Hot Blooded

voice, coming from so close behind her, made her jerk her pencil across
the sketchbook. She drew it to her chest protectively and shot a look over her
shoulder. "Dr. Hinkle. What are you doing in here?"
    "I'm the project supervisor, Professor Rose. I'm supervising." He nodded at
the pad. "No use hiding it, I've already seen." Then he yanked it from her and
took a closer look.
    "My door was locked."
    "I have keys to every door in this house." He was staring at the sketchbook
where she'd been drawing, from memory, the way Samuel had looked as he'd
changed. She wasn't certain why she'd been drawing it. She just had to get it
down, to get the image out of her head and to try to make sense of it all.
    "So you saw it again last night?" Hinkle asked.
    "I didn't see anything. This is just doodling." She took the pad back. "And I
thought I made it clear that I didn't want you in my rooms."
    "Is the drawing based on… anyone you know?"
    "You're changing the subject. I'm going to file a complaint with the
university if you don't stay out of my rooms."
    "Bears a striking resemblance to the town doctor. What's his name? La Roque?"
    "You're being ridiculous."
    He shrugged. "You went out to dinner with him last night, according to Toby.
Did you spend the night, Professor?"
    "What are you talking about? I came home last night."
    "Yes, after your date."
    "It wasn't a date. It was research. I wanted to know if there had been any
patients coming in with unexplained injuries."
    "And have there?"
    "No. None."
    He nodded. "I never saw him drop you off."
    "I felt like a walk."
God, he was catching on
. More than before, she
realized Samuel was right. If she pursued this, it would impossible to protect
his identity for very long. And she wasn't sure why, but she felt an instinctive
fear of Dr. Hinkle learning the truth.
    "And then you left again," he said. "I checked, later on. You didn't sleep
here."
    "So you were sneaking around in my bedroom in the middle of the night, when
you thought I'd be sound asleep? God, what were you thinking?"
    "Where did you spend the night, Jenny?"
    She bit back her anger—it wasn't going to dissuade him. "I went back out to
the woods. According to all we've got so far, this creature—if it exists at all,
which I'm beginning to doubt—is nocturnal. I was hoping to spot it." She
shrugged, sighed. "No sign of it, though. I say it reluctantly, Dr. Hinkle, but
I'm ready to concede that you may be right. We might be just wasting our time
down here."
    He shrugged. "We have one more night to produce results. The moon is still
full, you know."
    "Yes. I know."
    "If there are no results, I'm pulling the plug on this project. We'll pack up
and head back to the university tomorrow."
    She nodded, and tried to hide her relief. If he knew—if he had an inkling,
there would be no way he would consider ending the project. Then again, why
would any sane person believe a man could become a wolf? "Maybe that's for the
best." She felt like crying. All her work, all her research; just when she was
so close to success, she was throwing it all away. But she couldn't base her
personal success on the destruction of Samuel's life. It would be unfair.
Besides, as illogical as it seemed—she felt something for him. Something
powerful.
    "I must say, Jenny, I'm surprised. You don't usually give up so easily."
    She shrugged and tried to inject her demeanor with some enthusiasm. "Who says
I've given up? There's always tonight."
    "Yes. There's always tonight."
    There was something in his eyes when he said it, something that frightened
her.
    As soon as he left the room, Jenny pulled up every one of her
password-protected files and deleted them. She'd made her decision. She would
make her name, her career by discovering some legitimate unknown species of
animal. Not by exploiting a man who was doing his best to live his life under
the heavy burden of a curse.
    She wasn't even sure she believed in curses, but she knew who to ask. And
while she'd decided not to continue her research using Samuel as a subject, she
hadn't decided to leave him alone entirely.
    She thought she just might be able to help him.
    Tucking her laptop into her shoulder bag, she took it with her. She wouldn't
let it out of her sight again until she'd had the hard drive replaced and
demolished the old one. Traces of her files would remain there, even though
she'd deleted them. She knew that. She headed