No Wife Required!

She put her briefcase next to a Naugahyde couch. The radio station was a small bungalow situated on a lonely road in the southwest part of the city not far from the condo. There wasn’t anything about the place that resembled what she had pictured in her mind throughout her trip to Idaho and back.

“Can I get you coffee, or a cold drink?” He stood there with his hands in his pockets, looking expectant.

“Nothing for me, thank you.”

“Is this your first time as a guest?” He watched with avid interest as she sat down on the couch and crossed her legs.

“That’s right.” Because he was trying so hard, she gave him the benefit of a full-bodied smile. “Do you have any advice for me?”

Her question caused him to blush, which made him appear even younger than she’d surmised. “Just remember this isn’t television. There’s no camera trained on you, so you shouldn’t be nervous. But even if there was a camera, you would have no worries, believe me.”

“I agree,” The Voice concurred.

Startled, Lacey looked around and found herself the focus of Max Jarvis’s unnerving scrutiny.

She blinked. He reminded her of somebody’s brother. How many times in her life had she been told that one of her friends had this gorgeous brother Lacey just had to meet? The perfect male. Six feet two inches, dark blond hair, rugged features, blue eyes, lean, a white smile, intelligent, successful.

She’d heard it all, but for once in her life there he was, standing three feet away. And like all things too good to be true, he was probably married with one or two little offshoots showing just as much promise.

A glance at his tanned hands revealed a huge white opal set in antique gold. Not your typical wedding ring, but she knew from listening to his show that Max Jarvis was a man with discriminating tastes. He’d traveled and lived in many parts of the world.

He’d probably picked up that stone in the Australian outback. His tan certainly didn’t come from lying around a swimming pool all day.

She happened to know he had recently been on a trip to Alaska. But whether or not he’d gone with his family was anyone’s guess. Of all the radio hosts, he was the only one who didn’t discuss his personal life, which was an irony considering he loved to discuss everyone else’s.

To Lacey’s way of thinking, it was a deliberate ploy to keep him mysterious and intrigue his listeners. The ploy worked. He had the biggest following of anyone on Radio Talk. At this point, not even Lacey was immune.

A phone was ringing somewhere, but no one seemed particularly worried about it.

His laserlike glance took in her conservative navy skirt and blazer with a snowy-white silk blouse that tied in a large bow at the neck. There was something intimate about that male assessment which made her heart give a little thump.

His gaze flicked to her face, studying her classic features, the cut of her cap of glossy black curls.

“I guess I’d better answer it,” his producer finally murmured, and disappeared.

“Lorraine?” Her host extended his hand as she rose to her feet. “I’m Max Jarvis. We’ll be going on the air after world news. If you’ll step into the booth, I’ll acquaint you with the setup. As Rob said, you don’t need to be uncomfortable. If you come across the way you did when you called in last week, we ought to have a lively half hour.”

She bit on the velvety underside of her lip with her small, even white teeth.

“It’s a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Jarvis, but I have a problem. I came in early, hoping I could talk to you before the broadcast.”

Max’s lips twitched. “I hope it’s not serious,” he called over his shoulder as she followed him down the hall and into the booth with her briefcase in hand.

“I’m afraid it is.” She sat down in the chair he indicated and opened her briefcase, pulling out a legal-size folder. “This file contains information on Dr. Ryder I think you should see, but Nester warned me I couldn’t talk about it over the air.”

“Nester?”

“Nester Morgan, of Morgan and Morgan law firm. I’m a close friend of his as well as being his CPA. He said you’re free to look at the information. In fact, I hoped you would have time before we went on the air. It’s a printout about Dr. Ryder’s credentials.

“Among other things you’ll discover that his real name is Horace Farr. He’s a doctor of divinity, not psychology. There’s a copy of his transcript and it only lists a few psychology classes. You’ll also find out that ten years ago he was excommunicated from his church for preaching false doctrine from the pulpit.

“If you read further, you’ll see that he changed his name and started his own church before this book came out. One of his followers lived with him until she’d given him all her money, then he left her and moved in with someone else. She came to Nester to try to get her money back.”

Max took the file from her well-manicured hands and quickly perused some of the findings. After a moment, he sent her a long, penetrating glance.

“I’m amazed you would allow anyone to see this,” he muttered in a serious tone. “You must be on amazing terms with...Nester,” he mocked dryly. “In fact, you could be arrested if this information were leaked to the public. Why risk it?” He sounded genuinely surprised.

She bristled. “Because your show is listened to by thousands of people who hang on your every word, and I hate it when you go on about a guest when you don’t know the real truth. The fact is, you’re from—”

“California,” he supplied in a testy tone.

“Yes,” she affirmed haughtily because he’d made her so mad.

He sucked in his breath. “I bow to your superior knowledge on this one, Lorraine. It appears I’m going to have to be much more thorough in my background checks from now on.” He flashed her a quick smile. This time it made her heart turn over. “What else do you have in that proverbial bag of tricks?”

She chuckled softly. “Nothing which could get me into a legal entanglement.”

“But I might have to eat crow.”

“Maybe a little. I’ve lived here all my life.”

His eyes blazed a hot blue. “And I haven’t.”

“Correct. And it shows. Dr. Ryder comes off sounding smooth, but his central Utah accent gives him away.”

He held her glance until she felt the heat rise to her face. “An honest woman who speaks her mind...”

Beneath his words were serious undertones. A strange shiver chased across her skin.

“All right, we’re on in thirty seconds. Pick a subject and we’ll talk about it. We won’t discuss your views on Dr. Ryder unless a listener brings it up. Fair enough?”

He moved too fast for her. “More than fair.”

“We’ve got ten seconds. What shall we talk about first?”

She seized on the first thought to enter her head. “Football and romance.”

One brow quirked. “Something tells me I might be sorry.” While Lacey reacted to his quiet irony, he spoke into the mike. “Welcome to Radio Talk. Tonight we have a guest who is going to give me a little lesson about the differences between men and women.

“Lorraine is in the booth now, and I think what we’ll do is conduct a poll. For each issue we touch on, we’ll have our listening audience call in their vote. Make it a ‘yes’ if you agree with Lorraine.

“If you don’t go along with her opinion, make it a ‘no.’ I’ll have my producer tally the votes at the end of the program. Is that all right with you, Lorraine?”

“That’s fine, Mr. Jarvis. But if I get more yeses than noes, will you give me a free sample of that lotion Lon Freeman pushes on the morning show? I want to see if it’s really as miraculous as he says it is.”

A nerve twitched in his jaw, letting her know she’d said something to amuse him. Unable to resist, she added, “The other day he interrupted a dialogue with an important spokesman from the United Nations, just to advertise it. He has interrupted a lot of famous guests for the same reason, and I can’t figure out why.

“He didn’t use to do things like that, and I’m afraid he’s losing his listeners, which would be a shame since he’s always been a local favorite.”