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'This isn't going to be a social event for me. It's purely business. Donovan Corley will be there. Fontana promised to introduce me to him. With luck, I'll be able to zing him with a couple of questions about UEX's deals with the Guild.'

'Oh, that should go over like a rat in a punch bowl. Sierra, the Crystal Ball is the social event of the year. You can't just barge in and grill powerful men like Corley while they're swilling champagne.'

'Why not? I've had a hunch from the beginning that Corley and his company are somehow involved with the juice dealing.'

'Is that so? Why?'

'There are a couple of reasons. First, those cozy deals UEX has with the Guild.'

'So what? A lot of big companies have sweetheart contracts. It's understood that if you want to extract valuable resources from underground, you have to give the Guild a piece of the action. That's true for all the organizations, not just the Crystal Guild.'

'Second,' Sierra continued, undaunted, 'ghost juice started hitting the streets within weeks after UEX abruptly halted what was supposed to have been its biggest exploration venture into the rain forest to date. I don't think that was a coincidence.'

'You still believe there's a conspiracy going on, don't you?'

'Yes, I do.'

'Look, even if you get a crack at Corley tonight, you don't really think he's going to confess to being a drug lord, do you?'

'I just want to see his reaction when I ask him a few questions.'

'If I were you, I'd worry more about getting a dress,' Kay said. 'You can't wear one of your business suits and a pair of pumps. You're Fontana's wife. You have a responsibility to look good.'

'I realize that. I made an emergency call to a certain fairy godmother, and she came through for me.'

'You've got a fairy godmother now?'

'My cousin, Tamsyn. She's the fashionista in my family. Lives in Cadence, but she knows where to shop in every one of the city-states. She gave me the name of a boutique on Amber Lane and made a phone call. I'm supposed to ask for Doris.'

'Amber Lane? I can't even afford to park on that street, let alone shop there.'

'Fontana said that the Guild would pick up the tab. Business expense.'

'Think Fontana has any idea of how expensive things are in Amber Lane?'

Sierra smiled. 'I doubt it.'

'Oh, wow,' Kay breathed, 'this is simply too cool for words.'

Runtley stuck his gleaming head through the doorway. 'What's going on here?'

'Sierra's going shopping,' Kay said.

Predictably, Runtley turned a vivid shade of purple. 'I don't pay my reporters to shop in the middle of the afternoon.'

'Got to buy a dress for tonight,' Sierra explained smoothly. 'Turns out I'm going to be covering the Crystal Ball.'

Runtley's eyes glittered. 'Fontana got you a press pass?'

'Well, actually, I'm going as his wife.'

'Oh, yeah, right,' Runtley said. 'I keep forgetting. I want photos.'

Phil sauntered toward them from the direction of the men's room. 'What's going on?'

'I'll tell you what's going on,' Runtley said, glowing with triumph. 'The Curtain is covering the Crystal Ball. You're the official photographer.'

'Woo-hoo,' Phil said. 'Just like a real newspaper, huh?'

Chapter 18

THE CRYSTAL PAVILION WAS AN OVER-THE-TOP TRIBUTE to the twin forces of architectural exuberance and the generous financial backing of the city's wealthiest and most powerful citizens, businesses, and organizations. The interior of the grand ballroom was a glittering, decadent fantasy of sparkling mirrored walls and gleaming marble-and-amber floors. A glass dome arched high overhead. The countless lights of a couple dozen massive chandeliers illuminated the expensively dressed crowd.

Sierra paused in the hallway outside the ladies' room. Her gown was a deceptively simple column of dark green that flowed from throat to ankle, a perfect example of understated elegance. An ingenious arrangement of hidden pleats and a discreet slit allowed freedom of movement. Just the right amount of skin was on display. Tamsyn's contact, Doris, had not failed her.

She was a McIntyre. Because of her family's standing in Resonance, she had attended a great many social events over the years. She knew how to dress for this kind of occasion, so she hadn't been worried about showing up in the wrong gown. But for reasons she could not explain—or perhaps did not want to examine too closely—she had wanted to do Fontana proud. The chiefs of the Guilds always had an uneasy relationship with the mainstream upper crust. Some of them, like Jenner, deserved their unsavory reputations. But her intuition told her that Fontana was a good man. He deserved the respect of his peers here in Crystal.

She spotted him a short distance away, waiting for her. He was talking to a well-dressed, distinguished- looking man in his early forties. Donovan Corley was even more aristocratically handsome in person than he was in newspaper photos and on the evening news. From the discreet touches of gold at his cuffs to his air of bone-deep self-assurance, he practically screamed old money. Corley knew his place in the social order: the top.

Fontana made a fascinating contrast. His formal black and amber evening clothes were every bit as expensively tailored as Corley's. His tux could well have come from the same exclusive shop. But somehow it made him look like a well-dressed assassin rather than a soft, pampered member of the social elite.

At that moment, he glanced toward the doorway and saw her. He smiled; an intimate, possessive, wholly masculine smile of sensual appreciation and pride.

She suddenly felt light and beautiful and utterly feminine. Champagne seemed to be flowing in her veins. She went toward him with a sense of gathering excitement. When she got close, he reached out and pulled her closer still.

'Sierra, I'd like you to meet Donovan Corley,' he said. 'Donovan, my wife, Sierra.'

'A pleasure, Sierra,' Donovan said in a voice laced with a prep school accent.

She would have forgiven him the accent if he hadn't leaned on it so deliberately. Two could play at this game.

'Good evening,' she said coolly, letting her own polished heritage gleam through the words. She knew her parents and her brothers would have groaned if they had heard her. 'I've been looking forward to meeting you. Are you enjoying yourself?'

She didn't need her psychic intuition to know that she had succeeded in startling Donovan.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Fontana's mouth twitch. He swallowed some champagne to drown his amusement.

Donovan recovered immediately.

'I'm enjoying it about as much as I did last year and the year before that,' he said, injecting dry amusement into his ever-so-cultured tones. 'What can one say about the Crystal Ball? It is what it is.'

'Very true.' She tucked her hand under Fontana's arm. 'Events like this do have a certain sameness about them, don't they? My father complains every year when Mother drags him out to the usual round of charity auctions and fund-raisers.'

Donovan's eyes tightened a little at the corners. 'Do your parents live here in Crystal?'

'No, Resonance.'

'I know a lot of people in Resonance,' Donovan said. 'And McIntyre is a fairly common name.'

She smiled and said nothing.

Donovan frowned. 'I don't suppose there's any connection to Jason McIntyre of McIntyre Industries?'