The No Sex Clause (7 page)

As she turned on her heel and walked away, Jed shook his head. What on earth was that all about? She was trying to use him for publicity, not the other way around! If she thought he wanted to use her for publicity, she had better damned well wait until she was invited on one of his shows!

The altercation had drawn some interested looks from a few employees in the canteen. He got to his feet and stalked towards his office, fury boiling in his gut. When he caught up with the
tricky Miss Findlay, he’d make sure she knew exactly what he was thinking. Or most of it, anyway.

But he wasn’t prepared for the shock he received when Kathryn, his secretary, handed over Maureen’s research and program notes.

Anna Findlay was the interviewee!

He scrubbed his face with his hands – and then a wonderful idea began to dawn.

***

“Just what is the delay? I was told to be here for two o’clock to be ready to go live at 2:45? It’s 2:30 yet and I haven’t even had a camera or sound check or met Ms Delgado,” Anna said, letting her frustration show. If she didn’t, she knew she’d likely betray the fact that television appearances terrified her, and she certainly didn’t want the cool young studio assistant who was looking after her to know that little snippet of personal information.

“Oh, there’s been a bit of a problem. Ms Delgado was taken ill,” said the young woman, who had introduced herself as Leone. She leaned confidentially towards Anna and added: “She’s pregnant, and not feeling well. But, don’t worry, it’s all been sorted out now – you’re going to be on camera with the boss,” she beamed.

“Well, that’s good,” Anna said, not at all sure she was ready to have her plans changed at this late date.

“Oh, don’t worry – it’ll be fine. There’s no need to be nervous.”

“It’s okay for you – you’re not going to have your life and work dissected on screen in front of a few million people,” Anna told her. Leone grinned and motioned for her to follow her down a plushly carpeted corridor to a double door with a green light above.

“Let’s get you all settled with a microphone and everything, and then they’ll check your make-up and the boss will be out to have a pre-show chat,” the assistant said reassuringly as she sat Anna down on a leather armchair on a raised dais. Wires ran everywhere, and the studio lights which would soon be hot and blinding, hung darkly overhead.

Anna sat and tried to relax, taking deep breaths the way Alonso, her personal trainer, had shown her. Deep breath in, hold for a count of five, deep breath out. Deep breath in, hold for a count of five…

“You’re not nervous, are you, Ms Findlay?” A familiar voice asked.

Anna’s stomach muscles cramped and she choked on that last breath.

“What are you doing here? This is a closed studio and they’ll be televising soon.”

“I’m interviewing you.”

Anna gaped. “You’re the Boss?”

“Yes, ma’am, Jed Walker,
CEO of Walker Media Enterprises, at your service. I’m sure we’ll have a wonderful, in-depth interview.”

The wicked glint in his eyes made Anna cringe.

“Don’t look so anxious – the Boss will handle it all for you,” Leone assured her.

“Cripes, he already has,” Anna muttered to herself as she watched Jed confer with a couple of the technical staff. The assistant gave her an odd look, then shrugged her shoulders and walked away. After all, odder ducks than Ms. Findlay walked into the studio every day.

Oh, how calm, cool and collected he looks – like a lion that knows exactly where his dinner is coming from!

Anna was ushered forward and introduced to Mr. Jed Walker as formally as if they’d never met – or shared some very intimate moments – before. Of course, this was no surprise to him. He’d probably recognized her name hours before and had time to prepare his reaction.

Or revenge.

One look at his face and Anna quailed; a flash of memory reminding her how she’d callously left him wanting in the honeymoon suite. That wolfish grin told her he didn’t just remember, he was going to savage her on screen, in front of millions of people. Anna thought she’d probably throw up on his shoes.
And that would just serve him right, pretending to be with an escort agency just to get a scoop…

Anger flooded through her. She remembered the feeling of guilt when she arranged for an escort, how she felt sorry for the guys who did this kind of work.
Surely they were humiliated by having a woman pay them for a date?
All her Women’s Lib beliefs were compromised by this single act of hiring a date.

Oh, yes, she had principles. But the guy for whom she’d felt the prick of conscience was none other than a scheming, lying fraudster. Of course, all her sociology studies had suggested that a little bit of the caveman lurked in every modern guy. In her experience and research, men
were basically primitive beings. The way she had ignored his needs had left him with a smoldering anger and need for revenge. A need to prove himself dominant. Her stomach roiled again.

“Ms. Findlay? We’re on go.”

And all the pithy words and scathing rebuttals fled from Anna’s mind. All that was left was an equally primitive urge to flee in the face of an oncoming storm.

***

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m sure you are as delighted as I am to welcome our guest tonight. She’s Dr. Anna Findlay, author of a book which claims to be the definitive work on sexual behavior in the 21
st
century. I quote from the back cover blurb: ‘It’s a book that should be read by everyone who wants to understand modern sexual mores; and particularly by parents of the notorious Generations X & Y’ – yes, folks, the book tells you a lot about the sexual behaviors of your sons and daughters…”

“Well, no, Mr. Walker – I have to stop you there. The book is actually a serious work on the changing sexual mores of…”

Jeb jabbed a finger at a page. “But it says right here: ‘A between the sheets study of the sexual behaviors of Generations X & Y’….”

“I know what it says.” Anna tried to keep her voice steady. “Actually, this work began as a serious study for my thesis…”

“And you must have found the research a lot more fun than the average dry as dust thesis, given the items you relate in these pages?” There was something nastily triumphant about the glint in Jed’s eyes. The audience laughed and clapped, and Anna struggled not to shrink further into her seat.

“I have to ask the question that’s no doubt uppermost in the audience’s minds at this moment: Just how much time did you spend doing research between the sheets?”

More snickers from the studio audience.

Anna hoped the theatrical make up was thick enough to cover the tomato red color she was sure was blooming on her cheeks. “I’m afraid you have misunderstood, Mr. Walker. Everything I did was research…”

“I’m sure it was, Ms. Findlay. I can only say that that I wish the research I did for my communications degree had been anything like as interesting.”

The clapping and laughing that followed drowned out Anna’s ineffectual attempts to explain the methodology she had used to gather the information for the book.

I wonder if I could jump across the gap between our chairs and tear the man’s throat out with my teeth?
Anna decided that that was not quite the kind of behavior that would play well on television. But exactly how was she going to weather this frantic maelstrom of question, innuendo and outright misinformation?

She looked towards the audience.

“I know you think this is all very funny, but the subject of my book is a very serious one. All joking about research aside, the changing sexual mores of the 21
st
century will have a huge impact on our society’s future wellbeing and behavior…”

“But don’t you agree that, whether the subject is serious or not, the tone of your book is really quite light and frivolous – if not downright titillating?”

He had her there. She had to agree that the tone of the published product was considerably different from her manuscript with its serious, academic phraseology and ponderous statements that she had written in the hours spared her between two minimum wage jobs and a teaching assistant’s workload. But how could she explain now that she had opposed the changes her editors had made but which had turned the book into a bestseller and made her a celebrity, without sounding like an ungrateful fuddy-duddy? Or worse, insulting the many readers who’d purchased the book and sent notes expressing their agreement or thanking her for her insights?

It was becoming hot under the studio lights, and Anna’s understated formal suit, chosen especially to make her look like an academic rather than a pop theory writer, was too warm for comfort. She could feel the sweat popping out on her brow and nose, defeating the heavy makeup that Leone had plastered on her face for the TV cameras. The signal that they were going for a commercial break arrived like a much needed reprieve.

Anna stood and began to peel off her light wool jacket, revealing the white shell top underneath.
Oh, the blessed cool air!
Anna did a quick sniff test to be sure her deodorant was doing as it said on the tube – keeping her fresh through the worst of situations – before turning towards Jed Walker. The man deserved to feel the sharp edge of her tongue about the questions he was asking – surely he could see that this was more of a massacre than an interview? Was he really so angry with her over what had happened? She noticed he had that wolf-like grin on him again, as did a couple of the other male techs.

Surely he hadn’t told everyone about their weekend out? Even he couldn’t be that big a pig…

“
Oh, Anna – no, no, no! Not white, never wear thin, see-through white on a TV set!” Leone came rushing towards her, her makeup touch up box under one arm. “Did no one tell you? The kind of material in your shirt – well, everyone can see right through it under these lights!”

Anna wished the ground would open up and swallow her in all her bra-less glory. It didn’t, so she swallowed and tried to slip gracefully back into her jacket, but the grins on the faces of the
two young camera techs unsettled her enough to make her jam her arms into the sleeves. There was an ominous crackling sound as several stitches gave way. The suit had cost her the earth, but she couldn’t care less if she could just get out of here unscathed.

***

“So, ladies and gentlemen, we’re back again with Dr. Anna Findlay, author of the sexy bestseller………”

“I really must object to your description of my book – as I said, it’s a serious look at the sexual activities of..…”

“And speaking of sexual activities, how did you connect with – or should I say hook up with, to use current vernacular – the men who helped with your research? And, of course, the women,” Jed added, as he looked towards the audience with a mischievous expression plastered all over his face.

Anna bit her lip. She was smart enough to know where this was leading, but not savvy enough to head him off.

“All of the information in the book comes from studies done by well-respected sociologists, and from questionnaires filled out by people from many walks of life. I actually enlisted the help of a woman’s magazine for one of the surveys – their readers were very generous in filling out and mailing back to me answers to the list of questions I put in the survey…”

“Ah, ah, yes – I have a copy of that survey here. This, folks,” Jed turned to face the audience, holding up a well-known women’s magazine from England; “This is a survey in a magazine that claims its typical reader is a middle-aged, married woman with children. You might be shocked at the questions – and answers – Ms. Findlay elicited from these respectable older women..”

“That is so male prejudiced in so many ways!” Anna exclaimed, pleased to get a little background clapping and cries of assent from the audience. Maybe she could turn the tables, after all. “Are you suggesting that women of a certain age have no interest in sex? Or that their femininity should be shut down as they retreat into housework and children? Or that they have no right to express themselves?

“And, from the phrasing of your question, you also appear to be ageist – you seem to believe that a middle aged woman, rather than being in her prime, can be dismissed as ‘older’?”

Anna was on a roll. There were lots of approval noises from respectable, middle-aged women in the audience as well as younger women

“I’m just curious as to what you gain from asking these women to lay bare – pardon the pun – their sex lives in order that their age group might be included in your book?”

“Perhaps because men like you seem to think that they are not entitled to be sexual beings, not entitled to a satisfying sex life, because they’ve tied themselves to one man and promised to raise his children!” She knew she’d made a mistake before the words were out of her mouth. Jed’s eyes lit up. He looked like a big cat going for the kill.

“So you think monogamy is wrong for women?” The triumph in his voice made her cringe.

“I did not say that. You’re twisting my words.”

“It seems to me that you’re the one who has twisted words, Ms. Findlay. Perhaps we can get back to my original question – where did you find your research subjects? Is it true that you sought out men you thought might be qualified – perhaps well-dressed men driving expensive vehicles, for example? Men you had previously identified as worthwhile candidates?”