Safari Moon Read Free Page A

looked
toward Pilot Butte. It struck home suddenly that he had no idea how
to extricate himself from this problem. And if he knew anything
about want ads, this was bound to get worse before he saw any
improvement. A retraction in the paper would take time and his
grandfather had enough influence in Bend to keep it out of
print.
     
    Solo had no idea how to proceed. But he’d
always managed to get out of sticky situations before, just nothing
quite so sticky. He didn’t like scenes, and if he were to go out
there and confront them in mass, or let them in one at time, there
were bound to be scenes. He couldn’t hold his temper through six
interviews or perhaps nine if he counted the women in the
elevator.
     
    There was always the fire escape but it was
three windows away from this one. He was on the third floor without
a parachute.
     
    Absorbed in his own musings, Solo jumped
when the private door to his office opened. It was Thelma, his
secretary, waiting for directions.
     
    “Damn,” Solo said. The noise in the
background had escalated to extreme decibel levels.
     
    “Is this Solo’s madhouse, sir?” she began in
a stiff no-nonsense voice. “I hoped you could shed some light on a
little problem I’ve had with my zoom.”
     
    “I haven’t a clue.” He wanted to laugh at
her, but he reminded himself they shared a grave problem. “I guess
I could grant each one an interview. Perhaps one has some
qualification I’ve overlooked. I...”
     
    “Are you crazy?” Thelma closed the door
behind her. “Don’t. You’ll regret it the minute you open that door.
They’ll have their claws out and you won’t stand a chance.”
     
    “Then you think I should tell them all at
once that I don’t want an assistant?”
     
    “No way!”
     
    Solo raked his hand through his hair. He
looked out the window, still contemplated sliding along the outside
ledge to the fire escape. “How long do you think they’ll stay?”
     
    “Until you make an appearance. They won’t
settle for anything less than you.”
     
    This had gone past sane. He might starve
locked up in his office before anyone could come to help.
     
    “Have you seen that ad? You didn’t place the
darn thing did you?” she asked. “Really, Solo, I thought you had
more sense.”
     
    “My grandfather got a hold of the original
ad and changed the words,” Solo said. “I’ll print a
retraction.”
     
    First Kitty and now nine more just like her.
What had his grandfather thought? They were all out for blood. The
Colonel couldn’t think he’d hire any of them. Could he?
     
    The worst part was the newspaper had only
been on the stands for a couple of hours. What would his office
look like by lunch?
     
    He swore out loud.
     
    Meanwhile, he had layouts to get ready and
an itinerary to plan. One way or the other, with or without an
assistant, he would go to Alaska, and he would study wolves. If his
luck held, the next few weeks would generate a cover story that
would knock the socks off his competitors.
     
    If there was one thing he couldn’t tolerate,
it was public embarrassment. Bend was still a small town. If he
left his office with a string of ladies behind him, the video would
be on the six o’clock news that same day.
     
    He could hear the headlines already.
Willing, eager, and able, Solo St. John takes no prisoners. No,
Solo, grandson of wealthy newspaper tycoon, Colonel St. John, takes
all women any way and every way he can get them.
     
    So what now?
     
    “I don’t suppose,” he mused, “we could shout
fire and they’d all vacate the building.”
     
    “Brilliant.” Thelma whispered, even more
quietly than before. “I’ll shout right away. But what do I tell
them when one of them wonders why I haven’t called the fire
department.”
     
    “Don’t worry. Not one among them is bright
enough to figure it out.”
     
    “What about the paramedics?”
     
    He groaned inwardly. The headlines were
growing by leaps and bounds. “No,