"Shanna Swendson - Once Upon Stillettos" - читать интересную книгу автора (Swendson Shanna)

doing a striptease. The things she wore under her pin-striped suit showed that there was a whole other
aspect to her personality.

Henri and his cronies chose that time to swoop in with order forms, going one by one to the guests. I
noticed that each guest stiffened, losing the looseness of intoxication for a second or two before taking a
pen and signing the form. After the paperwork was completed, the host made a note on his clipboard,
and the guest passed out. It reminded me of something I'd seen recently, but in my foggy state I couldn't
quite remember what it was.

Fortunately, Ethan was practically sober, so I thought maybe he'd know what was going on. I tapped him
on the shoulder and whispered, "Is there something odd about this, or am I just drunk?"

But before he could answer, Henri had reached me with his order form.




"A nd are you enjoying your evening, mademoiselle?" Henri smarmed to me.

"Oh yeah, sure," I said, trying to approximate the level of drunkenness at the rest of the table without
resorting to removing my clothes. I sensed it would be best to play along until I was sure what was
happening.
I must have done a good job (not that I had to fake being drunk) for he went straight into salesman
mode. "Then if you've enjoyed the wine this evening, I'm sure you'd like to order several bottles so you
can repeat the experience while dining at home. We offer discounts if you buy a case, and you can mix
and match the wines in the case." He then handed me an order form and a pen and said, "Now, what
would you like to order?"

"Nothing, thanks," I said cheerfully, handing him back the order form and pen.

"Are you sure?" he asked a little more forcefully, handing the form and pen back to me.

"Yeah. Not only can I not afford a case of wine, but I can't think of where we'd store it in our apartment,
unless maybe we threw a scarf over it, put some candles and magazines on it, and called it a coffee
table." That struck me as the funniest thing anyone had ever said, and I collapsed in hysterical giggles. I
glanced at Ethan to see if he appreciated the humor. He just frowned.

But he wasn't frowning nearly as severely as Henri was. "I'm sure you'd like to order," he said in a
commanding tone, and the hair on the back of my neck stood straight up. It wasn't his tone that had that
effect. Magic was being used nearby. It might not work on me, but I could feel it. Suddenly I realized
what it was I'd been trying to remember. The behavior of the guests when Henri handed them the pen
and order form reminded me of when the people at MSI had tested the initial spell being marketed by
Phelan Idris, a rogue wizard with very different ideas of how magic should be used. That spell made it
possible to control the actions of others. Was that what was going on here?

When I still didn't order any wine, Henri moved over to Ethan, who was as immune to magic as I was.
He had similar results, except for the witty quip about using the case of wine as a coffee table. Instead of
making jokes, Ethan studied the form like the lawyer he was. "There appear to be some errors on this
order form," he said at last. "Surely you aren't charging this for a case of wine? It doesn't match the
market prices I'm familiar with. Maybe you accidentally got the decimal point in the wrong place."