Sandip answered the door and, once he’d recovered his composure, which he’d lost in reaction to Birgit’s outfit, he stepped aside to let us in. I couldn’t prove it, since I never looked back, but I sensed his eyes continued to follow her as Willy Smets greeted us, me with a warm handshake and Birgit with an even warmer kiss on both cheeks.

“Danny Boy,” he said, “you didn’t mention your guest was such a beautiful treasure. Shame on you.”

Then, turning to my date—if I could describe her as such—he introduced himself, and she did the same. Recognizing her accent, and judging by her name, he launched into a long conversation with her in German, effectively shutting me out. I scanned the room—easily two times the size of my entire place—searching for Sushmita. She was near the window, dispensing instructions to a second servant. Wrapped in another beautiful sari—gold and violet this time—she looked as if she’d stepped out of a Raja Ravi Varma painting. Classic and beautiful. But also sexy.

“Danny Boy. Didn’t you hear me?” It was Willy. “I asked if you would like a drink.”

“Sorry,” I said. “Maybe later. I had one at the hotel.”

Willy squired Birgit around like he was an enamored suitor at a sock hop. More than once, I looked to Sushmita to gauge her annoyance but, by all appearances, she was indifferent. Oblivious, even. Either she didn’t care or she trusted him. Or maybe they had an understanding.

I took advantage of my freedom to work my way across the room toward her. But I got shanghaied by a Norwegian married couple and a Soviet merchant marine captain whose broken English was beyond repair. I extricated myself from their conversation as soon as I dared, and finally reached the divan where Sushmita sat in splendor.

She wore a different bindi this night. A small gold teardrop. It took great concentration and resistance on my part, but I managed to tear my gaze away from her forehead before she noticed. She’d brushed some brownish-red color onto her lips, but that was the sum total of her makeup. The rest of her beauty was what nature had provided.

She patted the cushion beside her, an invitation to sit. “Hello, Daniel,” she said. “I’m so glad you came. I’ve been hoping you might try to explain again what’s interesting about your work. But without spilling your drink this time. Oh my. You have nothing to drink. Willy has been neglecting you.”

“No, it’s all right. I begged off.”

“Nonsense.”