Husband Wanted: Will Train

"Hello, Jarvis," she said at the doorway, holding her head high. "How are you?"

Only the barest flicker of the butler's eyes showed that he wasn't quite sure who she was and why he was sup posed to know her. That reassured her. Not a trace of South Seas left.

"Ah, Miss Ames," Jarvis said as he finally realized where he'd seen her before. "Come this way, please. Mrs. Carrington would like to meet with you in the library."

Ross's mother, Caroline Bennington Carrington, rose graciously to greet her. Her sharp eyes took in Charity's transformation in a glance.

"How nice you look," her lips said, while her gaze was adding, "Nice try, Charity, but it doesn't quite hit the mark, does it?"

"Thank you," Charity said, murmuring something ad miring about the way Mrs. Carrington looked in return.

The older woman offered her a seat and sat back down at the desk. "I just have a few last minute details to clear up before I go out and begin welcoming our guests," she said. "I wanted you to come in here with me so that we would have a chance to get to know each other better. A few moments alone."

Her smile was friendly enough, but Charity couldn't shake the feeling that there was some thing behind her words that didn't quite gibe with what she was saying.

They chatted for a moment about inconsequential things, and then Mrs. Carrington caught Charity looking at one of the portraits on the wall. The older woman smiled.

"Andrew Bennington," she noted. "He was a Supreme Court justice in the last century. My great grandfather and Ross's great- great-grandfather."

Charity gulped. A Supreme Court justice. Not bad.

"Would you like to meet the rest of them?" Mrs. Carrington said, as though they were alive and waiting there on the walls. She rose from the desk, not waiting for an an swer, and began to the left of Andrew.

"John Maxwell Bennington," she said, pointing out a distinguished- looking gentleman. "President of Tarrington Tech Uni versity in the fifties. He's a great-uncle of Ross's."

She went on to a roly-poly individual with the ghost of a smile hiding behind the formal pose. "Stanton Bennington. United States senator. Turn this way and you can meet a few of the Carrington ancestors. They're considered founders of Destiny Bay. But I'm sure you realize that."

She went on and on, touring slowly around the room, pointing out one meritorious person after another-and noting aspects of each that Ross had inherited in one way or another.

"He comes from a line of important and capable people," she explained. "Ross will do great things himself, one day. If he gets the right opportunities. And the right help."