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"No, you are not to fret I know exactly what has you looking so concerned" Eddie patted her hand "Money is not an issue I will spare no expense to make my vision come to life"

"You may trust his word, ma&039;am Eddie will provide you with all the funds that you need"

Pamela blinked woodenly up at the tall man

"How insufferably rude of me," Eddie said "Paewood Janer, Pamela Gray"

"A pleasure to rip

Eddie slapped his palhs "I can hardly contain my excitement! Now that you have seen the marvelous fountain, tell me, Pamela, what do you think?"

"What do I think?" Pa the question She and Eddie were sitting beside each other on one of the faux marble benches that surrounded the now-silent fountain Because of the author&039;s girth, the bench that would normally have held three or even four people was full, so James stood beside the eyes up to Jaaze with the steady, attentive expression of a schoolboy No help there, she realized Ja disaster, too

"Yes! What do you think of fashioning the centerpiece of my home after this fountain?"

PaUnfortunately, this wasn&039;t a joke He really wanted the wretched thing She cleared her throat and took a deep breath before plunging into her answer

"It is definitely an unusual idea"

Eddie and Jareement

"I do, however, have soestured at the enormous water fiasco - "the size If I rehly twelve thousand square feet That is, of course, a spacious home, but I&039;m afraid that even an estate of that size cannot acco out words like nificent dihed heartily, causing several people to stop and stare at him "Now I understand your shocked expression, my dear I do not want the fountain inside my home Rather, I want it to be a focal point in the courtyard Ja, Jaundy leather briefcase and extracted a thick manila folder, which he handed to her She opened it to find detailed color pictures and floor plans of an exquisite Italian-style villa It was built in a huge U shape around a lovely marble-tiled center courtyard, which was obviously meant to be the focal point of the ho in appreciation of the architectural excellence of the home Then she blinked and took a closer look at the picture Across the color rendition of the tasteful courtyard soes with a pencil Take out trees Replace with Roold perhaps, as in Forum ?

Gold columns? Her eyes drifted to a column near them Like a bizarre cross between a whorehouse and a funeral parlor, it was covered with tacky faux audy swirls of gold She was glad she was sitting down, because her knees felt decidedly weak She looked back at the penciled-in notes

Instead of tiles, lanced down The "streets" of The Foru more than cement that had been textured to look like cheap imitation stone, and then painted muddy brown and varnished Surely Eddie didn&039;t e the fabulous travertine with cement

"Do you understand noant to transplant this fountain into the courtyard of my home"

Paled to find so to say

"Of course I realize that even though h to hold an exact replica of the fountain So, what I have decided is that I want a aze shifted fondly to the center-h God of the Vine and Fertility In my home wine is alelcome, and fertility" - his chuckle rumbled - "well, the rules of chivalry remind me that such risque subjects are not fit for a lady&039;s ears, so for noill sie the fertility of creativity and the written word"

Pa et into any kind of fertility discussion with him

"Let me see if I understand you correctly What you want is the aura of this fountain, son, only on a srinned "And, of course, I will require it to be animated"

This time when Pamela&039;s mouth dropped open, she didn&039;t bother to close it

"Ex-e-excuse me, uh, M-Mr Faust?"

Pa behind her Each of them clutched a hardback copy of Pillars of the Sword as they stared rapturously at Eddie

"It-it is you, isn&039;t it?" the tallest of the three stuttered

Eddie nodded "It is I, E D Faust"

"Awesoave his coht our copies of Pillars It would be, like, an the at the boys They were cute in a gawky kind of a way, like young colts Then she noticed that the pudgy boy standing closest to her was trying to look down her blouse She frowned at hied her jacket Men: whether they were fifteen or fifty, soreat privilege to affixlads! Conaniot about her cleavage as he beat past his two buddies ere shouting, "Jaood-naturedly, but as the boys surged forward, Pamela noticed that the author shot his assistant a pointed look

"Miss Gray," James&039;s voice was hurried as he bent and spoke in her ear "I&039; you need is in this briefcase," which he handed to her, "including your roos delivered to your rooht I recognized that guy from somewhere!"

Pa at Eddie and shouting

"It is Eddie&039;s wish that you spend this weekend si up the a he will send a car for you, and you will be taken to the home itself All the details of that are in the briefcase Until then, think of the next couple days as a pleasant sojourn within the as"

"E D Faust! Wow!" said a breathless ers and puorously "I have all your books"

"I applaud your taste in literature, sir!"

Eddie&039;s tone was jovial, but there was no ave James

"There are more instructions in the briefcase, as well as contact numbers if you need to reach us before Monday Now I must tend to him," James finished quickly

Pa crowd to Eddie&039;s side and announced that Mr Faust , he had an important interview for which he could not be late Eddie lifted his bulk fro his ell-practiced reluctance to the exit The crowd followed hin a T-shirt or even the back of a hand

Left behind, Pamela shook her head slowly in amazement She looked at the crowd as it moved away down the pretend street after the fantasy author, and she felt a little like Alice after she&039;d fallen down the hole And the crowd kept growing, e boys and men with comb-overs hite socks pulled up to their knees They were ure hustling his boss forhile the author&039;s distinctive laughter drifted back to her Eddie was like a rock star - a dorky rock star, but a rock star nonetheless It was aaze shifted back to the atrocious fountain that was at the hed One step at a tio to her room, freshen up, check in with Vernelle, then coht about what the statue had said - she&039;d catch the evening show It couldn&039;t possibly be any-worse than what she&039;d already seen

"Say again, Paht"

"You heard hts up in honest-to-God neon colors And he wants one like it in his courtyard" Sitting on the edge of the king-sized bed in her opulent suite, Pamela pulled off one of her stiletto pumps and rubbed the arch of her foot

"The courtyard in the gorgeous Italian villa-like hoering hell"

"My thoughts exactly," Pa" V snorted "Silly tripod"