"How do you do?" Sloan managed. "Thank you," she added awkwardly, hastily withdrawing her hand and her gaze from his. He was Sara's "Mr. Perfect" in the flesh.

On the way into dinner her father quietly confided, "Paris and Noah are practically engaged."

"They make a beautiful couple," Sloan said honestly, watching her sister walking beside Noah into the dining room. She felt a little sorry for Sara's missed opportunity, but as soon as the meal began, she had larger problems because Paul and she immediately became the focal point of the conversation.

"This is a momentous occasion for our entire family," her father intoned with a glance around the table that specifically encompassed Noah Maitland, who was seated directly across the table from Sloan. "Sloan, tell us all about yourself."

"There isn't much to tell," Sloan replied, trying not to notice that Noah Maitland's entire attention was now focused on her. "Where do you want me to start?"

"Start with your career," Carter prompted. "What do you do?"

"I'm an interior designer."

"Artistic women also seem to run in the family," he observed with a smile at Paris.

"I am not artistic," Edith pointed out bluntly from her position at the foot of the table. "Did you go to college?" she demanded of Sloan.

"Yes."

"What did you study?"

The time had come to portray herself as the frivolous, not-too-bright woman Paul Richardson needed her to be. "Oh, I studied a lot of things," Sloan said, staying as close to the truth as possible so she'd be less likely to accidentally contradict herself later. "I couldn't decide what I wanted to do with my life. I kept changing my major." She paused for a spoonful of the soup that had been put in front of her.

Her great-grandmother didn't see a need to eat. "How were your grades?"

"Fair."

"Are you a good interior decorator?"

Sloan took petty gratification in correcting her. "Interior designer" she said.

Paul Richardson spoke up then. Smiling fondly at Sloan, he said, "I think she's very good."

Edith Reynolds refused to be convinced. "All the interior decorators I hear of are homosexuals," she announced. "In this day and age, I would have hoped young women like Paris and you would do something more useful with your lives."

Sloan stole a look at Paris to see how her silent sister was reacting to this not-so-subtle criticism that encompassed both of them, but if Paris felt anything, she didn't show it. Wearing a red sarong-style dress with a mandarin collar and her dark hair swept up on the top of her head, she looked beautiful, exotic, and composed. "What sort of career would you choose?" Sloan asked the white-haired woman.

"I believe I would be a tax accountant," Edith declared. "I know I could have done a better job and found more deductions than my accountants find."

"Unfortunately, Sloan doesn't have a head for figures," Paul said proudly and patted Sloan's hand.

"What about sports?" Carter asked her. "Do you play golf?"

"No."

"Tennis?"

Sloan played tennis, but she knew she wasn't in their league. "A little. Not much."

He switched his gaze to Paul. "Do you play, Paul?"

"A little."

"Let's get together tomorrow morning at nine, Paris and I will help you polish up your game. You should have some golf lessons while you're here, too. Paris is an excellent golfer." He looked at Paris. "Will you take Sloan out to the club tomorrow afternoon, make sure she has whatever she needs, and give her some pointers?"

"Yes, of course," Paris instantly replied, flashing Sloan a quick, polite smile.

"I really don't like golf," Sloan began.

"That's because you don't play," he argued. "What about hobbies? What do you do with your spare time?"

Sloan was beginning to feel a little badgered. "I, um… I read."

"What do you read?" he asked, sounding a little disappointed in her.

"Magazines," Sloan told him, intending to add to his disappointment. "I just love House and Garden. Don't you, Paris?"

Her sister looked startled to be included and Sloan was certain she was lying when she replied, "Yes, very much."

"What about your other interests?"

The interrogation had gone on too long, Sloan decided. She was hungry and broke off a piece of her dinner roll. "What do you mean?"

"What about current affairs?" he pressed.

Lowering her eyes to hide her laughter, Sloan buttered her roll. "I love current affairs. I watch the Entertainment channel on cable all the time, just to find out who is having an affair with who. Or is it 'whom'?" Affecting an expression of innocent confusion, she raised her gaze and caught Noah Maitland's look of amused disgust before he hid it. He had just written her off as an idiot, she realized with a surprising twinge of regret.

Evidently, her father had decided not to let her disgrace herself further or add to his guest's boredom. "What do you think is going to happen to the market?" he asked, looking at Noah.

When Sara referred to "the market" she meant the semiannual introduction of new products at the design centers in Dallas and New York. "At the Dallas market, rose and gold tones were really 'in,' this year," Sloan said with sham delight, knowing perfectly well Carter meant to discuss the stock market. "And at the New York market, I saw some really divine new jungle prints."

"You and Paris will have a great deal to talk about later," Carter Reynolds said.

With a mixture of relief, amusement, and mortification, Sloan heeded his unspoken request to be quiet. She was a little worried that she'd carried her act too far, but when she stole a look at Paul, he gave her a wide grin that told her she'd done even better than he'd expected.

Satisfied that she needn't worry on that score, Sloan pretended to concentrate on her eight-course meal while she listened to her father and Noah Maitland's animated discussion about the world economy. The two men differed radically on several points, but they were both so well-informed that Sloan was fascinated and a little awed.

In addition to her contributions to her pension fund at the police department, Sloan deposited a percentage of every paycheck into a retirement account of her own, and she'd insisted her mother follow suit. By the time dessert was cleared away, she was so impressed with Noah Maitland's logic that she decided to change her entire investment strategy.