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'Oh, but you have to! Everyone's expecting David to be there—'

'David, yes, but not me,' said Clare firmly

Or she thought she had been firm An hour later she was in the boutique of a friend of one of the visiting parents, trying on a selection of very exclusive and expensive dresses—offered at a generous 'family' discount—the shock of David's reaction to her refusal ringing in her ears

When she had finally run the elusive Russian to earth in a conference with his principal and his music director, he had told her calo, he wouldn't either

The two men with him had looked at Clare with renewed interest, as she floundered in her embarrassment

'David, don't be ridiculous You can't not go just because I don't have a dress Take someone else'

'I don't want to take anyone else And if a dress is your only problem, that's easily solved'

Clare's htened into a little knot of annoyance, and David's eyelids drooped 'Or perhaps you're trying to let ht?'

She would have liked to have claimed one, but those narrowed dark eyes warned her not to lie She sensed that David would have no qual the details from her in front of his interested staff

'I… I'ood at parties,' she said truthfully

'I can take or leave them myself Which shall we do to this one?' And as she hesitated he added silkily, 'You must know by now, Clare—I can be twice as stubborn as ever you can…'

Hence the black dress, defiantly de, slim skirt Demure, that was, until she moved and the drah Even the self-

absorbed accountant couldn't help his gaze wandering down every tiht, and she did so now, just to break the monotony After six years of faithful wedded bliss and two of celibacy, in the space of a single evening she had apparently become a mindless sex object!

An arm slid around her waist, and then the accountant's eyes jerked guiltily up as Clare was drawn briefly back against a hard body

'Sorry to break this up, but I have so,' David's voice shafted past her ear, sounding anything but apologetic The young man actually took a step back at the stony, black-Russian stare 'Excuse us, won't you?' It was a command, not a request, and Clare found herself marched unceremoniously away