voice because her husband was nowhere in sight. It seems he’d gone out for his morning jog and was missing the birth of their first child. At that point, East made a quick call downstairs to send a couple of staffers in search of the man. Once he was certain that everything was under control, he dashed back to his room. After a couple of cups of coffee and a shower and shave, he headed downstairs fully expecting to find chaos at the registration desk. Instead, the desk was almost empty and only the normal ebb and flow of traffic was moving through the lobby. Mildly surprised, he moved behind the counter then into the staff room where the mainframe computer was housed.
Ally looked up from the chair in which she was sitting. “Good morning,” she said, then returned her attention to the computer terminal in front of her.
East’s mouth dropped. “This area is off-limits to the guests,” he said, then remembered who he was talking to and changed the direction of his questions. “What are you doing?”
Her fingers paused on the keys and the look she gave him was just shy of a smirk.
“I think my security clearance is high enough that I can be trusted,” she drawled, then tapped a couple more keys, hit the Save button, and leaned back in her chair with a satisfied smile. “There, that should do it.”
“Do what?” East said, moving to look over her shoulder.
She stood. “Keep your system up and running for a few more years.”
“You fixed it?”
She nodded as she moved toward the door. “I’m going to get some breakfast now. That’s where I was going when I saw all the commotion. I offered to help and your assistant, what’s his name…?”
“Foster. Foster Martin.”
“Oh yes, Foster.” She grinned. “He’s not exactly cool under fire, is he?”
East sighed. “Was spit dribbling from the corners of his mouth?”
Her grin widened. “Only the left one.”
“Great,” East muttered, then shoved a hand through his hair in frustration. He glanced at the computer, which seemed to be running normally. “What did you do to it?”
Her smile stilled and she shrugged. “Oh…just dug around a little on the hard drive, punched in a few commands and gave it a new lease on life, so to speak.”
“That’s impossible. There are passwords.”
She folded her hands in front of her like a child about to recite.
“No, it’s not impossible and yes, I know.”
He arched an eyebrow. “So your line of expertise for SPEAR is in computers?”
Ally shook her head. “Not really. They use me mostly for undercover work. Without makeup, I can pass for a teenager pretty easy.”
“Computers are a hobby then?”
The smile on her face kept getting smaller. “No, I just know stuff,” she said, and once again started toward the door. She wanted to get out before he got to the part where he found out that her IQ was bigger than his ego. It always turned men off and she didn’t want to see that happen again. Not now. Not with him.
But East wasn’t going to let go. He caught her by the elbow as she started to pass.
“Stuff? You call that stuff? It took three technicians two days to set up this system. It’s complicated as hell and linked to Monarch’s entire chain of resorts and you not only got into the system, but had it up and running within thirty minutes?”
Ally stopped, her chin lifting as she met his gaze.
“Actually it was about ten. I know things. Lots of things, okay? Can we leave it at that?” Then she quietly pulled away from his grasp.
East hadn’t realized he was still touching her and took a quick step back, aware that he’d invaded her space and even more aware that she didn’t like it.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to be…” He sighed and started over. “Look, I guess what I should be saying is thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
She was all the way to the door when his voice stopped her.
“Ally.”
She bit her lip, then turned. “Yes?”
“Intelligence isn’t something to be ashamed of.”
“Intelligence is hardly the word society uses to describe someone like me,” she said, unaware of the anger in her voice.
East moved toward her, touching her shoulder, then dropping his hand. His voice was soft, his gaze compelling. She found herself unable to look away.
“Exactly what do they call someone like you, then?”
“Freak of nature was the favorite phrase at my alma mater.”
“How old were you when you graduated?”
Her gaze turned inward, remembering how ill-equipped she’d been at ten years old to handle the social aspect of higher education.
“From high school…ten. From college…seventeen. But that was with three Ph.D.s and a minor in foreign languages, six to be exact. I was considering another semester or two when SPEAR recruited me. The rest is history.”
East kept looking at her, trying to imagine what it would be like to live with so much knowledge and not go crazy at the rest of the world’s ineptitude. He gave her a long, cursory stare.
“So, what you’re saying is, if I asked real nice, you could do my taxes for me next year without breaking a sweat?”
Her eyes narrowed as she stared hard at his face. “Are you teasing me?”
“Yes.”
“Oh.” She managed a smile.
He pointed toward the door with his chin. “Still hungry?”
Her stomach grumbled. “Starving.”
“Then follow me. I’ve got an in with the cook. He makes the best waffles this side of St. Louis.”
“Who’s in St. Louis?” she asked as they headed out the door.
“Aunt Dinah. Hers are the best, but don’t tell Pete I said so.”
“Who’s Pete?”
“My fake French chef,” East said. “Do you like them with whipped cream and strawberries, or are you a syrup fan?”
“Actually, I favor peanut butter and grape jelly.”
East grinned. “Order it on the side or Pete will have himself a fit.”
She pursed her lips primly. “Pete needs to learn to savor the finer things in life.”
East laughed aloud.
As they exited the office, a frantic young man in jogging clothes came running through the lobby. He took one look at East and started yelling.
“My wife. My wife. They said she was in labor.”
This would be the missing father, East thought, and took him by the shoulders, fixing him with a calm, steady gaze.
“Take it easy, Dad. She’s fine. There’s a doctor and a couple of paramedics with her now.”
The expression on the man’s face went from shock to joy.
“Dad?”
“I think I heard them say it was a boy,” East said.
“Oh man, oh man. I’m a father. I’m a father,” he cried.
“Yeah, so am I,” East said. “Congratulations.”
The man bolted for