Might as well leave his mark on the office.
Dr. Isobel Madison kept her spine straight as she typed, her fingers flowing over the keyboard. Anticipation rushed through her. Changes were coming, and she could feel her creations drawing near, whether they liked it or not. Though once again she couldn’t help but wonder why they didn’t see their importance to science.
Her work was creating life in test tubes, and she’d nearly altered biology to get the boys she’d wanted. Then she’d studied those boys as they’d become men.
Several of her boys who’d created familial bonds—the bonds of brotherhood—had somehow escaped her. She would love to study them again and figure out how to break those bonds. To create truly unencumbered soldiers. It was her calling, after all.
A sharp rap sounded on the thick metal door. “Enter,” she said, sitting even straighter. Now in her early fifties, she had to remind herself sometimes to continue good habits.
Daniel strode inside, snow on his broad shoulders and thick boots. “Dr. Madison.”
She gestured toward a seat. “You failed.”
“Yes.” He stood at the back of the chair and made no move to cross around and sit. His brown gaze met hers evenly, the bruises cascading down the right side of his rugged face only enhancing his wolf-like good looks. He stood well over six feet, tightly muscled, and pleasantly relaxed most of the time. “Heath fought well.”
Made sense. From an early age, Heath had exhibited faster reflexes than many of her creations. “Are you injured?”
“No. Just sore.” Daniel flexed the bruised knuckles on his right hand. The man had always had broad and beautiful hands, even as a boy. “Heath was protecting the woman fiercely. There’s something between them.”
“She’s his fiancée,” Isobel returned.
Daniel looked around the feminine office.
She tilted her head to the side and began taking mental notes, unable to stop studying him for even a moment. “Do you want a fiancée, Daniel?”
He lifted an eyebrow and focused back on her. “Why in the world would I want entanglements, Dr. Madison? They make you weak and give your enemy a way in.” He shook his head, and snow sprayed from his thick dark hair. “A soldier fights alone. You taught me that.”
Yet he was one of the few who’d actually learned the lesson. She loosened her top button to watch his reaction.
Nothing. Always alert and paying attention, but nothing. She’d seduced many a soldier through her years training them, but Daniel had never given her more than a second glance. Sure, he’d been trained like the others in every sexual technique, and she knew he’d been with many women, but he looked upon her as a fellow soldier. As someone he trusted and took orders from, not as a woman. That had peeved her for years.
“I understand about entanglements, but what about sex?” she asked.
His lip twitched. “I have companionship and sex when I want, and you know it.”
Yes, but what about sex with her? She eyed him. The man was hers and had been from the second she’d created him. He’d make a good ally should she ever need one, considering he could fight and kill easily. Could she get him to kill for her out of emotion instead of obedience? “I am rarely concerned with your private activities,” she said.
He just looked at her.
So she looked back, wanting answers. True, it’d be smart to align herself with someone so young and strong. And it would be nice to be desirable to such a masculine specimen. Yet, as always, finding the answer to a question was so much more important than ego or feelings. Daniel would be more than satisfactory in bed. He’d certainly filled out in his late twenties, and he’d been trained by the best. So long as Elton Cobb didn’t find out, why not have a good time?
“Do you think I’m pretty, Daniel?”
He studied her face for a moment, his gaze dropping to her breasts and back up. “Your beauty isn’t a matter of opinion. You’re just as stunning today as you were when I was a boy.”
True. She smiled. “Yet you’ve never made a move.”
He straightened even more, his eyes calculating and then veiled. “You’re also the closest thing I have to a mother. Lines must be drawn.”
Most women would feel old at the statement. She felt questions. Could she push him from that view into a different one? One from which he fought for her, for her affections, out of need and not duty? Or was he messing with her? Challenging her? She needed to spend more time in his head, because that was fascinating. The possibility of changing his mind, whether he liked it or not, aroused her.
One thing at a time, unfortunately. They had work to do.
“I’m pleased you find me attractive, and we’ll explore that issue later. For now, can you tell me anything about Heath?” It had been so long since she’d seen her special boy.
Daniel shrugged. “He fights well, especially considering he wasn’t raised and trained with us.” For the first time, a look other than confidence filled Daniel’s dark eyes. Curiosity? Yet he didn’t ask.
She leaned forward. “You can ask me anything.”
