The Good Life

by Gordon Merrick

  He had walked what he judged to be about the right distance when he made out two dark patches on the pale sand. He slowed and approached cautiously. Nothing stirred in the silence.

  “Bet?” he said from a few feet away. There was a flurry of movement, and she was standing in front of him. His hands went out to her. She was naked.

  “Darling,” she exclaimed. “Thank heavens. Where’ve you been?”

  “Just wandering. Where’s Trevor?” The other dark patch was a pile of clothes.

  “Isn’t he with you?” He heard something in her voice that made it unconvincing. Something had happened.

  “The silly bastard left you here alone? Naked?” he demanded.

  “Well, so did you. He was with me when I came out. He said you’d swum away. The next thing I knew, he had gone. I assumed he was looking for you.”

  “That would’ve been pretty pointless in the dark.” He put an arm around her and sat her down on a towel beside him. She nestled against him. “You’re sure nothing happened?”

  “Like getting raped? Not that I noticed.”

  “Where does he live?”

  “Right back in there somewhere. I’ve always been driven, so I’ve never noticed exactly how to get there. It’s very near.”

  “He said he had a car at home. May be he went to get it. He doesn’t strike me as a kid who would just walk off without going through the ‘Good night and thank you’ routine.”

  “Quite. He’ll be back. He’s been gone only about ten minutes.”

  “I see.” He disengaged himself from her and jumped up, advancing carefully so as not to step on anything. He found his things but not Trevor’s. He was expected to believe that the boy had dressed a few feet away from her without her noticing. She knew that he’d gone and didn’t want to tell him why. “I don’t think he’ll be back.”

  He dropped down beside her again and lifted himself over her as her hands drew him to her.

  “I probably said something that made him feel he was in the way,” Bet said. “I was in agony wanting you to come back.”

  “I stayed away to give you a chance at a fortune.”

  “I want you,” she whispered as he began to enter her, her body strained up to him, taut with passion. “I want you so desperately. You’ve made me need you. When you’re in me I have everything. Take me. You can take anything you want. Can you feel it? I’m yours.”

  “I like to hear you say it. May be I’ll believe you when you’ve had a chance to prove it.”

  “When can we have our baby?”

  “Wait till you get to New York. Everything will be different there.”

  “Are we going to get married?”

  “We can dream.” From meeting to marriage in a day. They weren’t wasting any time. She was ridiculous but disarming. May be nothing had happened with Trevor. May be Trevor had been frightened by being alone and naked with her. He thought he would probably hear about it from Trevor.

  Perhaps because of Billy’s edict about chaperons, nobody emerged as a serious threat to Perry’s monopoly of her over the next few days. There was a small group of Monique’s friends in the neighborhood who became familiars, but Perry didn’t know if any of them were suitors. They all had impeccably formal French manners.

  He kept watching for Trevor but didn’t run into him. They went to dinner with Michael and Jeremy and Natasha in a charming old farmhouse on the road to the beach. They had dinner with Alexis and Hilda in their little seaside villa near the entrance to town. Billy’s bouillabaisse was a miracle of planning and a huge success. He had chosen a spot near a road so that people could come by car, and tables were set up under the trees while a mountain of sea monsters was cooked in a huge cauldron over an open fire on the beach. The stew was sublime. Trevor was conspicuously absent. It was becoming a nagging tease.

  Mado gave a spectacular party on July 14, which Bet reminded Perry was Bastille Day, the equivalent of the Fourth of July. There was a band in the garden and fireworks that put to shame anything he had ever seen in the States. Pablo Picasso was there. So was Trevor. Perry made a point of greeting him warmly in passing. He seemed shy and reserved, but Perry saw him dancing with Bet several times and assumed that normal relations had been reestablished.

  “Where’ve you been?” Perry asked when they encountered each other at one of several bars. “I was afraid you were avoiding us. I missed you at the fish fry.”

  Trevor’s smile for him reflected the same boyish infatuation that Perry had seen in him before. “You’re sweet. That was my loss. It won’t happen again. I say, Bet’s smashing, isn’t she?”

  “I think so. Having a good time?”

  “I’ve always loved Mado’s parties, ever since I was old enough to be invited to them. She knows everybody. You and Bet make it perfect. She didn’t say anything about me the other night?”

  “We both wondered why you’d run away. I thought you might disapprove of us.”

  “Because of being naked? Nobody thinks anything of it here. That’s just it. I had a cock stand after you left. I was so thrilled for it to happen with a girl that I got quite carried away. I can’t think what possessed me. Have you ever wanted to show it off? As soon as I’d called it to her attention, as it were, it collapsed utterly. I’ve never been so embarrassed and ashamed. She was sweet about it, but I owe you an apology.”

  “What for?”

  “Oh, I say. You were the chaperon. I behaved like a cad. Do forgive.”

  “Of course, if you promise not to drop out of sight again.”

  “Never. I’d gladly spend the rest of the summer with you — you and Bet. I always think of you two as together. I may have been thinking of you when I lost my head with her.”

  “I doubt if you were all that bad. She didn’t say a word.” He could understand why. It must be a shock for a girl to discover that guys couldn’t always keep it up. “You and Bet.” He replayed Trevor’s words in his head, and he realized that increasingly people were classifying them as a couple. It made the living arrangements on board seem pointless. People saw them together all day. Why shouldn’t they sleep together at night in private?

  Because of Billy, of course. Billy couldn’t allow his daughter to live in sin no matter who her lover was. For it to be Perry would violate his most deep-seated instincts about what was decent and permissible. Bet knew nothing of this and continued to tease him into relaxing his vigilance. It was difficult to remain as inflexible as he knew he should be when his own inclinations were on her side. On late nights after festive parties, it required a superhuman effort of will to let her go.

  He was creeping out of Bet’s cabin wearing his dressing gown early one morning when Sylvain emerged from around the staircase, grinning at him. Perry’s heart gave a leap of alarm, but he went on to his own cabin with Sylvain at his heels.

  They entered, and Sylvain closed the door behind them. Caught. He wasn’t surprised. He wondered if he should offer the sailor some money to forestall his going to Billy for a reward.

  “You’re having an affair with Miss Bettina,” Sylvain said with an ingratiating smile. “She’s a pretty girl. Wouldn’t you like to share her? I think she would enjoy it.”

  Perry breathed deeply and warned himself to go slow. He didn’t want him as an enemy. “Don’t annoy me,” he said evenly. “You won’t be around long if you do.”

  “What’s wrong? Aren’t you my friend? I know lots of men who share girls with their friends. It’s good. It’s fun for everybody.”

  “Listen,” Perry said, mastering his first wave of anger. He supposed it was the sort of thing sailors would do with their casual girls. He was indignant over Bet’s being placed in that category. “If you try anything with Miss Bettina, you’ll regret it.”

  Sylvain’s smile faded. “I doubt it. The boss wouldn’t like to hear about his daughter. I know quite a lot about him that he wouldn’t want his daughter to know. I don’t go in for blackmail, but I can take care of myself. You understand?�
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  Perry saw the menace in the handsome face and was acutely aware of Billy’s vulnerability. Was blackmail commonplace to the rich? Was Billy used to dealing with it? His fists slowly relaxed as he realized that he was getting into something that might be dangerous.

  “Okay,” he said. “What good would it do you to tell Mr. Vernon? He’ll pay attention if I tell him you deserve a big present at the end of the trip. I’m sorry if I sounded like I could have you fired if I felt like it. Why should I want to do that? Forget it. Let’s all just relax.” He forced himself to smile and pat Sylvain’s shoulder. “You don’t need my help to get a girl.”

  The tactic seemed to work. He saw his adversary hesitate for a wary moment, and then his suspicions passed, and he smiled without calculation. “Don’t worry. I can keep a secret.”

  To demonstrate that he wasn’t worried about getting caught, Perry added, “She’s much more scared of what her mother may hear than of her father.”

  Sylvain stopped at the door and looked back with a confident smile. “Her mother lives at the Lombardy Hotel, 111 East 56th Street in New York.” He left with an irritating little swagger, closing the door gently behind him.

  Perry fell into bed with a sigh. Settling the mounting score with his fists would have given him some satisfaction, but the privileged didn’t go in for rough stuff. Seeming to bargain for Bet made him feel dirty, however.

  No more nocturnal visits. They were just a reminder to Sylvain of what he was missing. Perry thought he understood how the sailor’s mind worked. He felt he had a right to what others had. If nobody was having Bet, he might well give up. So nobody was going to have her on the boat. Perry was responsible for her. He was also responsible now for handling Sylvain tactfully so that he wouldn’t become an active danger. Bet complicated life.

  They were invited for drinks by the heir to the Swedish throne, who was an old friend of Billy’s and had an inconspicuous villa on the sea near Saint-Maxime. He was staying incognito with a mistress, and he called himself Mr. Augustus. Perry noticed him here and there, a very fit-looking, personable man with a hearty, self-confident manner. Perry guessed he was about forty. His party was small, and before it was over he was in hot pursuit of Bet. The mistress looked in a murderous mood. Perry thought Mr. Augustus was too old to be taken seriously.

  “Did Augustus ask you for dinner?” Billy asked Bet in the car on the way home.

  “Yes, day after tomorrow,” Bet replied. “I think that’s when we’re supposed to go to the Courtlands’, but I’ve never been invited out by royalty before. I thought I should say yes.”

  “He very correctly asked me if he could invite you. I told him that American girls decided such things for themselves but that I never let you go anywhere unchaperoned. He assured me that it would be a very respectable gathering with three other couples. Your mother will be delirious with joy.”

  “Yes. I accepted for her, really.” Bet made a little face and shrugged. “He said he’d send an aide to fetch me.”

  Perry remained silent, resigning himself to not being consulted. The life she had been intended to lead would inevitably take her away from him. He couldn’t compete with royalty. In spite of his resentment, he was dazzled for her.

  Missing her at dinner with the Courtlands was like a sickness; its violence shocked him. Trevor looked as if he were yearning to offer comfort, but Perry wanted Bet.

  He shared a couple of calming pipes with Billy when they got home and began to see some point in the drug. It didn’t take his thoughts off Bet, but it did make those thoughts less tormenting.

  He was back on deck when she returned. It wasn’t late by local standards, not yet 1 o’clock. He hurried her forward to get away from Sylvain’s watchful eyes, and they sank onto the cushions where they usually sunbathed. They were immediately clasped in a long kiss of reunion. It was a bit risky with so many lights around, but he didn’t think anybody could see much more than their dark shapes.

  “I didn’t know I’d be so miserable without you,” he said when they broke apart.

  “Did you miss me, darling? How adorable of you. You know I hated it. Was dinner nice?”

  “Nothing’s much of anything without you. Trevor was sweet.”

  “I’m sure he loved having you all to himself. Mine was a bit stodgy. I do believe Augustus is quite mad about me.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me. What about his lady friend?”

  “She wasn’t there. She’d gone away somewhere. He asked me to come again at the end of the week.”

  “Are you going?”

  “Well, it’s rather a lark. Aiming at a throne puts fortune hunting in a different class. Mummy would never forgive me if I missed the chance of being the queen of Sweden.”

  “That is something to think about. I wish you’d pick a country that sounds like more fun.”

  “Oh, there’s nothing wrong with Sweden. A bit cold May be, but I’d have lovely furs.”

  “Isn’t that where they have daylight all night and everybody commits suicide?”

  “Don’t be depressing, or I won’t invite you to my coronation. Actually, I think they drink.”

  “Will you wear a fur-lined crown?”

  “Of course. With ear flaps.”

  They laughed and hugged and kissed some more. “If I give up my throne, will you come to bed with me?” she asked.

  “Sylvain is still prowling. Please, honey. It’s out of the question.”

  She made an exasperated sound in her throat. “There’s only one thing to do with you, Mr. Langham.” She made a protracted attempt at opening his pants. He held her wrists to prevent her from freeing his erection completely from the cover of clothes. “My royal scepter,” she murmured with a giggle as she dropped over it and made love to it with her mouth.

  “God, honey,” he muttered, feeling his will weakening.

  He forced himself to remain alert for danger. The dark was almost complete enough for safety. No light fell directly on them. They could undoubtedly be seen from the covered deck, but nobody could see what they were doing without coming to look. Even Sylvain wasn’t likely to do that.

  Ecstasy was beginning to grip him. She wanted him enough to take risks. She was his girl. He couldn’t resist. “God, what bliss. You’re making me come,” he murmured. He’d kill her if she ever did this for anybody else.

  Her second dinner with her royal suitor fell on one of the few evenings when Billy had made no plans for them, and Perry decided to leave it at that. They agreed that it would be a pleasant change to relax in private. Perry had to admit to himself that the thought of sharing a couple of pipes with Billy counted in his decision. He really didn’t want to get hooked on the stuff, but in an almost unnoticeable way it made him feel good, able to ride above life’s little trials — such as missing Bet.

  Bet was picked up by what she called an aide, as she had been the first time, and she went off looking beautiful and full of mischief.

  As he lingered with Billy over an elaborate dinner on deck, Perry began to get restless for the pipe. He hadn’t expected to miss her as much as he had the first time, but he did, May be even more. He was crazy. She was leading her own life as he’d known she would. She might not seriously hope to become the queen of Sweden, but he wouldn’t be surprised if she made an all-out try.

  That damn gadget Monique had given her was too convenient for her own good. He began to get angry with Bet for imagined wrongs. He was letting her dominate his life. The hell with her. A pipe with Billy would smooth everything out. Next time he would plan a gay evening for himself.

  The two pipes, which was all he allowed himself, helped a great deal, but he was still restless. Billy was in the mood to smoke longer, but he didn’t protest when Perry said that he thought he should stick to the limit.

  When Billy started a fresh pipe, Perry said good night and returned to the deck. He asked Sylvain for a drink and took it to the stern and leaned against the rail, watching the activities on the por
t. It wasn’t too early to begin to hope for Bet’s return.

  He sipped his drink, grateful that the awful yearning tension in his body had been eased. He could wait. He wished he didn’t have to wait with Sylvain. If he didn’t talk to him, he might take offense, but he didn’t want to talk to the son of a bitch. Trevor knew about Bet’s date and had said he might stop by. Perry hesitated to encourage the boy for fear of misunderstandings, but Perry would be glad to see him now. He couldn’t stand with his back turned to Sylvain much longer.

  Perry saw a small roadster slowly weaving its way through the strollers, but the light wasn’t right for him to see if it was Trevor’s blue one. It continued on its halting course along the quay until it was abreast of the yacht. Trevor was at the wheel. They waved cheerily.

  “Can I come aboard?” he called.

  “Come on,” Perry called back.

  Trevor pulled the car out of the traffic’s flow and parked haphazardly, then crossed to the gangplank. He came loping up, and Perry threw an arm around him to welcome him. He liked the way his young body felt, boyish and slightly immature but well-built.

  “Is Bet back?” he asked.

  “Not yet,” Perry replied.” She should be soon. Come keep me company. Have a drink.”

  “I wouldn’t say no if it’s no trouble.”

  Sylvain brought them drinks, and they sat. Trevor never flirted. He simply looked at Perry with his big soft eyes brimming with acquiescence. His blond head was a treat. He had a delicately chiseled nose and sculptured lips and the incredibly long lashes that made his eyes shadowy pools of invitation.

  “I hope you don’t mind my coming,” Trevor said. “Tell me to go when you feel like it.”

  “I’ve been hoping for you. I wanted some company.”

  A charming flush suffused Trevor’s cheeks, and he looked pleased. “Really? That’s super. I can’t imagine your being alone for long. You’re so sexy. Everybody says so, even my parents.”

  Perry chuckled. “What am I supposed to say to that?”

  “Don’t pay any attention. I have the most embarrassing tendency to say anything that comes into my head with you. I wish I’d had the chance to show you my house the other night, but I didn’t dare take you away from the others.”