"That's great," he said cheerfully, "Now you can drink and have dinner with me!"
"I'm afraid not," she replied. "You're my employer and a married man, I'm sure, so it wouldn't be right."
"Say – you're a real country girl, aren't you?" he laughed. "All right, no strings attached, even though you are the loveliest thing I've seen.
I promise that I'll be good,, but please join me for dinner!"
The way he said it. it sounded almost like a plea, his eyes were downcast, and for the first time… shy. In spite of his ruggedness, he had a boyish quality about him that she did find attractive and where else did she have to go except back to the hotel?
"All right," she laughed. "I'll have dinner with you, as you say, I can't afford to buy my own, but no more, then I really do have to go. I must wake up early, you know!"
"It's a deal!"
He reached across the table and took her hand and squeezed it, more like a father than a lover, and she felt that perhaps in some way she really was doing him a favor.
They had several more drinks before they left for dinner, and Gillian felt all dizzy by the time they got out of the pub.
"I've made reservations at a Chinese restaurant I know, hope you'll like it"
"I like Chinese food," she told him as he helped her with her coat – actually, she had never tasted it before.
He hailed a taxi and gave the driver the address. At least I won't have to walk tonight, she thought.
The restaurant was in a small hotel in Picadilly and completely decorated in exquisite Chinese style and everything typical of how she had pictured an Oriental place.
"I live here when I spend my nights in town," Mr. Wiles volunteered, " and before you get nervous, they do happen to have the best Chinese food in town!"
She was in a part of London she knew nothing about, and his comment had indeed made her feel apprehensive, but his manner was so cool that she decided that she could always take a taxi back to the residence hotel or ask someone where she could get a bus when dinner was over.
"If you don't mind, let me order for yon," he told her, snapping his fingers for the waiter.
"Not at all," she said, and he ordered their meal and two bottles of a special Chinese liquor – very light, he assured her.
She had never drunk so much as she had in the past two days, at least not in a row, and her head was light again, but. didn't seem to bother her tonight the way it had the night before.
The impeccably dressed and starched little waiter gravely poured the colorless liquid and Mr. Wiles toasted her then sipped his own drink.
"Many happy days," he said, as she took her first taste of the stranger liquorice-flavored beverage. It didn't taste like it had any alcohol in it at all, but she had never drunk much except on special occasions.
They finished the bottle before the dinner arrived, and by now, Gillian wasn't sure that she could eat very much, she felt so gay, so carefree that food didn't matter.
"I feel marvellous, Mr. Wiles," she told him.
"Call me Tony," he corrected, "It's after hours!"
"Alright, Tony, I feel marvellous!"
She barely picked at her food, her appetite had completely disappeared with the drinks and she felt ever well-disposed. Tony was studying her, following her every movement as he had when he interviewed her, watching her hands, her mouth, her eyes, then letting his eyes drop to her fully rounded bosom. He was clenching his wine glass as though he were afraid that someone would take it away from him and she could see the whiteness of his knuckles.
"You know," he told her, "I've never had more enjoyable company before."
There was an urgency in his voice that she had not detected before and suddenly she felt as though perhaps he wanted to talk to her about something that she really shouldn't know.
"Oh, I'm sure you've known many women," she laughed. "Besides, you don't even know me."
"But I do know you," he interrupted, "I know everything I have you know just by looking at you."
"How's that?" she asked, a bit more brazen now from the numerous drinks she had consumed.
"You are a very warm person, your voice, your body, your carriage belies what you say."
"I don't understand," she said sincerely, "What do you mean, Tony?"
"You've told me that you were divorced and you try to be very cold, but I can tell that basically you've been hurt, badly hurt and that you're trying to cover it up. You've got more heart than many women walking around these cold, dismal streets."
She smiled at him, knowing that perhaps it was just a line to him, but deep inside it was the truth… she was a warm person, she wasn't… she couldn't be frigid!
"You're very erudite," she answered, "I think I'm a warm person, I like people."
"Oh no, it goes much deeper than that," he smirked, knowing that he had broken the ice to her real feelings.
She listened while he told her that he had not been happy with his wife for several years, but she had been prepared for this she knew that every married man used this old, worn-out clichй… and it always worked!
Of course, as usual, what she was not prepared for was that he sounded so sincere, so honest, so lost. He told her that his wife had denied him his husbandly privileges, and that he was sure she would understand because she had been married.
Her heart went out on to him and she symphathized with herself, feeling sure that this was that her own husband told his girlfriend. Oh, how the mere thought of it hurt!
"Women don't have the same needs as men," she quoted, convinced that she was right, because this clichй was what she had been instilled since her earliest childhood, and therefore believed, "so don't be too hard on her, Tony."
"You don't really believe that, do you, Gillian?" he queried. "I wasn't making unnatural demands on her, I just wanted her. I've given her everything she could want financially, and all I asked was some love and affection."
His voice was becoming slurred from the drinks, but everything that he told her was touching her most sensitive spots.
"I do understand," she lied, not knowing what else to say for fear she would sound like an idiot.
The waiter cleared the table and poured the remaining second bottle of the strange delicious liquor into their glasses, when Tony excused him- self for a moment. She saw him speaking to the head waiter who nodded then walked to the bar. When he returned, he sat down next to her rather than in his own chair, cornering her into the booth.
"I've ordered you something special for after dinner because you've been so patient and listened to me and just because you've been you, my dear Gillian.'' "I really should go now," she interjected, looking at her watch and trying to exit gracefully.
"Just a few more minutes and I'll take you home, but you must try this drink first… boss' orders!"
He laughed slightly and grasped her hand where it lay in her lap. His hand was warm and strong on hers and she could feel an urgency permeate through his body to hers, yet she didn't take her hand away. He leaned over and kissed her cheek, then her neck and she could feel a chill of excitement shiver her whole being.
She shouldn't let him kiss her, but she felt so relaxed and he seemed so unhappy that she was powerless to help herself. His affection made her feel like a woman again, a woman desired and wanted, but when his fingers stroked the smooth silk of her stocking just above her knee, she tried to pull away.
"You're so lovely," he murmured in her ear, "so very lovely."