DONOVAN (Gray Wolf Security, #1)(151)

She groaned. “At least I brought a proper dress.”

“You left your suitcase at my house. There’s a dress in there, too.”

“All wrinkled by now, I’m sure.”

“Yeah, but it would probably still look good on you.”

“There you go again, dropping the compliments.”

“Have you looked in a mirror? You don’t need me telling you what is so obvious.”

She just shook her head. “You’re delusional.”

“You wait. When I finally do take you out on a proper date, every man in the room is going to wish he was me. Just wait.”

She shook her head again, but there was a lovely blush on her cheeks. I liked to make her blush.





Chapter 18


Adrienne

They lived in a house that would probably hold my apartment a dozen times over. It looked like a hotel, like one of those massive estates from television shows, like the abbey on Downton Abbey. I couldn’t stop staring out the window as Lucien drove up the circle drive, my eyes growing wider and wider as I took more and more of it in. Massive house, massive pillars out front, massive balconies, massive grounds. It was like a museum piece.

Elizabeth was all smiles as we walked past the butler into the entryway.

“Welcome,” she said, leaning in to kiss my cheek lightly. “I’m so glad to see you again.”

She turned to Lucien. “Thank you. I’m sorry I usurped your plans.”

“I’m sure you are,” he said, making me want to hit him. He should respect his mother a little more than that.

Karl was in the living room entertaining another couple about Elizabeth’s age. The woman looked up and smiled widely.

“Well, Lucien. Don’t you look well.”

Lucien bent to kiss her cheek. “Cindy.”

The woman’s eyes moved to me. “And this would be Kelly?”

“No, Cindy,” her husband said. “Remember I told you? Lucien and Kelly broke up several years ago.”

“Oh, of course.” She smiled, but there was confusion in her expression as she continued to stare at me.

“Adrienne,” I said, smiling as warmly as I could muster.

“Adrienne? That’s a lovely name,” she said.

“I’m Tom,” the man said, holding out a hand to me.

I shook it, smiling at him, too. Lucien pulled me close against him. “Want a drink?” I nodded enthusiastically.

We settled there in the living room, and talk centered mostly around the roses we could barely see outside the back doors. Cindy seemed to think they were quite beautiful, oohing and ahhing over them like the sun was shining right down and they were glowing with a bright aura. I didn’t understand why everyone was letting her babble that way. She was making a bit of a fool out of herself.

When we went into the dining room, Lucien slid his arm through mine and pulled me back a little, letting the other two couples lead the way.

“She’s got early onset Alzheimer’s,” he said near my ear.

“Oh. Wow. Really?”

He nodded. “Her husband wants her to be included in the trials of our new drug when they become a reality. But I have no control over that. Not even Jacob had any control over it. It’s all regulated by the FDA. But she’s an old friend of my mom’s…”

“She’s hoping you can break some rule or something.”

“Yeah.”

“Does that happen a lot? People asking for special treatment?”

“Yeah, actually, it does. I sent your father a bunch of emails I’ve gotten over the years that might have something to do with what’s going on.”

“That’s good.”

He slid his arm around my waist and guided me the rest of the way into the dining room. His mother looked at me as we came into view, her eyes full of something that was like understanding, but not quite. I couldn’t quite decide if she liked me or not. I wanted her to. I wanted the whole family to like me. I especially wanted Lucien to like me.

And that frightened me.

“Where’s Rachel?” Lucien asked as he helped me into my chair.

“She’s resting,” Karl said. “She has a headache.”

“Convenient,” Lucien said, shooting his mother a look. She shrugged, clearly not bothered by whatever it was going on between the two of them.

He sat beside me and slid his hand over my thigh. I suddenly felt as though I was caught in the middle of something I didn’t want to be caught in.

I could see the way Tom was helping Cindy now, the way he had to show her which utensil to use for her food, which glass was hers to drink from. She seemed to remember who everyone was, but keeping her knife out of her hands was an ongoing task for Tom. It hurt me to watch her, thinking of how awful it would be to lose your memory in such unpredictable and humiliating ways.

“Your mother says your company is getting ready to run a trail on a new Alzheimer’s drug,” Tom said to Lucien as the salad course was served.

“We are.”

“She says it’s promising.”

Lucien inclined his head. “That side of the business is really Jacob’s department.”

“But you’ve filed for FDA approval to move to human trials.”