ended and swirled out the door in a babble of voices, slurps, and bleats, Vashti turned her attention back to the handsome foreigner... not that her attention had ever strayed too far!

Despite her worries to the contrary, she was gratified to see that her performance was finally having some effect on the luscious man. Certainly his gaze was nothing if not... intense!

The music began to build to a finale and now Vashti segued into the final movements of the dance, those which signalled the final submission to desire and its object.

Gracefully sinking to one knee, Vashti wove an intricate pattern with her arms, inviting and seductive. She looked at the stranger from the north with her huge eyes, trying to convey with those limpid orbs what all the motions of her body could not...

For the beautiful danseuse, this was not merely a performance.

It was for one man alone...

The exquisite movements conveyed exactly what was in her heart...

The dance was an invitation she prayed would not be refused.