“So why are you?”
She gave a bark of laughter and shook her head. “I’m not sure. Perhaps it’s the disappointment I saw in your face when I said Dr. Smith wasn’t here.”
“Look,” Aiden said and walked closer to her. “I need help. I want to accept your help, but in doing so, you need to understand that there are things I can no’ tell you.”
Britt studied him for a long minute, as if weighing his words. She pushed one of the curls behind her ear and touched the small gold orbs that dangled from her earlobe. “Can you tell me anything?”
“I can tell you the information I need is to help family and friends.”
“Why not go to a hospital or a real medical doctor?”
Aiden had to be careful in what he told her. “They’re no’ sick. Well … damn. I can no’ answer that correctly.”
“So you can’t tell me much of anything, in other words.”
“Aye.”
Britt looked at her microscope. “What will I be looking at?”
“Blood.”
Her gaze jerked back to his. “Blood. Why?”
“There are special properties in the blood I need determined. I need to know what could affect them adversely.”
She held out her hand. “Let me see a sample?”
Aiden prayed he was doing the right thing. Instead of getting the blood, he reached for his phone and called Gwynn’s mobile.
With his gaze locked with Britt’s, Aiden gave Gwynn her information to see if there was any connection to Jason Wallace. When Gwynn gave the all clear, Aiden ended the call.
“Well, then. Why do I suddenly feel like I’ve been scanned by the CIA or MI5?”
Aiden inwardly winced. “I apologize. There are things going on that you’re better off no’ knowing for your own safety. And I needed to make sure you were no’ working with Ja…” He trailed off and hoped she didn’t ask more.
“The blood?” she asked, her hand once more held out.
Aiden pulled out the small vial. There were several tests he needed done. The first blood she would see was his. He grabbed a slide and pulled out the vial. With the dropper, he put two drops of blood and covered them with another slide before handing the slides to Britt.
“Nothing abnormal here. This blood comes from a healthy individual,” she said as she looked through the microscope. She then leaned back. “Next?”
Aiden repeated the process with his father’s blood and waited as Britt stared into the scope for several quiet minutes.
She finally sat back slowly and looked at him. “Where did you get this?”
“It doesna matter. What do you see?”
“I … I need to run some tests. Come back in an hour.”
Aiden shook his head. “Nay. I’m no’ leaving the blood with you.”
“You don’t trust me.”
He grinned slyly. “Nay. As I said, my family and friends are at risk. I willna put them in more danger.”
“This could take hours, days even. Are you willing to stay here that long?”
“As long as it takes.”
“I work alone.”
“No’ this time,” he retorted. The idea of spending so much time in Britt’s company was more than agreeable to him.
She tapped a finger on the table, her nail softly clicking in the silence as she regarded him. “I’m curious now. I need to know all the properties of this blood and why it’s so different.”
“Then get to work, Doctor.”
She eyed his bag. “You have more blood for me to look at, don’t you?”
“Aye.”
“Let me see.”
Aiden pulled up the nearest stool and opened his bag.
CHAPTER FIVE
Laura straightened from putting up the new bottles of gin from beneath the bar. Brian, the bartender, had needed to leave early to take his son to soccer practice, so she stepped in to cover the bar in his absence.
She turned when the door opened, flooding the pub with sunlight and blinding her from seeing who had walked in. The pub quieted as each patron turned to the newcomer.
Ben gave a bright smile when he spotted her and hurried to the counter. “I was hoping I’d catch you here.”
“Hello, Ben.” Laura was flattered with how much attention he paid her. And it wasn’t that he wasn’t good looking, he just wasn’t Charon. “What can I get you?”
“You.”
She smiled as the door to the pub opened again. Finally the door closed, allowing Laura to see again. And in the entrance stood a gorgeous man with hair black as midnight. It was parted down the middle and fell to just brush his shoulders.
He stood tall and a bit wary, while his eyes scanned the pub as if he were a predator looking for prey. Laura’s skin prickled as his gaze stopped when it reached her.