Chapter Seventeen: The Big Switcheroo
"More champagne, darling?" Jeff Voltaire's dark brown eyes glittered with desire. His husky voice was like a soft caress. The World Controller couldn't control his obvious attraction. The slim, elegant blonde seated across from him had his senses swirling!
"We need to talk, Jeff. More attention to business and less to pleasure, please." Edith Beddington couldn't bite back a smile. The sexy green gown had actually been her secretary's idea. All evening long she'd felt the heat of mutual desire as she dined at the Crown and Anchor with her old flame. The fire still smoldered. But Edith had to remain firm. "My eyes are up here, doctor."
Dr. Jefferson Voltaire gave her a crooked, boyish smile. "Sorry. You were saying something about Dr. Margaret Carlton?"
"She's been using illegal drugs and surgery, experimenting on human subjects at her research lab in Greenland." Dr. Beddington shuddered. "That woman is dangerous, Jeff. Charity and I were lucky to escape. We had to steal a rocket and pilot it ourselves!"
"Yes, we've impounded the rocket," Jeff said with a chuckle. "You two girls certainly did get into trouble in the vast, icy wastelands! But you see, there was no evidence on the rocket of any illegal activity. You didn't bring home any proof. We just have your word, darling, and that of your sexy little secretary. It's not enough."
"We did have proof," Edith said, frowning as she finished the last of her champagne. She remembered Charity weeping as she told of the tortures inflicted on Bjorn Hellborn, the sexy blonde savage who had been captured and enslaved by Dr. Margaret Carlton. Charity had smuggled him on board the rocket, for the two of them had been quite close. But when the pilots escaped in the jet pod the big blonde brute had gone with them, or else fallen to his death. Edith sighed, staring down into her empty glass.
"I see how this is eating you up inside, Edith." Jeff was holding her hand, his brown eyes full of tenderness. "Let me help you forget. Just for tonight, let me make love to you as a man. You know I respect you as a colleague. You know I cherish you as a friend. But tonight, let me satisfy all your needs and desires."
"Jeff, please! I don't . . . I can't . . ." Dr. Edith Beddington was crumbling, and she was shamefully aware of her own weakness. She wanted Jeff to make love to her, even if he couldn't help bring villainous Margaret to justice.
Just then there was a flurry of commotion at the door of the fancy restaurant.
"There she is!" The hushed seclusion of the darkened restaurant was broken by a shrill and girlish voice. "That's my boss, Dr. Edith Beddington. I must speak to her at once!"
"Charity, what on earth are you doing here?" Dr. Edith Beddington came out of her momentary daze. She snapped out of the fog of desire and briskly shook her head as if to clear it.
"There was a man on the beach . . . a naked man . . . and he was just lying there! He was all bruised and I thought . . . I thought he was dead, but he was really just unconscious! And when I got closer . . . I could see it was . . . it was . . . it was Bjorn Hellborn!"
"Slow down and start from the beginning." Dr. Jeff Voltaire was quick to rise to his feet and pull back a chair for the shapely little redhead. The Beta secretary was tired, panting and out of breath. But she shot the handsome World Controller a grateful glance, and a bit of a spark seemed to flash between the two of them.
"Where is Bjorn now?" Dr. Beddington was all business. Her blue eyes were clear and her voice crisp and commanding. It was fine for Charity to be out of breath, huffing and puffing after her ordeal. Jeff was already pouring her a glass of ice water, and rubbing the back of her neck while she drank. The two of them seemed to click at once, and that was fine. But Edith had to stay in control.
"I took him back to my room, I mean, I helped him up the back stairs because he couldn't really walk. His ankle's hurt and he needs help!" Charity's emerald green eyes were full of concern for the beast man from the frozen north. But her heavy breathing had slowed a bit, as she calmed down and began to feel more herself. She sipped from her glass of ice-cold water and even allowed Dr. Jefferson Voltaire to pass her a bit of food from his own plate.
"Right, he needs medical attention. I shall go and attend to him." Edith Beddington rose to her feet, every inch an Alpha doctor. "Charity, you were splendid tonight. You stay here and rest. Jeff, would you mind looking after my secretary for a little while?"
"Of course, Edith." Jefferson Voltaire put his arm around Charity's shoulder. "We'll talk in the morning, and if that beast man really was a victim of illegal experiments, it will mean big trouble for Dr. Margaret Carlton."
"That woman is a real bitch!" Charity declared, draining her glass all the way down to the crushed ice at the bottom. Her silly remark made the two older people laugh. But then Dr. Edith Beddington waved goodbye, and Dr. Jefferson Voltaire became quite serious. He leaned close and told Charity that she was very brave and very beautiful, but that right now she really needed a bath.
"A nice hot bath," Charity chirped. She was a little tired, but still very excited about going back to Jeff's place. She could hardly wait to get out of her dirty clothes, and swish her toes in the steaming, scented water. And after that . . . well, after that it would be just the two of them, a night alone with a fabulously attractive older man. Edith called it the Big Switcheroo!