Kiss the Girls

more than Wyatt Earp had earned in a lifetime.
    He was getting hot and a little frenzied.
Nicely
frenzied. Life in California was good. It
was
the department store of his dreams.
    This was the best part: the foreplay before he made his final selection. The Los Angeles police were still stumped and baffled by him. Maybe one day they would figure it all out, but probably not. He was simply too good at this. He
was
Jekyll and Hyde for this age.
    As he strolled between La Brea and Fairfax, he breathed in the scents of musk and heavy floral perfumes, of chamomile- and lemon-scented hair. The leather handbags and skirts also had a distinct scent.
    It was all a big tease, but he
adored
it. It was so ironic that these lovely California foxes were teasing and provoking
him
of all people.
    He was the small, adorable, fluffy-haired boy loose in the candy store, wasn’t he? Now which forbidden sweets should he choose this afternoon?
    That little twit in red heels, no stockings? That poor man’s Juliette Binoche? The provocateuse in the French-vanilla-and-black harlequin-print suit?
    Several of the women actually gave Dr. Will Rudolph approving glances as they wandered in and out of their favorite shops. Exit I, Leathers and Treasures, La Luz de Jesus.
    He was strikingly handsome, even by strict Hollywood standards. He resembled the singer Bono from the Irish rock group U2. Actually, he looked the way Bono would if he had chosen to become a successful doctor in Dublin or Cork, or right here in Los Angeles.
    And that was one of the Gentleman’s most private secrets:
The women almost always chose him.
    Will Rudolph wandered into Nativity, which was one of the currently hot A-rated shops on Melrose. Nativity was
the
place to buy a designer bustier, a mink-lined leather jacket, an “antique” Hamilton wristwatch.
    As he watched the supple young bodies in the busy store, he was thinking of Hollywood’s A parties, its A restaurants, even its A stores. The city was completely hung up on its own pecking order.
    He understood status perfectly! Yes, he did.
Dr. Will Rudolph was the most powerful man in Los Angeles.
    He reveled in the secure feeling it gave him, the reassuring front-page news stories that told him he truly existed, that he wasn’t a twisted figment of his own imagination. The Gentleman was in control of an entire city, and an influential city at that.
    He strolled near an irresistible blond woman all deckedout in twentysomething finery.
    She was idly looking at Incan jewelry, seemingly bored with the whole deal: her
life.
She was by far the most striking woman inside Nativity, but that wasn’t what attracted him to her.
    She was absolutely
untouchable.
She sent off a clear signal, even in a pricey store filled mostly with other attractive twentysomething females.
I’m untouchable. Don’t even think about it. You’re unworthy, no matter who you are.
    He felt thunder roar through his chest. He wanted to scream out inside the loud, crowded boutique:
    I can have you. I can!
    You have no idea—but I’m the Gentleman Caller.
    The blond woman had a full and arrogant mouth. She understood that no lipstick or eyeshadow was necessary for her. She was slender and narrow-waisted. Elegant in her own southern California way. She wore a faded cotton vest, wrap skirt, and color-blocked moccasins. Her tan was even and perfect, healthy-looking.
    She finally glanced his way.
A glancing blow,
Dr. Will Rudolph thought.
    Lord, what eyes. He wanted them all to himself. He wanted to roll them through his fingers, carry them around for a good-luck charm.
    What
she
saw was a tall and slender, interesting-looking man in his early thirties. He had broad shoulders, and a build like an athlete, or even a dancer. His sun-lightened brown curls were tied back in a ponytail. He had Irish-boy blue eyes. Will Rudolph also wore a slightly wrinkled white medical jacket over his very traditional Oxford blue shirt and hospital-approved striped rep’s tie. He had on expensive Doctor Martens boots—indestructible footwear. He seemed
so sure
of himself.
    She spoke first.
She chose him, didn’t she?
Her blue eyes were calm and deep, untroubled, very sexy in their confidence. She played with one of her gold-plated earrings. “Was it something I didn’t say?”
    He started to laugh, genuinely delighted that she had an adult sense of humor about the dating charade.
This was going to be a fun night,
he thought. He knew it.
    “I’m sorry. I usually