Selina Kyle stood in amethyst silk at midnight on the lawn of the Rothschild mansion and scented money and saw jewels. Jewels glittered on fingers and earlobes, traced sparkling circles around necks and wrists, and jewels lit the palely starred night with dancing rainbow arcs. They mesmerized her, made her dizzy, made it hard to listen to the short and silly man who'd decided to hang on her elbow. She only let him prattle on because of the diamond tie clasp, and it wasn't even Cartier's best.

"Yes, the Hamptons were lovely this year," said Cartier Tie Clasp.

"I see," Selina said, but her eyes were on the crowd, scanning for prey.

The party had split into several groups, some staying behind at the mansion, the younger set heading down to the pool. Old money was never easy to abandon, but she'd whispered a silent adieu to Mavis Vanderbilt's grandmother's tiara and followed the young and vapid toward the cabana and Sparky Rothschild's new pride and joy as soon as she heard two words: hot tub.

It wasn't that she liked hot tubs. She was, after all, a cat. But she liked people with nice jewelry who did all the heavy lifting. "Sorry, darling," she said to her would-be suitor, escaping his damp grasp to follow a group of women into the cabana's changing rooms. "Have to change into my costume."

"You mean your swimsuit."

"Of course," Selina said, eyes only on Tiffany Platinum Bracelet. She followed her into the cabana, joining a small group of other party-goers.

"Sparky's put in a hot tub," said Van Cleef Arpels Emerald Choker.

Bvlgari Earrings, with a sniff that meant she was surrounded by nouveau riche, said "Don't get so excited, dear. It's just a hot tub."

"Let's skinny dip!" said Hermes Gold and Ruby Bangle, following her words with a champagne hiccup.

"Sounds divine," Selina purred. "But where shall we put our—" she'd chosen a lovely eight-caret white diamond solitaire for tonight's cover jewel, and she waved it showily. "Where should we put our jewels?"

—

Selina took her time, and never quite made it into the hot tub. Still dressed in a long amethyst gown, she slipped out of the cabana much richer than she'd been an hour ago. Silk rustling in the soft night breeze, she was making her getaway when a man reached out to snag her elbow in a warm, strong grip. "You aren't staying?" a deep voice said, and Selina turned to meet Bruce Wayne's sapphire eyes. "Pity." He beamed a predatory but gleaming smile her way. "I don't think we've met.

"I think I'd remember," Selina said, although of course she knew him from the society pages. He was handsome and wealthy and very, very vacuous.

"I don't think I could forget," he said, smiling, all wolfish charm. "We really should spend a little time… getting to know one another." His low, smooth voice did something to her, made a shiver run down her back.

The good kind of shiver.

It was obviously just the thrill of the heist; a slightly delayed reaction to a job well done, because rich as he was, the man was an idiot.

"Must you hurry off, Miss—"

"Dubrovna," she said. "But you can call me Irena." She reached out her hand, the one that wasn't holding the evening bag filled with other people's rubies, emeralds and diamonds, and let him grasp the tips of her fingers. "And you are?"

"Bruce!" a voice squealed, and he and Selina both turned in tandem toward the speaker, a woman wearing a huge Harry Winston Topaz around her neck that Selina coveted, but only for a moment. She gave the little evening bag in her hand a squeeze and told it, silently, "soon, my pretties." To Bruce, she just smiled, turning him over to Topaz, who was only too glad to monopolize the millionaire.

"Goodbye!" he called after her. "Or better yet 'avoir'. Till we meet again!"

Selina gave him one last backward glance, and it wasn't until she was halfway home that she realized she hadn't even thought to look at the man's cufflinks.