The red dress caught his eye immediately. Sleeveless, very low-cut, knee-length, with a slit at the front extending halfway up her thighs ...
The woman wearing it was not young by any means, but tall, fair-haired, and with a body and legs that the dress showed off to perfection. She was wearing matching high-heeled red shoes, sandals really, toenails, fingernails, lips, all painted the same shade of red. Her legs were bare, a knee and a stretch of thigh emerging provocatively from the slit whenever she moved, breasts swelling from the top of her dress, probably helped by an uplift bra, he thought.
'Do you know her? Is she a member here?' a breathless voice said by his side.
'Yes, she's a member,' he answered, his eyes still fixed on the woman in red.
'Is she -- available? Open to suggestion?'
He glanced at her. The contrast couldn't have been greater. Short, iron-grey hair, a severe black dress, sheer black stockings, but not unattractive. She seemed a little drunk.
He smiled. 'You'd have to ask her.'
'I think I might join the club. If only to find out if she'd -- like to do things ...'
'The club' was the local tennis club. The president, Tony Parker, was throwing a party to celebrate his birthday, and the evening was going well, a few couples dancing, a Beatles CD playing softly, and the bar doing a brisk trade.
The woman in red was listening to a short, bald, florid-faced man who couldn't take his eyes off her breasts, while she glanced around the room, idly twirling and empty wine glass, a polite smile fixed on her face, but obviously bored.
'Excuse me -- I think it's time for a little chivalry.'
He made his way round the dance floor and smiled at the woman.
'Your glass is empty. Need a refill?'
She smiled at him gratefully. 'That would be nice! Thank you!'
He lightly gripped her bare arm just above the elbow.
'You don't mind, do you?' he said to the bald man, and steered her towards the bar.
'And thank you for that, too! If he'd kept talking much longer, I'd have screamed!'
He looked at her glass, and raised his eyebrows.
'Dry white wine, please.'