Read Online Johnnie by Dorothy B. Hughes - Free Book Online Page B

Highness that. He must not miss the plane.”
    “That doesn’t go till morning,” Johnnie reminded.
    “But there is much business to attend to.”
    “And if he gets on the Clipper drunk, he’ll talk too much,” Trudy said. “We’ve simply got to think of something.”
    They all thought. Johnnie suggested, “Why couldn’t I take him with me to the Astor?”
    “No,” Trudy said.
    “You aren’t supposed to think,” Dorp told him. “We do the thinking.”
    “You better think fast if you want my help,” Johnnie began.
    “Quiet!” Trudy commanded. She thought some more.
    “I can think better when I’m dancing,” Johnnie grinned. “How’s about it?”
    “Quiet!” Dorp commanded.
    Johnnie didn’t wander away. He walked off. Now was the time for action. He walked right across the ballroom to Magda. She didn’t appear to be having a very good time. Everyone was crowding up to the goon. No one even noticed she was a gorgeous number.
    Johnnie announced, “I’m back.”
    She turned, startled. When she saw who it was her eyes greened. “Where have you been?”
    “Dancing. You want to dance?” He held open his arms. Either she’d been away from Trudamia too long to remember the rules or it was that commoner father. Or maybe if a fellow opened his arms she knew only one way to move. She closed in. He danced her out on the floor. The Highness didn’t notice. Trudy could dance but with Magda under your chin you didn’t care what it was she called dancing.
    Johnnie said, “I wish we were somewhere good. This band stinks. Why don’t we get out of here?”
    She flung those long black lashes up at him. “I wish we could. But Rudolph—”
    “We could take him along.”
    Her eyes narrowed and her mouth curved. “Then what would we do with him?”
    Johnnie swallowed hard. He held on. This wasn’t what he’d bargained for. This was worse than a bottle of champagne. “Anything you say, honey,” he murmured to her cape jasmine hair. “But anything.”
    She pushed him away without any warning. “Who are you?”
    He was getting tired of playing invisible man. He didn’t get a chance to answer.
    Her eyes burned. “You can’t dance with me.”
    “What’s the matter, don’t you like it?”
    For just a second she half-smiled. “Some other time.” Then she was back to being queen again. “Of all the impudence. Royalty does not dance with commoners.”
    He said, “Listen. It’s none of my business but I think you ought to gather up Rudo and get him out of here.”
    Her “Why?” was sharp. Her eyes slitted around the room.
    “Trudy didn’t like that scene a bit she barged into. You and Rupe on the griddle. If you don’t get Rudo away where you can have him alone, there might be some sabotage. You aren’t married to him yet.”
    She dug her fingers into his arm. “What did she say?”
    “She doesn’t think you’re good enough for Rudolph. Your old man—”
    She was furious. He lifted her claws off his sleeve. “That little—that little prig trying to wench my game. Just because her father was a Dallas millionaire.”
    “Did you say Dallas?” Johnnie cried joyfully.
    “I said Dallas.”
    “Then he was a commoner, too!”
    “No, he wasn’t. He was a prince. But he went to work in Texas—oil. No better than a commoner.” She set her teeth. “Trudy wants Ruprecht but she won’t get him. He wouldn’t give a phony nickel for her.”
    “You can’t have both the boys,” he told her.
    She tossed her head. “Tell Theo to get the cars ready. We’re leaving.”
    “Rudolph too?”
    “Rudolph too.”
    “How?”
    “Never mind how. Do as you’re told.” She didn’t float; she plunged toward her fiancé.
    Johnnie returned to the thinkers, still thinking in the same old spot. “Tell Theo to get the cars,” he ordered. “We’re all leaving.”
    The two of them raised incredulous round eyes. “How?” they Indianed.
    Johnnie spoke haughtily. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” He