Whispers at Moonrise (Shadow Falls #4)(14)

"They called me and asked if they had my permission to test you. Baby, are you okay?"

Test me? Administrators?

Oh, hell, the dots started going together. It wasn't any administrators. It was the FRU. They were trying to get her mom's permission to test her.

"I'm fine," Kylie said. "I don't need to be tested." Fear shot through Kylie. Her gaze shot to Burnett. He looked at her, straight on. No guilt. And she sensed he didn't have any part in this. She remembered the phone call and suspected that this was what it had been all about. Her gaze shot to the man on the sofa. Was he from the FRU? Was this the bastard who wanted to use her as a lab rat like they'd used her grandmother?

"Who are you?" she asked before she could stop herself. Then she tightened her eyes and checked out his pattern. She blinked and did it again when he came up human.

"This is John," her mom said. "We were out having dinner when I got the message from Mr. Edwards that you've been blacking out."

"John?" Who the hell was John? Kylie looked at her mom. And damn if her mom didn't look guilty.

"He's the client that I had lunch with the other day, remember? I told you about him."

Kylie did remember. He was the guy who was going to ruin all the chances of her mother and stepfather getting back together.

"As I've explained," Holiday continued, "Kylie hasn't actually been blacking out. I think I might have just made it sound a bit worse than I intended in my reports. And when someone read them, they interpreted things wrong."

Emotion fluttered around like trapped birds in Kylie's chest. Holiday glanced at her and Kylie got the feeling the camp leader was trying to communicate something to her. But damn, Kylie couldn't read minds. She couldn't even read emotions.

"Didn't Kylie have night terrors at home?" Holiday asked.

Kylie suddenly thought she understood what Holiday wanted. "Yes. They were just night terrors, Mom. I didn't pass out. You remember how out of it I get when I have one of those. I'm not sick. I don't need testing. Besides, you already had me tested, remember?"

"But I didn't think you were having them anymore."

"I've only had a couple. And I'm fine. Look at me, I'm fine." She held her arms out, mentally searching for a way to prove it. "I can touch my toes; I can touch my tongue to my nose." It was a little rhyme she and her mom said when someone asked if they were okay.

"But why would Mr. Edwards want to run tests on you?"

Holiday leaned forward in her chair. "Oh, don't listen to him. He's just overcautious." She smiled, doing her best to sound convincing. "But if you would like to schedule Kylie for some tests with your own doctor for your peace of mind, I'd completely understand. I mean, nothing against the doctors here, but I would hope you have a good relationship with your own physician."

"Do you think I should?" her mom asked Holiday with her worried maternal look.

"Actually, no, I don't. I think Kylie's fine. With only two occurrences of the night terrors, I think she's doing great."

"I am doing great," Kylie persisted. "I'm fine. I promise. Please, Mom. I don't want to go through those tests again."

Her mom ran her palm over Kylie's cheek. "Do you know how scared I was? Oh, Lordie." Her mom looked back at Holiday. "You should consider having a serious talk with Mr. Edwards. I swear, the way his message sounded, you would think Kylie was in serious trouble."

"I'm sorry that scared you." Kylie looked at John over her mom's shoulder.

The man stood up, moved forward, and rested his hand on her mom's shoulder. Kylie had the oddest desire to slap his hand away and tell him he didn't have the right to touch her mom.

"Hello, Kylie," John said.

Kylie took in his suave smile, brown eyes, and matching chocolate-colored hair that was styled to perfection. She so wished she could find something ugly about him, but nope. He wasn't ugly. He wasn't completely older-guy hot like Burnett, maybe because he was a tad older, but he had the whole distinguished-looking thing down pat.

"I wish our first meeting could have been under different circumstances," he continued, "but I've been hoping to meet you. Your mom has told me so much about you."

Funny, Kylie thought, her mom hadn't told her so much about him. Well, she'd told her about having lunch and that he'd said he might call her again, but she'd neglected to say he had called. Probably because she knew Kylie had mixed feelings about her dating. Ahh, but right now, they weren't so mixed.

Kylie didn't like him. However, because she didn't have a reason-except her gut feeling and maybe her wanting her mom and stepdad back together-she was going to have to suck it up. Be nice. What was it Miranda had said? "Fake it until you make it." Could she learn to like this guy?

"It's nice to meet you." Kylie plastered a warm expression on her face. But she worried he could tell it was a sham.

"The pleasure is all mine," he said.

Kylie just smiled. He was completely right about that.

* * *

For the next half hour, Kylie sat in the meeting room in the office and visited with her mom and smarmy John and pretended like everything in her life was just peachy. Peachy and Smarmy. Phrases that Nana, who'd passed away about three months ago, would have used.