Free Midnight's Captive (Dark Warriors) by Donna Grant

fool to turn it down.
    “Do I get to sell your whisky or no’?”
    Con’s smile was slow as it filled his face. “Aye, Charon, I think you’re just the type of man we want selling our brand.”

 
    CHAPTER EIGHT
     
    University of Edinburgh
    Aiden couldn’t believe how much Britt discovered in the time she had been studying the blood. Though he wished things had moved along quicker, he wasn’t going to complain about it as long as the information kept coming.
    He finished sending off the latest e-mail to everyone at the castle, explaining that Britt was trying to isolate the property in the Warrior blood to determine why it reacted so violently to the drough blood.
    Although Britt had no idea the blood was Warrior and drough, or why it was so important to him. She asked often enough, but so far, Aiden had been able to keep her in the dark.
    “I’ve never seen blood do this to other blood before,” Britt said, her face pressed against the microscope lenses.
    Again and again, she had tested the drough blood on the Warrior blood. Each time the results were the same. The red and white blood cells instantly began to die off.
    Aiden rose from his seat in the lab and walked to look out the window. It had been raining for two days, and didn’t look to be letting up anytime soon.
    “Tell me, Aiden, please,” Britt urged.
    For two weeks Aiden had spent most of every day with her in the lab. He sat silently staring at her, dreaming about her while she worked. They had shared numerous meals, but all eaten quickly while she looked at her notes or talked about the blood.
    All the while he listened, he waited for the times she would look up at him and snare him with her eyes. Those brief moments were enough to last him until the next time.
    The more he was around her, the more he wanted her. He’d made sure to “accidentally” touch her as often as he could. Britt always had a ready smile for him, but she had been so involved with her work that he hadn’t been able to decipher if she was as attracted to him as he was her.
    Perhaps it was time to find out.
    “Let me take you to dinner tonight,” Aiden said as he turned to her.
    She blinked, her blue eyes holding a hint of surprise. She tucked a pencil into her hair, it joining the three others she had stuffed in her loose bun. “Dinner? You want to take me to dinner instead of telling me about the blood?”
    “Aye.” Aiden sighed and spun a pencil on the table. “Britt, I keep the information from you to protect you.”
    “And to protect your family in case what I find ever gets out in the world.”
    “Aye.”
    She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears. “Do you have that hard a time trusting people?”
    “If you knew all I had been through, you’d understand.”
    “Then tell me.”
    Aiden bit back a laugh. “I admit, it would be easier if I could.”
    “But you won’t,” she finished.
    He shrugged. “There are people out there who would kill you just for helping me. It’s why we do this in secret, why I ask you no’ to tell anyone what you’re working on.”
    “Tell me one thing, then. Is one of those blood samples yours?”
    “And if it was?”
    She smiled as she slid off the stool and set aside the samples she’d been looking at. “I have a class I can’t miss again.”
    Aiden watched as she grabbed her stuff and started for the door. She suddenly stopped and turned to look at him over her shoulder.
    “Pick me up at seven.”
    He grinned and rocked back on his heels, feeling a bit of happiness for the first time in weeks.
    *   *   *
    Laura sat in the kitchen area having tea with Cassie when she heard Charon’s voice. Her heart kicked up a notch when she turned and spotted him on the top landing smiling with Con.
    “I think things went well,” Cassie said.
    Laura nodded. “I knew they would. Charon can charm anyone when he sets his mind to it.”
    “I hope this means we’ll get to see more of you and Charon around