Hidden Talents

to confront her uninvited guest.
    “Hello, Lloyd. This is a surprise. I wasn't expecting you.”
    “Hey, hey, hey. Great to see you again, Serenity love.” Lloyd smiled his engaging grin.
    Serenity smiled back, albeit ruefully. Lloyd could be irritating, but it was difficult to get genuinely angry at him for long. He was self-absorbed and no doubt ambitious, but he wasn't cruel or malicious.
    There was no denying that he had a certain rugged charm, which would probably stand him in good stead with generations of female undergraduates. He looked more like a dashing foreign correspondent than a professor of sociology. The leather jacket he wore over his khaki shirt had a well-worn look that had been induced by the designer, not by actual hard use in the field. It went well with his low, leather boots and artfully faded jeans. His light brown hair was cut in a windswept style that guaranteed that his forelock would fall rakishly over one dark eye. The hat he had tossed onto a brass hook in the hall was a suede and leather creation that looked as though it had been designed for adventuring in the Outback.
    “You're looking terrific, Serenity love.” Without any warning, Lloyd swooped down on her, grabbed her around the waist and swung her in a wide arc. “Know something? I've missed you.”
    “Please put me down, Lloyd.”
    “It's so damn good to see you again, love. How's my fairy princess?”
    “Put her down.” Caleb's voice was sharpened steel.
    “Sure, sure, in a minute.” Lloyd tried to plant a kiss somewhere in the vicinity of Serenity's mouth. He chuckled when she ducked. “Serenity and I are old friends. Isn't that right, love? Haven't seen each other in months.”
    “For heaven's sake, Lloyd, that's enough.” Serenity braced her hands against his shoulders and shoved. “Let me go before I get airsick.”
    Lloyd roared with laughter and started to whirl her around in another circle.
    Caleb's hand clamped down on his shoulder. “Put her down or you're going to swallow every tooth you own.”
    Lloyd came to an abrupt halt and set Serenity on her feet. He turned to Caleb with a belligerent scowl. “Who's this, Serenity? Some guy who thinks he's your big brother?”
    “No,” Caleb said very evenly. “I am not her brother.”
    “He's my consultant,” Serenity said hastily. She reached up to refasten one of her hair clips which had come loose.
    “Consultant?” Lloyd looked blank. He turned back to Serenity. “What kind of consultant?”
    Serenity lifted her chin with grave dignity. “A business consultant. His name is Caleb Ventress. Caleb, this is Lloyd Radburn. He's a professor at Bullington College. I believe I mentioned him to you the other night when he phoned.”
    “You mentioned him.” Caleb eyed Lloyd as if sizing him up for lunch.
    Lloyd gave Serenity a disbelieving grin. “Hey, hey, hey, love. Who are you kidding? What the hell do you need with a business consultant? Having trouble counting beans down at the grocery store?”
    “If you'll excuse me, I'm going to fix some tea.”
    “Got any coffee?” Lloyd asked irrepressibly. “I hate tea.” He followed Serenity into the kitchen.
    “Sorry, no. I don't drink coffee.”
    “Yeah, that's right. I forgot. Guess I'll settle for tea.” Lloyd selected one of the small chairs at the table. He twirled it around, straddled it and rested his arms on the curved wooden back.
    Caleb came to stand in the doorway. “Was there something specific you wanted, Radburn?”
    Lloyd chuckled. “I just wanted to talk to Serenity.”
    Serenity filled the teakettle. “If it's about that idiotic idea you had to do a study of Witt's End, forget it, Lloyd. I told you, I'm not going to help you do it.”
    “Come on, hon. Give me a break.” Lloyd's easy-going grin faded. “I told you the other night on the phone, this is important to me. I can get a great paper out of this. Witt's End is pure time warp. The newest incarnation of the classic American frontier town.”
    “Not quite,” Serenity said.
    “Sure it is. What's more, it's a perfect subject for me,” Lloyd argued. “By rights this town shouldn't have been able to survive this long. Hell, it was founded by social misfits and outcasts and it's been populated with them ever since. You've got everything from ex-cultists to certifiable paranoids living here.”
    “You are talking about my friends and family,” Serenity snapped. “Kindly watch your language.”
    “Come on, love. You