Man Who Loved Pride and Prejudice (6 page)

   They ate quickly, perched on lab stools, the conversation revolving primarily around the research they were doing. Calder was silent, but not inattentive. Every time she glanced over at him, his dark eyes were on her.

   He made a point of taking a bite of squid when he caught her eye. "Tasty."

   With a mischievous look, she said sweetly, "I'm so glad you like it."

   Simon finished and tossed his paper plate into the trash. "I'm going to be here all night, but I don't have to check on my experiments for a while. Anyone up for a game?"

   "I'm on Cassie's team!" John said immediately.

   "Me too," Arlen chimed in.

   "You're very popular," Calder said to Cassie a bit brusquely. She wondered if the situation made him uncomfortable.

   "Cassie's team always wins." Arlen brought out a well-worn box of Trivial Pursuit. Calder eyed it as if it were a snake poised to bite him.

   "It's yet another benefit of a liberal arts education," Cassie said with barely hidden amusement. "Everyone around here can answer most of the science questions, and some of them can manage the sports, but when it comes to history or arts and entertainment, I have a monopoly."

   "And the rest of us are hopeless!" Jim turned to Calder. "Say, I don't suppose
you
know about anything besides science?"

   Calder paused as if hesitant to commit himself. Cassie cocked her head at him and said, "Yes, what
was tha
t fancy university degree of yours in?"

   He met her eyes with a level look. "Philosophy, actually. With a minor in history."

   "That does it; he's ours," said Jim decisively. "We'll give you a run for your money yet, Cassie!"

   "I hardly think…" Calder demurred. "I've never played the game; I have no idea of the rules."

   Cassie was deriving distinct enjoyment from seeing the great Calder Westing at a loss in a setting so obviously foreign to him. It wouldn't do him any harm to discover he wasn't the master of every circumstance. "Oh, do give it a try." She dared him with her eyes. "You'll pick it up in no time. All you have to do is to answer the questions. Jim and Arlen can do the rest."

   She couldn't read his look, but he nodded. They set up the board, and the first few rounds passed without any successful answers. Finally Jim drew a card and looked straight at Cassie. "In what futuristic novel does the character 'Winston Smith' appear?"

   "
1984.
" She cast a triumphant look at Calder.

   "Damn, you got it!" exclaimed Jim.

   The pattern emerged quickly. Calder demonstrated a wider range of knowledge than Cassie expected, though he was usually stumped by questions about popular culture. It didn't take long for the game to become a silent but intense contest between the two of them. Calder was no longer holding back; Cassie was very entertained by the sight of how actively her formerly quiet and reluctant opponent was participating in the game.

   Her team landed on another Arts & Entertainment square, and Calder practically snatched up the card and then rolled his eyes, evidently finding the question too easy. He read, "'What nineteenth century novel begins with the sentence "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife?"' That's hardly a challenge."

   "
Pride and Prejudice,
by Jane Austen," answered Cassie promptly, rolling the dice again with a triumphant look at him. "One of my very favorite books, too."

   He looked at her with calculation. "I'm hardly surprised, somehow. You have a few things in common with Elizabeth Bennet."

   "Why, do you suppose I have little tolerance for rich men who stand around silently without a pleasant word for anyone?" inquired Cassie with deceptive sweetness. She didn't mind in the slightest being compared to the spirited heroine of the book, but she regretted her words as she continued the train of thought. If he saw her as Elizabeth Bennet, she didn't want to suggest she thought of him as Darcy.

   "History," announced Jim before Calder could make a reply. "'What was the date of the Great October Revolution in Russia?'"

   "November 7, 1917." Cassie eyed Calder thoughtfully.

   "No, Cass, it's the Great
October revolution," Joh
n said. "Not November."

   "It falls in November because Russia changed over to the Julian calendar after the revolution," she explained.

   John looked dubiously at Arlen. "It
has
to be October." Arlen nodded.

   "I'm telling you, it was in
November!" Cassie sai
d with irritation.

   Calder had a slight smile on his face. "What's the team answer?"

   Cassie repeated her answer, but John stepped in. "No, I want to go with October 7, 1917," he said, looking apologetically at Cassie. "Arlen, what's your vote?"

   "October," said the other man briefly.

   "Is that your final answer?" Jim had his poker face on.

   At John's nod, Cassie struck her forehead with her hand and said, "Idiots!" She looked expectantly at Jim.

   "The correct answer is… November 7, 1917." Jim smirked.

   Cassie glared at her teammates. "I told you so."

   Calder looked smug. "I guess there's a reason you're named Cassandra."

   "Yes, my parents chose it so I could be teased for the rest of my life," Cassie muttered in annoyance. "Now you'll have to explain what you mean to the rest of these single-minded scientists."

   He laughed. "In Greek mythology, Cassandra was a princess of Troy with the gift of prophecy, but after she refused to become Apollo's lover, he placed a curse on her that her prophecies would never be believed."

   "Some men just can't take no for an answer," Cassie retorted.

   He smiled slowly but said nothing, his dark eyes speaking for him.

   Something about his look made Cassie embarrassed, and she turned to John and Arlen. "I hope you're ashamed of yourselves!" she said with mock severity. "Don't blame me if they win!"

   "We'll never doubt you again," said John in a mournful voice.

   Cassie laughed. "I'm going to walk off in a snit anyway and go play with my gels. I'll just be a few minutes, and you can always come crawling to me for the answers if you get desperate."

   "The things we put up with!" Arlen said. "It's abuse, I tell you."

   Cassie crossed the lab to the gels. They were indeed done, and she readied the camera to take pictures of them. As she arranged the lighting and focused in on each one in turn, she listened to the men's laughter and joking. She glanced over at the game between shots and saw Calder rolling the dice. Now that was a story she wouldn't mind selling to a tabloid. Calder Westing enjoying a game like a normal human being.

   By the time she finished with the gels, the game was ending, with Calder's team well in the lead. "That's what you get for not believing me!" Cassie said goodnaturedly to her teammates.

   "You'll never let us live it down, will you?" John stacked the cards neatly and put them back in the box.

   "Not a chance. Now shoo, all of you. I'm ready to close down here for tonight."

   The men packed up the game with some goodnatured grumbling. Calder lingered behind after the other researchers left. "Thanks for dinner."

   "I'd say you were welcome if you hadn't broken my winning streak," she teased.

   "I'm sorry." A worry line appeared between his eyebrows.

   Cassie gave him an amused look of disbelief. "You don't need to apologize for winning!" she exclaimed. "It's part of the game. Now go home, so I can get out of here."

   "Good night, then." He paused in the doorway and turned back with a look that made her skin tingle. For a moment she thought he might say something, but then he left. Cassie rubbed her arms.

   She hoped it was just a trick of the light that made her see desire in his eyes. If Calder ever decided he wanted her, she was in trouble. The kind of trouble she couldn't afford.

BY MORNING CASSIE HAD talked herself out of her suspicions. It was nothing more than the late hour and her own loneliness that led her to see something that wasn't there. Why would Calder Westing look at her when he could have any woman?

   There was still no sign of Erin. She must have spent the night with Scott. Cassie hoped Erin wouldn't regret becoming involved with him so quickly. Cassie had done a little homework on him. It was easy enough to find him on the internet. To look at the news articles, one would think his first name was "Whiz Kid." He had earned an undergrad degree from MIT in biological engineering and an MBA from Harvard, and then he bought the failing Cambridge Biotech and turned it around in five years. She had found two pictures of him with women, both tall and blonde. Did he know there was more to Erin than her looks?

   Erin, when she finally appeared, looked happy and seemed to take it for granted she would be spending that evening with Scott as well. Cassie was glad to see her looking so content.

   "Sure. I don't think I'll be long, maybe half an hour. Pull up a stool, if you like." Jim paused to click the mouse a few times. "You've been working late a lot this summer."

   She leaned back against the lab bench. "Is this the pot calling the kettle black?"

   "I'm a hopeless case. I do my best work at night. You never used to stay this long, though. It's almost midnight."

   "No. But I have a lot to do this summer, and not much time to do it. And I don't have any particular reason not to work late."

   "That's what worries me, Cassie. And I don't see Erin around very much."

   Cassie walked along the lab bench, picking up scattered pens and placing them in the pencil holder. "She's here during the day, and she works hard. She'd stay longer if I asked her to."

   "Have you asked her to? It sure looks like you could use the help. You've got a lot riding on getting good results this summer."

   Cassie hesitated. She had worked all weekend as well. "Erin's had a really tough year, and she has a man here she's madly in love with. I want her to be able to enjoy this summer. She deserves it."

   "So, you're doing your lab assistant's job as well as your own."

   She straightened a stack of notepads. "I don't begrudge it. I knew she was burnt out when I offered her the job. And she has a reason to want to be out of the lab, and I'd just go home and read."

   "Wreaks havoc on your social life, though."

   Cassie laughed. "My social life? What's that?"

   "That's my point exactly. And stop cleaning my lab. You're not one of my grad students anymore."

   "The ones you have must be slobs, then." She crossed to the sink and dampened some paper towels and then wiped down the bench. "Somehow I sense Rose's hand in this sudden interest in my hours. Did she put you up to this?"

   "We've discussed it. We want you to be happy, and we worry about the chances you may be missing."

   "What chances am I missing? Woods Hole is a grand place for a summer romance, but they don't last. All the men here have academic jobs that can't move, just like me, and a long-distance relationship doesn't interest me."

   "Some summer romances last. Look at Rose and me."

   "You're the exception that proves the rule."

   He frowned and shut down the computer. "Seeing Rob upset you, didn't it?"

   "Rob is ancient history. He and I talked and it was fine."

   "That's not how he told it, and he didn't decide to leave early because it was fine. He was looking forward to seeing you."

   Cassie didn't want to hear about Rob. "Jim, I appreciate your concern, but I can manage my own love life."

   Jim held up his hands. "Okay, okay, I get the message. I'll tell Rose I did my best."

   "Thank you."

   Later that night, when Cassie was alone at the cottage, the conversation came back to haunt her. It didn't matter how good a face she put on it during the day when she still felt lonely at night. Seeing Erin and Scott together was a constant reminder of what she didn't have. But Erin was free to pursue a relationship because she'd decided to jettison her academic career.