The Moon is Not Enough by ThePekingNoodle
Chapter Twenty-Five: Shall We Dance?
A ball. Music, dancing…but wait, it's with the wrong partners!!
As the small party consisting of Logan and the three women rode down in the elevator, there was a momentary silence. Logan was preoccupied with thoughts of Lydecker and of how Jondy's presence was going to complicate matters. Max leaned against him thinking about the evening to come, and Jondy wondered how she would fit in with the Seattle society crowd she was soon to encounter.
Kendra broke the silence with an artless question, "So what's this X5 thing about? Is it like a sorority you were both in? I mean I know you aren't really real sisters since Max was an only child, but I never heard of that sorority before and I thought I knew all the Greeks."
Max and Jondy exchanged quick guilty glances. Kendra hadn't been meant to overhear that comment.
"It's a European thing. Kind of like a sorority though." Max covered.
"Oh cool. That's what I figured it had to be." Kendra smiled, content with the explanation. "I wonder if it's affiliated with any of our sororities here? I mean maybe if it was related to mine, we could all be sisters."
"I don't know." Max said. "Do you Jondy?"
"Jondy pretended to think hard. "I don't know. I guess it's possible."
"So you two went to school together in Europe?" Kendra was on to a new topic.
"Well, it was for a pretty short time period. Jondy didn't stay long at all. Not even a semester." Max hedged.
"Yeah they kind of asked me to leave. I didn't like the rules and regulations. I bet they don't even have a record of me there since I was such an embarrassment to the school." Jondy added.
The elevator doors opened at that moment and Kendra and Jondy emerged first. They were in Fogle Towers lobby and Kendra led Jondy to the entrance doors, knowing that Logan had ordered a limousine to be there for them. Logan pulled on Max's arm holding her back a short distance from the others.
"That was lucky. That was a serious slip about the X5s," he said to Max.
She frowned at him; "Everyone makes mistakes, Logan. You don't know how much it means to me having Jondy here."
"I don't want it to mean that you blow your cover to the Colonel. A slip like that around one of his people would be fatal. Maybe you better give Kendra the full name of your sorority other than X5 so she doesn't slip up with it either. Or didn't you think of that ?"
Max looked at him in chagrin, realizing that he was right. She had been unusually careless and as a result all of their lives could be at risk. "I'll do that," she said shortly. She pulled away from Logan and hurried to the limo not realizing that he would misinterpret her anger at herself as anger at him. He frowned and followed after her.
The ride to the party was silent as the unspoken tension between Max and Logan made itself felt in the confines of the car. Kendra looked at them in puzzlement but refrained from saying anything. Luckily it wasn't a far distance and the car pulled up in front of an elegant hotel very shortly. A uniformed valet hurried forward to open the door and hand out the three women. Logan followed. They made their way down the plush velvet carpet that had been rolled out from the hotel entrance and within moments they were in the hotel lobby where another uniformed staff member directed them to the elevators.
When they emerged from the elevators, Jondy let out a gasp. They were on the top floor of the hotel, high above the city. Floor to ceiling windows afforded panoramic views on all sides. The room had been draped with tiny twinkling lights that caused the crystal and silver of the place settings to glitter. Beautifully gowned women, and men dressed in immaculate tuxedos, thronged the room. As they entered it seemed that all eyes focused on them and there was a sudden hum of whispers. Max held her head high as she walked next to Kendra and let Logan follow behind them, escorting Jondy. They had agreed that it would be best to let Cousin Ryan think they were having problems and Jondy's presence gave them additional ammunition to convince society of that.
"Here comes Mom, Max." Kendra warned her as Margo swept down on them.
"I expected you here to help me receive our guests, Kendra." Margo said as she leaned in and kissed her daughter's cheeks with a false smile. She turned to look at Max. "I didn't expect to see you here."
Max smiled sweetly at her. "Kendra asked me to come."
Margo gave her a supercilious look and turned to Logan with another false smile. "Logan. You must introduce me to your lovely date." She beamed at Jondy who smiled blandly back at her.
"This is my friend, Jondy, Aunt Margo." Logan said calmly. "She's just arrived from a trip overseas. I hope you don't mind me bringing her along tonight."
"Of course not. Such a lovely child and clearly of a good upbringing. Enjoy yourselves children, I have hostess duties to handle. Kendra you come with me, there's someone I want you to meet." Pointedly ignoring Max, Margo took Kendra's arm and dragged her off in her wake. Max deliberately ignored Logan and Jondy and walked over to a passing waiter for a glass of champagne.
Logan felt Jondy bristling on his arm and placed a hand on hers to calm her down.
"What a horrible woman. How dare she treat Max like that." Jondy said indignantly.
Logan leaned over in pretense of giving her a light kiss on her neck, "She is horrible but she took the bait. It will be all over the room that Max and I are over. That should bring Cousin Ryan running to her side which is exactly what we want," he whispered to her. "Now smile at me. You're my date for the night, remember?"
Jondy smiled at him but he could tell she was still angry. He sighed. Things were tricky enough and he wondered if bringing Jondy into the equation would prove to be a mistake. With a sigh he guided her to one of the bars that dotted the room and handed her a glass of champagne.
"Drink that and then we're going to dance. We need to make sure Cousin Ryan sees us together and gets the idea that we're a couple."
Jondy took the champagne and quickly drank it down. "Let's get this bitch over with." She put down her glass and pulled Logan onto the dance floor.
Logan put his arms around her and pulled her close to him. When she tried to pull back he said to her softly, "If you pull away from me, this is never going to work."
Jondy relaxed but she looked up at Logan. "What happened between you two in the lobby? There was a definite chill in the car on the way over here."
"Nothing," Logan said repressively.
"She's my sister and I'm not above kicking your ass if I have to, Logan." Jondy warned.
Logan looked down at her with a smile pasted on his face, "She's my wife. And I'm not above protecting her from you, if you aren't being up front with us about what's gone down between you and the Colonel."
Jondy was saved from answering by the tensing of Logan's arms around her. She looked to see what had caused it and followed his gaze to where Max was now on the dance floor, held closely in the arms of a tall handsome man. Logan said something under his breath.
"Stop looking at them like that or you'll blow it, Logan." Jondy pulled his head down to hers and kissed him lightly for the benefit of those watching them. There was a definite buzz going on over the sight of Logan dancing with the unknown but beautiful blonde, while his erstwhile wife danced with the European Count just yards away.
Logan reined in his temper and smiled down at Jondy. "You're right. But once this is over I intend to have a little conversation with Cousin Ryan."
Suddenly Jondy spun Logan so that his back was to Max and her partner, not wanting him to see the man's hands which were now boldly wandering down Max's back. She smiled despite herself. The evening was promising to be an exciting one with more to come unless she missed her guess.
End of Chapter Twenty-Five…TBC…