Royal Seduction Read Free

hate to let you down,” she said, “but Ihave no choice. Also—” she pushed the door closed behind her and approached his desk “—I have some information about Dr. Richie. And it’s not good news.”
    He went still. The springs in Riley’s chair creaked when he sat up straight, waiting.
    â€œI was approached by Detective O’Callahan. He told me he was suspicious of Dr. Richie. I’d have told you about this sooner, but I didn’t want to spread mere rumor. I told the detective I needed proof. Well, after doing some background research, the detective discovered that, although Dr. Richie excelled in some areas of study during his college years, he didn’t do so well in chemistry. Detective O’Callahan has offered hard proof.”
    Even as he took the manila folder Faye handed him, Riley thought of all those small bottles the staff at the clinic had been handing out to clients right and left. A topical weight-loss oil, NoWait had been the invention of Dr. Richard Strong, the man who had been Chief of Staff of the clinic until a woman proclaiming to be his ex-wife had disrupted his standing-room-only seminar with loud and angry accusations that had caused him to run for the high hills. Dr. Richie—as the famous health guru was known by everyone in the Pacific Northwest—hadn’t been seen in the clinic since.
    The commotion had taken place a week ago, and although Riley hadn’t been around to witness the incident, it had everyone abuzz, clients and staff alike, and he’d heard the story several times over. But he was doing all he could to suppress gossip. Riley had been shoved into this job with orders to smooth over the workings of the clinic and avoid scandal.
    He whistled, low and long. “If the public discovers that Dr. Strong wasn’t much of a chemist,” he said, “yet he hadour backing when he introduced that oil, there could be big trouble for the clinic. We’ve got to pull NoWait. We need to stop using it. Today.”
    Faye nodded. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
    â€œIf the newspapers pick up the story about how that stuff is affecting our clients, it could ruin the clinic’s reputation,” Riley said.
    â€œWe’ve got to keep that from happening.”
    He unwittingly tapped the tip of his pen against the heel of his hand. “Granted, NoWait is a homeopathic treatment. It’s topical, dab a bit on the skin. What can it harm? And Dr. Richie’s papers only list natural ingredients. I’ve read them. I can’t imagine NoWait being anything but harmless.”
    â€œIt has seemed to help our clients lose weight,” Faye said. “But everyone has also been acting rather…peculiar.”
    Peculiar wasn’t the half of it, Riley silently surmised. The first day or so on the job, he’d been too busy to notice. But he’d quickly realized that the people in the clinic seemed more frisky than normal. And he didn’t mean frisky as in lighthearted and playful, either. These people were downright lascivious.
    â€œWe can’t automatically blame NoWait for this…odd behavior,” he hurried to say. “Not without testing.”
    â€œThat’s true,” Faye said. “Exercise does produce high amounts of endorphins to be released in the body. Endorphins that induce a ‘feel good’ effect. That could account for the behavior.”
    The higher-ups wanted this situation handled with kid gloves. They wouldn’t be happy hearing that Riley and Faye wanted to yank NoWait from use. The clients loved the product. For more reasons than one.
    â€œOr it could be,” he said, “that everyone is experiencing the high of self-esteem produced by shedding those pounds and firming up, and that’s why they’re feeling amorous. A general, all-around dose of confidence might do it.”
    â€œMaybe,” Faye murmured. But she clearly