Eye to Eye: Ashton Ford, Psychic Detective by Don Pendleton Page A

fantasy and how much...
    But I chased that away. It
wasn't fair, I knew, to speculate about such matters, not even in
the privacy of one's own mind. I felt it okay, though, to relate
that whole idea to my observations on Jennifer. Both of these young
women apparently possessed a surprising sexual energy, or maybe it
was merely a sexual forthrightness, a proper recognition of an
entirely natural human process. Call it a good attitude about
sex.
    Or was that really the
case? Did it have something to do with this Bride of Science idea? Was it a
healthy attitude or was it downright horniness born of
frustration?
    In a way, I decided, Laura
Summerfield was in about the same sexual boat as Jennifer Harrel.
For a bright young female scientist, maybe marriage to a sweet and
supportive grandfatherly man was tantamount to remaining a Bride of
Science. But who the hell was I to hand down that kind of decision?
What did I know about it? Different people marry for different
reasons—and different people fall in love with different
attributes. So what if a beautiful young woman gets turned on
occasionally to an exciting young man? That's not love, it's
chemistry. It may take some really rare attributes of the male
character to turn that same young woman's thoughts to true
love—attributes, perhaps, found only in a truly mature man. So
what, then, if he happens to be mature enough to be her
grandfather. And whoever said that sex is dead in the rocking
chair. I'd known some pretty damn feisty old...
    Jennifer had intimated a very strong
affection for Isaac, even to the point of suggesting that she would
marry him if he were so inclined. I supposed that Isaac and Holden
were roughly the same age; ditto for Jennifer and Laura. In
Jennifer's case, I'd assumed hero-worship had something to do with
it—but what the hell—reflecting on that, I decided there was not a
hell of a lot of difference between hero-worship and being in love.
Wasn't that what every guy who ever lived really wanted: to be
worshiped like a God by his woman?
    Laura was fussing with the
bed when I finished with the bathroom. Apparently she'd changed the
sheets and was now in the process of installing clean pillow slips.
I went to the window to orient myself, assuming that this room was
somewhere in the Summerfield mansion. It was, off to the side and
somewhat below the cantilever. I could see the tinted blue glass of
the bubble room; it seemed even more imposing by daylight—and,
yeah, not too unlike the popular conception of a flying saucer. I
chuckled and turned away from the window, almost colliding with
Laura, who apparently had planned on joining me there. We still
wound up belly to belly—or belly to towel—and it seemed the only
natural thing to place my hands on her shoulders. Her hands found
my hips as she inquired, "What's funny?"
    "Crazy dream I had," I told her. "Am I a
prisoner here?"
    She replied, "Of course not. But we would
like for you to stay with us for awhile."
    "That's nice," I said. "Why?"
    "You could become a highly valuable addition
to our team."
    "You don't even know what position I
play."
    "I know more about you than you may
realize," she replied with a mischievous flare of the eyes.
    I asked, "How much do you know about
Isaac?"
    "Oh, much more than that."
    "I've never seen the man. Have I?"
    She pursed those ripe lips and replied,
"Gosh, I don't know. Have you?"
    "Does he look anything like C. Aubrey
Smith?"
    She laughed. "Who?"
    I amended that. "Like Holden."
    "Oh no, I wouldn't say so.
I know who C. Aubrey Smith is. The very dignified British actor. He
was British, wasn't he? You know, come to think of it, Holden does
look like him. Not Isaac, though. Isaac looks like, let's see..."
Those dark eyes were fairly atwinkle, obviously enjoying the game.
"Remember the man who played the older doctor on Ben
Casey?"
    I said, "Dr. Zorba. He was played by Sam
Jaffe."
    "Right!" she said
triumphantly, making it about a four-syllable word. "Such a