Dancing With The Devil's Heir

hing that struck her eye as right. She didn't want anything hackneyed or obvious. Whatever she wore to the masked ball ha

gners and society dressmakers who could take on such a job were inclined to gossip about what they had made for their patrons. If wo

ake curtains and cushions, anything to get her mind off her wretched personal problems. When Vivienne admired her skilled workmanship, the woman offered the information that she had once worked in a designer's factory and knew all the professional tricks of m

n offer, since many doctors wanted to get away on holiday at this time of year. Vivienne found the wid

Very much. She wanted to help people in more than a strictly medical sense. She wanted to reassure them, mak

*

gnificent pearl necklace and matching earrings. Vivienne gave h

und your "land of men",' she commented drily, embarrassed by his obvious pleasure in the gift. I

on, she knew they were of relatively minor consideration, and it seemed just a little two-faced to have refused her father's invitations to his home

in our offer for the island, but he hasn't declared himself op

own Gabriel's spine. What was Adrian waiting for ... and why did he have this

on New Year's Eve,' he said with an encouraging smile.

She could not imagine they would truly be in favour of having a cuckoo in the nest. After all, they cou

r, Father. I accept.' Since she was going to her father's home, sh

tation. 'Why not join us for Christma

smoothly and decisively. 'I'm on call for the surgery whe

Her gift of the mermaid figurine-the thought... the imp

*

illed with the effect created. Her mind was endlessly teased by what Adrian might choose to wear, and she amused herself thinking up various lines she could say when she

d know him as soon as she saw him. Adrian Blackwood was fa

finally came time to dress for the ball, Vivienne was almost bubbling with excitement. The skirt of her costume was an artistic masterpiece: handkerchief drifts of chiffon graduating upwards from black and midnight purple to a mauve-grey with hi

med fitting to wear them as a gesture of good will. Vivienne still felt uncomfortable about taking up her fat

featured five star-like points spread across the top of her head from ear to ear, creating the pictorial image of a pale sun rising and glittering with

d show him the light, if he tried to work any of his dark designs on her. She laughed in sheer exuberance a

rbell when it rang, and could not help smiling when he

e shook his head, mo

' she asked, and twi

for over thirty years. He had driven her to boarding-school on he

' he declared warmly. 'I reckon Sir Carter w

I want, Jeffrey

ral,' he muttered. 'You don't know h

her as a child. But perhaps it was different now, and there was some pride in her.

father's Rolls-Royce. It was not a long drive from her apartment bl

the place because its name was so similar in sound to his own