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expected an equally acerbic response, but Belle was frowning at something down the beach. “What do you suppose they’re doing?”
    Shading his eyes, Darryl made out a small TV camera crew. Across the minicam was lettered Channel 17 News. It was a station known for pursuing celebrity gossip.
    The jeans-clad cameraman was following a woman in a sleek business suit, with short chestnut curls and pale predatory eyes. He recognized her as reporter Kate Munro.
    Then he noticed the camera swinging toward himself and Belle. “What the hell?” he said.
    “Quick!” She ducked behind him. “Shield me!”
    “Why?” He tried to twist so he could see her, but she kept eluding him. How could a woman be so tiny and so forceful at the same time?
    “Channel 17 is into shock news,” Belle answered. “I don’t know what brought them here, but the sight of me in a bathing suit will set their evil hearts dancing.”
    “They’re probably here to get shots of Connie,” said Darryl, and marched over to warn Dr. Sasser to getdressed. He couldn’t help grinning at the furious noises issuing from behind him, as Belle was left without cover.
    While Connie threw on her robe, he kept the reporter busy talking about how he and his staff chose their centerfolds. He never missed an opportunity to publicize his magazine. About Town had to compete for ads, rack space and subscribers with not only other men’s magazines but also women’s publications like Just Us.
    He wondered if Channel 17 broadcast as far as the desert east of Los Angeles, where a megamall was under construction. Darryl had met with the marketing director recently about cosponsoring an “About Town” opening weekend next June.
    It would be a huge splash, with celebrities, TV tie-ins, and fashion shows throughout the mall. The publicity for the About Town name could mean increased ads and circulation. However, the marketing director was talking with the publisher of Just Us as well.
    That gave Darryl one more reason to monopolize the Channel 17 camera until its team finally departed. You never knew who might see the broadcast.
    “It probably was Dr. Sasser they were interested in,” he announced to Belle as he returned. “But they might show a few shots of you, just for comic relief.”
    She didn’t rise to the bait. Instead, she stood with her back to him, staring at a row of newspaper vending boxes.
    “What’s up?” he asked.
    “Excuse me?” She swung to face him, startled.
    “You were looking at something.”
    “Nothing. The stock market.”
    “On the front page?”
    “The Dow’s up,” she blurted, then called an enthusiastic farewell to her departing friends.
    If there was nothing important in the papers, why did she keep standing so that she blocked his view? Darryl angled closer.
    She stood her ground, waving vigorously at the group of women who were almost out of sight.
    He reached toward the box on the right, which held the Los Angeles Times. He could read part of its headline, something about a peace conference, which he didn’t think was of much interest to Belle. Or to him, either, at the moment, but he pretended great fascination.
    As he peered at the headlines he leaned right over Belle, backing her body into the row of interconnected news boxes. Recoiling from the hard shapes behind her, her soft and nearly naked curves pressed against Darryl.
    He discovered right then the limitations of sport coats, jeans and oxford shirts. They did nothing to lessen his instantaneous awareness that Belle was all female.
    They didn’t hide his masculine reaction very well, either.
    “Excuse me!” she snapped. “Would you please move?”
    Darryl sighed. This was not a game he could win, at least not in public. “Why don’t you let me see whatever it is you’re hiding?”
    After a brief glare, she whirled, slammed a couple of coins into a box and jerked out a tabloid. He glimpsed the headline as it came flying out: Party Prank Leaves Dozens Dazed. Then