PHENOMENAL GIRL 5 Read Free Page A

embarrassment. “Flight. Super strength.”
    He frowned. “We will have to make do.”
    “What’s wrong with my powers?” I blurted, my own annoyance coming out.
    He stared at me, as if amazed that I didn’t know. He held my gaze long enough to make me uncomfortable, then cleared his throat and said, “Well, nothing is wrong with them per se, but they are powers based on brawn, not brains. Training with me will be good for you. I will teach you to use your intellect, but I am afraid you will not be much help to me.”
    Now it was my turn to stare at him. “Did you just call me stupid?” That pretty much doused the last of any lustful feelings I’d been having. Why did I have to go and be partnered up with a sexist pig?
    “I do not mean to offend, Miss Livingston…”
    “Because I graduated at the top of my class from the best law school in the country,” I interrupted, steamed. Here it was again, the same prejudice I got from every man I met. “Don’t let the blonde hair and the big boobs fool you. There is a brain in my head, one that I use on a regular basis, and not for figuring out what lingerie makes for the best costume.”
    Now he was staring at me as if I was crazy. The crazy man doubted
my
sanity. Wonderful.
    “I know about your academic accolades, Miss Livingston. I checked your background before you came here. I only meant that mental powers, such as telepathy, for example, might be better suited for a partner of mine. I did not mean to imply that you were stupid.”
    “Oh.” Maybe he hadn’t, and I had just jumped to that conclusion.“Well, the next time you fight Jihad, maybe you’ll think differently when I lay him out flat with one punch.”
    A slight smile crossed his face at the mental image of a punched-out archnemesis. “Yes, well, the trick is to find him first. Which is what we will attempt to do, when we are not patrolling or doing investigative work for the Elite Hands of Justice and the police. Now, I have more work to accomplish, so I will have Mayhew show you to your room. Take some time to settle in, and I will see you at dinner. We dress for dinner at this house. I assume you have the proper attire?” He pressed a button on his desk.
    My business suit was out of the question. “Well, I…”
    “If not, tell Mayhew, and he will order something appropriate. We will be doing some entertaining from time to time.” He frowned. “It is a necessity, I am afraid, for a man of my stature. Dinner is seven o’clock sharp, in the dining room. Afterward, we will go on patrol.”
    I nodded. “Alright. Seven it is. It’s a date.”
    He looked alarmed, and then cleared his throat. “You may go.”
    Gee, may I?
“Um, good luck on the coffee grounds and all that.”
    Paging through his notes, he nodded, but it was obvious that he had forgotten about me already.
    I turned to leave and almost bumped into the butler. Freaky. Where had he come from?
    Unmoved by my surprise, Mayhew gestured toward the passage leading to the stairs. “This way, Miss.”
    We passed through the hallway, and this time went up a large staircase. The upstairs of the mansion was just as ornate as the downstairs, and had many rooms. The butler stopped in front of a set of double doors. “The master’s suite,” he said, opening one so I could see in. The room was enormous, done in sumptuous reds and golds.
    “Your room will be across the hall,” he added, closing thedoor to Elliot’s suite. He moved across the corridor to the facing double doors and swung them wide. “It’s better for you to be close by, in case the two of you are called out in the middle of the night.”
    I nodded as I stepped inside, my breath taken away. The room was the size of my entire apartment. A large buttery leather couch bisected the room and faced a large flat-panel television mounted over the fireplace. Bookshelves on either side were filled with CDs, DVDs, and books. A closer inspection proved that it was my own personal