Read Online Perfect Specimen by Kate Donovan - Free Book Online

hand on Clay’s forearm. “I already admitted I’ve been patterning the story after my own life. With some embellishments, obviously.”
    Clay winced. “Are you saying your husband actually told you to have an affair?”
    “He encouraged it, yes. In hopes it would help our marriage.”
    Mark’s gaze was locked on Sara. “Will this conversation become an entry in the diary as well? With embellishments?”
    “Quite possibly.”
    “And how will your fictional story end? With the alien whisking you and your daughters off to his planet?”
    “It has a new ending now,” Randy interrupted with a grin. “Sara gets rescued. By us.”
    “Wow, someone has delusions, and it isn’t me,” Sara drawled. “I have some advice for you, Dr. Ryerson. Call Julie and tell her you’re on your way to the office. Because we’re done here.” Turning toward Clay, she arched a condemning eyebrow. “Any chance I can have that journal now?”
    “Go ahead, Clay,” Randy urged him. “Give it to her. I made a copy.”
    “What?” Clay shot him a threatening look. “Give the journal back and erase the copy.”
    “I sent it to a buddy. To be opened in the event of my death or the death of anyone in my family.” The younger brother’s eyes were sparkling with excitement. “See, Sara? Even if Ga’rag could kill me, he won’t dare do it now. We couldn’t be safer.”
    “You’re a freaking idiot,” Clay growled.
    Struggling not to panic, Sara murmured to Clay, “Never mind. We’ll find a way to deal with this.”
    As dangerous as things seemed, she had a feeling Randy was right. Ga’rag wouldn’t rush into the room and kill them all—not with another copy of the journal floating around the Internet. The alien was too methodical for that. He’d need a new plan.
    And Ga’rag never panicked. So Sara had a few minutes. She just needed to use them wisely.
    Moistening her lips, she told the brothers, “Like I said earlier, it’s a compliment that Randy finds my story so believable. I just wish I could trust him—trust all of you—not to tell anyone else about it until it’s finished and I’ve found an agent to represent it.”
    Clay seemed relieved. “Let’s go get the original at least. Then we’ll deal with the copy.”
    Taking her by the elbow, he led her to the kitchen, where they found the quilted case containing the journal. “Here we go. Safe and sound.”
    “Thanks. I’ll just go out the back door if you don’t mind. I’m not really speaking to any of your brothers at the moment.”
    “I don’t blame you.” He rested his hands on her shoulders and kneaded them. “We could go to my place—”
    “Maybe after our dinner date. But for now, I need to get some sleep. I’m exhausted.”
    “I know,” he murmured. “I just hate thinking of you all alone. Especially right now.”
    Sara bit her lip, touched by the warmth in his voice. He was aching to be her hero and she wanted that more than anything too. Someone to talk to. To tell the truth to. Someone who could help her find a way out of this mess while keeping her babies safe.
    She needed someone desperately. But that someone couldn’t be Clay.
    It had to be Ga’rag.
     
    * * * *
     
    “I can’t believe you let her go,” Randy said with a disgusted glare when Clay returned from the kitchen alone. “She’s going to talk to him now. And we can’t know what he’ll do. He’s cornered, which makes him dangerous. We need to go after her.”
    “Shut up, idiot,” Clay muttered. “You’ve caused enough trouble for one day.”
    “There’s no alien geneticist, Randy,” Mark agreed. “It would almost be better if there were.”
    Clay turned his attention to his older brother. “Why?”
    “She’s completely delusional. I don’t have it all figured out yet—I usually counsel stressed-out executives, not abuse victims, remember—but I’d say she had such a rough childhood, she couldn’t handle it. Couldn’t accept what a monster her father