Beauty and the Brain by Alice Duncan Read Free Book Online Page B

I
like it a lot.”
    Colin cleared his throat and made a
determined effort to play the role of socially adept gentleman.
“Er, one time when I was in Iceland—”
    “Iceland,” she exclaimed. “How
fascinating.”
    She sounded sincere. Colin decided not to
dip into that pool at the moment. “Er, yes, it was rather
fascinating. Anyhow, we were served a fish that tasted exactly like
salmon—”
    “Oh, what’s salmon? I’ve never even heard of
it.”
    Peering at her, Colin could determine no
reason she should appear so avidly interested in salmon, but she
did. Nevertheless, he answered her politely. “It’s a fish native to
the northwestern territories. Delicious. It swims upriver every
year to spawn. Sometimes bears will wait on the banks of the river
and scoop the fish right out of the water, they’re so numerous.” He
wondered if he should have used the word spawn in Brenda’s
presence, but it was too late now.
    “Oh.” Her expression conveyed distress for a
second. “Poor fish.”
    She probably didn’t know what spawn meant. “Er, yes. Well, at any rate, this fish we ate in Iceland
tasted like salmon to me. Salmon has a red flesh, and this fish
didn’t, but the taste was remarkably similar.”
    “Was it salmon?”
    “No.” He grinned. “It was an ocean trout. I
was very much surprised to learn that.”
    She contemplated this information for a
moment. Just as Colin was beginning to feel monumentally stupid for
having told such an insignificant and ridiculous story to so
beautiful and sophisticated a woman, she said, “How strange. You
wouldn’t expect an ocean trout to taste like a freshwater salmon,
would you? I mean, it is odd. I don’t blame you for remembering the
experience because it’s intriguing.”
    Actually, she was right. Surprised, Colin
said, “Yes. Yes, it was intriguing.”
    Her face held a world of fascination. “But,
do those poor fish really have to swim upstream to lay their eggs?
Isn’t that very difficult for them, even without the bears?”
    “Yes,” said Colin, surprised by the
question. Apparently she did know what spawn meant. “It’s
very difficult. They even have to climb up waterfalls in some
places.”
    Her eyebrows dipped a trifle. “Are you
joking with me, Colin? If you are, I don’t appreciate it, because
I’m really interested.”
    “No!” Horrified that she would think such a
thing, he hurried on. “Good heavens, no. I so seldom find anyone
who’s interested in my research that I never joke about it.” Or
about anything else, although he didn’t mention that because it
seemed somehow rather pitiful at the moment. It wasn’t his fault
he’d been more interested books than people, although it had made
him a trifle dullish. “Believe me, while the mating ritual of the
salmon might seem strange and to require astonishing vigor and
persistence, it’s far from being the most unusual. The mating life
of species is a fascinating subject. The salmon demonstrate Mr.
Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest remarkably well.”
    Her wide smile made him feel pretty darned
foolish, and he gave himself another mental whap in the chops.
Imagine, speaking about such things with a female. Even an actress.
He ought to have his head examined. Brenda herself seemed far from
shocked, which didn’t surprise him a bit. She was probably used to
hearing more racy talk than this from any number of people.
    “I’ll have to look it all up in a book
sometime, I guess,” she said after a very long minute.
    Colin grunted.
    “You promise you’re not joking about the
salmon?”
    “Absolutely not.” His voice was sterner than
it needed to be, but he still suffered from acute
embarrassment.
    “I see. Okay, I’ll believe you for awhile,
then—until I find out you’re teasing me.” She gave him one of her
beautiful smiles
    “I never tease,” he said solemnly.
    “Really?” She ate her last bite of fish. “I
love to tease and joke around.”
    Colin might have