Dazzle The Complete Unabridged Trilogy (91 page)

Still, there were some ordinary pleasures she did not have
to sacrifice, and none pleased her more than doing absolutely
nothing. What few idle hours she could call her own each
week, she guarded jealously, and tried to spend either in the
garden or at the poolside. There she felt safe from groping
hands, screaming mouths, and prying eyes. The landscaped
grounds provided both privacy and security, thanks to a ten-
foot-high wall
and
a twelve-foot-high hedge. She had grown
to love the big rambling house and its generous, protective
grounds. Here she felt safe. Secure. And at home.

The walls kept the world at bay.

She would have been content to live here forever and never
leave.

Louis sprang the surprise on her on a sunny Tuesday afternoon
in late May 1932. It was an artist's dream day. The sky was
clear, uniform blue with only the slightest edge of haze. The
temperature had climbed into the high eighties, and the
garden was in full, riotous bloom. Butterflies flitted sound
lessly among the delphiniums, dutiful bees buzzed from flower
to flower to collect their precious nectar, and an occasional
hummingbird hovered delicately, its wings moving so swiftly
that they were an almost invisible blue.

Tamara lay contented on the rattan chaise under her favour
ite jacaranda tree. The rattan table beside her held a half-
full glass of iced tea and a sweating glass pitcher. She lazed
luxuriantly, her lips half-smiling. She was reading
The Good
Earth,
by Pearl Buck, which had been published the previous
year but which she was only getting around to reading now,
and she was engrossed in it. It was the perfect afternoon for
reading, and for once she could relax completely. For this day,
at least, she hadn't a worry in the world. Bifocals halfway
down her nose, Inge was seated in the shade of a tilted, fringed
parasol nearer the pool, catching up on her mending.

Turning a page, Tamara heard the quickening click of
leather heels on the flagstone path and knew that Louis had
returned from the mysterious mission he had departed on
more than two hours earlier.

'I'm back!' he announced unnecessarily as he ducked
beneath the jacaranda branches. He bowed low in front of her
and with a flourish produced a long-stemmed day lily from behind his back. He proffered it formally. 'Madam?' he said
somberly.

She plucked the lily from between his fingers and held it to
her nose, inhaling its fragrance, her eyes never leaving his.
She wondered what her handsome husband had been up to.
There was a gleam in his eyes, a barely subdued excitement
which glowed on his face.

'Hi,' she grinned, waggling her fingers lazily at him. Her
nose still in the lily, she cast him one of those seductive up-and-over looks for which she was so famous on-screen.
'What's up?'

'Come on, get dressed,' he urged breathlessly. 'We're going
for a spin. I have a surprise to show you.'

'Louie!' she protested, marking her place in
The Good
Earth
with the lily stalk and putting the book down in the grass. 'It's so peaceful here. Just listen for a moment.' She
paused. 'What do you hear? Birds? Crickets? Leaves rustling
in the breeze?' She opened her eyes and they were filled with
a peculiar, pleading brightness. 'Can't the surprise wait?' She
reached out for his hand.

He stepped back obstinately and thrust his hands into his
jacket pockets, his lips setting into a thin, strained line of
annoyance.

She sighed and rolled her head sideways, away from him.
Now she had upset him, but she felt that if anyone should have
been upset, it was she. He knew how much this peace and
quiet meant to her. She had just finished shooting
Razzmatazz
the previous Friday, and it was her customary week off
between pictures—on this occasion a single week extended to
a lavish, unheard-of three entire glorious weeks, twenty-one
magnificent days in all, a well-deserved vacation she and Louis
had had to fight tooth and nail to receive. Now, after she had
looked foward to rejuvenating herself at home without ever having to be seen in public for any reason, Louis wanted her
to leave her oasis. It wasn't fair.

'Louis, I'm enjoying myself,' she explained quietly. 'So is
Inge. Why don't you grab a swimsuit and join us? You know, this is the first time I've managed to sit down and read a book
in over a year. At least one that doesn't have something to do
with making movies.'

'This is important to me,' he said softly. 'It's something I've
done for . . . us.'

'Honey, I'm sorry,' she said contritely. 'You must think me
a monstrous bitch, and with good reason. Of course I'll be glad to come.' She reached out, tugged one of his hands out
of his pocket, and held it. 'I should be grateful for every oppor
tunity we're together. Where are we going, anyway?'

He shook his head. 'Can't tell you that.'

'Because it's a surprise.' She laughed.

'Because it's a surprise,' he agreed.

And it was: twelve and a half acres of prime undeveloped
hilltop overlooking Los Angeles and miles of coastline below
to the west, and the rugged Santa Ana Mountains rising to the
east.

'But . . . there's nothing here!' Tamara said in puzzlement
as they got out of the car to wade through the dry, bur-
infested, knee-high brush.

'
That's the beauty of it,' Louis said excitedly. 'Don't you
see? It's virgin land. Ours to do with as we damn please. Here's
where we'll build our home.' His eyes glowed with excitement.
'Just think—it'll be
our
home, not a house that used to belong
to someone else. It'll be everything that
we
want it to be. Isn't
it beautiful?'

She gazed around, doing a complete turn, and nodded.
They were standing on the flat two-acre crest of the hill, and
the rest of the property rolled gently downhill before it
dropped off sharply beyond the property line. There was a
dry, rock-strewn creekbed which attested to heavy runoff dur
ing the rainy season, and Tamara was startled when a fright
ened hare burst out of the dry weeds and hopped away.
Overhead, a large bird circled silently. The view was incred
ible, uninterrupted for 360 degrees all around. Looking in
three directions, you actually felt you were in the middle of a
wilderness—there wasn't a house as far as the eye could see—
but the view of Los Angeles sprawling below in the fourth
direction told you that you hadn't left civilization completely.
It was the best of both worlds, and natural and unspoiled.
Except for its treelessness, she loved the property on sight.

'Let me guess,' she said slyly, kicking at a pebble in the
creek bed. 'You've already bought it?' Her head was tucked
down and she peered sideways at him, her hands in her trouser
pockets. A warm breeze lifted the platinum curls sticking out
from under her sharply angled beret.

'Uh-huh. Got the deed right here.' He flashed her a white
grin and patted his breast pocket. 'Signed, sealed, and deliv
ered. Took three weeks of negotiation and I got the price
down some, but it didn't come cheap because the owners
didn't really need to sell. But it's worth every penny. Look at
the location.' He pointed down to the flat expanse of Los
Angeles sprawling below. 'With the city spreading further and
further out all the time, there's no telling how valuable this
property's going to be in the future. Another few years and
we probably wouldn't be able to touch it for twenty times as
much as we paid for it. Property values are going to skyrocket,
you wait and see. The Depression can't go on forever.'

'I suppose you're right.' She paused and studied the terrain.
'It's going to be expensive to build here,' she mused aloud.
'We'll have to start off by bringing a road in from the turn-
off . . .'

'I know that. And we'll have to have the property walled in
for privacy. And the house won't be cheap, either, but you'll be crazy about
it.
It already looks great on the blueprints.'

'What!' She spun half-around, her eyes flashing silver. 'Louie, do you mean to tell me that you went ahead and had a house designed without even consulting me?'

'Well, yes,' he said, shifting uncomfortably. 'I know what
you need and like better than anyone. And I know what I need
and like too. Listen, don't get upset. I know you like the house
we're renting now, but I guarantee you'll love this one a whole
lot more. You'll have a garden like you wouldn't believe.
It'll make the Garden of Eden and the Hanging Gardens of
Babylon look like weed patches by comparison.' He grinned.

'You did all this behind my back,' she said accusingly.

'Tamara, you're making this sound like some sort of Greek
tragedy.'

'Maybe it is.'

'No, it's not. I wanted this to be a surprise, that's all. I only
went behind your back because you're so busy that you don't
have the time to do half the things you want. I just wanted to
make things easier on you. If you want, we'll forget about the house and put the property up for sale. It's not worth having
if it's going to come between us. I don't want us to fight.'

'Neither do I,' Tamara said quietly, melting at his words.
'I'm sorry I reacted the way I did. It was just
...
a momentary
shock.' She attempted an awkward smile. 'I behaved stupidly.'

She raised her head and looked into his face. His eyes were
bright in his strong tanned face. She felt a hypnotic pull in
them, like the tide tugged at by the mysterious forces of the
moon. He took her face in his hands and gently tilted it further
upward. Then his lips descended.