TRUSTED LIKE THE FOX

chapter 13

One week went by, and we saw nothing of Adrian. A number of people asked for Perry, but they all accepted the story that he was fixing up another gas station in cuba.

Two or three of them gave Delphina and I curious stares, and I could see they were wondering what we were up to alone together. That didn't worry, Delphina, but it certainly worried me.

We now had a set routine and a story to tell.

I didn't like the idea of sharing Perry's bed with her, but physically, she was so excited that I wasn't able to resist her. There were times, as we lay exhausted from our violent love-making, when I thought of Perry in that hastily dug grave, and cold sweat would break out on my body. No such qualms of conscience ever assailed: Delphina. Perry was dead. To her, he had never existed.

During that one week, it gradually dawned on me that I was falling in love with her. Maybe this was inevitable the way we were living together. From the moment I had first seen her, she had attracted me.

Now that we had blunted the edge of our desires, I found myself settling down to a husband-and-wife association with her. This was something that grew during the days I spent with her, and with its growth, my suspicions of her began to fade.

Every now and then it came into my mind that I was playing into her hands, and I would jerk myself alert, but she didn't mention the money nor suggest that I should open the safe, and I soon slipped back into the comfort and the excitement she offered me.

Finally, I began to believe that my love for her was influencing her, and she was as much in love with me as I was with her. I even began to hope that we stayed there together, run the place and business as Perry, and forget the past.

The time I liked best with her was the half hour before we got up. We would lie side by side in the big bed, watching the sun climb above the mountains while we discussed how to spend the day.

One morning, as we lay side by side in the bed, she said suddenly, "Don't you think we should get someone to help out here? It would be fun to have a night off now and then, wouldn't it? Do you like dancing? We could go out at night and dance. Let's get someone."

I stretched lazily. The idea was tempting, but I knew it would be too dangerous.

"We can't do it, Delphina, not yet. If we went together to town, the gossip would start. Besides, we couldn't have anyone living the way we are living. We must wait a couple of months, then after we have put out the story, he isn't coming back, we can do something about it, but not before."

She slid one long, bare leg out of bed.

"I'm getting terribly tired of being chained to this place."

"Hang on a little longer. We'll fix something."

She got out of bed.

I watched her cross the room for her wrap. This moment gave me pleasure to see her, naked, moving across the room, showing off her beautiful body with that liquid grace most Italians have: heavy, sensual, and provocative.

"All right. I'll wait." She put on the wrap. "Will you go buy me the groceries today in Wentworth? I have a salon appointment to make in Tropic Springs."

I very nearly fell for it, then into my mind came a sudden suspicion. Was this an excuse to get me out of the way? It wouldn't be impossible for her to get a safe man from Tropic Springs to come over and open the safe. She could be gone with the money by the time I got back from Wentworth.

I looked at her.

She was combing her hair, humming under her breath. She was relaxed, but I knew that meant nothing after seeing the way she had handled Adrian.