Anne's Courage [Le Club 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) by Skye Michaels Page B

little scared.”
    Mark glowed with pride and satisfaction at the praise. “Manuel, I’m going to borrow Mark for a while. We need to go into town for a haircut. He starts school on Monday,” Max said.
    “Oh man, do I have to get a haircut?” Mark whined.
    Max gave him a stern look. “Mark, this is an opportunity for you to make a good decision or a bad one. We can drive into town for a nice haircut at Sport Cuts, or,” he said with an ominous pause, “Manuel can give you a buzz with the horse trimmers. What’s it going to be?”
    “Haircut, Sir! Thank you, Sir!”
    “Good choice. Let’s go. Be sure and ask Jamie about the time he wanted to go back to boarding school after summer break with the mullet I’d let him keep all summer. He chose poorly,” Max said very seriously.
    “What happened?” Mark asked with curiosity.
    “I waited until he’d fallen asleep on the couch in the family room, and then I turned the mixer on full blast in the kitchen and buzzed the bottom of the mullet off with horse clippers. He never heard them. Slept like a rock right through the whole procedure. He was extremely surprised when he woke up,” Max said with a grin. “He was lucky I didn’t take a strip off the top of his head.”
    “Wow! Let’s go get the haircut!” Mark said. Yikes! I’d better watch myself. A bad attitude could be dangerous to more than just my butt!
     
    * * * *
     
    Max could see Mark’s mind working full tilt and grinned to himself. There’s more than one way to skin a teenage butt. He just loved outsmarting these young bucks!

Chapter Eighteen
     
    On Saturday evening, Max picked Anamaria Sanchez up at her townhouse for the trip to Gainesville for Puccini’s tragic opera, Turandot , at the Gainesville Performing Arts Center. Her home, located south of Route 40 in a section of well-kept, older homes, was not far from the club. Anamaria’s townhouse had a European flair and was very tastefully decorated with stunning, original Cuban artwork, antiques and many “found” items that gave it a unique look. He was impressed. Inky and Pinky, her twin cats, greeted him and were not shy about checking him out.
    Max and Anamaria were both opera buffs, and Turandot was one of Max’s favorites although certain aspects of the plot were frequently criticized. He had been a member of the Opera Guild of New Orleans for many years and was looking forward to the performance enthusiastically.
    The drive was extremely pleasant and the company very good. They shared a glass of fine champagne and lively conversation. Max really enjoyed Anamaria’s quirky sense of humor. She was intelligent, bright, well read, and extremely sophisticated. Maybe just a tad on the liberal side politically , while I am most decidedly on the conservative side . Well no one is perfect! She certainly looked lovely in a sleek, black sheath, a pair of large diamond studs, and a strand of white pearls with a diamond clasp that looked to be extremely old and valuable. They added just the right touch. A lady could never go wrong with pearls. As they exited the Lincoln Town Car he had commandeered from the club for the evening, he helped her with her wrap and took her arm to enter the theater.
    The Performing Arts Center was elegant, and their center row orchestra seats were excellent. They were enthralled when the curtain went up, and the fabulous set was revealed. An enormous dragon with many different levels and platforms wound around a big tree in front of the Chinese Imperial Palace. It was stunning, and the costumes of Princess Turandot and the other players were extremely opulent.
    At intermission, Max and Anamaria went out to the lobby for drinks and fell into conversation about the performance with a group of Ocala patrons that Anamaria knew from her event consulting. She had planned a good many of the more impressive social events in town over the last several years and knew a great many people. Most of the women were dressed to the