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CHAPTER ONE

I first saw hi, at the back of the reception tent He stood with the insolent, loose-jointed slouch of soh he ell dressed, it was obvious he didn'tbehind a desk No a fra fingers, clasped gently around a chane flute, could have snapped the crystal steood ol' boy, able to hunt, play football and poker, and hold his liquor Notmore

Even so, he was a co, handsome if you overlooked the crook in a nose that had once been broken His dark brown hair, as thick and lustrous as mink fur, was cut in short layers But it was the eyes that seized my attention, blue even at a distance, a volatile color you could never forget once you'd seen it It gave ht at me

I turned away i But awareness continued to spread overI drankthe arid fizz soothe lance

Those blue eyes glinted with an uncivilized suggestion A faint smile was tucked in one corner of his wide mouth Definitely wouldn't want to be alone in a rooaze moved doard in a lazy inspection, returned to ave me one of those respectful nods that Texan men had raised to an art form

I deliberately turned away, giving full attention to my boyfriend, Nick We watched the needs dance, their faces close I stood on my toes to whisper in Nick's ear "Our turn next"

His arm slid around me "We'll see what your father has to say about it"

Nick was going to ask Dad for perht was old-fashioned and unnecessary Butstubborn

"What if he doesn't approve?" I asked Given our fa that warranted parental approval, it was a distinct possibility

"We'll get rinned down at me "Still, I'd like to convince him I'm not such a bad deal"

"You're the best thing that's ever happened to ht it was a miracle that someone could love , could ever interest me

S if the blue eyed guy was still there, I wasn't sure why I was so relieved that he was gone

My brother Gage had insisted on a s ceremony Only handful of people had been allowed inside the tiny Houston chapel, which had once been used by Spanish settlers in the seven-teen hundreds The service had been short and beautiful, the air suffused with a hushed tenderness you could feel down to the soles of your feet

The reception, by contrast, was a circus

It was held at the Travis family mansion in River Oaks, an exclusive Houston community where people told a lot e was the first of the Travis offspring to getto use the occasion to impress the world Or at least Texas, which in Dad's vieas the part of the worldLike many Texans, my father firmly believed if our state hadn't been annexed back in 1845, we probably would have ended up in charge of North America

So in light of the family reputation and the fact that the eyes of Texas would be upon us, Dad had hired a renoedding planner and given her a four-word instruction: "The checkbook is open"

As all creation knew, it was a big checkbook

My father, Churchill Travis, was a fay index fund that had nearly doubled in its first decade The index included oil and gas producers, pipelines, alternative energy sources, and coal, represented by fifteen countries While I was growing up, I never saw apore, New Zealand, or Japan Often he went to DC to have lunch with the Federal Reserve chairman, or to New York to be a roundtable co breakfast withhim analyze the market while we ate our toaster waffles

With his full-bodied voice and outsized personality, Dad had always see to me It was only in my teens that I came to realize he was a physically small man, a bantam who ruled the yard He had contee, Jack, Joe, andspoiled So when he was around, he took it upon hiive us doses of reality, like spoonfuls of bitter medicine

When my mother, Ava, was still alive, she was an annual co-chair of the Texas Book Festival and went for slaave the best dinner parties As they said in those days, she was as fine as Dr Pepper on tap Afterher, men would tell Dad what a lucky bastard he was, and that pleased him to no end She was more than he deserved, he announced on h, because he always thought he deserved more than he deserved

Seven hundred guests had been invited to the reception, but at least a thousand had shown up People milled inside the mansion and out to the enormous white tent, which ebbed with hts and blanketed hite and pink orchids The huht out the pilloeet fragrance of the flowers

Inside the air-conditioned house, aice bar laden with all kinds of shellfish

There were twelve ice sculptures, one of the a vodka fountain studded with pockets of caviar White-gloved waiters filled frosted crystal cylinders with biting-cold vodka, and ladled caviar onto tiny sour creas

The hot buffet tables featured tureens of lobster bisque, chafing dishes filled with slices of pecan-srilled ahi tuna, and at least thirty other entrees I'd been to many parties and events in Houston, but I had never seen so much food in one place in my life

Reporters from the Houston Chronicle and Texas Monthly were there to cover the reception, which included guests like the forovernor and mayor, a famous TV chef, Hollywood people, and oil people Everyone aiting for Gage and Liberty, who had stayed behind at the chapel with the photographer

Nick was a little dazed Coround, this was a shock to his syste social conscience were e to Wellesley, a woe with the motto non ministrari sed ht it was a good motto for someone like me to learn

My fah a phase They — especially irl dabbling in liberal guilt I draggedtables "I loud I had ements for the leftovers to be taken to a nuht was a fine idea I still fell guilty A faux liberal, wailing in line for caviar

"Did you know," I asked Nick as ent to the vodka fountain, "that you have to sift through the equivalent of a ton of dirt to find a one-carat diamond? So to produce all the diamonds in this room, you'd have to excavate most of Australia"

Nick pretended to look puzzled "Last tiertips over my bare shoulder "Take it easy, Haven You don't have to prove anything I knoho you are"

Although ere both native Texans, we'd found each other in Massachusetts I had gone to Wellesley and Nick went to Tufts I'dranated a different country, featuring a national drink Vodka in Russia, whiskey in Scotland, and so forth

Soered into a dark-haired boy with clear hazel eyes and a self-confident grin He had a long, sinewy runner's body and an intellectual look

To ht, he spoke with a Texas accent "Maybe you should take a break from your world tour At least until you're steady on your feet"

"You're from Houston," I'd said

His smile had widened as he heard my accent "No, ma'am"