“I don’t doubt it. It’s just that I…I don’t like the idea of you wrapping your pearls around a stranger.” Pausing, Sophie shook her head with a rueful sigh. “I should have known the minute you suggested coming up in this tree house that you were going to spring something on me. You dragged me up to the roof of my shop the night before you tried that last experiment in your lab—the one that gave you a breakthrough.”
Mac tightened her grip on her knees and kept her eyes fixed on Sophie. “I figure if I can face my fear of heights, I can succeed at all the other things that scare me.”
Sophie pointed a finger at her. “There. You are nervous about inviting some strange man to be your boy toy. And you should be.” Then swearing softly, Sophie picked up Mac’s wineglass and handed it to her. “Here. Take a drink of this. You’re white as a sheet.”
Mac took a careful sip.
“Why don’t we get you out of here? I’ll call Lucas. Between us, we can get you down the rope ladder.”
“I’m fine.”
Sophie studied her over the rim of her glass. “I wish I could be sure of that. This field-testing thing you’re planning…it’s not you.”
“You’re wrong. It is me. That’s the beauty of it. I’m not good at dating or relationships, but I’m excellent at doing research and then devising a way to put the results to work. If I approach keeping a husband that way, I know I can do it.”
“But you don’t even have a husband yet. Shouldn’t that be your first step?”
“That’s the plan that most people follow and over fifty percent of all marriages fail. Research shows that the number one cause of divorce is infidelity. Usually it’s the man who strays—just as soon as routine sets in. I saw that happen to my parents, and my plan is designed to prevent it.”
Sophie gazed helplessly at Mac. “You’re making it sound so logical, and it’s not! Sex and relationships aren’t something that you can map out and predict like something in your lab. Shit happens. Take it from someone who’s been out there in the trenches.”
Leaning forward, Mac took Sophie’s hands in hers. “I’m sorry I’m laying all of this on you right now when you’ve just broken up with Bradley.”
Sophie shrugged impatiently. “Bradley Davis is history. But he’s a good example of what I’m talking about. When it comes to a relationship, there are no guarantees. And the only man I’ve ever been able to predict is my brother. He never gets involved emotionally in his relationships. He runs them the same way he runs Wainright Enterprises. And he thinks he has the right to run mine that way too.”
Mac didn’t say anything for a moment. Although more than a month had gone by, she knew Sophie still resented that Lucas had uncovered information on Bradley Davis that had caused her to break off her engagement. “The one thing that you can always depend on is that Lucas loves you, and he cares about what happens to you.”
“He’s smothering me. Ever since he took over Wainright Enterprises, he’s decided that he can run all of our lives. He’s even having me followed. But…” Sophie stopped, shook her head and then narrowed her eyes at Mac. “Oh no you don’t. You’re not going to change the subject. I want to know what I can say to convince you to drop this whole idea.”
“Nothing.”
Sophie slumped back against the wall of the tree house. “There’s got to be something I can do.”
“You don’t have to worry. I’ve taken every possible safety precaution.”
“I’d feel a lot happier about this if you were going to try out your research on someone you knew. What about that representative from the biotech company that’s been wining and dining you lately?”
Mac made a face. “Vince Smith is panting over my research not me. All he talks about is how brilliant I am, what wonderful lab facilities they could provide for me if I would just sign over exclusive rights to anything I might discover.”
Taking a sip of her wine, Mac pushed the thought of the man out of her mind. The truth was she wasn’t good at dating. It probably had something to do with the fact that she’d started college at fourteen. The men she’d met had treated her like a kid sister. If they’d called her, it was to get help on some assignment they were having trouble with. And then, later, in graduate school, her two forays into the realm of romance had been disasters. “Men just don’t seem to think of me in a sexual way.”
“And they won’t until you start to think of yourself that way.”
“Now you sound just like Madame Gervais. In fact, she thinks field testing my research will increase my self-confidence.”
Tilting her head to the side, Sophie studied Mac for a moment. “Maybe I’ll have to revise my opinion of her. Is she the one who talked you into lightening your hair?”
Mac tucked a loose strand back into the bun she wore at the back of her neck. “Yes, and she took me shopping for a new wardrobe.”
Sophie’s eyes widened. “Why aren’t you wearing it?”
“I bought most of the clothes for the field testing I’m going to do. I don’t feel quite myself in them. When I put them on, I feel like I can do things Dr. MacKenzie Lloyd would never do.”
Sophie paused with her wineglass halfway to her lips. “Oh? More stuff like the pearl trick?”
“Yes, and other kinds of things too. When Madame Gervais and I shopped for the clothes, we chose pieces that would facilitate some popular male fantasies.”
Sophie studied her friend over the rim of her glass. “Okay, I’m hooked. How about filling me in a little more on the specifics of this research of yours?”
“I started out by reading a number of anthropological and sociological texts.”
“Let’s just fast-forward to the good stuff.”
Mac grinned at her. “It’s always good to have a sound theoretical background.”
“Mac…”
“There’s so much. You have no idea how many books have been written on sex. Or what’s available online. There’s this one woman who makes her living giving all-day seminars on how to…pleasure the penis.”
Sophie choked on her wine. “All-day seminars?”
Mac nodded. “I went to one. We worked on plastic models.”
“And you’re actually going to field-test that on a complete stranger?”
“I’m trying to think of a fantasy I can fit it into.”
Setting down her glass, Sophie said, “And these fantasies—what exactly are they like?”
“Well, there was one I found very interesting. It involved male bondage.”
“Handcuffs, silk neckties—that kind of stuff?”
Mac shook her head. “Plastic wrap.”
“Let me guess. You meet him at the door wearing nothing but?”
“Nope. It’s the one where I wrap him up in it like a mummy. Of course, I would leave his nose free. And his toes.” She smiled at Sophie. “And one other part.”
“Something you could wrap your pearls around.”
“Exactly. A blindfold is optional, but I’ve heard it doubles the pleasure.”
“I’ll bet. In these fantasies—is turnabout fair play?”
Mac blinked, then smiled slowly. “I think that depends on how well round one goes.”
They were both laughing when the ringing of Sophie’s cell phone interrupted them. Mac could tell by