Hooked Read Online Free PDF Page A

exclaimed Gail, putting her arms around herself and shuddering. “No shots. I hate shots!”
    “You won’t hate these,” promised Gavin and he began to prepare the hypodermic.
    Cleo watched, fascinated, as he drew fluid from a series of vials and, when he was finished and the hypodermic filled, he stroked Gail’s cheek, just enough to relax her. He ran his hand along her throat and across the top of her shoulder. Without pausing, he turned back her sleeve and began to caress her arm.
    He ignored her protests, soothing her with his voice and his touch. He soaked a piece of cotton with alcohol and wiped an area on Gail’s inner arm near the blue vein at the crook of the elbow. As he approached her with the hypodermic, she flinched, but Gavin held her firmly. He slowly slid the needle into the vein and, carefully, deliberately, plunged the fluid into her.
    The room was suddenly hushed and Cleo saw goose flesh appear on Gail’s arm. Then she saw the sharp points of Gail’s nipples push against the sheer fabric of her blouse. She heard Gail inhale sharply, then exhale with a sigh. She noticed the convulsive movement as Gail’s back arched and then relaxed. Gail’s eyes were unfocused, her expression — and Gavin’s — matching masks of desire.
    Cleo could no longer watch and she turned away. The look on Gavin’s face as he gave Gail her injection haunted Cleo. He seemed fully engaged yet consumed by lust.
    Why
?, she wondered. And what did the shot give him that she couldn’t?

8
    There was seven hundred million dollars’ worth of oil in northern Egypt, and Nicholas Kiskalesi wanted it. Right now, at four-thirty on a September afternoon, he was seated behind the famous rosewood
bureau plat
with ormolu mounts that he had bought at Christie’s the year before. He was in his office on board
Lydia
, holding the telephone in his left hand and listening with interest to what Gail de Córdoba was telling him.
    “Well,” said the handsome, hawk-featured man reputed to be the world’s richest, “you certainly sound better.”
    “You can’t imagine how wonderful I feel,” said Gail on the other end of the phone in Positano. “I’ve lost weight, I’ve regained my energy, I feel as if I’m eighteen again—”
    “And you think it’s all due to this doctor?” Nicky replied. “Jenkins, you said his name was?”
    “Absolutely. I think he’s a genius,” Gail said. And then she explained in more detail what she knew about Gavin Jenkins’ theories and revolutionary new treatments. “He’s not like any other doctor I’ve ever known—”
    “Where did you meet him?”
    “Right here in Positano,” she said. “He’s a friend of Cleo’s and he’s staying with us. He’s here right now—”
    Originally Gail and Nicky had planned to meet in Istanbul and then cruise the stretch of coast called the Turkish Riviera, stopping at Marmaris, Antalya and Nicky’s own island, Cilek. Other guests had already been invited but now Gail was asking Nicky if they couldn’t begin the cruise a bit earlier than planned.
    “I’m feeling so marvelous, Nicky,” she said. “I can’t wait another minute to see you. I’ll get on a plane this afternoon, and we can have dinner tonight. You know, in that restaurant overlooking the Bosporus.”
    She was referring to a riotous evening she and Nicky had spent with a party of twelve that had ended at three A.M. with every dish and glass in the place smashed. Nicky had paid for the damage with a check for three thousand dollars, leaving behind a pleased owner who could now afford to replace every piece of crockery and still have enough left over to begin to think of retiring.
    “I’ll tell you what,” said Nicky, curious about this Dr. Jenkins. “I have an even better idea. We’ll come to Positano and you can board
Lydia
there. You won’t have to move an inch. I’ll provide ship-to-door service.”
    “Nicky, you wouldn’t!” she exclaimed, delighted. “I’ve already begun