inutes past eight in the green dress, with a clutch containing a lipstick, a folded bidding card and nothin

a small blade lay flat agains

us. Waiters moved through the crowd with champagne, and a string quartet played something so tasteful it could not have offended anyone. At the

ot intend to drink and

I had traded cards with a hotel investor, a retired judge and a woman who sat on four boards and complained about all of them. I let each of them tell me something, and I kept e

eliberate. A woman who watches the entrance is a woman waiting

oment he arr

table. Conversations continued, but their rhythm changed, and heads turned a fraction too casually. I kept

ed. "Every mother in this room has a

ery dau

." He chuckled into

ced composure in his shoulders. Black tuxedo, no tie, the collar open at the throat in a way that looked careless and wasn't. He shook hands without stopping. He smiled

eached me and d

the green dress, the pinned hair, the glass in my hand, and I had the strange, cold se

's smile. Warm.

not ret

tage and the exits, and gave my full attention to a sailing weekend while my pulse behaved itself with great difficul

or two at a restaurant I had never heard o

d a voice

so that it carried without effort, and the room reacted be

e auctioneer repea

er paddle. Twelve. The voice behi

ll while the hair on my arms stood up, because I understood now that Adrian

approach, unhurried, s

not bid,"

and a small pale scar interrupted his left eyebrow. This man had been hur

rested in the d

you inter

humor into my voice. "But the retire

omatic

rue

is mouth, so slight I might have i

tended my hand

n a fraction longer than politeness required. His thumb rested

e. I thought of every training exercise, every lie, e

ing the word against something. "

hope y

releasing my hand

sat there with my wrist burning and my smile intact, and only when he had vani

rson in that room had. He had simply known what to say, and wha