Afterglow (5 page)

“DL6-94 is a fast-acting, powerful aphrodisiac. Less than a microgram is all it would take to get the reaction your guests had yesterday. Enough to cause a loss of all inhibitions. For most people, that dose would be a powerful aphrodisiac, but for some it will bring out equally strong emotions they’d be unable to control.”

He wasn’t looking at her as she spoke, but his strides slowed down, indicating she had his attention.

“It’s highly addictive and remains in the body. Eventually, if enough’s ingested, leading to death. And since I worked at Rydell, Zak Stark thought you could use my expertise. Believe me, he had to do a lot of convincing to get me to drop everything and fly here to help you.”

“How did he know what the fuck the drug was?”

“He didn’t.” She controlled her temper with some difficulty. “But since he knew I was a pharmaceutical chemist, he called and woke me in the middle of the night. We discussed the symptoms and what you’d described. I told him it might be Rapture. He asked me to come and help you. I
told
him in no uncertain terms that you wouldn’t accept any help I could give you. He insisted. I’m here. If you don’t need or want my help, I’ll be happy to have a vacation before flying back to Seattle.”

“How did Zak even know how to contact you?” his deep voice was soft and cold, his eyes hot. “Are you sleeping with him?”

Pigheaded ass.
“I
work
for him.”

His brow went up. “Doing what? Supplying drugs to unsuspecting citizens?”

He knew which buttons to push, but she wasn’t going to react. “You don’t really think I had anything to do with drugging those people?”

Faster than she could blink, Rand had her pinned against the wall, his thick forearms bracketing her shoulders, the massive wall of his chest hard and unyielding against her breasts. Sensations assaulted her, the heat and smell of him yanking her inside out.

“I was talking about the past. But now that you bring it up—
did
you have something to do with what happened at the wedding?”

The familiar heated sparks in his eyes forced Dakota to turn her head, leaving him breathing down her neck, literally. She shoved at him with both hands. “Keep making ridiculous statements like that, and you’ll get your wish. I’ll leave so fast your head will spin.”

“It’s quite a coincidence that you just
happen
to be here right in the middle of this mess.” He allowed her to push him away. The wash of cool air was welcome and stunning after her close encounter with the man who was both her worst nightmare and her biggest fantasy. “Zak shouldn’t have sent you. You’ve been misinformed—this isn’t what you think it is. The doctors we brought in believe the guests were given a high dose of Ecstasy.”

The scientist in her had to know for certain if this was her drug or just something similar.
Please God. Don’t let it be DL6-94.
The wish, the plea, the prayer were all useless, she knew. She was just desperate to be proven wrong. “It wasn’t E,” she told him flatly, straightening her jacket and hitching her heavy tote back onto her shoulder. “I can tell you that even without knowing all the details. I need to see the blood work. I presume you had blood drawn for analysis?”

“Of course. We should have the results back in a couple of hours.” He took the jacket one of his men handed him as he passed and shrugged it on. “You’ll be picking up some rich guy on the beach by then.”

“Oh, I certainly hope so,” she murmured sweetly. A surge of raw emotion flooded her system. Anger. Grief. Fear. It was an unhealthy cocktail. “Have you contacted the local authorities?”

“Not yet. Eventually an alphabet soup of authorities will have to be called in. For now we’re keeping a tight lid on it, with as few people as possible involved. Right now we have nothing.”

“You have what the drug
is
. You know
where
it was first manufactured. That’s something.”

He didn’t so much as glance her way. “Based on your word.”

Which according to him was worthless. “Based on my
expertise
.”

“I’ll take your opinion under advisement while waiting to hear from the experts here.”

Dakota put her hand on his arm. A mistake. She felt hard muscle and tensile strength. She remembered … She let go, not wanting to feel the heat of his skin through the layers of his clothing. Not wanting to remember the strength of his arms. “News flash, Ace.
I’m
the expert. Be it in Europe or back in Seattle. Get me that blood work and I’ll confirm that it’s Rapture. We’ll go from there.” She forced herself to calm her erratic breathing.

It took several long steps before he noticed she hadn’t kept up, but when he turned back to look at her, there wasn’t anything sympathetic—or even open-minded—about his expression. “I hate to break this to you, Dakota, but this isn’t about you. I’ll have one of my men return you to the airport. Go back to Seattle. I don’t have the time to wait out one of your moody sulks.”

She was neither moody nor sulky, and she resented like hell being accused of both. “When did I
ever
behave like that?”

“When I repeatedly tried to contact you after my father was arrested.”

She’d been in the hospital, in a medically induced coma, which he would know if he’d been less of an ass. The old hurt stung like new, but this wasn’t the time or place to clear the air. If she had to explain
that
, she’d lose it.

“I can help you, Rand. If you’ll let me. If not—” She lifted her shoulder and let it drop. “I know how to keep myself busy.”
Give me something, anything, and I can track this guy down.
She could hunt down the guilty party, sure, but having Rand around would make what she had to do easier. And with
his
expertise—safer. Not that she’d ever let him know and give him that kind of leverage.

“I don’t need—”

“You told Zak Stark you needed a tracker,” she cut him off, remembering with bitter amusement when she’d found his stubborn side attractive. “Here I am. I knew as soon as Zak shared those few details you gave him that this was the drug we worked on at Rydell. I know it intimately, inside and out. I lived it, breathed it, dreamed about it for four years. This is the antidepressant we worked so hard to perfect. Our one massive failure. Trust me. It’s Rapture.”

Rand stared at her, his hands deceptively loose at his sides. She continued, hoping this once he’d hear what she had to say without being defensive and shutting her down. “Ecstasy and Rohypnol take ten minutes or so to act; both lower inhibitions, and often result in amnesia. From what I understand, all those people affected had
no
inhibitions, and they all remember in painful detail what happened.

“This can’t be allowed to spread across Europe, Rand—we’ve got to stop it. This drug is more addictive than meth, and worse, is lethal in larger doses.”

A muscle jerked in his jaw. “I told Stark the details in confidence.”

“A confidence that would be shared with the Lodestone agent he sent to help you,” she pressed, every bit as obstinate as he was. “Me. He knows I was a chemist, and we agree that I’m the best qualified to help you.”

“Was?”

She didn’t respond. Her life was no longer Rand Maguire’s business. “If DL6-94 is already in production, there’s a bigger problem than a handful of people getting their happy on. This has to be caught before it goes viral. This goes way beyond a few privileged wedding guests being embarrassed. It’s a matter of public safety. We’d better hope to hell that Rapture
hasn’t
gone into mass production, because if it has, we’re looking at a drug that will outsell crack, E, and everything else put together. There’ll be no stopping it. Right now I’m your best hope of finding whoever did this and finding out who’s behind it. I have the ability to trace this back to the source.”

“Alone?”

“Until I find who’s behind it, yes. Then Interpol will need to be called in.”

He cocked his hip, his gaze burning an acidic hole straight through her. “There can only be one person responsible for bringing that drug back into the mainstream, Dakota, and that’s you.”

“I’m not the only person who knew that formula.”

His laugh sounded rough. “First you make sure my father is accused of killing my mother. Now, when he’s securely behind bars, you’re accusing him of formulating this drug? Out of an Italian prison? Seriously? You’re crazy. And unwelcome. I don’t want you anywhere near my father. The trial starts in two weeks. If the press gets wind that you’re lurking about Europe, you and your crazy ideas are going to exacerbate the situation. Just leave.”

Dakota planted her feet, ready for a fight—one she had to win to prevent more innocent people from injury. “Like it or not, you need me. I have the skills to locate whoever assaulted the wedding guests. I’ll do what I need to do, with or without you.”

He gave her a cold look. “Like what?”

“Like none of your damn business.” She caught up with him as he started walking again, her footsteps muffled on the thick carpet. Her high heels put her eyes level with his mouth. His stern, well-shaped,
annoying
mouth. “Unless you’re willing to work together and keep things amicable, I’m not wasting time explaining anything to you.” She dragged her gaze back to his dark, unfriendly eyes.

“Would any of it be the truth?”

The truth would break you, you jerk.
Her jaw hurt from clenching her teeth, and her fingers tightened around the handle of the heavy tote slung over her shoulder. Everything she’d brought on this trip was inside, as she’d purposely traveled light. “Go to hell.”

“Been there, done that, got the scars to prove it.”

He’d been a stuntman. The fool was covered with scars. “Who doesn’t.” After the lab explosion, she could match him scar for scar. “Do you really have a lead?” Not that she doubted his abilities; Rand always had a clear vision of what he wanted to do. When he decided on a course of action, nothing deterred him. He was the most decisive, focused man she’d ever met. He cared about those people back there, and he was going to deal with this disaster in the most efficient, expedient way possible. She’d been warmed by that caring once, until he froze her, cutting her out of his life without a backward glance.

Not that she cared anymore. She squared her shoulders. “It makes sense for you to fill me i—”

He held up one finger to silence her. “Ham called in a lead,” he said into his lip mic. “Nobody on or off the floor until I give the okay.” He barely changed tone of voice as he added to her, not slowing down, “I can’t wait to get Stark on the phone. He better have one
hell
of a good explanation for this.”

“Be my guest,” Dakota snapped. She hitched her tote more securely onto her shoulder as she kept pace. Zak, smart man that he was, had put two and two together, come up with six, and had his plane readied for her. Zak had both sides of the story. Rand’s and her own.

He’d believed that she was the
only
one he needed to send to Monte Carlo. Filled with hope that she could clear her name once and for all, she’d flown through the night to get to Monaco in time for breakfast. She hadn’t been offered breakfast, but hope sprang eternal.

Rand slapped a hand on the call button and the ornate elevator doors glided open without a whisper. Dakota followed him inside and fought the urge to touch the plush gold-and-black wallpaper to make sure she had enough room to breathe. Claustrophobia was her Achilles’ heel, and being in a small confined space with a large, angry male made breathing difficult. Being in the same space as Rand made breathing almost impossible.

She looked up as the door slid closed, feeling as if she were trapped inside a jeweled box with a Baccarat crystal chandelier. Only a few floors, she assured herself. She had enough issues to deal with without this anxiety kicking in.

Rand seemed to suck all the air out of the already airless space. His shoulder bumped hers, reminding her how large he was—not just in essence, but in physical presence. A good man to have on your side. A really, really bad man to have as an enemy.

She knew both from experience. Her heart picked up the pace, and she had the crazy urge to lean against him. She resisted burying her face against his strong, tanned throat and wrapping her arms around his waist by reminding herself that he hated her. Still really, truly loathed her, after all this time.

She backed away from his personal space until her ass hit the elevator wall, and she could catch her breath.

Her jaw set and her shoulders tightened. Claustrophobia be damned, she wouldn’t show weakness now. “I’m not leaving.” She met his eyes.

“Yes. You are.”

“You can’t force me onto a plane.”

His grim look promised he’d give it his best shot.

She put her ace on the table. “You can’t hunt down the bad guy if you don’t have a clue. I’ll find it.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose, a gesture he made when he was especially tense, and she was immediately transported back three years ago to when they met. A cocktail party, hosted by the lab where she worked with his father. One look and Dakota was sunk. She’d kept her hands to herself by sheer willpower. Just because she was civilized enough not to act on her impulse didn’t mean she hadn’t enjoyed the rush of sexual awareness pulsing through every nerve ending in her body. Chemistry at its finest.

She’d never in her life experienced anything like the intensity of lust at first sight. It had been new and intriguing and wonderful. He’d been at the party at his father’s persistent request, and she’d offered him an Advil after watching him wince with the pain of a tension headache. They’d gotten into a lively discussion over waiting out the pain versus the immediacy of man-made pain relievers. It rapidly progressed from pain to pleasure.