Beauty and the Brain by Alice Duncan Read Free Book Online

gasped out, “Er, yes. I’m sure you’re right.”
    When he turned his head, he found her
grinning at him as if she understood his exact state of mind.
Which, dash it, she probably did. She was an expert at these sorts
of petty flirtations. “About which part?”
    He blinked and pushed his glasses, which
hadn’t slipped, farther back on his nose. “I beg your pardon?”
    “The ass part or the nice guy part? Which
part are you sure I’m right about?”
    She’d ended her sentence with an about,
which was something Colin customarily couldn’t tolerate, but her
question rather amused him in spite of her grammatical
construction. He smiled back at her, hoping he didn’t look like a
smitten blockhead. “Both, actually.”
    Her smile broadened, and she winked at him.
“Good answer. You’re a real smoothie, Colin.”
    He was a real what ? Too astonished to
think for a moment, Colin dipped his spoon into his consommé bowl
and only then remembered the bowl was empty. Dash it, he was
allowing this woman to disconcert him, and he didn’t approve. He
knew better than this. While he understood very little about women
as people, he was wise to one or two of their wiles, and he
recognized this one. She must have her eye on Martin or one of the
members of the cast, and she was using him to promote jealousy in
the object of her desire. Could it be Leroy Carruthers?
    Colin eyed Carruthers from across the table.
At present, Carruthers was simpering and gesturing and carrying on
in his high, squeaky voice like a caricature out of a Dickens
novel. Colin glanced again at Brenda, who was occupied in gazing
demurely at her empty soup bowl and pressing a crease into her
napkin.
    No. Colin couldn’t believe that Brenda
Fitzpatrick, who must have her choice of any man in the universe,
would use him, Colin, as a tool to attract Leroy Carruthers. She
was probably after Martin.
    Anyway, unless Colin missed his guess,
Carruthers was most likely after Martin, too. As Colin wasn’t one
to make caustic conjectures about his fellow human beings, having
been victimized in that regard himself, he recognized this one as
another effect of Brenda Fitzpatrick’s influence. He really needed
to guard himself better.
    He started contemplating his impending study
of the Gabrielino Indians of Southern California’s San Gabriel
Valley, and managed to distract himself until the fish course
arrived. When the white-sleeved waiter gently slid his plate onto
the table, Colin stared at the defunct piscine creature laid in
front of him, and his brain didn’t immediately recognize it as his
own personal dinner. “My goodness, I had no idea their culinary
skills had progressed to such an extent,” he murmured, thinking of
the Gabrielinos.
    “I beg your pardon?”
    Startled out of his fishy concentration,
Colin realized what he’d done and felt his neck warming. It seldom
annoyed him when things like this happened, but in this case he
wished he’d kept his mind focused more on dinner and less on the
Gabrielinos. He turned and offered Brenda a small smile. “I’m
sorry, Miss Fitzpatrick—”
    “I thought we’d agreed to call each other
Brenda and Colin,” she said in a soft, silky voice that still held
a trace of New York, although it was less noticeable this evening.
Apparently, she’d studied voice and could be New Yorky or not,
depending upon her whim at any given moment.
    “Had we?” Colin took a deep breath,
wondering if it would be stupid to fight with her over the question
of names. Probably. He allowed his smile to get a tiny bit bigger.
“I believe you’re right. I’m sorry, Brenda, but my mind had
wandered to a research project I’ll be starting in the fall.”
    Her eyes opened wide. My goodness, they were
blue. As blue as the sky on a clear day. As blue as the Pacific
Ocean in the fall, when the sun shone full upon it. As blue as—good
God, whatever was he thinking? “Er, yes, actually. Really. That’s
what I was thinking