you.”
“Oh,” she said weakly, her purse again dropping to the floor. Her leaden arms had lost the strength to hold anything. Horribly she realized her knees weren’t far behind.
He came because he wanted to see me.
…
“I wanted to see you,” he continued as he again bent down to collect her fallen purse, “because you left the lab before we had a chance to discuss and log what happened in the simulator.”
Discuss and log … He’d come here to add her to his test results. The man didn’t even have the decency to wait until the next day! Furious, Jill spun around and stalked across the kitchen, heading for the living room door. But before she reached it, Marsha entered from the other side with Kevin in tow.
“Jill, somebody rang the front doorbell but they left before—Dr. Sinclair!”
Any hope Jill might have cherished about Marsha’s support died as she watched her friend catch sight of the handsome scientist. With a coquettish toss of her hair and a thousand-watt smile, Marsha went straight into flirt mode.
“I’m so glad you could make it,” she said, ushering Sinclair into the kitchen. “By the way, sorry about that nickname crack I made earlier. No offense meant.”
“None taken, Miss Valdez. In fact,” he added with the ghost of a smile, “I found it eminently appropriate.”
Good God, he’s got a sense of humor
, Jill thought in distress. “Dr. Sinclair won’t be staying long,” she said hurriedly. “He just needs some information about our experience in his simulator and—”
“The virtual reality simulator?” Kevin exclaimed, his eyes growing big as saucers. “You’re
that
Sinclair?”
Ian gave a low chuckle. “Dr. Doom in the flesh,” he assured the goggle-eyed engineer.
After that, things got complicated. Kevin, and most of the rest of his engineering department, appeared to be card-carrying members of the Dr. Ian Sinclair fan club. Once they entered the living room, Marsha’s party guests swamped the scientist with a barrage of technical questions and a wave of unabashed admiration. Jill expected the doctor to be annoyed by the attention, but to her surprise he handled the group with ease. He even—unbelievably—appeared to be enjoying himself.
He gave every question his full attention, and answered every compliment with an apparently sincere thank-you. His earnestness was as compelling as his knowledge. By the end of the evening he had everyone in the room eating out of his hand. Everyone, that is, except Jill.
She sat in a distant corner, munching cold pizza, feeling very confused. She’d known Dr. Sinclair for months, and he’d never displayed one tenth of theanimation he was exhibiting tonight. She didn’t get it. Ice cubes had more warmth than the Ian Sinclair she knew. She wondered if he had a twin brother, a personable man who’d temporarily taken the place of the enigmatic scientist. Or maybe it was just she who brought out his cold and unfeeling side.
But he’d kissed her …
No, he hadn’t, she reminded herself sternly. He’d kissed a woman in cyberspace, a projection, a phantom. He’d never held her in his arms, never thrilled her with his touch, never consumed her with the seductive glory of his caress. Worse, he wanted to dissect the non-event for his research notes, reducing her tumultuous feelings to a series of passionless test results. Well, maybe he could fool the others into thinking he was a decent, caring human being, but she knew better. And if he thought she was going to bear her soul to him like some well-trained lab rat, he had another think com—
“Ms. Polanski? Are you all right?”
Jillian opened her eyes and looked up into the molten silver eyes of the courageous knight who’d saved her from the orc. She reminded herself the knight wasn’t real, and neither was the counterfeit concern in his gaze. “I’m fine,” she stated sharply. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I have no idea, but you’ve been holding that piece
“Oh,” she said weakly, her purse again dropping to the floor. Her leaden arms had lost the strength to hold anything. Horribly she realized her knees weren’t far behind.
He came because he wanted to see me.
…
“I wanted to see you,” he continued as he again bent down to collect her fallen purse, “because you left the lab before we had a chance to discuss and log what happened in the simulator.”
Discuss and log … He’d come here to add her to his test results. The man didn’t even have the decency to wait until the next day! Furious, Jill spun around and stalked across the kitchen, heading for the living room door. But before she reached it, Marsha entered from the other side with Kevin in tow.
“Jill, somebody rang the front doorbell but they left before—Dr. Sinclair!”
Any hope Jill might have cherished about Marsha’s support died as she watched her friend catch sight of the handsome scientist. With a coquettish toss of her hair and a thousand-watt smile, Marsha went straight into flirt mode.
“I’m so glad you could make it,” she said, ushering Sinclair into the kitchen. “By the way, sorry about that nickname crack I made earlier. No offense meant.”
“None taken, Miss Valdez. In fact,” he added with the ghost of a smile, “I found it eminently appropriate.”
Good God, he’s got a sense of humor
, Jill thought in distress. “Dr. Sinclair won’t be staying long,” she said hurriedly. “He just needs some information about our experience in his simulator and—”
“The virtual reality simulator?” Kevin exclaimed, his eyes growing big as saucers. “You’re
that
Sinclair?”
Ian gave a low chuckle. “Dr. Doom in the flesh,” he assured the goggle-eyed engineer.
After that, things got complicated. Kevin, and most of the rest of his engineering department, appeared to be card-carrying members of the Dr. Ian Sinclair fan club. Once they entered the living room, Marsha’s party guests swamped the scientist with a barrage of technical questions and a wave of unabashed admiration. Jill expected the doctor to be annoyed by the attention, but to her surprise he handled the group with ease. He even—unbelievably—appeared to be enjoying himself.
He gave every question his full attention, and answered every compliment with an apparently sincere thank-you. His earnestness was as compelling as his knowledge. By the end of the evening he had everyone in the room eating out of his hand. Everyone, that is, except Jill.
She sat in a distant corner, munching cold pizza, feeling very confused. She’d known Dr. Sinclair for months, and he’d never displayed one tenth of theanimation he was exhibiting tonight. She didn’t get it. Ice cubes had more warmth than the Ian Sinclair she knew. She wondered if he had a twin brother, a personable man who’d temporarily taken the place of the enigmatic scientist. Or maybe it was just she who brought out his cold and unfeeling side.
But he’d kissed her …
No, he hadn’t, she reminded herself sternly. He’d kissed a woman in cyberspace, a projection, a phantom. He’d never held her in his arms, never thrilled her with his touch, never consumed her with the seductive glory of his caress. Worse, he wanted to dissect the non-event for his research notes, reducing her tumultuous feelings to a series of passionless test results. Well, maybe he could fool the others into thinking he was a decent, caring human being, but she knew better. And if he thought she was going to bear her soul to him like some well-trained lab rat, he had another think com—
“Ms. Polanski? Are you all right?”
Jillian opened her eyes and looked up into the molten silver eyes of the courageous knight who’d saved her from the orc. She reminded herself the knight wasn’t real, and neither was the counterfeit concern in his gaze. “I’m fine,” she stated sharply. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I have no idea, but you’ve been holding that piece
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