..” he began, but the expression on his wife’s face made him change his mind about his response. “All right. They’re little dolls and fast bec...ming beautiful young women. If I were intending to marry them, I wouldn’t let them out of my sight.”“Oh, really?” Joyce responded coyly. “Then why is Aiko sitting over there with the General and his wives instead of here with us, hmmm? Aiko was beautiful when she came into this house beaten almost to death. Now, with the enhancement and all the exercise. ”Johnson didn’t probe as to the cause of Pàl’s son’s death. “That’s where you’ve lived all your life, Wayne?”“Close. I went to USF in Tampa for college and taught elementary school in Fort Pierce nine years. I moved up here in August.”“And never had anything to do with the company in all that time?”“I kept track of the business financials as a stockholder, but didn’t want to make a move until I had a hope that we could rally a takeover,” Pàl said.“We have a truck leaving Rosebud Falls about. " None o' ye had done me any wrrong," the captain told him. "'Twas I had wrronged ye. T'shoo' ye was beyond' me, e'en t'thrrea'en ye torre a' me innarr's. Gene is a differren' ma'err. I'll shoo' him in a hearr'bea', i' migh' e'en gi'e me pleasurre t'do sae. I was th'ain trrick' inta doin' wha' I did, don' deprrive me o' this chance forr payback."No further discussion had been needed.Now, as Mallet moved toward the ship's bridge, MacPherson's communicator suddenly sounded. "Secure," the captain. .. Oops! Perhaps a little too well. I was now bigger on top than Dianna. I had gone the whole route; salon, then the red calfskin corset and matching thong, sheer black hose, the dress itself, and the jewels. I wouldn't need the coat; it was unseasonably warm for May (this, in a city where it is not unheard of to see snow the second week in June, then ninety-plus degrees by the Fourth of July). I overflowed the bodice provocatively. The skirt fit my tush snugly, too. Then again, if I was.