Science is Sexy

Garrison Keillor once said Beauty isn’t worth thinking about; what’s important is your mind. You don’t want a fifty-dollar haircut on a fifty-cent head. I think he’s onto something, because intelligence is sexy.

I’ve been re-reading some of my favorite romantic suspenses in the last few weeks in a self-care attempt to ease my political anxiety. It’s helping, and despite the tension in these stories, they’re actually relaxing me … and reminding me that science is sexy.

Everyone’s heard of hormones and pheromones, facts and data … and the law of attraction sort of defines itself. But have you considered Newton’s three laws of motion? Let me lay a little scientific methodology on you.

The first states that an object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. In romance, once our hero sets his sights on his lady love (or vice versa), the motion is set. The second law of motion establishes a connection between an object’s mass and its acceleration. The third law states rather simply that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. When you kiss me, I kiss you back.

Toni Anderson touches on an important aspect of science in Edge of Survival. Daniel Fox was trying to derail her train of thought with his humor and intimidate her with his lack of modesty, but she was hardly a prude. Her was manipulating her. She felt hot and sticky and knew it wasn’t her blood sugar going haywire. It was basic biology making her chest tighten and her blood pound. Good romances make you smile; great romances make science happen.

Here are three of my favorite authors who regularly delve into that intelligence quotient that bridge my younger self, who wanted to be Jacques Cousteau when I grew up, with my adult self, who loves to read and write romance. Put your thinking caps on; I think you’ll like these!

Perfect Weapon by Amy J. Fetzer

Sarin is a man-made toxin used in chemical warfare, that is colorless, odorless and fast-acting. Depending on how a person is exposed to sarin, the reaction can be swift and painful and ultimately result in death. And it’s the basis for one of my top ten romantic suspenses—which, as usual, starts with a little government secrecy and coverup.

Dr. Sydney Hale is working in a secret underground government lab to develop an implosion bomb that will mark and neutralize sarin in the air, along with an antidote for exposure. Her luck changes when she goes topside for a breath of fresh air and to celebrate success and returns to the lab to find it under attack by masked gunmen. Barely escaping, she makes it back to the surface and flees through the woods. Marine Jack Wilson is also on the mountainside with three of his men, thinning out deer herds. When he spots Syd running through the woods in a skirt and bloody shirt—with gunmen chasing her—he intervenes. The chase is on as Jack searches for the people who killed his men on the mountainside, Syd runs for her life, and a CIA agent named Gabe Cisco follows the sarin vials (that he suspects Syd stole, for lack of better intel). Nothing is as it seems, and though Jack has super badass top government clearance and is no dummy, he is constantly humbled by Syd’s spectacular intelligence.

“Why don’t you start with what’s up there?”
“A billion dollar research and development project six hundred feet below the surface.”
He’d figured it was something like that. You don’t drop a woman with her kinds of smarts in the middle of nowhere without a damn good reason. “What are you developing?”
“Countermeasures for Sarin gas.”
He frowned. “There isn’t any, except MOP for hazmat gear and atropine.”
“There is now.”
. . .
He grinned. “Your brain is amazing.”
She didn’t blush, but made a face. “I studied to get it, Jack.”
He leaned in, slid his hand along her jaw and into her hair. “Yeah, but it’s a turn-on.” He kissed her and she moaned deliciously.
“I think anything would turn you on, Marine.”
“I got a thing for women with big brains.”

Covert Evidence by Rachel Grant

Rachel Grant is my go-to for romantic suspense. Her stories are always smart, her characters richly drawn, and the locations exciting. Covert Evidence is no different—it even has references to Lawrence of Arabia (the OG British Army officer, not Peter O’Toole).

Cressida Porter is an underwater archaeologist who is working on a project in Eastern Turkey. She’s found a way to piggyback a Lidar survey she’s planning on ancient illicit trade routes in Kurdish territory, but it requires her to rely on local guides for translation and social proprieties. She gets duped by a man supposed to be her translator, and now she’s on Ian Boyd’s radar because she’s now the unwitting courier for a microchip. Ian is CIA, suspicious, and determined to intercept a microchip before terrorists can grab it from Cressida … and likely kill her. He accepted a long time ago that the comforts of American life weren’t for him. Especially a woman like Cress.

“What can you tell me about this area?”
She shrugged. “Not much. My research into the terrestrial archaeology of Turkey is relatively recent. My specialty is underwater.”
His brows lowered. “Yeah. I was wondering about that. What the hell is an underwater archaeologist doing studying the landlocked borders of Turkey?”
She really didn’t want to get into the hows and whys with him. She’d had enough trouble with the dissertation committee. “Trade routes on land are a strong influence on the water routes. And the illicit routes even more so.” She plopped down onto the hard ground with a water bottle in hand and leaned against the slope of the hill. “If you find where the secret route meets the sea, you’ll find the smugglers’ ships. The pirates. It’s all connected.”
Ian shrugged. “It’s no different from the modern drug trade—a water route is no good if you can’t sneak the drugs on shore or over the border.”
“Exactly.”

Edge of Survival by Toni Anderson

Dr. Cameran Young is the lead biologist on an Environment Impact Assessment team to determine the future of a mining project in Northern Canada. It’s a rough area in an isolated wilderness, which means rough terrain and tough men. When a local woman turns up brutally murdered in the bathroom of a local bar, speculation runs rampant. Not only has Cam spent her life battling her diabetes and railing against the assistance people around her want to bestow on her, she repeatedly has to prove her worth as a scientist. Good thing she’s competent and doesn’t spook easily—otherwise she would be dead in the water. I love the romance and the suspense in Edge, but I really like the inside psyche we glimpse of an intelligent scientist, who’s a woman.

Cam stepped into the shallow water, slipping over boulders and skull-sized rocks toward the fish-trap in the center of the river.
Arctic char swam out of the river and into the sea when the ice melted in May. The fish fed in the sea and then swam back upriver to spawn in July and August the same year. Theoretically, Cam was supposed to be catching the ones heading back upriver to spawn. Unfortunately, theoretical was all she’d caught.
. . .
“It’s George.” Blindly she patted the phone. “He’s on sick leave for at least six weeks.” She raised her face, her green T-shirt bringing out the emerald in her eyes.
“And?”
“I have to start catching fish immediately if I’m to get this study up and running because the mine company won’t wait till next summer to start the dam.” Her mouth drooped at the corners. “And all I have are Tommy and Katie, who don’t know char from brook trout, and Vikki—“ she eyed him sharply, the skin around her eyes tightening, “—who’s okay in a lab but in the field is too worried about cracking a nail to—“ She cut herself off, dug the ends of her fingers into her temples. “Anyway, maybe you’ll get your wish after all.”
“My wish?” He snorted. Christ, he hoped she wasn’t psychic.
“The one where I go home with my tail between my legs and do nothing but lab studies for the next thirty years. At least I’ll be safe there … except—oh no! —my diabetes can attack me just as easily in a lab as in the field.” She thumped her fist flat against the table.

I always love to get a glimpse of the Wizard behind the curtain; to go backstage at a theatrical production; to experience things firsthand. Edge of Survival does it all. But best of all, it has one of the most romantic, swoon-worthy lines of all times: I could kiss you until the world stopped turning and it still wouldn’t be long enough. You don’t have to be a scientist to know that’s a long time.

What are your favorite sexy science-y romances?