Carla by Lawrence Block Read Free Book Online Page A

would sway the jury, she had to be more careful than ever to keep anyone from uncovering the affair she was having with Charles. If Ronald’s opponents discovered and let the news leak out, the case would be lost—and so would her marriage. In addition, she gathered that a good deal of Ronald’s capital was invested with his client—and the loss of the case would greatly cut down his fortune.
    Besides all this, another of her hopes was dashed. She had thought from the beginning of the possibility of divorcing Ronald and marrying Charles. Ronald would give her a divorce; of that she was relatively certain. And, if she knew anything about men, Charles would marry her. But now a divorce was out of the question for the time being. It would ruin Ronald, and that was not her intention at all.
    However, these facts didn’t worry her to any great extent. She had enjoyed her interlude with Charles tremendously and planned to repeat it regularly, but she could go on without marrying him.
    At least that was what she thought.
    That afternoon, however, she wasn’t so sure. She had expected to be more accustomed to Charles’ lovemaking and less moved by it the second time, but quite the reverse was true. Every touch, every measured caress was even newer and more thrilling than before. Her passion mounted to a new peak and the fulfillment came to her with an almost audible explosion, moving and shaking her and bringing her an overpowering sense of relaxation and joy.
    Afterwards, she lay in the bed holding him to her breast. Suddenly struck with the desire to unburden herself, she found herself telling him everything about her. She talked of her slum childhood and of the first time she gave herself to a boy, and she spoke of every important event in her life from that time until they had met. All that she omitted was the one incident with the garage attendant. It seemed too trivial to mention, and the memory of it stirred her a little and frightened her.
    Charles listened to it all without commenting. Then, when she had finished, he began to tell her about himself. The difference in their backgrounds was astounding. While she had been continually deprived, he had enjoyed an abundance of everything.
    â€œHow many women have you made love to?” she asked suddenly.
    â€œI don’t know,” he said. “Too many, perhaps.”
    â€œTell me about the first time.”
    â€œWell, I was terrible young at the time. Just 14. We had a frightfully attractive serving-girl, a brunette with sulky eyes and huge hips and breasts. I was just starting to think rather deeply about sex, and I suppose she noticed the way I kept looking at her from time to time.
    â€œAt any rate, she came to my room one evening when the rest of the family was sleeping. I was half asleep myself and I thought I was dreaming. God knows I dreamed enough about her! She walked right over to my bed, slipped off her robe, and climbed into bed with me. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.”
    â€œWas it … good?”
    He kissed her breast tenderly. “It was wonderful, Carla. She was much better than I was—I shudder to think how gauche and inept I must have been. But she was back the next night and the night after that, and I suppose I must have learned rather rapidly.”
    â€œWhat happened to her?”
    â€œShe left after a while. I learned a few years later that Dad had hired her for that purpose and I hadn’t seduced her at all. He paid her a few hundred dollars a week to accommodate me and let her go when he figured I was broken in. Why are you laughing?”
    â€œBecause it’s funny. He must have been quite a man.”
    â€œHe was a fool,” Charles said softly. “But in some respects he was a very wise man.”
    He fell silent then and began to kiss her with an increasing intensity, his hands roaming over her body and exciting her. And then he took her a second time, almost violent