"The Dog Lovers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Unknown)

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Carol made herself a strong gin and tonic, poured a little Coke for Sultan and eased down into the only decent living room chair. She had to think things over. So much had happened to her in the last few hours that each unexpected, overwhelming incident seemed like a milestone in her too-uneventful life! Her lewd little episode with the handsome German shepherd beside her hardly seemed as if it had ever happened now, but she knew it really had … and only hours before! Again, she examined her conscience as she sipped at her drink! No! No, she wasn't sorry … nor ashamed … and she wasn't about to tell herself it might not happen again!

And then there was Mark Cannon! He certainly was a very striking, desirable man, and seemed untouched by the self-sympathy his affliction could cause. Instead, he acted alive and young, quite aggressive in fact, ready to ignore his handicap if she would. Carol hoped she'd shown him it made absolutely no difference to her, and guessed that she had done just that by inviting him to dinner. She really wanted him to come. There was something about him … appealing in every respect. It was difficult to think of a man like him never to have been married. He had to be thirty-two or three. Maybe, he'd tell her … and she would tell him her own sorry story … they would confide in each other …

Then the memory of Ed White's frightening appearance in the park marred her pleasant revery, and Carol drank heavily from her glass. Why had he so suddenly loomed up? She hadn't rid herself yet of the thought that he must have been following her! There was something terrifying about that ugly man! She couldn't bring herself to believe that his being in the park was just coincidental! Yet, in broad daylight, even with Sultan beside her, he scared her.

God! Carol hardly knew what to think, except that she wanted to keep as much distance as possible between her and the landlord. How his wife Peg could ever stand him was beyond her! … And then she again thought of her shapely brunette neighbor, and the almost incredible conclusions she'd come to earlier concerning Peg's lewd exploitation of Sultan. They seemed outlandish now … cruel and hasty accusations she'd readily whipped up to lessen her own immediate guilt. No … it was impossible … not Peggy! She just wasn't that sort of person … was she?