The Dream Merchants (38 page)

He sat up suddenly. “You know damn well what I’m thinking about. I’ve been afraid of this happening ever since you came here and yet I couldn’t let you go.”

She guided his hand over her. “So it happened,” she said matter-of-factly. “There’s nothing to worry about now.”

He flicked on the night lamp and looked at her in amazement. Her gaze was clear and untroubled. He couldn’t believe that just a few minutes ago she had clung to him whimpering and frantic in passionate frenzy.

“Nothing to worry about!” he exploded. “How long do you think you can stay here without Cynthia finding out?”

“Cynthia doesn’t have to find out,” she said.

He smiled ruefully. “Don’t underestimate her, Dulcie. She’s not stupid.” He got out of bed and slipped into a robe. “I’m going to have to send you away. As far away as I can get you. This isn’t going to happen again.”

She dropped her eyes from his and looked down at the bed. Her voice was small. “Why, Warren? Don’t you like me?”

He began to laugh suddenly. “Because I like you too much!” He walked over to the dresser and began to comb his hair. “Now let’s see,” he said half to himself. “Where can I send you?”

She got out of bed and walked over behind him. She pressed herself against his back and put her arms around his waist and inside his robe. “What if I don’t want to leave you?” she asked wistfully.

He turned to her. “That’s one thing you can count on, Dulcie,” he said definitely. “You’re going.”

She kissed his chest. “You’re mean.”

He pulled her head back by her hair so that her face looked up at him. He kissed her. “Not mean,” he said, “smart. This is no good for either of us.” He turned back to the mirror and finished combing his hair. “Who was it on the phone when I came in?” he asked.

“Johnny Edge,” she answered.

He raised an eyebrow. “He’s been seeing a lot of you, hasn’t he?”

“Yes,” she answered, “but I’m tired of him. All he talks about is pictures.” She tilted her head on one side and looked up at him. “I think he’s in love with me, but I’m going to get rid of him. He’s beginning to bore me.”

He was suddenly interested. “Do you think he wants to marry you?”

“He probably does,” she said casually.

“Why don’t you marry him?” he asked. “He can do a lot for you.” He puffed at his cigarette. “There’s a lot of money in the movies.”

“I want to act on the stage,” she said. “Besides, even if he didn’t bore me I couldn’t marry him. He’s a cripple.”

“Don’t be a fool,” he said savagely, ignoring the latter part of her objection, his hands gripping her arms. “There’s nothing the matter with acting in pictures. Don’t you think I would if I could find some way of getting out of the publicity I’ve let build up?”

She looked at him. “Do you want me to marry Johnny so you can get rid of me?”

“No, you little fool,” he replied, “but if you were married we wouldn’t have to worry about Cynthia. She’d think everything is all right!”

She put her arms around him and kissed him. They stood there for a long moment. She took her arms from around his neck and walked into the other room. He followed her wondering. She went over to the phone and picked it up and gave the operator a number.

“Who are you calling?” he asked.

She looked at him, her eyes wide, “Johnny,” she replied. “He asked me to have dinner with him.”

He took the phone from her hand and placed the receiver back on the hook. “You can do that tomorrow,” he said smiling. “I’m having some naked hussy for dinner tonight.”

5

The phone on Jane’s desk began to ring. She picked it up. “Mr. Edge’s office.”

It was a woman’s voice that answered. A strange voice, husky and deep. “Mr. Edge in?”

Something inside Jane told her who it was even before she asked. “Who is calling?”

“Dulcie Warren,” the voice answered.

“Just a moment,” Jane said impersonally. “I’ll see if I can get him.” She turned the cut-off key closing the extension and pressed the buzzer on her desk.

She could hear it ring in Johnny’s office. His voice came on the wire: “Yes, Jane?”

“A Dulcie Warren is calling,” she told him.

There was a sudden lightness in the tone of his voice. “She is?” he exclaimed excitedly. “Put her on!”

She threw open the cut-off key. Her voice was cold. “Mr. Edge is on the wire. Go ahead, please,” she said coldly, flipping over the key that carried the call through into Johnny’s office.

A few minutes later Johnny came out of his office. His face looked flushed and happy. “A Miss Dulcie Warren will come here at noon. Let me know as soon as she comes in, I promised to show her the place.”

She made a note on her desk pad and looked up. “Anything else?” she asked sarcastically.

He missed the sarcasm in her voice. “No,” he answered, going back into his own office.

Jane was maliciously happy when an unexpected coast call from Peter came through just as she was ushering Dulcie into Johnny’s office.

He smiled apologetically at Dulcie, “I have to take this call,” he explained to her. “It’s from the boss.” He turned to Jane. “Hold the call for a minute and get Rock for me. He can show her around while I’m tied up.”

As Jane left his office she could hear Dulcie telling him that she wouldn’t mind waiting. The door closing behind her shut off Johnny’s reply.

The faint odor of Dulcie’s perfume still hung in the air as Jane furiously began to dial the interoffice phone, looking for Rocco. Dulcie was all that Jane thought she would be. Grudgingly Jane admitted to herself that Dulcie was beautiful. She could see why Johnny was attracted to her and she instinctively disliked her.

She finally located Rocco in the newsreel office. He came on the phone. She was so angry, the words spilled out of her mouth. “She’s here, Rock,” she said.

He was bewildered. “Who’s here?”

“She is. The girl Johnny’s been sending flowers to,” she explained. “Johnny wants you to come up here right away to show her around the place!”

He whistled slowly. “From the way you’re burning, she must be a knockout!”

“Don’t be silly, Rock,” she replied heatedly. “She doesn’t mean a thing to me.”

“Of course she doesn’t, Janey,” he said soothingly. “But I’ll be right up there to see for myself what she’s like!”

The phone went dead in her hand. The red light on her desk began to flicker on and off. That meant that Peter was getting tired of waiting. She pressed the buzzer. There wasn’t any answer from Johnny’s wire. She pressed it again.

This time Johnny answered. “Peter is still waiting,” she said.

He hesitated for a moment. “Sit down over there, Dulcie; Rock will be up in a moment,” she heard him say with his mouth away from the phone. Then his voice was louder: “All right, put him on.”

She turned the key down as Rock came into the office. He looked at her questioningly. She pointed with her hand to Johnny’s office. He went in, leaving the door open behind him.

“Rock,” she heard Johnny saying through the open door, “This is Miss Warren. Would you mind showing her around while I’m talking to Peter?”

She didn’t catch Rocco’s reply because just then Peter came on the phone. “Hello, Johnny,” he said.

“Yes, Peter,” she heard Johnny say into the phone she switched off her key and hung up the phone.

Rocco and Dulcie came into her office. He closed Johnny’s door behind him. There was a strange smile on his face as he brought Dulcie over to her desk.

“I’d like you to meet Miss Andersen, Johnny’s secretary,” he said politely. “Miss Andersen, this is Miss Warren.”

Dulcie smiled at her. Jane thought the smile was condescending and her dislike for Dulcie deepened. “I’m glad to meet you,” she said politely, not meaning a word of it.

Rocco took Dulcie’s arm and steered her toward the door. They stepped out. A few seconds later Rocco popped back into the office, alone. He looked at her and whistled softly. “No wonder Johnny’s standing on his ear.” He grinned mischievously at her. “What a babe!” He shook his head from side to side. “She sizzles when you touch her!”

Jane made a face at him. “You men are all alike.”

His grin grew broader. “I just came back to tell you not to worry ’bout me, baby. I’ll be true to you!” He turned to go out the door again and then stopped. His words floated back mockingly over his shoulder. “But poor Johnny—Oh!”

6

Dulcie knew that he was looking at her but she kept her face turned away from him, watching the dancers on the floor. The lights were soft, the music was sweet, and the dancers were moving slowly as if caught in a dream world of their own.

She was thinking about what Warren had said to her that morning before Cynthia had come into the room. “How are you making out with our big picture man?” he had asked mockingly.

“All right,” she had answered. “I think he’s trying to screw up enough courage to pop the question.”

He had grinned derisively at her. “You better turn on more charm, sugar,” he said, “or the fish will get off the hook. I see in the paper that he’s going to the studio in the morning.”

Johnny’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Dulcie.”

She turned and looked at him, her eyes wide and clear. “Yes, Johnny.”

He smiled apologetically at her. “I don’t suppose there’s much fun in it for you going to a dine-and-dance place with me.”

She knew what he meant and a sudden inexplicable wave of sympathy for him ran through her. She put her hand on his. “That’s not so, Johnny,” she said softly. “If I didn’t want to go with you, I wouldn’t be here.”

He turned his hand over and held hers. He looked down at her hand. It was thin and small-boned and soft in his. “It’s been very kind of you to spend so much time with me that last few weeks,” he said humbly, not looking up from the table.

She restrained a smile. “I wanted to, Johnny,” she replied.

He didn’t look up. His voice was still humble. “It’s meant a lot to me that you did,” he said. “It’s difficult for some people to understand how a guy like me feels. We watch people living and having fun and somehow we’re always on the sidelines, never in the crowd.” He looked up at her. His eyes were a dark blue and there was an honest warmth in them. “By being so kind, you’ve made me feel for a while like I was one of the crowd.”

“The fool,” she thought desperately. “Why doesn’t he say it and get it over with?” But she didn’t genuinely understand what he had been saying—that he felt he couldn’t ask her what he wanted to. She didn’t speak. She sat there waiting for him.

His eyes were still on her. “I like being with you,” he said. “And I’ll miss you.”

He didn’t ask her. The surprise she felt showed in her voice. “You’ll miss me?”

He looked at her. His heart leaped within him at the disappointment in her voice. “Yes,” he said. “Have you forgotten? I’m going to California in the morning.”

“Oh, Johnny,” she said, and this time there was genuine disappointment in her voice. “Must you go?”

He nodded his head. “I have to. Business.”

She tossed her head angrily. He liked the way her eyes flashed at him. “Sometimes I think that’s all you really care about! Business! The trouble with you is don’t know how to relax and have fun.”

He smiled at her. “A guy like me isn’t set up to have fun. All I can do is work.”

She leaned forward, her face very close to his. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself, Johnny!” Her lips parted a little, showing the white ends of her teeth. “You’re no different from anybody else! What happened was an accident and doesn’t really make any difference to anybody and shouldn’t to you.” She closed her eyes and waited for him to kiss her. “That should do it!” she thought triumphantly.

She felt his hand press hers and heard his voice. She opened her eyes, feeling a little ridiculous. “It’s kind of you to say that, Dulcie,” he was saying. “I won’t forget it.”

He looked at his watch. “My God, I didn’t realize it was this late!” He looked at her. “Ready to go?”

She looked back at him. For a moment anger flared through her. What the hell was he doing, she thought, playing with her? As quickly as the feeling had come, it vanished. No, he really meant what he was saying. He didn’t want to impose himself upon her. She took her lipstick from her evening bag. “I’m ready,” she said. “Be with you in a minute.”

They were silent in the cab on the way home. He paid the driver and followed her into the lobby. They waited silently for the elevator and rode up to her apartment.

He waited while she opened the door and then followed her into the foyer. There was a small light glowing and it cast a dim shadow over their faces. She turned to him.

He held his hat awkwardly in his hand. His free hand reached for hers. “So long, Dulcie,” he said.

She took his hand. “Will you be gone long, Johnny?” she asked wistfully.

“Till March,” he said.

“Oh,” she said disappointedly. “That’s a long time.”

He smiled at her. “It’s not so long, Dulcie. I’ll see you when I get back.”

She turned her face away from his in the darkness. “Maybe you won’t,” she said, her voice small and plaintive. “Warren wants me to go home and give up the idea of going on the stage.”

He watched her. His voice wasn’t steady when he finally spoke. “Maybe Warren has the right idea. It’s a pretty tough life.”

She turned her face toward his. In the dark it was glowing with an inner incandescence. True feeling rushed into her voice. “No, it isn’t right, I know it!” Her shoulders drooped helplessly. “But there isn’t anything I can do about it. I guess I’ll have to go home.”

He put his hand under her chin and turned her face up to his. His voice was sympathetic. “Don’t feel blue, Dulcie. If you really want something, you’ll get it.”

“Do you really think so, Johnny?” Her voice was excited. “I want to be an actress, a great actress. Do you think I will be?”

He looked down at her reassuringly. “You will be if you want it bad enough.”

She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. He almost stumbled in his surprise; then his arms went around her. She let her body press against him. “I don’t know what I’ll do without you, Johnny,” she said against his ear.

He drew away from her stiffly and looked at her. He was suddenly aware of his clumsiness. Coldly his mind told him that she couldn’t be interested in him. A man with only one leg. He felt a pain stab through his breast. All she could really do was feel sorry for him.