"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 17 - The Mountains of Brega" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

sign, Blade was on the alert.
"Rather," he drawled. He wanted to sound a little like the stereotyped silly-ass English playboy. A
little, but not too much.
The woman smiled again. "My name isElizabeth ." The b sounded almost like a v. "You areтАФ?"
"Blade. Richard Blade. I'm a friend of Clarissa's."
"Ah, another one of the men she brings around to show off."
"You know her?"
"For several years I have known her. She helped me a lot when I first came toEngland ."
"Where did you come from?" The question slipped out before it occurred to him that it might be
untactful. If the woman had come toEngland from somewhere behind the Iron Curtain, she might not wish
to talk about her reasons for doing so.
"I am Czech," saidElizabeth . "I was inEngland in 1968 when the Russians marched into my country,
and I did not want to go back. Clarissa helped me very much, to find a job and get settled. I owe her a
good deal. But I cannot think much of the way she is always showing off her men friends."
"Like a hunter, showing off trophies?"
Elizabethlaughed. "Yes, exactly." She looked Blade over from head to foot, the same way he had
done her. Then she smiled and said, "'This time I think she has caught a good one."
Blade couldn't help smiling, even though the flattery was rather transparent. Listening to an attractive
woman say things like that to him was always pleasant, even if he suspected she was playing games. And
he did suspectElizabeth . He decided to draw her out a little more.
"Actually, I wouldn't say I've been caught, not really," he said.
"You and Clarissa areтАФjust good friends, I think the saying goes?"
Blade nodded. He made a mental note thatElizabeth was not a very skilled player, unless her game
was something he couldn't even imagine. She was too eager, too fast with her answers. He was not going
to have much chance to reveal himselfтАФunless they wound up in bed. That was all right with him. But he
was going to keep on the alert, no matter how the evening ended.
Elizabeththrew her head back and smiled warmly at Blade. The motion thrust her full breasts out even
farther against the red wool of her dress. Blade didn't need to keep his eyes off those breasts and didn't
try. The woman noticed where his eyes were.
To give the impression of being entirely at ease, Blade said, "Would you like another drink?" He
pointed at the woman's empty glass.
"I would, but not any more of Clarissa's. I still can't get used to Scotch or mixed drinks. I have a
better idea. I have some real Czech brandy in my apartment. Why don't we go over there and try that?"
"Why not, indeed?" said Blade, with a grin. He did his best to make it a mindlessly lecherous grin, but
his mind was turning with almost audible clicks.Elizabeth 's game of getting him to her apartment was
transparently obvious. Why was she playing it, and playing it so crudely? Was it just plain and simple lust
for a handsome man, or something more? Richard Blade had been a professional secret agent for far too
long to rule out the possibility of something more.
But he would never find out either way if he didn't acceptElizabeth 's invitation. He took her hand and
squeezed it with a firm but gentle pressure. "I'll make my apologies to Clarissa, and then we can go. Is
your apartment far?"
Elizabethnodded and named an address about four miles away.
"Then we'll take my car. Do you mind riding in an MG?"
"Not at all." She looked at him again, with obvious invitation in her eyes. "Somehow a sports carтАФit
fits you, what I think you are."
Blade made his way over to the bar and went through the routine of saying goodbye to Clarissa. He
was glad thatElizabeth had agreed to ride with him. One telephone call to the man known as J, one twist
of a concealed switch, and the Special Branch of the Metropolitan Police would be tracking him all the
way to his destination.
Elizabethclung tightly to his arm as they rode down in the elevator, flashing increasingly warm smiles