She looked up to see Sheila Harris squeezing through the crowd to get to her. The intermission lights were on, and most of the audience was heading for the lobby. Robert excused himself to do the same, and Sheila sat down in his seat. She looked exceptionally colorful in a dark blue gown with gold brilliants running through the bodice. Sheila never conformed to fashion modes, but she always looked beautiful no matter what she adorned herself with.
At the moment, her blue eyes were wide with curiosity, and she leaned forward as soon as Robert was well out of hearing. “Whatever are you doing with him?”
“Hello, Sheila,” Sharisse grinned. “It’s nice to see you, too.”
“Oh, yes, hello,” Sheila said impatiently.
“We missed you today.”
“Today? Oh, no! Was it today I was supposed to meet you and Carol? I forgot. You will forgive me, won’t you?”
“Of course.” Sheila never failed to amuse Sharisse.
“Well? Answer me about Robert.”
Sharisse shrugged. “Robert has been my escort for some time. You know that. You see me with him all the time.”
“I know. I didn’t mean it that way. I only thought…well…why would you be with Robert now that he’s back?”
“He? Make sense, Sheila.”
“Don’t play coy with me, Sharisse.” Sheila narrowed her gaze. “I behaved like a perfect fool when I met him, and it’s all your fault. I was just so surprised that I was speechless—and you know I’ve never been speechless in my entire life.”
“Sheila, if you don’t explain yourself this minute!” Sharisse warned in exasperation.
“It was completely unfair of you to give me so little warning. I begged you for details, and all you told me was ‘he’s different.’ Now if that isn’t an understatement! ‘Different!’ He’s gorgeous. Why didn’t you just say so?”
Sharisse sat back, shaking her head. It wasn’t possible.
“You say you met…him. When?”
“Last night, at the Stewarts’ soiree. Donald introduced us. You know Donald.”
“Yes, yes, the man you’ve been seeing, I know Donald. Get on with it, Sheila.”
Sheila continued, and Sharisse prayed she wouldn’t ask why she wasn’t in touch with Lucas. “Well, Donald didn’t associate his name with you and only introduced him as Mr. Holt. Of course, how many Holts do we know? I simply had to ask him right out if he was your husband. I didn’t expect him to be, not after your careless description of him. You can imagine how surprised I was when he said yes.”
“What…what else did Lucas say?”
“Well, not much. He’s not much of a talker, is he? I asked him about his ship.” Sharisse looked upset, and Sheila asked anxiously, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Go on.”
“I asked about his ship and if his trip to the Orient was successful, but he was awfully evasive. And of course I asked why you weren’t with him, and he said you weren’t feeling up to it. But you must be better, or you wouldn’t be here tonight with…oh, dear. He asked a lot of questions, mostly about Robert.”
“What? You told him about Robert?”
“Ididn’t tell him,” Sheila said in a wounded voice. “I assumed you already had, since he knew Robert’s been escorting you recently. He wanted to know what Robert was like, but I couldn’t tell him much since I only returned to the city two months ago, and before I went away you were still upstate with your aunt. But your husband certainly was curious about Robert. I suppose that’s only natural, though, with him being away on business for so long. Such a long separation wasn’t an ideal way to begin a marriage, but it couldn’t be helped, could it?”
“What?” Sharisse could barely think at all.
“Will he be around for a while now before he has to leave on another voyage? I did wonder how you could marry a ship’s captain, even if he did own his own ship, but I can certainly understand why now! He might be away for long periods, but when he’s at home, oh, I do envy you.”
Sharisse heard herself blurting, “I…I don’t know when he is leaving again, Sheila. We…ah, we haven’t got around to discussing that yet.”
“But where is he now?”
“Busy,” Sharisse snapped, then quickly smiled and said casually, “Just because he’s home doesn’t mean I get to monopolize his time. He has a lot of business to take care of. Things that were neglected while he was away.”
