The Chase Page 0,29

enchanted world. Acres of Italian marble. Huge urns of flowers-all arranged in exquisitely simple good taste. Persian carpets, silk wall coverings, Bohemian crystal chandeliers.

Audrey must be loving this, Jenny thought, stopping somewhere along the miles of hallway to look at an oil painting.

When they finally reached the ballroom, Jenny drew in her breath.

It was ... fabulous. In the old sense, meaning like something out of a fable. Like a castle. The ceilings were incredibly high, with huge chandeliers in deep recesses. Potted trees-full-size trees entwined with tiny lights-stood here and there among the tables. At one end of the room poufy curtains were drawn back to reveal a balcony, which Jenny guessed looked down on the ocean.

"It's beautiful," Jenny breathed, forgetting everything for a moment.

"It sure is." When she looked, Brian was looking at her.

The tables were as incredible as everything else. There were fresh flowers in blown-glass stands that reached above Jenny's head when she was sitting down. At each place was a little metallic mask as a favor.

"The Midnight Masquerade," Brian said, holding a silver one up to his eyes. "Don't put yours on, though; you're too pretty without it."

Jenny looked away.

"These flowers are beautiful," she said hastily. They were. The roses had a pale gold shimmer unlike anything she'd ever seen, and they smelled so sweet it almost made her giddy.

"Yeah, well, I have to confess-I can't take the credit for them. I ordered white ones for Ka-I mean, I ordered plain white ones. The florist must have screwed up, but it turned out great."

Jenny stirred. For some reason prickles of unease were touching her delicately.

Just then some of Brian's friends came by. One of them stared at Jenny, blinked, then whispered something to Brian that ended with "I bet you're planning to stay out late!"

Brian blushed. Jenny leaned across him and said directly to the other guy, "Vada via, cretino. "Audrey had taught her that. It meant "Get lost, jerk," and it sounded like it.

The guy left, muttering, "And I heard she was sweet!"

Brian, still blushing was embarrassed and apologetic. A nice guy, Jenny thought, feeling sorry for him. A really, really nice guy... .

They talked. Jenny looked at the snowy-white tablecloth and the shining crystal glasses, she played with her prom program and her raffle ticket. She stared at the Oriental border of the carpet. Finally, though, there was no way to avoid the subject that was looming over both of them.

"You want to dance?" Brian said.

What could she say?

Okay, she thought as they walked onto the floor. It's not as if you've never danced with another guy before. But she hadn't, often. Tom didn't like it. Besides, she'd always been with Tom, and the guy had always known it.

Naturally, the next dance turned out to be a slow one. The room was just dim enough to be romantic. Brian's arms settled around Jenny's shoulders, and Jenny clasped his waist as lightly as possible. She rested her head on his chest and looked intently at the refreshment table.

It was a marble-topped buffet with huge urns of flowers on either side. Jenny concentrated on identifying the flowers, one by one. Then she saw a glimmer of burnished copper.

"Look, there's Audrey!" she said. "Let's go see her!"

Audrey was wearing a saucy little black dress with a pink satin sash at the back. Diamonds glittered in her ears. Her chestnut eyes widened at the sight of Jenny.

"Will you look at you! Jenny, you're sensational. Wunderschon!"

Jenny clung to Audrey and made wild small talk. Other people went by. She saw dresses in every color of the rainbow; she saw lime green cummerbunds and pink cummerbunds and plaid ones. But at last Eric and Audrey went out to dance, and Jenny had no choice but to follow with Brian.

When the next slow dance came, she rested stiffly in Brian's arms, staring at the dark wood of the dance floor.

He was too interested. Jenny had seen it all night: the look in his eyes, the way he held her, the way he talked to her. He was such a nice guy, so handsome, and she felt nothing.

"Later we can go down to the beach," he was saying.

"Mmm," Jenny said, thinking that she had to get away from the smell of his lime aftershave, and hating herself for it. She wished desperately that someone would rescue her.

Someone did.

It was another guy, and he wanted to cut in. Jenny tried to hide her gratitude as she transferred herself to the new guy's shoulder.