Orchid

Orchid sighed. "I can't see a bank giving Theo a pile of cash. He wouldn't have looked like a good risk."

"No," Morgan agreed.

Rafe contemplated Morgan with a surprisingly thoughtful expression. "Did Willis mention the source of his stress?"

Morgan shook his head. "No. But he was always under stress. He was sort of paranoid."

"How did the three of you meet?" Rafe asked.

Orchid wondered why he was so interested in the subject of Theo Willis. "Three years ago we were recruited for a study of ice-prisms. The researchers at ParaSyn wanted to see if prisms like us could be used to treat violently disturbed mental patients. They wanted to test a dippy theory Dr. Bracewell, the head of the lab, had concocted."

"What was the theory?"

"Bracewell thought that if criminally insane talents could be properly focused, the syn-psych shrinks might be able to realign the synergistic forces of their para-profiles."

"Regular prisms can't work with talents who are really over-the-edge crazy," Morgan explained. "There's just no way to get a good focus. Besides, it hurts. The usual result is temporary burnout for the prism."

"Probably just as well," Orchid put in. "Another one of nature's little tricks to keep dangerous talents from becoming too predatory. Synergy in action."

Rafe gave her an unreadable look. "What happened with the study?"

Morgan grinned briefly. "They didn't learn much. Orchid led a revolt right in the middle of the project. Got pissed off when they tried to make us focus some really bent talents. She had one session with a guy named Calvin Hyde and that was the end of it. Walked out of the lab. Theo and I followed right behind her."

"Calvin Hyde?" Rafe repeated. "He was one of the violently disturbed talents?"

"Bracewell said he was normal." Orchid shuddered, recalling the predatory hunger she had sensed in Calvin Hyde. "He claimed Hyde was one of the control subjects. And I think he believed it. Hyde could be very convincing. But as soon as I saw the energy waves of his talent, I knew he was a very dangerous, violently inclined man. The last thing I wanted to do was give him a focus."

Rafe watched her with unwavering intensity. "What did you do?"

She shrugged. "Pretended I couldn't get a sharp focus. Told Bracewell that Hyde was just too powerful for me and that I couldn't take anymore. I think Hyde really liked the idea that he was so strong I couldn't handle him. He was incredibly arrogant. Always had to be top, uh—" She broke off before she uttered the words wolf-hound.

"What land of talent was Hyde?" Rafe asked.

Orchid hesitated.

It was Morgan who answered the question. "Calvin Hyde was a high-class exotic. A strat-talent. You know, one of those hunters. Very rare."

Orchid did not look at Rafe but she could feel him watching her.

"How strong?" he asked quietly.

She could not think of a diplomatic response to that query so she kept her mouth shut.

"She never did find out what his actual rating was," Morgan said. "Did you, Orchid?"

"No." Orchid refolded her small cocktail napkin with great precision. As diversions went, it was not much, but it gave her an excuse not to meet Rafe's eyes. "I didn't stick around long enough to find out. A class seven, maybe."

"I see," Rafe murmured.

"Bracewell was always running experiments with weird talents, as well as ice-prisms," Morgan explained. "Orchid said it was because he envied them."

"The talents?" Rafe glanced at Orchid.

"Yes. He's only a class-two hypno-talent."

Morgan chuckled. "Folks at the lab used to refer to him as Two-Watt Bracewell behind his back."

Anxious to change the topic, Orchid looked at Morgan. "Speaking of ParaSyn, did you get a letter from the lab recently asking you to come back for a follow-up study?"

"No." Morgan looked surprised. "Why? Did you?"

"Yes. I ignored it."

"If I get one, I'll do the same." Morgan lounged in his seat and raised his glass. "Well, here's to Theo. A fellow ice-prism. May he rest in peace on the other side of the Curtain."

Orchid hoisted her glass. "To Theo."

Rafe said nothing but he swallowed some of his coff-tea when the other two sipped their wine.

Morgan put down his glass and looked at Orchid. "Let's go on to a more cheerful subject. Any word from your marriage agency recently?"

"You call that cheerful?" Out of the corner of her eye, Orchid saw Rafe blink in what in another man might have been startled surprise. She ignored him. He had been acting weird all evening.

"All right, make that a more interesting subject," Morgan said.

Orchid wrinkled her nose. "Funny you should ask. I had lunch with my cousin, Veronica, this afternoon. She brought up the very same question. The answer is no. I still can't get a date."

Morgan whistled. "Sheesh. What is it now? A year since your last agency date?"

"A year and three days," Orchid said. "But who's counting?"

"Your folks, I imagine," Morgan said dryly.

"Don't remind me. I hate guilt trips."

Rafe folded his hands very tightly around his coff-tea cup. "You never mentioned that you were registered, Orchid."

Morgan's mouth curved faintly. "She postponed it as long as she could but a little over a year ago her family finally applied enough pressure to get her to a matchmaking agency. She's only had one date, though."

"And he doesn't count," Orchid said.

Morgan sighed. "Everyone knows ice-prisms are extremely hard to match."

"Try impossible," Orchid said.

"Still, I'd have thought your agency would have introduced you to more than one potential candidate by now." Morgan's eyes widened. "Hey, maybe Affinity Associates lost your registration paperwork."

"Not likely," Orchid said.

"You never know. Maybe you ought to give your counselor a call," Morgan urged. "It's possible there's been a screw-up."

"I doubt it. They're a very reputable agency."

"Things can happen in any office."

Orchid grinned. "You're telling me. I work for Psynergy, Inc., remember?"

The flaring light of the jelly-ice candle rendered Rafe's face into a saturnine mask. "Why haven't you called Affinity Associates to see what's going on?"

As if it was any of his business. Orchid decided it would be easier to slide out of the discussion with a small, white lie. "Okay, okay, I'll call this week."

Rafe's brows rose at that but he made no comment. The brief, knowing look that flashed in his eyes worried Orchid, however. She got the distinct impression that he did not believe her.

She recalled Byron's question. Is it true what they say about strat-talents? Can they really sense it if you lie to them?

Myths, she told herself. Nothing but rumors, gossip, and outdated speculation based on early, faulty, syn-psych research test results. Strat-talents were not human lie-detectors. There was no such creature.

Theoretically it was no more difficult to lie to a strat-talent than it was to anyone else. But some people, regardless of their paranormal abilities, had an instinct for discerning the truth. Rafe might be one of those people. And she was not the most accomplished liar in the world, she reminded herself.

But what did it matter if Rafe believed her tonight? After all, her love life or lack thereof was none of his affair.

Orchid gave both men a determined smile. "I suggest we abandon the subject of my marital prospects before we all expire from boredom."

"I don't find the subject boring," Rafe said softly.

Orchid glared at him and decided to turn the tables. "Are you registered?"

"Yes. Synergistic Connections."

For some reason the information hit her like a solid wall of jelly-ice. Rafe was actively looking for a wife. And he was doing it in the proper, appropriate, socially approved manner. Who would have guessed? She wondered why the news was so deflating.