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human mating ritual. Some human females
played upon the vanity and jealousy of some human males as a means
of luring them into their sticky webs.
    He’d been used as a tool for exciting
jealousy before. He knew that he was good-looking enough to make it
not entirely impossible for a pretty woman to want to meet him. He
also knew that after the initial introduction and subsequent
conversation were concluded, there wasn’t a woman in the universe,
save a few too ugly to find anyone else, who wasn’t bored to tears
by his interests and his enthusiasm for them.
    Therefore, when he found himself sitting
next to Brenda Fitzpatrick at dinner that night—Martin had reserved
a large table for the primary staff and stars of the motion
picture—he was prepared to fight his personal attraction to her
tooth and nail.
    It wasn’t going to be easy, however. She was
even more beautiful this evening than she’d been this afternoon.
Her evening gown of pink silk brought out the shell pink blush of
her cheeks and, since it was high-waisted and low-necked, it
revealed a tantalizing expanse of creamy skin.
    Colin steeled his nerves and vowed to keep
his masculine instincts under control. It would be fatuous, and he
knew it, to allow himself to develop a silly crush on her.
    Fortunately, since he lived primarily in his
brain and paid little attention to the world around him, even when
that world contained an object as alluring as Brenda. Fitzpatrick
and it was only inches away from him, he succeeded admirably. He
was unwittingly abetted in this cause by the male lead in Indian
Love Song , Leroy Carruthers. Carruthers hadn’t achieved fame
and fortune on the Broadway stage, but he had a tremendous
appeal—according to Martin Tafft—on film This was a very good thing
for Carruthers in Colin’s estimation since, while the actor was a
handsome, upright, and noble-looking fellow, his voice sounded sort
of like that of a toy poodle that had lived next door to Colin’s
family as he grew up.
    “I love the premise of this picture,
Martin,” Leroy yipped at one point.
    He had a habit of making ahs out of
his rs , as if he were some kind of American aristocrat; a
Boston Brahmin, perhaps. Colin had met the type before. At once he
admitted to himself, since his academic integrity had bled into the
rest of his life, that for all Colin knew, Leroy was an American
aristocrat from Boston or somewhere else. The good Lord knew, there
were lots of them running around these days. Cattle barons, land
barons, railroad barons, merchandising barons, and oil barons
seemed to be popping up all over the place. Maybe Leroy was a son
of one of those robber barons.
    “Fancy,” Carruthers continued, squeaking
away as if he figured everyone didn’t notice his voice, “a
beautiful woman”—he lifted a glass to Brenda, who smiled and lifted
hers in return “captured by a lovesick savage—”
    Colin snorted. Brenda turned her head
quickly and peeked at him. He pretended not to notice.
    “—and then rescued by so unlikely a fellow
as a college professor on holiday from Harvard.” Carruthers laughed
uproariously, reminding Colin of a hyena he’d seen in a menagerie.
“Not, of course, that the public won’t understand from the moment
they see me in the role that the professor is an adventurous sort.”
He preened himself like a parrot, running his fingers over his
pencil-thin mustache and smiling a benevolent and superior smile.
Colin grimaced before he could stop himself.
    He didn’t realize Brenda had leaned over to
whisper in his ear until he felt her warm breath on his cheek and
caught the faintest hint of her perfume, a subtle and seductive
floral scent. He jumped only slightly and gripped the table, hoping
she hadn’t noticed.
    “He’s really an ass, isn’t he? But he’s kind
of a nice guy, once you get to know him.” Her delicate laugh seat a
ripple of hot shivers tingling up Colin’s spine.
    Because he figured he ought to say
something, he