See Jane Blush

When we last saw our heroine, she had just discovered Dr. Noway at the university library. What nefarious goals had brought him there?

Unfortunately, Jane was unable to investigate, unable to do anything other than report his presence and her suspicions -- she had a field trip group of students to chaperone. It was a higher priority to keep them from dismantling the library than stop Dr. Noway from gathering information that might lead to the destruction of humanity.

We now join our heroine in mid-crisis:

See Jane.
See Jane stare into space.
See Jane ignore the hamburger in her hand and almost dip it into her ice cream sundae instead of the cup of ketchup.

Jane does not know what to think.
Being distracted is dangerous.
She is surrounded by students who have finished eating their fast food lunch and now need closer supervision to keep them out of trouble before they get on the bus and go back to school.

Why did Jane take the students to lunch after the library, you may ask?
Jane is no fool. With the increase in digital living, students have no respect for the printed page. They would take their leftover lunches into the library and spill soda on shelves and get greasy fingerprints on pages.

Sacrilege!

"Miss Smythe?"

"Hmm?" Jane looks up -- and straight into Dr. Noway's dark, smiling eyes.

"You look distracted." He sits down on the bench seat next to her and holds out the iced mocha, with extra whipped cream on top. "I thought this might give you a pick-me-up for the rest of the afternoon." Dr. Noway looks around at the students, who are all settling down, stopping their chasing and slapping and talking, to stare at the stranger who is making Miss Smythe blush.

"Uhhhh -- thank you." Jane feels her cheek. Yes, she is definitely blushing. Her face feels hot enough to give a global-thermonuclear bomb a run for its money.

"I'll see you at church tonight?" Dr. Noway smiles a little wider as he stands up, and Jane just gapes at him. "We have our committee meeting tonight. Remember?"

"Oh, that's right."

"I was over at the library just now, doing some research on games." He shrugs. "I'm not very familiar with games, so I thought ..."

Dr. Noway has a very nice grin and Jane can't help but grin back at him. When he nods to her and turns to leave, she knows she should say something, but she feels like her brain is stuck in neutral and someone has put great big globs of grape bubble gum in the gearshift.

"Thank you!" she calls, lifting her cup. And sits there, watching him walk through the fast food restaurant.

When he is gone, then she realizes what she should have asked: Did he SEE her there in the library, spying on him?

"Miss Smythe has a boyfriend," one of the girls sitting in the booth behind Jane sing-songs. Before too long, the chant is taken up by half the girls and a few of the more obnoxious boys. Jane knows better than to protest -- that would only reinforce the idea.

"Is he?" one of the other chaperones whispers, sliding into the booth next to Jane. "It's almost like a faerie tale -- he's so dark and handsome and mysterious. Where did you meet him?"

"At church."

"Guys like him certainly don't attend my church. It's a faerie tale, definitely."

Jane has to agree -- and she's waiting for the handsome prince to turn into an ugly troll, or for a curse to change everything. She sips her iced mocha, and is so flustered from Dr. Noway's appearance that it doesn't occur to her until much later that it might be poisoned, or at the very least laced with a knockout drug.

What is Dr. Noway up to now?
Did he see Jane in the library?
Does he think she is spying on him?
What will happen at the committee meeting tonight?
Should Jane go?

Find out in the next adventure of Agent 777 -- Bondservant. Jane Bondservant.