“Do you want me to run a background check on the doc?”
Once again, Lucas hesitated. On some gut level, he knew that he should steer clear of his sister’s best friend. It wasn’t merely the strength of the physical attraction he felt that had the warning bells going off in his mind. She was Sophie’s friend. He kept his dating life separate from his family. To pursue a relationship with MacKenzie Lloyd would foster expectations that he would never fulfill.
Relationship? He frowned at the direction his thoughts had taken. Who was she that she could affect him this way?
Experience had taught him that ignorance was seldom bliss, and knowledge was always power. “Yeah. I want to know everything about her.”
“MACKENZIE, you’ve got to listen to reason.”
Mac opened a bag of carrots and for a moment allowed herself to picture dumping the whole bag over Gil Stafford’s head. Then stifling the image, she selected one carrot and began to shred it on a grater. She hoped feeding Wilbur, her pet lab rat, would soothe her temper. Gil was her department chair and he had ten years’ seniority on her. That and the fact that she worked in a lab that adjoined his had made him think he could give her advice.
“If you’d just listened to me earlier and signed a contract to turn the results of your research over to that biotech company, you would have prevented this break-in.”
Mac shoved down the little skip of fear that she’d been experiencing ever since she’d arrived at the university and learned that her lab had been broken into sometime on Sunday. The intruder had gotten away, but not before he’d broken into her office safe.
“They would have made sure that there were better security measures taken around here. And I still don’t understand why you turned down the money. Even if you don’t want it for yourself, think of all the equipment it would have provided.”
As Gil continued to pontificate, he strode toward the window. Mac privately thought the man should have gone into politics instead of science. Not only could he talk nonstop, but he had the tall, rangy build of an athlete and a very photogenic face. With the sunlight turning his blond hair into a halo, he looked like one of the good archangels.
The antithesis of what Lucas looked like with his dark hair and those midnight-blue eyes.
Lucas again. She hadn’t been able to block him out of her mind since Sophie had first suggested she use him for her research. The idea had been enough to put her off her serve in the first two sets of the tennis match. After that she’d focused all her concentration on the game. Beating Lucas had been a challenging and exhilarating experience. And the moment they’d won, Sophie had started making her case.
It was a good one. Everything that Sophie had said made perfect sense on a logical and theoretical level.
It was just that every time she thought of actually trying out her research on Lucas, she felt the same funny quaking in her stomach that she got whenever something was about to go wrong in her lab. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t seem to forget what it had felt like to be pressed against him, to feel his body react to hers, especially a certain unmistakable part of his body. A vivid image slipped into her mind of looping a long strand of pearls around and around—
“Are you listening to anything I say?”
Mac dropped the grater as she struggled to gather her thoughts. “Gil, I know you mean well.” She was almost sure of it. But he was giving her a headache. Glancing down at the carrots, she considered dumping them on his head, after all.
“Am I interrupting?”
Mac looked up in surprise to see Sophie hurrying toward her. “Who told you?”
“Who told me what?”
“Someone broke in here last night.”
“They did? Are you all right?” Sophie enveloped Mac in a hug.
“I’m fine.”
“What about Wilbur?” Sophie flicked a glance at the small white rat running circles in his cage.
Mac couldn’t prevent a smile. “I thought you couldn’t stand Wilbur.”
Gil cleared his throat, and the moment Sophie turned, shot her his best smile. “I’m Gil Stafford. I’m the chair of the biology department and I work in the lab next to MacKenzie’s.”
“My friend, Sophie Wainright.” Mac completed the introductions as the two shook hands.
“Perhaps you can talk some sense into her, Ms. Wainright,” Gil said. “The research she’s doing has been getting a lot of attention. It was only a matter of time until this happened.”
Sophie turned to Mac with a frown. “Were they after your research?”
“The police certainly suspect it,” Gil said as he glanced around the room “And it clearly wasn’t vandals. Nothing’s been touched except the safe.”
“No harm’s been done,” Mac said as she watched Wilbur attack the grated carrots she’d shoved into his tray. “Wilbur’s appetite hasn’t been affected. And I don’t keep any of my records here in the office anyway.”
“I still don’t like it.” Turning, Sophie paced down the length of the lab and then whirled around. “Lucas could send the Shadow over. On a personal level, I can’t stand him, but he’s good at what he does.”
“Not necessary,” Mac said. “The university is going to install a high-tech security system. They’ve even given me a few days off while they work on it.”
“That’s wonderful. That means you can get started right away on your…” Sophie’s voice trailed off as she glanced at Gil.
He was frowning at her. “The university doesn’t have the funds to install a proper security system. And the research she’s doing is much too valuable. I was just trying to explain that to MacKenzie.”
Beaming a smile at him, Sophie moved toward him and placed a hand on his arm. “Would you mind terribly if Mac and I have some time alone? A little girl talk does wonders for the nerves.”
“No. Of course not.” A little uncertain, Gil glanced from one woman to the other. “I’ll be right next door if you need me, MacKenzie.”
Sophie waited until the door closed behind Gil Stafford. “MacKenzie? No one calls you that.”
“He means well.” Mac glanced at the bag of carrots again.
“You weren’t thinking of asking him to be your research…guinea pig, were you?”
Mac stared at Sophie. “Gil?”
“Good. Because I’ve come here on a mission—to convince you that Lucas is your man.”
Mac held up both hands. “Sophie, I just don’t—”
“I know you, Mac. You’ve been considering it, weighing the pros and cons. And the pros are winning. He’s the perfect man for the job. Why not admit it?”
Picking up another carrot, Mac began to grate. “It’s just that I’d planned on doing everything with a stranger.”
Sophie moved closer and took the grater away, then shoved it out of reach. “I’m going to be brutally honest with you. That’s what best friends are for, right? You’re not going to hate me for saying this?”
Mac couldn’t prevent her lips from curving. They’d always been able to be honest with each other. It was what had made their friendship last for so long. “I’m not going to hate you.”
“Okay.” Sophie reached for Mac’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “I don’t think you’re going to be able to go through with your plan if you choose a stranger.”
“You