Sacrifice by Alexandrea Weis Page B

bar in the corner of the gallery.
    “ He’s here,” Simon pronounced as he took my elbow. “About ten feet ahead of us at the end of the bar. In the black jacket and gray slacks. He is standing next to the girl in the bright red dress. Do you see him?” he excitedly asked.
    I scanned the crowd ahead of us and immediately found the girl in red. She was slender, had thick auburn hair, and long legs. Her face was slightly rounder than my own, but her creamy coloring and high cheekbones mirrored mine. Her delicate features were very close to mine except that her lips were slightly fuller, and her eyes were blue and nothing like my smaller gray ones. I noticed she wore too much make up, her dress fit a little too snuggly, and dipped a little too low at her bust line. The man with his arm about her looked more like her father than her date. He was tall with thick brown hair, but when he gazed into the crowd and spotted me; his eyes took me a bit by surprise. They had a cruel quality to them. A characteristic Simon’s photographs had not revealed. His strong features appeared sharper in person, and gave his black eyes a more sinister quality. He looked like a man who did not like being toyed with or lied to. He was a man no woman should ever cross.
    “ I think you have been made,” Simon whispered to me. “Play it subtle and sophisticated with Gregory. And when asks to see you again, reluctantly agree to his request. It will make him want you more”
    “ Hello,” Gregory Caston said as stepped in front of me. “You’re Jenny, aren’t you?” He paused and smiled coyly. “David Alexander’s Jenny,” he added.
    I inspected the man from head to toe, trying to make him feel as uncomfortable as his eyes were making me.
    “ Have we met?” I inquired after a few strategic seconds.
    “ Gregory,” Simon spoke up beside me. “It’s been too long,” he cooed as he held out his hand.
    “ Simon La Roy. How the hell did you get in here?” Gregory Caston refused Simon’s hand as he cautiously stared at the small man beside me.
    Simon lowered his hand to his side and then looked down at his cane. “I made a contribution. How else would one get into a benefit? Seems everyone is trying to help out with the Katrina recovery these days. It has become the fashionable charity of the hour.”
    “ If I’d known you were coming, I would have hired more security,” Gregory Caston said with more than a hint of irritation in his voice. He turned his eyes back to me. “I’m surprised to find you with the infamous Simon La Roy, Jenny. I would have thought David would have warned you about this man.”
    “ David was always the soul of discretion,” Simon mused. He smiled triumphantly and turned to me. “Nicole Beauvoir, I would like you to meet Gregory Caston.” He waved to Caston. “An art dealer in your fair city and New York as well.”
    “ And another in Dallas,” Gregory Caston revealed as his eyes found mine.
    I could immediately detect the desire within his black orbs. Normally, I would have turned away from such a crass man, but years of enduring such looks from the opposite sex had taught me to just ignore Gregory Caston’s leering gaze.
    “ I will be opening my fourth gallery in Los Angeles later this year,” Gregory Caston reported as he eyed my dress with intense interest.
    “ What an enterprising little monkey you have become, Gregory. All those art galleries in addition to your other little business ventures.”
    I held out my hand and flashed my best southern smile. “Mr. Caston, it’s a pleasure.”
    He took my hand and held it firmly. “I’m honored, Ms. Beauvoir, to have your famous face gracing our little benefit tonight.”
    “ Please, call me Nicci,” I offered as I retracted my hand but kept the fake smile plastered on my lips.
    “ Nicci and I became acquainted last December when she helped me with a small problem,” Simon informed him.
    “ Yes, I read about Michael Fagles in the