DONOVAN (Gray Wolf Security, #1)(152)

“We have. We expect to begin within the next six months.”

“Then the drug must be close to market ready.”

I watched the clouds move over Lucien’s face even as his eyes darted toward his mother briefly. This was what he was talking about earlier, I guessed, patients and their families wanting special treatment in the trials.

Lucien handled it with grace, though.

“We’re doing the best we can to get the medications patients need to the market as quickly as possible. We want to see people benefit from the latest advancements. But there are rules set forth by the FDA that we must follow. I’m sure you understand that.”

Tom looked disappointed, but he agreed.

“We can’t break the rules, I suppose. Then there would be mayhem everywhere.”

Lucien reached under the table for my hand, squeezing it as Karl asked Tom about his golf game. Subject changed. Crisis averted. But that dark cloud of disappointment still lingered.

Halfway through dinner, my cellphone buzzed.

I know who you are, a text from an unavailable number read. I can find you whenever I wish.

The words seemed chilling. I glanced at Lucien, but he was listening closely to something Karl was telling him, not really paying attention to me.

Who is this? I texted back.

You’ll find out soon enough if you don’t back down.

How?

There was no response.

I took a screen shot and sent it to Robert.

I’ll take care of it, was his quick response.

This situation was beginning to creep me out a little. It seemed benign on the surface, but sometimes it was the most benign situations that got out of control very quickly.

“Take me home,” I whispered into Lucien’s ear.

He nodded without asking why.





Chapter 19


Lucien

She shivered when I pulled her into my arms.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded, her face pressed hard against my chest.

“Adrienne,” I said, lifting her chin, “are you sure? You’re not feeling bad?”

“Just hold me for a minute, okay?”

I slid my arms around her and tugged her tight against me. She shivered again, her arms sliding up underneath my suit jacket. I kissed the top of her head, wondering what had happened to my self-confident, badass girlfriend. She was my girlfriend, right? I wasn’t even sure about that at this point.

Things were moving so fast. A week ago I barely knew what she looked like. And now…I couldn’t imagine spending a moment without her. I wish I knew who was sending those emails to me so that I could thank him or her for bringing us together. At least something good had come out of this nonsense.

And that’s what I was beginning to think it was. It was just nonsense. The patent for the artificial pancreas was supposed to be granted tomorrow. After that, there was no reason why we couldn’t go public with the whole thing, no reason why we couldn’t start recruiting volunteers for the human trials. The FDA application was already on its way, and we should get approval on that pretty soon, too. Everything was falling into place. Nothing could happen that would stall the future of diabetes treatment.

It was time to celebrate, not to worry about all this damn nonsense.

“Take the day off tomorrow.”

“What?”

“Take the day off tomorrow. Let’s go to the beach.”

She pulled back and looked at me like she thought I’d gone insane. “We went to the beach.”

“No, not with my family. Just you and me.”

A soft smile touched her lips. “Yeah?”

“It’ll be fun. We’ll go for long walks and play in the water. Drink wine.”

“Spend a few hours curled up in your bed?”

“Sounds good to me.”

She laughed. “If that’s all you want, why don’t we just stay here?”

“Because, as much as I love my brother, I’d rather not have him walk in on us in a compromising position.”

“Then why don’t we go to a nice hotel somewhere?”

“Now that sounds like a plan. We could leave now.”

She groaned, pressing her face to my chest again. “I’m so tired.”

“I’ll drive.”

She laughed again, the heat of her breath warming the skin just below my shirt. “You’re so eager,” she said.

“Doesn’t that tell you something?”




Adrienne was standing at the window of our suite when I woke the next morning.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“San Antonio.”

She nodded without turning around. She was wearing one of my shirts again, this one a t-shirt she must have grabbed back at my place. It hung long over her thighs, but when she shifted, it hinted at the fact that she hadn’t bothered with underwear when she got out of bed. I went to her and wrapped my arms around her shoulders.

“I thought we’d have breakfast on the Riverwalk.”

She leaned back into me. “I’ve never been to the Riverwalk.”

“You haven’t?”

“No. I came to San Antonio once with my father, but it was years ago and he was working a case, so we didn’t have time for sightseeing. And I was here briefly when we were in the Army, but we ended up at SeaWorld.”