Our First Christmas Read Free Page B

hurried through the door. She glanced at the clock, fishing her wallet out of her purse. One minute past closing time. “You waited for me.”
    The older man, eyes heavy with fatigue, shook his head. “Ranger said to wait.”
    â€œA Ranger called you?” She pulled out her credit card and handed it to him.
    He swiped it. “Said not to close and to wait.” He looked past her to the dark SUV. “He sounded insistent, so I figured it was best to wait.”
    She pocketed her card and the receipt. Normally, she’d have argued. Taking any kind of favor led to dependency and that led to heartache. But tonight she was too grateful to complain. “Thanks.”
    â€œMerry Christmas.”
    â€œSame to you.”
    She wrestled the heavy bags from the counter and moved to the front door. Lucas got out of the SUV and opened the door for her. Without asking, he took the bags from her and placed them in the backseat.
    â€œThanks.”
    â€œGlad to help.”
    She slid back into her seat, and he settled behind the wheel and drove. “So tell me about this code.”
    â€œNot much I can tell you. Experts can’t crack it. They thought if they could create a key, they could translate the symbols. But no one can figure out the key.”
    Silver bracelets jangled on her wrist as she ran her fingers through her hair. “Well, ancient languages are what I do best.”
    â€œExactly what I’ve heard.”
    â€œShow me what you have and I’ll take my best shot.”
    â€œGreat.”
    They arrived at Ranger headquarters minutes later and Marisa followed Lucas past security. He led her to his locked office, flipped on the lights, and moved to a small conference table where a stack of papers rested. “These are the coded messages we have. Feel free to have a look. If you don’t mind, I’m going to order pizza. Haven’t eaten much today.”
    Her stomach grumbled. “I’ll go halves with you on the pizza. I’m starving.”
    His powerful gaze reflected a mixture of humor and deadly intent. “You crack that code, and I will buy you all the pizza you can eat.”
    â€œDeal.”
    Her mind shifting from him to the papers, she quickly found herself pulled into the documents and the swirl of symbols. To the untrained eye it was chaos. To her, it was heaven.
    Â 
    Lucas met the pizza delivery guy at the front desk, and when he returned to his office he found Marisa exactly where he’d left her, frowning over the ciphers, oblivious to him and the world around her.
    A fellow Ranger, Brody Winchester, had a smart wife, Dr. Jo Granger, who’d put Lucas on to Dr. M. E. Thompson a couple of months ago when the first coded messages had appeared. Lucas considered Jo one hell of a smart woman, and when she’d commented that Dr. Thompson was another level of smart, he’d known she was in the big leagues.
    After learning Dr. Thompson was in Mexico on a dig, he’d gone to Merida, Mexico, to ask around the university. He had learned she was a bookish, odd woman who lived for her dead languages. A dull sort, one professor had said, but the best in her field. She was expected in town to replenish supplies, but no one knew exactly when she’d appear.
    When he’d arrived at that sidewalk café, he’d been looking for good grub, a cold beer, and a chance to recharge after forty-seven hours of nonstop work while he waited for Dr. M. E. Thompson.
    When he’d spotted the woman in the white dress, rational thought vanished, and when she’d smiled at him and teased him about the Texas seeping through his Spanish, he’d been lost. The ensuing conversation, dinner, drinks, and sex had momentarily banished thoughts of work. That night had been all about the woman in the white dress. And then she’d vanished.
    He’d asked around and discovered the woman in the white dress was Dr. Thompson. He’d called himself