In the past she had gently refused his invitations back to his apartment. But last night she had agreed. Everything had been right. The view of the city from his windows had been breathtaking, the brandy smooth and burning in her throat, the lighting in his bedroom so soft it had made her bare skin glow when he had undressed her, making her feel beautiful.

Carl was a good lover, a patient, skilled, gentle, considerate lover.

But nothing had happened last night. She had faked an orgasm in time with his. She didn’t like herself for that, but it had seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Carl had done everything right. It wasn’t his fault she hadn’t even come close to the release she needed.

It was all Jack’s fault.

Seeing him again had got her so uptight she couldn’t have enjoyed Carl last night if he had been the greatest lover in all the world! And he was certainly a better lover than Jack!

No… that wasn’t true. Jack had been good. Very good. There had been times when they had spent the whole night—Nellie’s front doorbell rang. Since Gia was nearby, she answered it. It was a messenger from Carl to pick up the artwork she had told him about last night. And there was something for her: a bouquet of mums and roses. She handed the messenger the artwork and opened the enclosed card as soon as the door was closed. “I’ll call you tonight.” A nice touch. Carl didn’t miss a trick. Too bad—

“What lovely flowers!”

Gia snapped alert at the sound of Nellie’s voice.

“Yes, aren’t they. From Carl. That was Jack on the phone, by the way. He wanted to know if there’d been any word.”

“Has he learned anything?”

Gia shook her head, pitying the almost childish eagerness in the old woman’s face. “He’ll let us know as soon as he does.”

“Something awful has happened, I just know it.”

“You know nothing of the kind,” Gia said, putting her arm around Nellie’s shoulders. “This is probably all a big misunderstanding.”

“I hope so. I really do.” She looked up at Gia. “Would you do me a favor, dear? Call the Mission and send them my regrets. I won’t be attending the reception tomorrow night.”

“You should go.”

“No. It would be unseemly.”

“Don’t be silly. Grace would want you to go. And besides, you need a change of scenery. You haven’t left this house all week.”

“What if she calls?”

“Eunice is here to relay any messages.”

“But to go out and have a good time—”

“I thought you told me you never had a good time at these affairs.”

Nellie smiled, and that was good to see. “True… very true. Well, I rather suppose you’re right. Perhaps I should go. But only on one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“You go with me.”

Gia was startled at the request. The last thing in the world she wanted to do on a Saturday night was stand around in a room full of U.N. diplomats.