Free BRIDAL JEOPARDY by REBECCA YORK

out.
    Solomon had operated a fertility clinic in Houma, Louisiana, where he’d been highly successful in using in vitro fertilization techniques. It was what he’d tried with the embryos that had not been a roaring success. Solomon’s experiments had been designed to produce children with superintelligence, but when his testing of the subjects had not shown they had higher IQs than would be expected in a normal bell curve, the Howell Institute had terminated the funding.
    But now the children had reached adulthood, and there might be something important the doctor and Wellington had both missed—as demonstrated by the mysterious explosion in Houma.
    Goddard had partial records from the Solomon Clinic, and he’d followed up on some of the children. A number of them had disappeared. Others had died under mysterious circumstances—often in bed together—around the country.
    But had Solomon unwittingly created men and women with something special that had previously been latent—until they made contact with each other?
    Because he wanted to know the answer to that question, he’d decided to try an experiment. After scrolling through the list of names, he’d found two that looked as if they were perfect for his purposes. Stephanie Swift and Craig Branson.
    He’d set in motion a scenario that had propelled them together. Now he was waiting to find out the effects. But he couldn’t afford to leave them on the loose for long. And what he did when he captured them was still up for consideration. He’d like to know what they could do together, but it might also be important to examine their brain tissues.
    * * *
    S TEPHANIE LOOKED DOWN at her hands. “I don’t know if my dad remembers the name of the clinic, and I don’t know if he’d tell me if he did. He wasn’t too friendly when I went over there this afternoon.”
    “Why not?”
    “Maybe he’s feeling guilty about my agreeing to marry John to pay his gambling debts—and he’s showing it by acting angry with me.”
    “That doesn’t make perfect sense.”
    She sighed. “And I did accuse him of gambling again, which didn’t go over too well.”
    “Yeah, right.”
    “How did you get along with your parents?” she asked.
    “They knew I was devastated by Sam’s death. They tried to make it up to me. I let them think they were succeeding.”
    “But it didn’t really work?”
    “It couldn’t. The other half of me was...gone.”
    When her face contorted, he said, “Let’s not focus on that.”
    “Okay, are your parents both still alive?”
    His features tightened. “Neither of them is alive. Sam’s death did a number on our family. My mom was depressed—like your aunt. But it didn’t develop until after Sam died. She died of a heart attack. And my dad started drinking a lot. He died of cirrhosis of the liver.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    He shrugged. “I felt like I was on my own a long time before they were actually gone.”
    She nodded.
    “I didn’t keep much of their stuff. If there’s information about the clinic, the information is back in Bethesda. Do you think your father will tell you what clinic?”
    “I don’t know. There are probably some old records we could find if he doesn’t want to talk to me.”
    “We should go over there.”
    She glanced toward the window, then got up and lifted one of the slats. “My bodyguards are still here.”
    “They can sit there all night. We’ll leave your car in the parking space out back, walk to my bed-and-breakfast and get my rental.”
    “Okay.”
    It was strange to be sneaking away from her own house, but she followed Craig out the door, across the patio and into the back alley. Bypassing the car, they headed for his B and B. He checked to make sure they weren’t being followed and kept to the shadows of the wrought-iron balconies that sheltered the sidewalk.
    He stopped down the block and across the street, still in the shadows. “The parking lot is around back. You wait here. I don’t want