Nerds Are From Mars (11 page)

“I’m tempted to do it anyway,” Nolan said. “This rivalry is dumb.”

“So let’s do it!” Aaron clapped him on the back. “Let’s show a little aerospace solidarity.”

Bill shook his head. “I think we’ll be baiting the bear, or bears, in this case.”

“Then let them growl.” Nolan glanced at Aaron. “I’ll handle Harcourt if you’ll handle Sterling.”

“It’s a deal.” Aaron smiled. “Just because they’re billionaires doesn’t mean they get to tell us we can’t be friends.”

“Billionaires who pay our salaries,” Bill said. “I, for one, wouldn’t relish losing my job over this. My oldest is talking about going to MIT, and she’s only four years away from graduation.”

Nolan realized that the stakes for him and Aaron were different from Bill’s. “You don’t have to go along with it. You have a family and financial obligations Blackstone and I don’t have.”

Bill let out a mighty sigh. “Yeah, but I support the principle of it. I’ll sit with you guys. My kid shouldn’t have a free ride compliments of dear old dad, anyway. She has the brains to earn a scholarship, so she should work to get one.”

“That’s the spirit,” Aaron said. “Makes ‘em appreciate it all the more, right, Bradbury?”

“It did for me.” With all the talk about solidarity, Nolan decided not to point out that Aaron had a free ride to Stanford courtesy of his wealthy parents. The Blackstones were loaded and gave generously to the university. Nolan was fairly sure they knew Harcourt personally, too, which might be why Aaron had chosen to work with Sterling. That way he’d be confident that he got the job on his merits instead of on his parents’ connections.

“Then it’s settled,” Aaron said. “We’ll get a table together. Darcie, you’ll be joining us, I hope?”

“I haven’t asked her,” Nolan said, “but I’d like that, Darcie.”

“I’d like it, too.” She gave him a special, I-only-have-eyes-for-you smile.

He felt ten feet tall when she did that, especially when they were in front of other people, specifically people like Aaron Blackstone. Nolan might object to competing with him as a scientist, but he’d always felt a jab of envy for the guy’s ease with women. Unfortunately, Blackstone’s talent for impressing the ladies allowed him to snow somebody like Jan Upton. Thank God she wasn’t here this weekend.

Nolan checked the time again. “I need to get Darcie something to eat since she missed lunch. Blackstone, I’ll see you at three on our panel. Bill, see you tonight, but please back out of this cozy arrangement if it worries you.”

“Nope. I’ll be there.”

“Then we’ll see you two later.” Nolan took the liberty of putting his hand on Darcie’s shoulder so he could steer her through the crowd. “Starbucks might be our best bet.”

“That works. I could use a jolt of caffeine.”

He’d thought he did, too, before she’d arrived, but now he was high on Darcie Ingram and didn’t need any artificial stimulants. “I’m really sorry you got stuck in traffic. I hope whatever you drove home for was worth it.”

“It was. How well do you know Aaron Blackstone?”

“Pretty well. He both went to Stanford. We connected some then, and we’ve been in contact over the years since. We keep bumping into each other at events like this. He’s a talented scientist. Well, that’s obvious. Thaddeus Sterling wouldn’t have hired him otherwise.”

“So you trust him?”

“Scientifically, you bet. I wouldn’t trust him for two minutes around you, though.” Once they reached the hallway he dropped his arm from her shoulder. Walking to Starbucks hand-in-hand didn’t project a professional tone for either of them. He wished they could be alone instead of in the middle of the conference crowd, but that wasn’t possible now. Later, though, after the banquet . . . .

“Don’t worry. I can take care of myself when it comes to men like Aaron Blackstone. I know his type.”

Nolan sighed. “Me, too. At lunch he mentioned that he used to date one of my team members. She’s a great person, highly intelligent, but not wildly attractive. Somebody like Blackstone could use her insecurities to get her into bed, use her for sex and discard her without a second thought.”

“Yeah, I picked up on those tendencies. Is she here?”

“No, thankfully. She had another obligation. I’m happy about that. I want to like Blackstone, and watching him prey on somebody like Jan would make liking him tough.”

“Why do you want to like him?”

“Because he’s a good scientist and we’re working toward the same goal. If Harcourt and Sterling would allow it, we could share our research and be way ahead of the game.”

“Would he be okay with sharing his research?”

“Oh, yeah, definitely. So would I. We’ve talked about the ridiculous rivalry and how it’s only getting in the way of scientific progress. That’s why we’re staging our own little rebellion tonight.”

“Then I’m glad to be a part of it.”

“I can’t imagine going without you.” He glanced down at her. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too.” She touched his arm briefly.

That single touch meant more to him than if she’d hauled him into a corner and kissed the breath out of him. She understood that they shouldn’t be openly affectionate on the conference floor, but she apparently craved a physical connection as much as he did.

Luckily Starbucks wasn’t busy. Most of the lunch crowd had left and the mid-afternoon caffeine seekers hadn’t arrived yet. They stood in line together, bodies brushing as if by accident, but Nolan knew now that it was no accident. He was in heaven. His agitation during lunch seemed like a silly overreaction.

He bought Darcie a sandwich and ordered flavored coffee drinks for both of them. Their same cozy corner was available. As they sat down, he thought of how different the relationship had become in a little more than twenty-four hours. As Einstein had believed, time really was relative.

Because he thought Darcie must be hungry, he coaxed her into eating half of her sandwich before she showed him what she’d brought from Ojai. Now that she was here, he could wait to find out why she’d made the trip.

But after eating that first half of her sandwich, she blotted her lips with a napkin, took another drink of her coffee, and reached in her purse. “I don’t want to worry you, but I sense negative influences around you and I want you to take some steps to counteract them.” She pulled out a small purple drawstring bag.

Yesterday he would have been suspicious of what she might have in it. Eye of newt? Toe of frog? But he’d evolved since then and now he was only curious. And maybe a
little
nervous. He had some evolving yet to do.

But whatever she had in that bag had been important enough that she’d driven four hours and suffered through a major traffic jam to bring it to him. If she believed that was necessary, then he’d do his best to understand why. He was honored that she considered his well-being worth going through all that.

She lowered her voice. “Like I said, I don’t want you to panic or anything but I’m afraid you’re in danger. I’m not sure if the danger is physical or psychic, but I’m prepared to help you protect yourself, whichever it is.”

Holy shit. He could either laugh at the absurdity of that, or he could believe her and accept her help. He’d only known her, really known her, for twenty-four hours, but his instincts told him not to laugh. He was a man of science, but in this case, he decided to follow his instincts. “I trust you, Darcie. I’ll do whatever you think is necessary.”

Chapter Nine

Darcie sighed in relief. If Nolan had balked at all, she’d have a much harder time trying to keep him safe. She pulled a smooth black stone out of her pouch. It fit neatly into the curve of her palm, a perfect size for clasping as a stone of protection. “I want you to carry this in your pocket.”

“What is it?”

“Polished hematite. It’s a powerful stone. I searched through my collection and finally decided on this. I didn’t want to load you down with a bunch of crystals. This one’s a real protection workhorse and it should go nicely in your pocket.”

He rubbed the stone between his fingers. “It’s pretty. Almost like someone took a small puddle of oil and made it solid.”

“I personally love hematite.” She was gratified that he’d responded to the stone in an instinctive, sensual way. “I have a necklace made of it, but something told me you wouldn’t wear a necklace.”

“Thanks.” His gaze met hers. “I’m willing to bend a lot, but wearing a hematite necklace to the panel discussion this afternoon might be more than I could deal with.”

“Yeah, I figured.”

“It feels warm.”

“That’s a good sign. It means I probably picked the right stone for you. Ideally you would go to a metaphysical store and choose the hematite that called to you.”

He coughed. “Um, I’m trying to roll with the concept, but the idea of talking stones is . . . fantasy territory.”

She couldn’t help laughing. “Sorry. You’re so willing to listen to what I’m saying that I keep forgetting I’m dealing with a Ph.D. in astrophysics who is extremely literal. I don’t mean that the stones in the shop plead with you. They don’t seductively murmur
take me, take me
.”

“Good to know. If I thought they did, I’d avoid every rock shop in the country. I have enough trouble with horror movies where the dolls talk. I don’t need talking stones, too.”

She sat there for a minute absorbing his sweetness and wry humor. She wondered how she’d ever managed without this connection to Dr. Nolan Bradbury. He was like a cuddly blanket on the porch swing during a crisp fall day. But she didn’t forget that he could be like a lightning bolt in a dark sky, filled with power and sensuality. What a great combination.

He deserved her A game, so she tried a different tack. “What I meant to say, what I should have said in the beginning, is that ideally you walk into a store filled with various stones and choose the one that you’re most drawn to. Inevitably that’s the one you need. But we didn’t have that luxury, so I went home and sorted through what I had.”

He held the hematite up to the light. “Did this one call to you?”

“Yes.”

“Is it some sort of fickle hussy that calls to you and then snuggles up to me and gets all warm when I hold it?”

She smiled and shook her head. “Think of it as a loving kitten that came home with me but is perfectly willing to curl up in your lap and give you love, too. That’s not being fickle. It’s being generous with a gift.”

“Wow. All that from a shiny black stone.”

“So you’ll carry it?”

“I will.” He slid it deftly into the right pocket of his slacks. “Thank you. What else did you bring?”

“A smooth clear crystal for your hotel room, and to take with you when you travel. You should rinse it off periodically with water to dispel the negative energy it picks up. The same thing is true of the hematite.”

“These stones require care and feeding?”

“Just detoxing, to get rid of the negative energy. You should know about that. It’s essentially a decontamination process, like NASA has for astronauts. You can also put the stones outside under a full moon, but I thought rinsing with water would appeal to you more.”

“You thought right. As I said, I’m working hard to keep an open mind, but I don’t see myself arranging crystals under a full moon. Besides, we have several days before a full moon is an option.”

“I’m aware of that. I keep close track of the phases of the moon.”

“So do I.”

“See? Our professions overlap.”

He nodded. “I’m willing to admit that they do. Progress, right?”

“A lot of progress.” She was vastly encouraged by his response to her stones.

“What else did you bring? The magic bag doesn’t look empty yet.”

“This is for tonight, after the banquet.” She took out a thick smudging stick about six inches long.

He stared at it. “I don’t know what to say. It looks distinctly phallic, but unless there’s a battery hidden in there, I don’t know what it’s for. And even if there is a battery, that looks sort of rough and uncomfortable. I can’t imagine you’d want to play around with –”

“Stop!” She got the giggles. “This has nothing to do with sex.” She was so used to her sage smudging sticks that she’d never dreamed he’d see it as a sex toy. Good Lord. “We’re going to light it.”

He held up both hands. “Sorry. Never smoked pot. Wait, I did once, and a single puff was all I needed to decide it was not for me. If you’re smokin’ then I’m . . . what are you laughing about?”

“It’s sage, not pot. I swear, Nolan, are you actually from California? I can’t believe you’ve lived in the land of New Agers and yet you’ve never heard of using smudging sticks to clear the air of negativity.”

“My dad’s a biologist,” he said as if that explained everything.

“So you’ve never seen a smudging stick.”

“Let me look at it.”

She handed it over and watched him examine it from all angles like Sherlock Holmes inspecting a piece of evidence. Finally he handed it back to her. “Nope. Never seen something like this in my life.”

“Then you’ve led a sheltered existence.”

“Probably. So you’re proposing to light that thing in my hotel room? It’ll set off the smoke alarm.”

“We’ll open the windows.”

“And it’ll smell like pot, and we’ll be raided. I can see it, now –
Astrophysicist gives up on Mars, decides weed is a faster route to getting high
.”

“We won’t do it for very long, but you had a toxic presence in your room last night and we need to get rid of the negative vibes. How did you sleep?”

“Not well, but that had nothing to do with the negative vibes from the toxic presence. It had to do with my . . .” He paused and red crept up from the collar of his dress shirt.

“Your what?”

He held up the smudge stick. “See this?”

“Yes.”

“Picture me dealing with something much stiffer than that. For hours.”

She clapped a hand to her mouth.

“Hang on. I didn’t mean
dealing
with it. I didn’t resort to that. I thought about it, but decided that was beneath me. I probably should have resorted to it, now that I think about it, because I tossed and turned for a long time.”