Leon, who was halfway out the door.
     
    ***
     
    “ Your husband’s taking a
long time, Adelia.”
    “ Yes, well, we’ll have to
leave it up to him—”
    Leon climbed in, not too soaking wet
but damp enough. You’d think all that rain would have helped him to
relieve himself, but for some reason he was maybe a bit tense.
Probably from thinking about the car, he decided. He was also
aroused by the little game.
    That Thomas was really
something.
    “ We’ll have to call the
auto club tomorrow.” He looked over at Thomas and then at his wife.
“Ask me about what?”
    “ I have a proposition to
make, Leon.” Darban looked at Leon, and then back at
Adelia.
    She pursed her lips and looked off
into nowhere.
    Leon perched on the edge of the seat,
waiting.
    Yes, the fellow was quite enamored of
Adelia. She seemed very subdued.
    Leon looked at his wife.
    “ What?”
    She looked primly down at her hands,
folded in a calm and neutral fashion in her lap. Adelia was sitting
up very straight, as if to narrow the space that she was taking
up.
    “ What?” Leon looked over
at Darban.
    “ Go ahead, Thomas. Ask
him.”
    Adelia’s voice was flat and
uninflected.
    “ Ask me what,
Thomas?”
    Thomas nodded. There was nothing else
for it, and he’d gotten himself into the situation. But they were
both men of the world.
    “ Leon. I would very much
like to make love to your wife.”
    “ What! I mean, what?” Leon was
flabbergasted, this much was true.
    But the man had been
paying them, or her, rather, all kinds of gallant attention, all
evening.
    What he wanted wasn’t exactly a
shock.
    Fantasy was one thing. The fact that
he could so boldly put it into words was another thing.
    Leon snorted.
    “ There’s more. Tell him,
Thomas.”
    “ What? There’s more?”
Leon’s chin dropped and his face clouded.
    “ Please don’t be offended,
my good friend. Leon. I doubt if I am the first man who has ever
contemplated Adelia…and…” There was more, a lot more, but he left
it unsaid. “…in such a way…”
    “ No! I suppose not.” Leon
bit back further remarks.
    One guy, he suddenly recalled, got a
black eye from this sort of impertinence. Leon had been young then,
perhaps a little too impetuous, looking way back when. His wife was
squeezing his hand, the message fairly clear. She remembered it
too…
    Be polite,
dear.
    Don’t hit him,
dear.
    Please don’t embarrass me,
dear.
    “ Just for the record.
Leon. Your wife made no reply. She said that I should take it up
with you, sir.” Which was just what he was doing, the calm and
urbane look implied.
    Adelia sat in the middle, face flaming
red, listening to the unspoken nuances of this
conversation.
    Leon eyed Adelia.
    He kept his eyes on his
wife.
    “ You said there was
more.”
    “ Well, yes. Absolutely…”
Thomas clammed up.
    He waited, and she waited.
    Leon waited, and then Adelia’s warm
blue eyes slid around and Leon stared at the expressionless look on
her face. She seemed very intent on something.
    “ I’m prepared to offer
twenty thousand dollars in exchange, Mister de Marco.”
    Leon’s expression never changed, his
eyes flicking to the impassive face of Mister Thomas Darban, who
spoke again.
    “ Twenty thousand
dollars.”
    His wife’s eyes never left his
face.
    She squeezed his hand, but this time
it was completely ambiguous.
    “ Where are you from,
Mister Darban? Thomas.”
    “ Pardon? Where am I
from?”
    “ Yeah—”
    “ I am from Lichtenstein,
Mister de Marco. Leon.” He smiled in genuine humour, at the
absurdity of such a question coming at such a time.
    “ I see.”
    Adelia kept her face on Leon and
waited.
    “ So; what do you think,
Honey?”
    She just stared, deep into Leon’s
eyes.
    His mouth opened but no sound came
out…
    Leon bit his lip, never taking his
eyes off of her for a second