Mystique (5 page)

As she studied herself, she felt an
unusual surge of confidence, but immediately chided herself. She'd felt like
that before and fallen flat on her face. She'd better be careful.

As she left the dressing room, she heard
sounds of revelry coming from the Elm Bar. The rooms were already filling up
for the partygoers' biggest night of the year.

Misty was stopped several times on her
short walk to the Edwardian Room by men who had already had several drinks. Two
men even tried to kiss her, but she easily eluded them, smiling good-naturedly.

"Happy New Year, Mystique,"
Willis greeted her. "We're almost filled already." It was only a few
minutes before nine.

"Happy New Year, Willis." Misty
smiled back at him and walked over to the piano. Before sitting down she
scanned the room. She caught sight of Morey and Zena waving. David and Aileen
hadn't arrived yet. No doubt they'd had to wait for the sitter. Then her casual
gaze fell on a crowded table almost directly in front of her. Luc Harrison sat
there facing her. He lifted his glass in a silent salute, and Misty shivered at
the hard look in his eyes.

Immediately she began to play, hoping to
lose herself in the music. Luc Harrison couldn't possibly harm her here at the
Terrace Hotel. She was safe for now.

The room seemed to be seething with loud,
laughing people. More than one man came up to the piano and asked her to play a
special song. She always complied.

One minute time seemed to be crawling by;
the next, she realized an hour had passed since she'd last checked her watch.

At eleven-thirty Misty took a break,
knowing she would have to play "Auld Lang Syne" at midnight.

She left the piano and made her way past
the tables to where her four friends were sitting. Passing Luc Harrison's
table, she thought she heard a low comment aimed in her direction: "God,
she's lovely. Why not come over here, pretty redhead?"

She wasn't sure, but she thought she
heard Luc mutter a sharp reply.

"Hi," Aileen said, beaming.
"This is too beautiful for words, Misty. And guess what? Our baby-sitter
is going to spend the night so we can stay as late as we want. Isn't that
great?"

"Wonderful," Misty agreed,
squeezing into a chair and accepting the drink that one of the waiters brought
to the table.

"You look gorgeous in that dress,
Misty," Zena said with a sigh.

"And I'll have you know that several
women have approached me tonight and asked where I buy my clothes. I told
them, of course." The others laughed with her.

Morey poured her champagne, but she shook
her head. "I really shouldn't. I'll get a headache, and I'm on until five
in the morning." She held up her own glass. "Tomato juice. This will
give me the energy I need. Say, why don't the four of you come up to the piano
at midnight? Then I won't have to race down here to give you your New Year's
kisses."

"Great!" David exclaimed.

Misty glanced at her watch. "Oops!
Ten minutes. I have to go. In about five minutes, come on up." She rose
and made her way back to the piano, staying well away from the table where Luc
Harrison was sitting.

Minutes later, people began counting down
the time.

From the corner of her eye Misty saw her
friends rise from their table and move toward her. As she sent them a bright
smile, she caught sight of Luc Harrison scrutinizing them for a fleeting moment
before looking back at her. Then she was too busy to register anything but the
guests counting down the seconds until midnight.

"Ten... nine... eight...
seven," they shouted. "Five... four... three... two... one! Happy New
Year!"

Misty laughed along with everyone else,
nodding happily as her friends hugged her and her fingers moved over the
keyboard. As soon as she finished playing "Auld Lang Syne," she
jumped up and kissed Zena, Aileen, David, Morey...

"Happy New Year, darling." A
masculine mouth covered hers as Luc spoke the words, his breath going into her
mouth, his tongue touching her teeth, then her tongue.

Misty tried to suck in air, to release
herself from his embrace, but all at once she felt herself free-falling through
space, detached from her own body, wrapped in an aura of throbbing delight. She
pressed closer to him and heard a groan come from deep inside her, then his
answering growl of pleasure.

Misty fell back, ending the kiss, her
eyes darting around her. Had anyone seen the soul-stirring kiss she and Luc

Harrison
had just exchanged? People were laughing, hugging, joking. Her eyes shot back
to him. His face darkened as he bent over her, his sensual mouth not an inch
away, his brown eyes burning into her.

"I knew it would be like that, but
it was even better than I imagined. You're wonderful." His hand brushed
downward over her breast. "You shouldn't have sent your gift back. The
earrings belong to you. They're so like your eyes," he whispered.

"No," Misty croaked out.
"I don't want anything from you. Get away from my piano. I have to
play."

She ran her hands up and down the
keyboard and then broke into "Auld Lang Syne" once again.

Gradually people stopped talking and
kissing, and faced the piano. Their party hats askew, they began to sing the
words of the Robert Burns poem, the poignant lines touching Misty deeply.

She played the song at least four times,
until everyone had had a chance to sing at the piano. Then the dancing began.
As usual on special occasions, she had the support of two backup musicians,
Roddy on drums and Lem on bass.

She was glad to be distracted by her
music. She didn't look at Luc Harrison at all, though at intervals she looked
up and smiled into the audience. When the set ended, she went straight to her
friends' table, where she sat and talked with them.

At three-thirty in the morning her
friends rose to leave. They came up to the piano to say good night.

"I won't bother to call you for
breakfast... or brunch... or dinner," Aileen said, yawning and leaning on
David. "But I have to tell you that this has been one memorable New Year's
Eve. Thank you, Misty."

"Yes, thank you, Misty. And you look
beautiful in my dress." Morey kissed her on the lips, as did David. Then
the four of them were gone.

"Happy New Year," Misty
whispered after them, more grateful than she could say for their presence there
tonight.

She watched the crowd dwindle, though
several groups remained until after four-thirty. She felt both relief and
emptiness when she saw Luc Harrison's party depart. No doubt he and his date
would stay in one of the best suites and have breakfast in bed, then a nice
long sleep... in the same bed. She was glad she hadn't been able to figure
which of the women at the Harrison table had been Luc's date.

At ten minutes to five on New Year's
morning, the Edwardian Room was empty except for a few busboys and waiters.
Misty said good night to her backup men and leaned against the piano for a
moment, rubbing her throbbing temples. It had been a long night.

"Tired, darling?" Luc Harrison
crooned, his hand slipping around her waist. "Come on. I have some food
ready for you."

Misty blinked up at him. "I'm not
hungry." She hadn't sampled food from the buffet because she played better
on an empty stomach.

"You didn't eat anything
tonight," he told her firmly, leading her from the room.

"I don't want to go anywhere. I'm
exhausted."

"We'll eat right here," he
reassured her.

"You're crazy. The dining rooms are
closed for the night."

"We'll eat in my suite
upstairs."

"I'm not joining your
floozies!" Misty sputtered as he led her into an elevator. He inserted a
key into a slot and pressed the top button on the panel. "You have the
penthouse suite. That's disgusting." Misty lifted a hand to cover her
yawn. "I'm not staying. I have to get some sleep." She struggled
against him for a moment, then subsided. She just didn't have the strength to
fight him. Exhaustion weakened her resolve to get to her dressing room, change,
hail a cab, and go home.

"Fine. First you'll get a little
nourishment," Luc said. "You can't live on tomato juice." He
still had an arm around her when the elevator doors opened onto a small foyer.

Misty walked into the living room of the
penthouse. She scanned the curving stairway that led to the second floor. She
squinted at the table set for two in front of sliding glass doors that led onto
a terrace. She noted the Christmas tree and sundry decorations outside.
"Pretty... but I can't stay." She yawned again, feeling a bit weary.

Luc put her carrier down on a couch along
with the fleece lined velvet cape that Morey had designed for her. "This
is quite nice," he said.

Misty glanced at him, trying to stifle
another yawn. "My friend Morey designed it for me. He's fabulous."
Fascinated, she watched Luc's eyes turn hard, and a muscle tightened in his
jaw. "You change expressions like a chameleon," she said.

"Chameleons change color," he
corrected tersely.

"Whatever." She shrugged and
ambled over to the couch, where she sank down into the velvet depths, her eyes
sliding shut.

"Is he the man you arranged the loan
for? This Morey?" Luc demanded.

"Huh?" Misty's eyes blinked
open. "Ah, yes. He's my special friend." She tried to focus her
thoughts but couldn't. "I really have to go."

"I see..." Luc's voice sounded
from far away. "Wake up. The food will be here in a moment."

Misty yawned widely and struggled to her
feet as Luc took hold of her elbow. "Didn't you see Morey tonight?"
She wet her dry lips with her tongue. "He and Zena and Aileen and David
were there."

Luc guided her into a chair at the table
and went to answer a knock on the door. A waiter entered the room, pushing a
covered cart ahead of him. He laid out the dishes and was gone, like a wraith.

Misty looked fuzzily after him.
"That was fast." She stared at the array of food, feeling all at once
hungry. "I think I would like some of that soup." She watched Luc
ladle some into a small bowl, her mouth watering. "Zena makes marvelous
soup. She says the trick is to let the schmaltz rise to the top and skim it
off." Misty sighed. "I'm sure she and Morey will be eating a great
deal of soup until his business takes off. But at least they'll be able to get
married now." She yawned again and rubbed her face. "Aren't you going
to have some soup?" she asked as Luc continued to watch her, the silver
ladle poised above the tureen.

"Ah, yes." He served himself,
then cut each of them thick slices of warm bread. "So Morey is going to
marry Zena?" he asked.

Misty nodded, spooning the hot chicken
broth into her mouth, feeling warmth spread through her.

She ate four bowls of the broth, which
surprised her. She'd never been especially fond of soup. But, barely able to
keep her eyes open, she refused the casserole and the side dishes. "I
really have to go," she mumbled, glancing around for her cape.

Luc stood up and helped her out of the
chair. "Not yet. You're dead on your feet. Lie down for a bit. Then I'll
take you home."

With an effort, she looked up at him.
"I really shouldn't..." But her head flopped forward onto his chest.

"Just a short nap," he urged,
reaching down to lift her into his arms. "You're such a tiny thing."

Misty felt the comforting motion of being
jostled against his shoulder as he carried her into another room. Then, before
she knew it, she was asleep.

When -she woke, she ran her eyes around
the gold and cream-colored room, then closed them again. She was still in a
dream. Good. She was too tired to get up anyway. She snuggled back down under
the covers, not questioning the great comfort of the bed, but wondering why her
water bed wasn't undulating as it always did. She didn't even question the
solid warmth at her back. After all, her water bed was heated. Grateful for the
extra sleep, she burrowed deeper into the warmth, certain that she couldn't
have heard someone groan.

Nevertheless, she opened her sleepy eyes
and blinked once again at the cream and gold room. She lay perfectly still,
trying to orient herself. "If I didn't know better, I would think I fell
asleep in the Queen Victoria Dining Room," she muttered, the sheet up to
her chin, her eyes registering each opulent article in the large bedroom.
"I must be drunk."

"On tomato juice," a deep voice
murmured in her ear.

She snapped her eyes shut in a futile
effort to hide from the sudden horrible realization that she had gone to bed
with Lucas Stuyvesant Harrison! Stunned, she kept her eyes tightly closed,
wishing she could disappear. What a way to start the New Year! After all the
promises she had made to herself about how she would live her life. This was
awful! She'd had no intention of doing such a thing! Was she losing her mind?

She turned her head slowly and looked
into glittering brown eyes so close to her own that she could see the tiny gold
and green flecks in the irises.