Remember When

waiter and walked over to one of the bars that had been set up. A minute later, he returned with two glasses. 'Drink this,' he instructed. 'It will put some color in your cheeks and give you a little courage.'

Diana accepted the glass and took a tiny sip, then shook her head, trying to force herself to face a problem she'd been avoiding. There was no way of knowing what was going to happen an hour from now, when she walked into the ballroom with her family and Doug and his date, Amy. Some of the people at the ball tonight would be friends of hers, and if they asked about Dan, their interest in Diana's plight sprang from genuine concern and affection. That was not going to be true in the majority of cases at the ball, however. There, she would be bound to encounter hundreds of distant acquaintances and curious strangers who would watch her every move, searching for something to gossip about with their friends tomorrow, and some of them would relish her misery.

Diana had tried very hard to avoid making enemies throughout her life, but she knew there were those who envied the Foster family's success, and there were those who simply relished other people's unhappiness.

'The press is going to be swarming all over you tonight,' Corey said grimly.

'I know.'

'Stay close to Spence and me. We'll shield you the best we can.'

Diana gave a wan smile. 'Does Spence carry a gun?'

'Not tonight,' Corey joked. 'It makes a bulge in his tuxedo.'

Diana managed another smile, but she lifted her gaze to the mezzanine, surveying the crowd up there with all the enthusiasm of a woman facing a firing squad at the top of the stairs. 'I wish I hadn't agreed to model that necklace for the auction, before all this happened,' she said. 'I'll have to go up there in a few minutes so they can put it on me.'

'Oh, God, I forgot all about that!' Corey moaned. 'I noticed you weren't wearing any jewelry tonight, but I was so pleased to see how glamorous you looked in that purple gown that I forgot you were scheduled to model those damned amethysts.'

For over a hundred years, the White Orchid Ball, known sometimes simply as the Orchid Ball, and the charity auction that was a part of it, had been the most illustrious social event of the year for the Texas aristocracy. It was steeped in traditions that had originated when the invited guests were cattle-and-oil barons and prosperous industrialists who arrived in gleaming carriages and waltzed with their ladies beneath crystal chandeliers ablaze with candles. In its present form, it was no longer restricted to a few dozen of Texas's most fabulously wealthy and socially elite families, but its traditions had remained intact and it was widely acknowledged as one of the most successful and acclaimed charity fund-raisers in the world.

Diana had been invited to model one of the donated items to be auctioned, and having previously agreed to do it, that was an honor and ritual that she couldn't now reject without bringing even more gossip down on her head. Diana knew that. So did Spence and Corey.

'Finish your drink,' Spence insisted. 'Two more swallows.'

Diana complied because compliance was easier and she needed to conserve all her strength to face the evening's ordeal.

Knowing how concerned Diana always was for his comfort, her grandfather deliberately tried to divert Diana's attention from her plight by bringing up his own. Running his finger around the starched collar of his tuxedo shirt, he said, 'I hate wearing this damned monkey suit, Diana. I feel like a damned fool every time I have to put one on.'

Diana's grandmother gave him a reproachful look. 'Stop cursing, Henry. And your tuxedo looks very nice on you.'

'It makes me look like a damned penguin,' he argued.

'All the men are wearing tuxedos tonight.'

'And we all look like penguins!' he countered grumpily, and to stop her from arguing about that, he turned to a more pleasant subject and looked hopefully at Diana. 'I think we should do another issue featuring organic gardening. Organic gardening is always popular. What do you think about that, honey?'

Diana couldn't seem to concentrate on anything except the ordeal that loomed in front of her. 'That's fine, Grandpa,' she said, even though they'd featured organic gardening twice already that year. 'We'll do that,' she added absently, which made her mother and her grandmother look at her in amazement. 'I'd better go and sign out that necklace,' Diana said reluctantly. 'It's a good thing I'm not in a spending mood tonight,' she added with a lame attempt at humor. 'First I forgot my purse and had to go back for it.' She lifted up her small, oval Judith Leiber evening bag to illustrate. 'Then, when I got here, I couldn't tip the parking attendant because I discovered I forgot to take any money with me. All I have is a driver's license and compact in here. Oh, and I remembered to take lipstick. But I brought the wrong color.'

Everyone smiled at her predicament as she turned to leave—everyone except Rose Britton, who continued to stare at Diana's retreating form, her forehead wrinkled in a thoughtful frown. Finally she turned to the others and announced in a dire tone, 'I think Diana has finally reached her limits, and I'm worried about her.'

'What do you mean?' her husband asked.

'I mean that she has been acting very strangely,' Mrs. Britton said in her blunt voice, 'and she was doing it before Dan dumped her.'

'I haven't noticed anything strange, Mother,' Mrs. Foster said, wincing at her mother's choice of descriptions for what Dan did.

'Then let me give you some examples. Diana has always been the most organized, methodical, punctual, dependable person on God's green earth. Every Friday, at seven-thirty a.m., she has a massage and then a manicure, and every Thursday afternoon at four p.m., she has a meeting with the production staff.' She paused to make certain that everyone was in complete agreement with what she'd said so far, and when she saw that they were all listening attentively, she presented her proof: 'Two weeks ago, Diana forgot her massage appointment. The following week, she forgot about the production meeting and forgot to tell her secretary that she'd scheduled an appointment with one of our bankers instead! I know, because her secretary called me at home, looking for her.'

Spence suppressed a grin at what he regarded as needless concern. 'Everyone forgets an appointment now and then, particularly when they're very busy, Gram,' he said reassuringly. 'According to what Corey has told me, Diana has been under intense pressure trying to run the magazine and implement expansion plans and still stay ahead of the competition. Given all that, an unimportant thing like a massage and manicure would be easy to forget.'

'Two months ago,' Gram added doggedly, 'she also forgot my birthday party!'

'She was working late at the office,' Mrs. Foster reminded her mother. 'When I called her there, she rushed right over.'

'Yes, but when she got here, she'd forgotten my present!—and then she absolutely insisted on going to her apartment to get it.'

'That's not unusual for Diana, Gram,' Corey said. 'You know how considerate she is and how much thought she puts into the gifts she buys for people. She insisted on going back to get your gift because she was determined to give it to you on the right day.'

'Yes, but when she got to her apartment, it took her nearly an hour to find my present because she couldn't remember where she'd put it!'

Doug exchanged a look of masculine amusement with Spence before he said, 'That's because she probably bought it for you a year ahead of time, Mrs. Britton. Last August, I bumped into her at Neiman's and she told me she was doing her Christmas shopping.'

Corey smiled. 'She always makes her Christmas list out in August and finishes her shopping in September. She says everything is picked over after that.'

'She always comes up with perfect gifts,' Doug put in with a reminiscent smile. 'Last year I gave her a five-pound box of Godiva chocolates and a bottle of champagne, but she gave me a cashmere scarf that I'd mentioned liking. I'll bet that when she found your birthday gift and brought it over, Mrs. Britton, it was exactly what you wanted.'

'It was a box of cigars!' she informed him.

Doug's eyes narrowed in sudden alarm, but Mr. Britton only chuckled and shook his head. 'She'd ordered