Free Deceptive Love by Anne N. Reisser

even the most determined Dain could not keep her at his side then. Cheered by that happy thought she could perform her duties graciously, a credit to her mother's tutelage.
    The dancing started. The members of the conference claimed their duty-dances with flattering alacrity. By now they were all aware of her transformation and their reactions generally took one of two directions. Most, and they were the easiest to handle, took it as a joke, and while the heavy jocularity was wearying, it was far more welcome than the second reaction.
    The second reaction was found among those of the group, a minority, fortunately, who perceived her new improved appearance as a come-on. Keri handled this group with a polite hauteur and blank incomprehension of their more suggestive innuendos. Unfortunately there were several, as there always are at every party, whose consumption of alcohol raised their spirits, lowered their inhibitions, and deafened them to any negative reaction short of one reinforced by a brickbat.
    Keri caught Dain watching her several times as she did her best to preserve a neutral distance while dancing with one of this latter group. Anything less blatant than an outright knee to the groin hadn't a hope of getting through f to Keri's current partner. When her eyes clashed with j Dain's bland stare as she danced past, desperately trying J to evade her partner's attempts to grind his hips against hers, Keri shot him a glare of such malignancy that her eyelashes should have smoked. He got her into this! She called down plagues and pestilence upon his head.
    Her current partner swept her away, so she missed the black scowl that spread over Dain's face as he grimly watched the pair of retreating dancers. He divested himself of his own partner and within moments was skillfully cutting in on Keri and her overly enthusiastic and inebriated swain.
    Although she currently viewed Dain in the same light as she would a case of shingles, at first Keri felt only relief. Dain held her lightly, if a trifle closely, but nothing compared to what she had been enduring. Her relief vanished like a snowflake in a blast furnace at his first words.
    "Enjoying yourself, Keri? You seem to be the belle of the ball" His voice was as smooth as cream, but his eyes mocked openly.
    Keri stiffened like a steel rod in his arms while her feet automatically kept pace with his expert lead. The face she lifted to his was calm, but her lips smiled nastily as she! said pseudo-sweetly, "Of course, Mr. Randolph. I always enjoy being assaulted in public."
    The music ended and she slipped out of his arms with a lithe twist. His hand went out to grasp her wrist but she had expected that he would try to recapture her and she evaded him neatly. For what remained of the evening she just as neatly avoided him. If he joined a group, she was just drifting away. She seemed to have eyes in the back of her head or some inner radar tuned just to warn of his approach. Had she been less deft it would have been farcical, but Keri was driven by sheer desperation. She didn't think her control could keep her from screaming at him like a fishwife and her pride shrank from the possibility of such a display.
    She was also determined that she was not going to allow him to drive her home. She wasn't sure yet just how she was going to get out of it, but she'd maneuver. She had to!
    A guardian angel, who had been soundly sleeping on some celestial cloud, finally woke up and got back on the job. The reception was nearly finished and Dain had at last managed to catch up with Keri. The last two groups of guests had coalesced into one, leaving her nowhere to run. Dain slipped an arm around her waist, pinning her to his side, and the bite of his fingers left her in no doubt that he meant to keep her there!
    Salvation appeared in the unexpected form of two of the conference members who drew Dain aside for a lengthy conversation while Keri sped the last remaining guests out. The manager was