Lotus Blossom Read online

  “Hey, sister, get over here. Me and my wife want a picture with our friends.” A heavyset man in an open-necked shirt waved at Lotus.

  “Yes, sir.Coming.” Lotus hurried over weaving in and out of the tables in one of the casino’s restaurants.

  After she had taken the photos and noted that there didn’t seem to be any other customers in the restaurant, she made her way back to the gaming rooms to see if there would be any work there. “Just a few more and I’ll make the rent money,” she mumbled to herself.

  “Would you mind taking my picture?” Dash touched her arm, smiling down at her,

  Lotus smiled back. “You don’t need me to take your picture.”

  “But I do.” He looked past her and gestured to someone. “Lana, come here.”

  Lotus turned around to see Lana Dalbey, one of the showgirls, sway up to Dash and put her hand through his arm, reaching up to kiss his mouth at the same time. Lotus had a burning wish to kick her right in her high instep.

  “Lotus wants to take our picture.” Dash lifted his head and turned the tall lissome blonde to face Lotus. “Go ahead.”

  “Sweetie, why don’t we have Harry take it? After all, he’s in charge of Foto for the casino,” Lana drawled, her eyes flicking over Lotus, then away again. Foto was the company that had hired Lotus.

  Lotus froze in position, her camera ready for shooting, taking deep breaths to keep her temper in check. This inscrutable Oriental is about to smack you with this camera, Lana, Lotus fumed.

  “Go ahead, Lotus.” Dash grinned at her, then laughed when she continued to stare at him. “Kill me later. Take the picture now.”

  Lotus snapped it, then looked down at her camera in the pretense of checking the film. She knew if she looked at the people in front of her, the fury building inside of her would erupt. Who the hell was Dash Colby to patronize her? She wasn’t that hard up for money that she needed his or his girlfriend’s clever remarks.

  “Lotus. Look at me, Lotus,” Dash put his hand under her chin, the softness of her skin stirring him.

  She jerked her head away, her shoulder-length black hair swinging around her face like a velvet curtain. “I have to develop my film. Excuse me.” She wheeled away from him and stalked from the room, along a corridor leading off the lobby to the rear of the club. The locker rooms, dressing rooms, and storage areas were there, as well as the small darkroom Lotus shared with the other photographers.

  She slammed the door of the darkroom and flipped the switch so that outside the door a red light flashed. No one would enter the room until the light was off.

  Mumbling to herself, Lotus readied the liquids and pans. “It’s a good thing I wasn’t working the instant camera at that moment. If I’d stayed one more minute I’d have smacked her,” she fumed, automatically performing the tasks she had learned as an undergraduate student in the graphic arts department of Rochester Institute of Technology. She used her photographic skills as a free-lance photographer at weddings and other celebrations while she worked toward finishing her master’s degree in Graphic Arts. She intended to become a full-time photographer when she graduated. “But not until I finish what I started . . she spoke out loud, hanging the negatives up so that she could look at them. Then she began to print her work. “Uncle Silas would never have taken money from the firm.” The firm Lotus referred to was Sinclairs, Inc., a photographic company selling camera equipment and also doing photographic work in the field of sales, publicity, and public relations. Sinclairs was a respected firm. She had worked there part time while in college, and though she felt very comfortable at Sinclairs, she planned to try her wings in New York. Her family had not said they would be against her going, but Lotus knew they would prefer her to stay with the family company.

  She sighed as she thought of the family and how her uncle’s problem had worn them down like water on a stone. Great Grandpa Sinclair was even a friend of George Eastman, the founder of Kodak in Rochester. No one who knows our family would ever think that one of them would steal or embezzle. . . She slammed her small fist on the counter as she looked at the smiling faces of people in the prints she pinned on the line to dry. “I don’t know who did this, Uncle Silas, but I will find out.” A dry sob wracked her as she thought of the man who had aged twenty years almost overnight, who’d had a mild stroke as a result. Her mother and father walked around like somnambulists, their faces white and strained. The happy homes, always filled with people, were like tombs now and had been that way for the past nine weeks, ever since the first news broke in the Rochester newspapers. “I will not let our family be destroyed. I won’t. I won’t.” Lotus spoke into the darkness, her low voice seeming to echo in the gloom.

  When she was finished printing all the photos she had taken, she left them hanging to dry. With a little luck she might be able to take pictures of some of the latecomers, but it had been her experience that it was the early evening people who were more apt to want pictures. She flipped the red light switch off and grasped the handle of the door. Before she could push it, it opened.

  “Hi.”

  “Hi,” Lotus said, looking up into Dash Colby’s face.

  “I could see you were offended by Lana’s actions. That’s why I was waiting here, to apologize. I didn’t want you to think I was denigrating you or your work. I know how tough it is to be a Foto girl, and how important it is to make quota just so you’ll get some pay.” He touched her cheek with one finger, then dropped his hand. “Please have supper with me.”

  She felt such a rush of heat she thought her knees would buckle. “I'm . . . I’m not through. I was going in to work the rooms again. . . ” She inhaled a deep breath.

  “Fine. I have a little work to do. How would it be if I came looking for you in, say, an hour?”

  Lotus wanted to tell him to disappear. “All right,” she answered him, flustered. She walked around him to go back down the hall to the main part of the casino, hoping that he wouldn’t notice her trembling knees.

  “You have marvelous legs, darling, such trim calves, sweet ankles . . .” he murmured behind her, “and that little black ruffle shows off . . .”

  Lotus whirled around to glare at his laughing face, then she was almost running to get away.

  As she walked through the tables, she was conscious of the skimpiness of her costume for the first time. It had not bothered her previously because it had certainly covered her as well as the bikini she wore to the beach. “But you don’t wear black pumps and net stockings with that . . .” she mumbled to herself, nodding to a customer who hailed her.

  By the end of the hour she had told Dash she was tired. To her surprise, there had been many requests for pictures, and she had used both her instant camera and the larger commercial one she carried around her neck.

  At the last minute there were two more customers, so she had to hurry to the darkroom to develop and print out her last works of the day. These photographs she would drop by the concierge’s desk where the customers were instructed to pick up their prints. While the work was drying, she hurried to the locker rooms and changed into her street clothes. She would be dining with Dash Colby in slacks, but they were her best linen ones. The coral color repeated in the linen vest was a foil for her dark hair. She shook her head at her mirror image. “You look Oriental, but that skin is a little too Irish looking. No wonder it takes you so long to tan.” She grimaced at her reflection, brushed some coral lip gloss on her mouth, checked the tote bag she carried to see if the folder was still inside the zippered bag, then she walked toward the door. “I feel short in my linen slip-on fiats

  but what the heck? I didn’t know I was going to dine and I couldn’t ride a bike with heels,” she said aloud as she left the ladies’ area.

  “You must have money in the bank. Do you always talk to yourself?”

  Lotus jumped and nodded as she noticed Dash propping up the wall in the corridor. “Usually I’m so busy with my conversations with myself I’ll walk right by friends.”

/>   “I know. You didn’t see me until I spoke to you.” “I’m a little casually dressed for supper. Would you like to put it off until another day?”

  “I think you look lovely.” He stood close to her. Lotus studied him. “You’re taller than my brothers and they’re over six feet.”

  “I’m six feet four inches.”

  “Lord,” Lotus whispered as he took her arm. She hoped he didn’t notice how she stiffened when he touched her tote bag.

  “What do you carry in that thing?” he grinned down at her.

  “I carry my lunch in it, reading materials, and sometimes a change of clothes.” She told him the truth, just omitting that tonight she also was carrying a folder stolen from his files!

  “You could carry your bed in it.”

  “It is large,” she agreed.

  “Yes.” Why is she so nervous? he wondered.

  When he led her toward the Crystal Room, she dug in her heels. “What is it, love? You’ll like the food.”

  “I know, but I’m not dressed for it.”

  “You look wonderful. Believe me. I wouldn’t bring you here if I thought you would be embarrassed.” “If you say so,” Lotus reluctantly gave in.

  The maitre d’ saw them coming and almost ran to get to them. “Your regular table, sir?”

  “Please, Alain. Alain, this is Lotus Weston. She may wish to eat here other evenings,” Dash said.

  “There will be a table for her,” Alain said, smiling.

  When Lotus hung back, Dash put his arm lightly around her shoulder and urged her to follow Alain.

  The table was on a low dais, sheltered by plants but had a clear view of the small stage.

  “I didn’t know they had shows in here,” Lotus whispered as Dash seated her, then himself. Alain melted away.

  “Small stuff.Piano players, trios, that sort of thing. I don’t like loud sounds with my meals. . . ”

  “Neither do I.” Lotus smiled at him.

  He leaned toward her. “You have the most beautiful face.”

  Lotus drew back, feeling her eyes widen. She came from a loving family, but there had always been a little restraint when it came to deeply personal things. She wasn’t used to someone speaking to her the way Dash did. “Thank you.” She could feel her lips lift in a smile.

  He grinned at her. “You!re welcome.” He moved closer to her. “Your skin doesn’t have the olive tones of an Oriental.”

  “My mother says that just my eyes and skin are of the West. The rest of me is Eastern.” Lotus smiled as she thought of her adopted mother with the fading blond hair. Her thoughts carried to her adopted father and brothers, then to her cousins, her aunt . . . and then to Uncle Silas.

  She heard Dash speak to the waiter, but she didn’t listen to what he had ordered. When the waiter left. Dash turned to her.

  “Why are you frowning? " Dash’s breath lifted the fine hair that swept across her forehead.

  “I was thinking of my uncle. He’s been ill. He had a stroke." Lotus struggled from her painful memories to look at her dinner companion. She had forgotten for a moment why she was here, what had happened, to her family and Uncle Silas. She had even blanked her mind to Dash being a gambler, and owning the casino that held so many of the bogus IOU’s attributed to her uncle.

  “I’m sorry.” He watched the play of emotions across her face. Pain, incredulity, then a slight acceptance. He lifted her fine-boned hand and kissed the palm. “I am sorry that your uncle is ill.” “Thank you.” Lotus didn’t want to believe him. Wasn’t it to his gambling houses that much of the embezzled money was sent? Wasn’t it his accounting department that had sent the bills found in her uncle’s personal files? “I believe you,” she whispered. When his hand tightened on hers, she turned it over so that their palms were together.

  Their food came and as they ate, Lotus didn’t remember what she put in her mouth a moment after she swallowed it, yet she knew it was food for the gods. When he opened his mouth for a taste of her food, she lifted her fork with a piece of fish and pepper on it. “Oh, dear, I dropped the pepper.” She laughed, then bit her lip when she saw him watching her.

  “Your laugh is beautiful.”

  She chuckled. “Can’t be. You said my face was beautiful.” She giggled, then covered her mouth. Dash pulled her hand away, leaning over to

  place his lips on hers. “Let me cover your mouth.” Never in his life had he felt so carefree. You’re a damn fool, Colby, he castigated himself, but he couldn’t stop his pulse from jumping into overdrive when her mouth quivered under his.

  Lotus pulled back. “Have to eat my dinner,” she babbled, feeling as though her heart had leaped from her body. Everyone in the busy supper room seemed to have faded away. She and Dash were alone!

  “Yes. Do you like the swordfish?” He fought a desire to pick her up and carry her out of there.

  Lotus’s head shot downward. Swordfish! So that’s what they were eating. Delicious! “Yes. Thank you.”

  “You’re very polite.” Dash smiled at her, and his stomach dropped a thousand feet when dimples appeared at each side of her mouth when she smiled back.

  She nodded. “In our house you were either courteous or you received lecture Number 233 as my brothers called it. It could last for two days.” She leaned her chin on her hand when the waiter removed her plate. “Mother is a stickler for good manners.”

  “You love your family. Did you say you were adopted?” Dash noticed her stiffen. “Is that a sensitive subject? Your adoption?”

  So that’s what he thought? Lotus mused, hoping he hadn’t noticed her sigh of relief. The man was sharp! She should stay out of his way! Playing around with him was like waltzing with a tiger shark. She nodded, hoping he wouldn’t pursue the subject.

  “Shall we have the cheese board and fruit, or would you like a sweet?” Dash changed the subject.

  “Fruit is fine.”

  After they finished the dessert and drank some coffee, they left the Crystal Room.

  “I’d like to dance for a little while. Would you?”

  Lotus looked at her watch and was about to shake her head.

  “Don’t say no, Lotus. I’ll drive you home after a few dances, I promise.”

  “No need. I have my bike.” She had purchased the rather battered five-speeder from a second-hand shop. It gave her the exercise she needed, and it was faster than walking to work.

  “We’ll put the bike in the trunk of the car. I won’t let you ride it home so late.” He led her toward the nightclub section of the casino.

  Lotus opened her mouth to protest, then closed it. Why should she? She wanted to dance with him.

  Again the maitre d’ hopped forward when he saw them, and they were led to a secluded table that had a fine view of the stage and the orchestra.

  Lotus lifted her hands to remove her jacket. When she felt Dash’s hands there, pushing hers away, she allowed him to remove it. She turned to smile her thanks and saw him looking down at her, the jacket still in his hands.

  “That vest is . . .”

  “Beautiful. I know.” Lotus chortled, breaking into a laugh when she saw the appreciative gleam in his eye.

  Dash felt his mouth lift in response. She was a darling! Totally unaffected! He felt a surge of sensual interest that he hadn’t felt in years. “How old are you, Lotus?”

  “Twenty-five. How old are you?”

  “God, you look about eighteen.” Relief coursed through him, glad that she wasn’t as young as she looked. The theory that dark-haired women looked more mature than their lighter-haired sisters just went out the window, he mused, all at once realizing that blondes and redheads seemed bland next to Lotus’s luscious exotic coloring and features.

  “Well?”

  “Well, what, angel?”

  “How old are you?”

  “Thirty-seven. Tell me about this engagement of yours while we’re dancing.” Dash helped her from her chair, not seeming to notice the persons who tried to get his attent
ion as they wended their way to the dance floor.

  Dash turned her and took her in his arms, bending low so that he could hold her comfortably.

  “Won’t you get a crick in your back?” Lotus said, out of breath, feeling curtained from the world by his body.

  “Not to worry, darling. Now, tell me about your engagement.”

  ‘There isn’t much to tell.” And that’s the truth since there isn’t an engagement, not even an understanding, she thought, wishing he would change the subject. “Jeremy went to the university with my brothers. That’s how I met him. After graduation my brothers went into, ah . . .” She had been about to say Sinclairs, but she caught herself. If Dash made the connection between that name and the same one in his files, it would be trouble. “. . . the family business. There was a job opening. It was offered to Jeremy and he took it.” Lotus shrugged. “We began dating.”

  Dash watched her all the while she spoke. “And are you sleeping with him?”

  Lotus stopped dancing, but when she would have turned away, Dash caught her around the waist and held her. “I have to go, Mr. Colby,” she said.

  “I was out of line. Forget I asked. Turn around, love, and don’t be angry. They’re playing a great love song.”

  Lotus hesitated, aware that other dancers were looking at them curiously. “All right.” She turned in his arms, feeling comfortable when his arms closed around her. “But I won’t answer questions like that. You’re my employer, not my mentor.”

  “Right,” Dash agreed, knowing he was going to go crazy thinking of her with Jeremy. With great effort he masked the thought from his mind and concentrated on the words to the song, “Stardust,” which the musicians were playing.

  “It is a lovely song,” Lotus whispered.

  “Yes.” Dash tightened his hold, feeling her tiny boned but strong body against him.

  They danced until the club closed, only sitting down for short periods to sip their drinks.