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I soaked awhile longer, waiting for a better idea to saunter into ht was still hours away, but the sun was burning its way down the western half of the sky I slipped into a luxurious cotton robe embroidered with the Luxor crest, wrapped my arms around my waist for comfort, and wished I could talk to David Screa? Exactly when had the whole discussion about offspring happened? I’d been unconscious a few tiuylike

I couldn’t deal with it now I had other things to do, and everything was risky Too risky to be atteile, brilliant spark of life inside me, but I didn’t have that ivenabout baby Djinn, and I had no one to ask but Rahel, who couldn’t answer me and probably wouldn’t tell me the truth even if she could

I put s you need to be successful as a hard-core Vegas ьber-slut: couture and attitude I had the second A trip downstairs to the Luxor bazaar would ensure that I had the first

I toured the options and decided on a discreet place that reeked of high price tags-not that it was an indicator of class, but discount stores definitely were out I needed the best, and I needed it now

I came in, all wrinkled and lived-in, and showed the clerk the color of , Cleopatra-cut honey-blond hair, gray-green eyes, skin like pale spring roses Wearing Donna Karan, which went perfectly with her body type Good shoes, too, so from the Valentino faa perfectly shaped eyebrows She had a perfect, cultured, West-End-London accent

"Evening"

"Casual or-"

"Tell you what, gorgeous, just shohat you think will rinned, and reen eyes "That won’t be difficult," she said, which made herfor you"

Forty-fivein front of a trio of ht-blue raw-silk sheath dress That wasn’t anything so special, until you considered the parts that werethe effect Transparent blue h neck to a band of raw silk over et you arrested, anyway-that faded into transparency again overinto beaded splendor low aroundUtterly impossible to ithout supree I did a slow turn again The salesclerk draped a sapphire pendant around h to make my heart skip a beat

"Well," I said "They say accessories are everything"

She gave , conspiratorial s Manolo Blahnik puht-blue raw silk, with pinpoint heels that raised ave ed my old outfit, and proenerously, squared et to work

I cut a swath through the bazaar, drawing stares from men and whispers from women; there were feho didn’t look, even if they frowned The Manolos felt perfect onlike an expertly tailored second skin Security watched awkers, with a touch of assessment They kneho I was, of course, but still, the dress had its effect

I headed for the highest-stakes tables and canize hiuys ere obviously bodyguards, and he had a stack of chips that could build atoo ave hile chip Ah, ere playing blackjack Cool I was good at blackjack

The croupier took s as I sat down on the high stool The ot his hand

"Your play," I said, and nodded down He focused quickly on the cards, asked for a hit, asked for another, busted, and watched about a thousand bucks travel into the croupier’s territory Then he swung around and watched me in open, frank appraisal I pretended not to notice, checked my cards, and flipped over the ace on top of the jack "Pay me" I salved the pain for the dealer with a smile and a wink He sot paid, a tidy little profit, and left a chip to ride as I scooped the rest back into the s in Midnight blue, with beadwork Matched the shoes, of course It wasn’t Fendi or Kate Spade, but you don’t get Fendi for free, now, do you?

The guy next to me leaned in closer with every turn of the cards We did a little ga Drinks were free, but I had a passenger on board to worry about now, and even though Djinn ell-nigh indestructible I wasn’t so sure about baby ones I stuck to cola

Mr Big Spender introduced himself as a blur of syllables I didn’t bother to catch He mentioned a couple of TV shows and a fil, broad-shouldered, dark hair and dark eyes A face that was beautiful or brutal, depending on the lighting and angles He liked dark colors-black, cabernet, ht blues We matched well

Which was, for him, what it was all about, the look I could tell that within seconds offor intellectual stimulation I wasn’t sure if he’d ever actually had intellectual sti behind, in about ten ht put out (and I ht, too, with the proper application of cash or credit) We cut quite a swath through the crowd on the way to the lobby A substantial nunized raphs; soood humor and used me as a poseable doll, which I suppose was the function most of his dates fulfilled both in public and in private

We were halfway across the lobby, heading for the doors, when Quinn appeared He took one look and knehat I’d done; fast, that boy He didn’t try to go for uards and did so plan A turn to crap

The bodyguard moved up to whisper in the pale ear of ave me a twisted smile "Ah" He didn’t seem to quite knohat to say We were in the lobby, nearly to the doors "Sorry You’re really that’s quite a look you’ve got going The dress and all It would fool anybody But I really don’t I can’t be seen with no offense Really"

He nearly tripped over himself in his haste to beat a retreat back to the blackjack tables His bodyguards closed in to let er welcolared "You told hiave me a top-to-bottom look, and smiled "That you had a little surprise for hi Of the frank-and-beans variety"

"You told hied

"And he believed it?" In this dress? I think I was more upset about that than the failure of plan A