Free A touch of love by Copyright Paperback Collection (Library of Congress) DLC, Phoebe Conn Page B

was used to women watching their weight, but he thought Aubrey was taking her choice of food to obnoxious extremes.' 'What if I order a pizza topped with mushrooms, olives, bell peppers, and just barely sprinkled with cheese?"
    "Well, that would be a significant improvement," Aubrey agreed reluctantly.
    Jesse grabbed the telephone to place his order before she qualified her answer. The pizza arrived as quickly as the company promised, and while Jesse would have preferred Canadian bacon or Italian sausage, he was too hungry to regret his compromise. Aubrey had a fat-free ranch dressing that enhanced the flavor of the salad sufficiently to make it palatable, and as he bit into his first slice of pizza, he decided the vegetarian special wasn't half bad.
    Aubrey took only a single slice of pizza and began with her salad. She hadn't invited anyone to have dinner at her house for a long time, and it was rather nice having company again. Still, she didn't really believe she needed a bodyguard and hoped after Jesse followed her around for a couple of days, he would be bored witless and go home. She took a sip of water and struggled to find a subject for conversation that wouldn't lead directly to an argument.
    As soon as Jesse had taken the rough edge off his appetite, he explained his day's explorations. "I looked through the books you'd mentioned in The Mind's Eye, but I didn't

    find much on ESP, so I searched through your bookshelves. I found a volume from the Time/Life series on the Mysteries of the Unknoxvn that has a test for ESP. It uses cards with symbols and is supposed to be an accurate test of psychic ability. Have you ever taken it?"
    * 'Yes, but it was nearly a year ago, and my score was lower than what anyone would correctly identify by chance/'
    Jesse appeared perplexed. "How can that be possible?''
    'To score lower than chance? Well, I suppose it requires some sort of talent, but obviously not the one we're looking for."
    "That's discouraging," he murmured between bites. "After dinner, let's make a set of the symbol cards and try it again."
    "Jesse, really. Please don't get your hopes up." Or anything else she thought to herself. She took a quick mouthful of salad to hide her smile, tickled by the joke she dared not speak aloud.
    "Did you try the test with Trisha?" When Aubrey nodded, Jesse assumed she had been distracted by her vivacious assistant. "That's reason enough to take it again."
    Aubrey couldn't imagine why, but his scowl provided a ready glimpse into his reasoning. She rested her fork on the side of her plate. "You don't like her for some reason?"
    Jesse shrugged slightly. "She's just not my type is all. I'm too tall to go for petite women. I'm afraid I might inadvertently suffocate one with an enthusiastic hug."
    There wasn't even a hint of clumsiness in any of Jesse's actions, so Aubrey thought the danger of his killing a woman with affection extremely remote. "I thought we were talking about ESP testing. Can't you think of women as anything other than sex objects?"
    Jesse groaned as though he had been harpooned. "Oh, please. You can't expect me to willingly admit to being a male chauvinist."

    "I think you already have." Aubrey picked up her slice of pizza and bit off the tip. She couldn't recall the last time she had eaten a pizza, and layered with vegetables, this one was awfully good. * 'Where do you suppose a person gets a preference for a certain physical type? I've never understood it myself. I don't want to be limited by some absurd preconception of perfection when an attractive appearance can mask hideous character flaws."
    Their conversation had taken such a dark turn, Jesse began to suspect Larry Stafford had not simply been controlling, but physically abusive, as well. He also sensed this was not an appropriate time to pursue such a personal line of questioning. A warning from my intuition, he recognized with a surprising burst of satisfaction. He had a hunch now and then which proved to be