Silver Miracles by Fayrene Preston Page A

new to torment," he said in a tone of long suffering.
    "Idiot!" She turned over into his arms and nestled her head on his shoulder. Why couldn’t they always be this peaceful? Why did there have to be so much tension between them? "Why did you come over, by the way? Did you run out of playmates over at your house?"
    "That’s the problem!" Chase pouted teasingly. "You refuse even to go over there anymore, and Mangus is no fun. He keeps encouraging me, in the politest ways possible, of course, to either go run my frustrations off or to fly back to Dallas. He has actually hinted that I’ve gotten rather hard to live with lately."
    "Gee, I can’t understand that!"
    "Hush, Trinity." He put a finger on her lips. "I really came over to tell you that there’s a party I want us to go to tomorrow night."
    "So what else is new?" Trinity complained wearily, looking up at the canopy of leaves over their heads. "As much socializing as those people do in Dallas, it’s a wonder they ever find any time to make money."
    "I don’t like it any more than you do," Chase assured her, "but some party-going is necessary. I’ve closed several of my biggest deals at parties." His breath tickled her ear as he turned to watch her. "Just say the word, though, and we’ll stay home tomorrow night. . . alone . . . in front of a roaring fire." His tongue had begun to trace circles inside her ear.
    "We’ll go!" Trinity declared decisively, jumping to her feet and running off to find Tray and Stephanie.
    This sort of passionless truce that had existed between the two of them for the last few weeks couldn’t possibly last much longer, of course. It was bound to come to a head sooner or later, and then some decisions would have to be reached. Chase knew it, and so did she.
     
    #
     
    The next evening, Trinity donned a length of sheer jade silk chiffon that she had cut on the bias and fashioned into an intriguing pareu. The material had been a gift from Larry and Sissy, and it was exquisite. Because of the thinness and cut of the cloth, it was hard to wear much, if anything, under the pareu without its showing through. Trinity settled for wearing bikini panties and a pair of gold-strapped high heels with it.
    She never attempted to outdress the women at these parties to which Chase escorted her. She didn’t have the means or the inclination. But her simple, sometimes homemade, clothes never failed to draw admiring stares and compliments from one and all, and this evening was no exception.
    As Trinity strolled around the large room, the dress moved seductively against her, revealing the clearly outlined curve of her full, firm breasts and the golden-brown length of her legs, exposed by the thigh-high slit in the front of the skirt.
    She had come to know a lot of Chase’s business acquaintances and friends during these last few weeks. Most of them were sincere, well-meaning people who just happened to have a lot of money, and Trinity had no trouble finding something to talk to them about, holding her own in any conversation, usually with Chase at her side.
    This night, however, Chase had apparently staked out the bar as his own personal territory, nursing a drink, holding desultory conversations with various people who sought him out and, annoyingly, showing no desire to join her.
    The only real indication that Chase hadn’t forgotten that he had brought her with him was his eyes. Intense, brooding and very blue, they followed her every gesture, noted her every breath and observed each whispering movement of the jade-colored silk.
    Trinity stopped in one corner of the room to talk to an older couple of whom she had grown particularly fond. They had a passel of grandchildren and they both seemed extremely interested in hearing about the quilt that Trinity was currently working on. Her hands were enthusiastically sketching the pattern in the air when Chase captured her arm in an iron-firm grip. "Excuse us, Mary, Hector. Trinity and I have to be going