Maria Vargas looked down disappointedly at the book in her lap, La Casa de los Diablos. A sigh escaped her lips as she looked at the clock in the Captain's Lounge once again. The hands did not seem to want to move.
She hated flight delays, especially when she was headed home for her month-long Christmas break from Smith College. Once again she ran her eyes over her fellow passengers, appraising them for any sign that one -- just one -- would make suitable conversation material. Nothing. Nada. Zero. Zip. Damn. Am I consigned to hours of absolute boredom? she thought.
Clarence Montgomery opened the door to the Captain's Lounge just as Maria directed her gaze in that direction. A smile automatically filled his face as he looked at this attractive young woman whose face was turned toward his.
Maria's mouth curved into a welcoming smile. There was no way she could keep from responding to this lively looking, engaging man. At last, she thought, a white knight to the rescue. She eyed him thoughtfully as he approached.
Clarence, moving with the feline grace of an athlete, approached Maria and held out his hand. "I'm Clarence Montgomery."
Maria took his hand automatically, a smile on her lips. "Maria Vargas," she replied. Not bad, she thought, thirty something, not handsome, but OK, and I need someone to entertain me.
Clarence surveyed the room and shook his head in disgust. "Good grief. Look at these people. Those who don't have their fingers on their laptop keyboards are glued to their phones."
Maria nodded. "They do need to get a life. The next generation is probably going to be born with a cell phone connection wired into their brain."
Clarence chuckled. "Going home for the holidays?" he asked as he eyed her covertly, liking what he saw. She is not only good looking, she is also all right in the leg and breast department, he told himself. I think I have lucked out on this trip.
"Are you Sherlock Holmes?" A smile flickered over her face as she looked at him, her eyebrows raised.
"Let's see," Clarence replied. "This flight goes directly to Mexico City. You look the right age to be a college sophomore. Your English is perfect, but with a faint accent that has to be Mexican and you are holding in your lap a novel by a well known Mexican author."
Maria clapped her hands quietly. "Bravo, Sherlock. What is taking you to Mexico City?" Then she ticked off on her fingers as she spoke. "This is the wrong time for a vacation. There is no paint under your nails so I don't think you are an artist headed for San Miguel, and you don't have the disheveled look of an intellectual. You are too neatly dressed to be a hippy, and that very small briefcase suggests senior management. How am I doing?"
Clarence bowed to her and, catching the waiter's eye, called him over. "I'll have scotch, rocks and make it a double."
He looked at Maria. "Can I order you something?"
Maria held up her Coke glass and shook her head.
"TouchΓ©. That was very good. I am the founder and the only senior management my company has. I'm going to Mexico City to talk with a group of investors who want to buy my company."
"And what does your company do?"
"It is an internet security firm. I invented the software and formed the company when I was an undergraduate student at MIT. We attack the hackers who try to take over company computers. And what are you a student of?"
"I will remember that when I take up hacking. At the moment, however, I am majoring in Latin American literature at Smith College."
She put her half emptied glass in a potted plant behind her and reached over and put her hand on Clarence's thigh. "Can I change my mind? I'd like a rum and coke."
Clarence's sexual barometer sent a positive signal to his brain as he felt Maria's hand warm his thigh. Smiling, he told her, "Of course. We are all entitled to change our minds." He signaled the waiter and gave him the drink order.
When the drinks came, Clarence told Maria her name rang a bell with him. "I wonder if I know anyone in your family or perhaps people with whom I do business do business with your family."
Maria told him a bit about her family, their businesses, and some of the people associated with her family businesses.
Clarence nodded. "That's why. I know the Gonzalez brothers, who have spoken with me about approaching your family about using my firm, your father perhaps? "
Maria's hand returned to Clarence's thigh, dangerously close to his developing erection, as she nodded. "Yes. I think you are right. There is a connection there."
They chatted amiably until the loudspeaker announced that their flight would arrive in fifteen minutes.