After the Music Read Free

dress shop and paid only a fraction of its original price. Bargain hunting was one of her specialties. It had to be, on her erratic salary. She wore black sling pumps with it, and carried a dainty little black evening bag, and put on the long cashmere coat, because nights were getting cold in late autumn. She left her hair long instead of putting it into a high French twist, as she usually did in the evening. When she went back out into the living room, Al got to his feet and sighed.
    "You dish," he murmured. "What an eye-catcher!"
    "Why does that make you look so smug?" she asked suspiciously.
    "I told you I had a project in mind," he said after a minute. "You remember hearing me talk about the children's hospital I'm trying to get funds to build?"
    "Yes," she said, waiting.
    "I'm trying to put together a benefit for it. On local television. If I had a couple of sponsors, and you for a drawing card, I could get some local talent and present it to the local stations." He grinned. "I guarantee we'd raise more than enough."
    "You know I'd do it for you, without pay," she said. "But we're not big enough..."
    "Yes, you are," he said stubbornly. "A television appearance here would give you some great publicity. Look, I'm not asking you to do it for that reason and you know it, so don't ruffle up at me. The kids will benefit most, and I've got some other talent lined up as well," he told her. "But I can't sell the idea to the television stations until I've got the sponsors. I want to wheedle Thorn into being one of them." R. "Will he?"
    "If he's persuaded," he said, with a sly glance at her.
    "Now, wait a minute," she said curtly. "I am not playing up to your poisonous brother, for any reason."
    "You don't have to play up to him. Just be friendly. Be yourself."
    She frowned. "You aren't going to paint me into a corner, are you?"
    "Scout's honor," he promised with a flash of white teeth. "Trust me."
    "I don't trust anybody, even you," she said with a smile.
    "I'm working on that. Let's go."
    He led her down the long flight of stairs.
    "Couldn't you ask him yourself?" she murmured. "After all, blood is thicker..."
    "Thorn's kind of miffed with me."
    "Why?"
    Al stuck his hands in his pockets with a sigh and glanced at her ruefully. "He brought a girl home for me last night." Her eyes widened. "He what?"
    "Brought a girl home for me. A very nice girl, with excellent connections, whose father owns an oil refinery. He was giving a dinner party, you see:'
    "My God!" she burst out.
    "I called my mother after it was over, and she called up and chewed on his ear for a while. That made him mad. He doesn't like her very much most of the time, and he needs that refinery damned bad." He shrugged. "If I could get him a refinery, he'd sure rush over to sponsor my benefit."
    "You could buy him one," she suggested.
    "With what? I'm broke. Not totally, but I don't have the kind of capital I'd need for business on that scale. I'm a partner on paper only, until I come into my share of Dad's estate next year."
    "I'm beginning to get a very interesting picture of Hamilton Regan Thorndon the Third," she said stiffly. "A matchmaker, is he?"
    "That's about the size of it," At confessed. He gestured toward his car when they reached the street. "I'm parked over there."
    She followed him, scowling. "Does he do this to you often?"
    "Only when he needs something he can't buy." He sighed. "You'd never guess how many businessmen have eligible daughters they want to marry off. Especially businessmen with refineries and blocks of oil stock and..."
    "But that's inhuman!"
    "So is Thorn, from time to time." He unlocked the car and helped her inside. "Haven't you wondered why I usually keep you and Jessica away from company parties?"
    "I'm beginning to realize," she said to herself. She waited until he got inside the green Mercedes-Benz and started the engine before she added, "He doesn't want you associating with the peons, I gather?"
    He stiffened, started to deny it,