FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70  
71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   >>   >|  
e voice? Here is a chance for real detective work, if you can double the game, and capture me?" was the laughing retort. "I don't believe you trust me." The girl stood up before him, and after one deep look, her eyes fell before his. Those exquisite lashes sent a tiny flutter through the case-hardened heart of the club man, despite his desperate determination to be a Stoic. "I do trust you," the voice was impetuous, almost petulant. "You are a real man: I merely give you credit for being better than the class of rich young men of whom you pretend to be an absolute type. But there, I waste words and time. Is my costume for this little opera boufe satisfactory to you? Do you like my warpaint and battle armor?" She stood before him, a glorious bird of paradise. The wanton display of a maddening curve of slender ankle, through the slash of the clinging gown imparted just the needed allurement to stamp her as a Vestal of the temple of Madness. The cunning simplicity of the draping over her shoulders--luminous with the iridiscent gleam of ivory skin beneath, accentuated by the voluptuous beauty of her youthful bosom--the fleeting change of colors and contours as she slowly turned about in this maddening soul-trap of silk and laces--all these were not lost on the senses of Shirley. As the depths of those blue eyes opened before his gaze, a mad, a ridiculous aching to crush her in his arms, surprised the professional consulting criminologist! For this swift instant, all memory of the Van Cleft case, of every other problem, was driven from his mind, as a blinding blast of seething desire surged about him. Then the old resolution, the conquering will of the man of one purpose, beat back the flames of this threatening conflagration. His eyes narrowed, his hands dropped to his side, and he squinted at her with the frigid dissective gaze of an artist studying the curves of a model. "You must rouge your cheeks more, blue your eyelids and redden your lips even yet. Then be generous with the powder--and that wonderful perfume." An inscrutable smile played about the sensitive lips, as Helene turned to her dressing-table. Shirley stood with his face to the window; he did not observe it, nor would he have understood its menace to his own peace of mind. Helene, however, did. She was a woman. "May I smoke a cigarette? I am afraid I am almost a fiend, for I seem to crave the foolish comfort that I imagine they give, in times of
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70  
71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

maddening

 

Shirley

 

Helene

 

turned

 

seething

 
blinding
 

resolution

 

flames

 

threatening

 
conflagration

purpose

 
surged
 

driven

 

conquering

 

desire

 

surprised

 

professional

 

aching

 

ridiculous

 

depths


opened

 

consulting

 

criminologist

 

memory

 

instant

 

senses

 

problem

 

cheeks

 

understood

 

menace


window

 
observe
 

comfort

 

foolish

 

imagine

 
cigarette
 

afraid

 

dressing

 

sensitive

 

studying


artist

 

curves

 

dissective

 

frigid

 

dropped

 

squinted

 
perfume
 

inscrutable

 

played

 

wonderful