Topaz - Leon Uris [98]
“But I love them all! Hey, André, what the hell are you so miserable about?”
“I think I’m in love.”
“So why be miserable? People should be happy when they’re in love. God, you make it so dreary. What a bore! Who are you in love with?”
“Nicole Thibaud.”
“God in heaven! Women are falling out of the trees and you’ve got to go for that brat.”
“She’s not really that way at all. Maybe a little spoiled, but ...”
Jacques dunked his face in the water basin, scrubbed and toweled vigorously, then admired himself in the steel mirror nailed on the wall.
“She’s bad news, André. I know this kind of girl. All women are possessive, but this one is the devouring kind.”
“You sound like my father. What’s the difference? She’s engaged to be married.”
“You’re lucky. Love comes in many packages, my friend. Some things which are called love are not love at all. What a girl like Nicole Thibaud thinks is love is total ownership. It’s destructive.”
André was beyond listening to his older, wiser friend. He unlaced his boots and let them fall to the floor with a thud. “We’d better let them win tomorrow. I think we’re getting greedy.”
That particular tomorrow never came for Jacques Granville. His freedom was purchased, and with a rousing farewell from his comrades he made off to join the Free French forces of General Pierre La Croix.
André alone was left of the three comrades, and he fell into a deep depression.
André answered a knock on the door. Nicole Thibaud stood before him.
“Hello, André.”
“What the devil are you doing here?”
“Looking for you. Won’t you ask me in?”
“It’s not the Balneario .... Well, come in.”
She scanned the cell-like room with its few pieces of cheap furniture. The walls had long needed paint, the windows were uncurtained, and a kerosene lamp on the table provided the only light.
“You haven’t been around,” she said.
“I’ve been quite upset since Jacques went away.”
“Oh, I didn’t know he’d left. Papa wanted you for bridge tonight. There is no telephone here so ...”
“I was thinking of coming back. We’re running out of money.”
“Do you dislike me, André?”
“On the contrary.”
“But you dislike things about me.”
“I’m not in a position to like or dislike. I’m penniless and homeless. Besides, you’re engaged to be married.”
“Oh, that. I was going to call it off anyhow.”
“Your fiancé might not like that.”
“Too bad. Spanish men are too domineering anyhow. It was all arranged as a convenience for Papa’s business. I planned to rebel shortly.”
She pushed close to him so that he could feel and smell her for an instant, then she spun away. “Do come back to the hotel. I’ve missed you,” she said, opening the door a crack.
“Miss me, or are you bored?”
“Mmmm, a little of both.”
André reached over her shoulder and slammed the door shut. “You’re a bitch and a tease,” he said, grabbing her hands and pinning them behind her back. She struggled and tried to kick and bite. He avoided her movements deftly.
“I’ll scream!”
With his free hand he slapped her face, then released her. “Someone should have done that to you a long time ago.”
Nicole fell back against the wall, panting in a rage. She looked about, found some tin cups and plates to throw and missed him by half the room. Tears of anger brimmed in her eyes.
“Get out,” André ordered softly.
Then suddenly her anger stopped and she stumbled to a chair and sat and hung her head and shook it and began to cry softly. “I don’t want to go, André. Lock the door....”
She was in his arms and they loved fiercely.
“I’ve never had a man. Please be careful ... please ... please.”
“I love you, Nicole.”
“I love you....”
“Well, good to have you back, Devereaux. I haven’t won a rubber since you deserted me. We’ll give the Valencias a lesson later, eh? Here, have a drink.”
“Thank you, Monsieur Thibaud.”
“Montrichard, eh? Magnificent country. What exactly did you do before the war?”
“I was an apprentice lawyer in my father’s office.”
“Old family? Active?”
“My father, my grandfather, and my great grandfather were all mayors of Montrichard. A family responsibility