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won’t eat our young?” Coral asked.
    “Coral,” Harry said, “I gather you’d like to weigh in?”
    “Well, apparently your other guest—Gage, is it?—believes
that women are a helpless bunch who are only looking for a man to support us.
What’s the name of your book, Gage?” She arched one dark blonde eyebrow, her
emerald eyes sparkling with ire. “Please.” She waved in front of her. “I’m sure
everyone here would like to know, wouldn’t you, ladies?”
    His eyes focused on the rose-glossed, full lips spilling
derision of his work. The tip of a pink tongue swept along the full lower
curve, disappearing back into her mouth. His thoughts fled, all except an
uncanny urge to lean closer, to thread his fingers in her wealth of soft, shiny
hair in all the colors of gold, to—
    Oh, shit, he’d done it again. What magic did she hold to
distract him so much? He wanted to shake her and kiss her and… Ridiculous. Clearly a product of his upsetting breakup with Geena. He’d be himself in a day
or two.
    “My book,” he said, leaning away from the sun goddess of
temptation, “is called The Factors .”
    “And does this tome of information help women to catch the protector she’s always wanted?”
    A hiss from the audience frightened him enough to snap out
of his haze of fascination. He needed to pull it together and stop making a
fool of himself or his first national audience would be his last. He cast a
look at his lap and sidled a little farther away from the witch. And she was
one, using enhanced womanly wiles to bring him under her spell.
    “Not at all,” he said, proud of the smooth tone he managed
to produce even under difficult—and very public—circumstances. “ The Factors is a book for men and women. It provides a list of ten compatibility factors
which predict success in a long-term relationship.” Comfortable with his topic,
he leaned forward, addressing each row of the audience, using the techniques
he’d learned to capture each member’s attention. “It is our nature to seek
another, to find a partner for life, isn’t that right, ladies?”
    Derision fled, and the women seemed to respond, nodding and
whispering to one another.
    “I postulate that two people with enough in common can make
it work. I even give a little test at the end that a potential couple can take
to see what their chances are of surviving together in the long term. After
all, who wants to wake up after two years, or twenty, to find they’ve wasted
their time? That the person who seemed so interesting, so charming, is really
their polar opposite? That they have attempted to form a lasting bond with
someone who has become a stranger, who always was a stranger, despite the
hormones that made them think otherwise.”
    “And…” Harry reached over and patted Gage’s hand. “I hope
you don’t mind my cutting in here.”
    “Not at all.” Gage rested against the back of his padded
chair, pleased he’d regained control of himself and his listeners. “Did you
have a question for me?”
    Harry took a drink from the big white mug emblazoned with
the HM logo and replaced the cup on the small table at his side. “While I feel
we’ve strayed from my question, we can get back to that after the next break.
Why don’t you tell us—what does it take to be happy together?”
    Gage stretched his legs out and sat more comfortably.
Despite his initial concern, and the bizarre guests who had tussled earlier,
the interview was not very different from his previous appearances on PBS
channels and a couple of local talk shows. “Glad to, Harry. I tell my clients
that the more of the factors they have in common, the greater their chance of
success.”
    “For example?” Harry’s round face held nothing but kindness,
a pleasant interest in his guests.
    “For example, their five-year plan.” One of his favorites.
“Where does each person see him or herself at the end of that time?”
    “What?” Coral stared as if he’d grown