Lucas frowned. He glanced at his black wrist watch. 'It's exactly seven o'clock.'
'Is it? Imagine that.' Amaryllis summoned up a smile. 'Sorry. Guess my clock is slow.'
Lucas was dressed in conservative, formal evening black. Black shirt, black jacket, black trousers, and black tie. Not a hint of khaki in sight, Amaryllis noticed. She wondered what he thought of the current fad for Western Islands gear. Not much, judging from the fact that his dark hair was cut short and brushed back in a crisp, no- nonsense style.
Lucas surveyed her from head to toe. 'Something wrong?'
Good grief, she was staring. 'No, of course not.' Amaryllis hurriedly stepped back into the hall. 'Come on in. I'll just be a minute. I have to get my purse.'
'There's no rush.' He walked through the door. 'I allowed plenty of time.'
The implication that he had expected her to keep him waiting annoyed Amaryllis. 'Wait here. I'll be right back.'
She went into the bedroom and snatched her purse off the dresser. When she returned to the outer room she found Lucas examining the contents of her bookcase. He had a copy of Orchid Adams's newest release,
'Don't tell me you like these psychic vampire romance novels,' Lucas said. He sounded wary, not derisive.
'As a matter of fact, I enjoy them very much.'
'But you don't really believe there are off-the-scale talents who can take over helpless prisms do you?'
'Of course not. That's why they call it fiction, Mr. Trent.'
'I don't read much fiction. I prefer nonfiction.'
'I'm not surprised that we have different tastes.' Amaryllis gave him a grim little smile. 'There's an old saying that high-class talents and full-spectrum prisms generally have nothing in common except the ability to hold a focus.'
'True.' His eyes moved over her as if he were assessing all the various ways in which they differed. 'Shall we go?'
'Certainly.'
The phone rang just as Amaryllis turned to lead the way toward the door. She ignored it.
'Feel free to answer it,' Lucas said easily. 'We're in no hurry.'
'You're sure?'
'Believe me. I'm not in a rush to spend the evening sipping green wine punch and eating soggy hors d'oeuvres.'
Amaryllis went to the phone and lifted the receiver. 'Hello?'
'Oh, hello, dear.' Hannah Lark's voice sounded warm and cheerful, as it always did. She was a doctor, and her bedside manner stemmed from a genuinely caring nature. 'I'm glad I caught you.'
'Well, actually. Aunt Hannah, I'm just on my way out the door.' Amaryllis slid a quick glance at Lucas who was now studying her collection of music discs. 'Can it wait?'
'This will only take a moment,' Hannah assured her. 'I'm filling out the marriage agency forms for you, as we agreed, and there are one or two questions I thought I'd bounce off you.'
'Not now. Aunt Hannah, please.'
'Do you have any strong preferences when it comes to physical appearance?'
'Uh, not really.'
'Height? Weight? Eye color?'
'No, Aunt Hannah. It doesn't matter.'
'You're sure, dear?'
'I'm positive.'
'Good, that makes things much simpler. Now, then, intelligence and education are critical, of course. I've already made a note of that. What about mutual interests? How picky do you intend to be in that area?'
'Very picky. Compatibility is a must. Listen, Aunt Hannah, someone's waiting for me. We'll have to do this some other time.'
'Who's waiting?' Hannah's voice sharpened with interest. 'A man?'
'Well, yes, as a matter of fact.'
'Someone from work?'
'Sort of. I'll tell you all about it later.'
'You're avoiding me, Amaryllis.' Hannah sighed. 'This happens every time I try to get your attention long enough to complete this form. You can't make excuses forever. The Synergistic Connections agency is the best matchmaking service in the city-state. They only handle a certain number of select clients. Their list was already filled for the next six months. It wasn't easy convincing them to make room for you. I had to pull a few strings.'
'I know I'm lucky that you were able to get me registered with Synergistic Connections. I promise I'll call you tomorrow so that we can fill out the form together, but I can't do it now. I really have to run.'
'All right, we'll do it first thing in the morning. There's no excuse for waiting any longer. By the way, where are you going tonight?'
'The reception at the museum.'
Hannah gave a delighted gasp. 'Are you serious?'
'Very. Talk to you later. Aunt Hannah. Good night.' Amaryllis dropped the phone back into the cradle before her aunt could recover from her shock. She looked at Lucas. 'Let's go before she calls back.'
Lucas's gaze was unreadable as he followed her to the door. 'You're registered with Synergistic Connections?'
'My aunt insisted.' Amaryllis grimaced. 'She says it's the agency that matched her and my Uncle Oscar.'
A glimpse of genuine understanding appeared in Lucas's eyes. For one brief, shining moment, Amaryllis felt an unexpected sense of mutual empathy flash between them. She and the Iceman might be polar opposites in some ways, but when it came to the business of marriage, they comprehended each other very well.
Marriage was a serious matter. It had been since the founders, faced with the task of creating a colony that could survive the rigors of being stranded on an alien world, had deliberately set out to promote a strong family structure. Their historical and psychological research had convinced them that only a society founded on the firm support of rock-solid families could meet the challenges that lay ahead.
The institution of marriage was regarded as a permanent commitment. It bound not only two people but two extended families. Under the guidance of the founders, the monumental weight of social pressure and the enormous power of the law had been brought to bear in order to enforce the unwritten as well as the written rules that governed the social order.
Amaryllis knew those rules only too well. Her parents had not been married. She had not only lost both her mother and her father when she was less than a year old, she had paid the price of their indiscretion.
One of the most unpleasant fates that could befall a child in such a family-oriented society was to be born out of wedlock. The shame and the humiliation cast shadows for years, especially in small towns such as the one where Amaryllis had been raised. She was well aware that she had been very fortunate, under the circumstances. Many bastard children did not fare so well.
Hannah and Oscar Lark had taken her into their home after her mother's death. From birth, Amaryllis had been surrounded by a host of loving relatives. There was little the Larks could do about the cruelty of her classmates or the whispered gossip of adults, however. Nor could anyone make up for the fact that her father's family, the wealthy and influential Baileys, chose to ignore Amaryllis.
For her part, Amaryllis had vowed early on never to embarrass her aunt and uncle or any of the rest of her mother's relatives. She knew her duty and her responsibilities. High on the list was the necessity of contracting a proper, agency-sanctioned marriage when the time came.
She had put off the inevitable as long as possible. She had finally run out of excuses.
Sooner or later, almost everyone, gay or straight or in-between, got married. Same-sex alliances, known as permanent partnerships, were as binding as heterosexual unions and had equal status as well as equal responsibilities to the community. Divorce was virtually impossible.
