Lost and Found (Masters & Mercenaries: The Forgotten #2)(45)

She’d hated that feeling. Vulnerable. Fragile.

Seeing Owen had made her want to run because she was close to the edge and she didn’t have any right to ask him to put those big, strong arms around her.

It would be a stupid thing to do. She’d just met the man. She wasn’t going to pour her heart out to him.

She’d had sex with him, but somehow talking about how scared she’d been, leaning on him for something other than an orgasm was more intimate.

“Did you say you were a doctor?” the gorgeous woman with a British accent said. She’d been introduced as Ariel, Ezra’s wife. She was tall and graceful, with brown eyes lit with intelligence. “Medical?”

“Yes,” she replied out of politeness. River was busy opening the bottle of pinot noir she’d grabbed at the café downstairs as her husband’s boss spoke to her in low tones. “I work in research with the Huisman Foundation.”

“You’re Rebecca Walsh? The Rebecca Walsh?” Ariel smiled broadly. “I’m sorry. I bet you don’t normally meet fans outside of a conference. I guess fan is an odd word. Admirer is more posh, perhaps.”

“I don’t normally meet anyone who knows me outside of the medical world.” There was a reason those eyes were so intelligent. “They didn’t introduce you as Dr. Fain.”

“I go by my maiden name, Dr. Adisa, but honestly, unless I’m working, I don’t use it. I’m around a lot of Ezra’s circle most of the time and they are not impressed with education. Well, not the university kind. My husband knows an awful lot of computer experts. I’m a clinical psychologist. I work particularly with intense PTSD and trauma.” The psychologist smiled brightly as she spoke, practically lighting up the room. “Obviously one of the problems can be memory loss, both short and long term. Your paper on new therapy techniques in reconnecting memory function was brilliant. I use several of your methods with my long-term patients. I thought you were in Boston.”

“I took a job at Huisman a couple of years ago,” she explained. “They gave me a whole department and pretty much free range on whatever I wanted to work on, so I moved here.”

“They’ve got deep pockets and some incredible connections,” Ariel agreed. “It’s such a small world. You should know that your work is helping people on many levels.”

She loved hearing that and on any other night she would question the doctor, asking her about her research and practice. She’d often found that the doctors who used her work as a base came up with possibilities she’d never thought about. But tonight, that note was still in her bag and the shadows seemed to be chasing her. Tonight, praise might be a good transition to exit. “Thank you so much. I would love to talk to you about how you’ve used them. Perhaps we could have lunch sometime. I’m afraid I’m going to…”

She stopped when Owen stepped up beside Ariel, two glasses in his hand.

He was even more gorgeous than she’d remembered. Her dreams had nothing on reality. He was big and strong and those eyes pierced through her. His reddish and gold hair was slightly shaggy, and he had the hint of a beard across that chiseled jaw.

She kind of wanted to kiss that jaw.

How could she go from needing to be alone to wanting so desperately to be alone with him?

“I brought you a drink. I remember you didn’t mind whiskey,” he said, holding out the glass.

She took it and her first instinct was to down that sucker as fast as she could.

Her second was to wonder about that note she’d gotten and the way she’d felt earlier in the evening.

How well did she know this man? How well did she know any of the people in this room?

Owen offered his free hand to the lovely psychologist. “I’m Owen Shaw. I live across the hall. Just moved in this week.”

“Ariel Adisa,” she said, readily taking his hand and shaking it. “It’s good to know my husband and I aren’t the only strangers in a strange land. My husband works with Jax. We moved from DC, though obviously I’m a Brit like you.”

Owen’s brow rose. “I’m a Scot, love.”

She sighed. “One of those. I should have known. Are you in the medical profession as well?”

She didn’t like how pretty Owen looked with Ariel. But then he would probably look good with anyone. She didn’t like how long Owen held the other woman’s hand.

A very good reason to run because she shouldn’t get possessive about some guy she’d spent a couple of hours with.

That was when she realized that while she’d been watching that place where Owen’s hand held the other woman’s, his gaze had been on her. She looked up into his vibrant eyes. He glanced down at the glass in her hand and she could have sworn she saw a hint of hurt there.

“Darling, could you come and tell River about the new gallery you found in Junction Triangle?” Ezra put his hand on his wife’s back, gesturing her toward their host. “She and Jax have had a hard time decorating this place. Apparently they have different tastes.”

Ariel chuckled. “I’m afraid I can’t help Jax’s sad preoccupation with dogs playing poker paintings, but I can help River.” She sent Becca another of her brilliant smiles. “I’m so happy to meet you and to know you’re in my little circle. See you in a bit.”