Love Against Duty

chapter 8

Queen baby, are you there? It was Austin's voice; she quickly stepped out from the window blind and smiled up at him, every copper fair hair in place and seemingly as calm as a moonlight lake. Darling, are you hiding from me? His smile was c**k-eyed as he admired her composed face. He held out her long red stripe suede coat, and when she stood there quietly so he could adjust it so the high, firm neckline enclosed her slim neck, it didn't show at all that her heart was still beating faster than Austin had ever made it beat.

Shall we go home? He said. Yes, I'm good to go. She walked with him, calmly and elegantly, from the games room of Bugatti. As they passed the restaurant, she didn't know it was that late, as the music band was already packing up their instruments and the waiters were clearing and cleaning the tables. There was a scent and a lingering feeling of excitement in the air. Couples and lovers kissed and called goodnight, and car doors slammed in the driveway. And Queen heard it all in a kind of dream.

They went outside to the parking lot where Austin parked his car, and in keeping with the general nostalgia, Austin drives a black Benz, and Queen thought how very boyish he looked tonight, with his chestnut hair combed back and with the security light outside the club house catching his candid brown eyes. In you go, darling. He opened the front door and assisted her into the car. And she felt his eyes scan across her face. Didn't you enjoy our outing tonight, Queen? He was just a little worried. Of course, I did. She smiled up at him and thought to herself that she had had an amazing time and couldn't still believe that she had been prepositioned by a man who was the opposite of Austin in every possible way. He moved around the car and slid into the driving seat beside her. Above them, the overhead light slowly beamed, shining on Queen's hair above the collar of her coat.

I thought you might have gotten a bit bored because Jerry and I were discussing the next game at the public field. You do go for the game, don't you, baby? I know you only watch and don't participate; he broke into a slow smile and his teeth were well kept as the rest of him, but sometimes I do get the feeling that you would like to play as much as you watched. Is a very dangerous game, Sugar.

Sugar. a simple enough endearment, and yet Queen felt the spin of a nerve somewhere in her stomach, and she heard again in her mind a deeper, more mature voice saying that same word and giving it an accent that was far from casual. A taste of sugar, he had said. Irons to bend and fire to walk through... such tough ideas didn't match Austin's life, for his parent's wealth ensured that he was in every way the end result of the great American ideal. Refined, attractive, courteous and sport-loving. Sometimes women should take risks, she said quietly. At least to feel alive.

You're alive enough for me. He laughed out loud as he started the car, and he was too distracted to understand the deeper meaning of her words. I guess you're just a bit moody, but tonight you looked really stunning, and it makes a man happy and proud to have his very own dream. I'm sweeping and whistling. We don't want the devil to play any tricks on us, do we? He tapped his palm against the steering wheel, and once again Queen felt that nut turning inside her, and his mention of the devil made her shudder.

Are you cold, baby? Austin shot a side-glance at her. You woman wear light clothes a lot; that's part of the problem. I say, don't catch cold, just as we have that big match coming up and I'm all set to score goals for the team. I want you at the stand, looking sweet and cheering me on. queen pulled her coat tightly around her. I'm perfectly all right, Austin. You know I'm not one of those hot-blooded females.

No, you're my snow queen and I like it that way. Did you see Emily Jones tonight, looking very-naughty with that small, flimsy dress that was meant for little girls she wore and shamelessly flirting with James? I hope he will speed up his marriage process with sweet Emma before the Jones woman puts him in trouble. Oh, Austin, Queen couldn't hold her laugh; you do sound prim and proper at times! I thought men liked and enjoyed experienced women. Maybe, but not openly and also not in front of their friends, he said awkwardly. Everyone knows she plays about behind her husband's back, and I would've given her a good hiding if she were mine. I hope not to get tied up with someone like her. She is like a man who can't hold his liquor.

You mean she is loose. As loose a cat, he said, turning the Benz into the beach road, where far below the water lay still under the moon. This was a stretch of road that curved like a fish baiting hook, lifting ahead of them and then falling below the wheels with a posh of smooth, precision driving. Austin was expert at everything that required good coordination; he possessed a kind of skill in which clumsiness had no part. What if you're like Robert Jones and love someone like Emily? Queen fixed her eyes on Austin's profile as she asked the question, and the moon light flickered on his smooth, tanned skin. Love is supposed to make us tolerant, isn't it? It isn't supposed to make blind fools of us, he replied. In the first place, I will never be attracted to an over-heated female like Emily, and secondly, there is more to love than being physically obsessed by someone because you don't care about what your family or friends think of the woman as a person. There is no pleasure in that kind of relationship