The Manse by Lisa W. Cantrell

Author:Lisa W. Cantrell [Cantrell, Lisa W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 1987-11-01T05:00:00+00:00

The Jaycee New Year’s Eve party was pushing toward the midnight countdown with all the finesse, style, and grace of a Sherman Tank Worley—a roaring success, literally. The party roared around the small comer table where Samantha and Ted, and Dood and his lady, Jill Willis, had set up camp.

Dood and Jill were dancing; Samantha toyed with the gin and tonic she’d been sipping for the past hour or so, rubbing a sliver of lime back and forth around the rim of her glass. The ice had long since melted, making the drink a facsimile of the tart highball she’d started out with.

“Freshen that?”

Samantha looked up into Ted Nathan’s quiet gray eyes, realizing he’d been watching her. She smiled and shook her head. She’d had enough, enough of it all, actually—the liquor, the noise, the forced gaiety that she’d tried to uphold all evening. The episode at The Manse this morning hung like a rain cloud over the balance of her day, dripping omens at every turn. She’d been pulled around in circles, by Dood, who appeared totally convinced that Pearl Rollins’s farfetched horror tale was truly happening; by Ted, who was equally convinced they were crazy to even entertain such a notion; and then by the Beaufort Twins, who had somehow merged with the enigma.

“Samantha?” Ted’s voice probed gently.

“Ted, would you mind terribly if we got out of here?” Samantha heard the strain in her voice. She hated it, hated being like this tonight when she’d so looked forward to this party and to sharing it with Ted. But, dammit, she wanted to go home!

“I don’t mind at all,” he told her, standing, smiling down at her as the music from the rock group on the dais blazed around them, drowning out further attempts at conversation.

Samantha picked up her evening bag and was in the process of rising when Dood and Jill returned to the table. Dood’s expression looked like Samantha felt, and Jill seemed slightly bewildered. No doubt she was; she’d listened to some pretty wild speculation tonight, and Dood had been more interested in trying to sway Ted’s opinion and secure Samantha’s support than attempting to explain this fixation to his date. Samantha felt a little sorry for Jill. Dood would sure owe her one after this evening.

“We’re gone, L.J.,” she said as Dood looked at her” his eyes a question. “I’ve had it for this year.”

He nodded, not trying to dissuade them, and after a round of murmured good-nights, Samantha and Ted threaded their way around the edge of the dance floor and out into the lobby of the private club. Ted went to get their coats from the serve-yourself cloakroom to the right of the entry, and Samantha slipped outside, finding the cold night air like a draft of cleansing water. She turned her face up to the night, drinking in the biting air, blowing her breath like smoke, trying to pick out Orion or the Big Dipper among the glittering maze of diamond brilliants scattered across the almost-midnight sky.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.