Relentless Read Free Page A

circumstances.” For two excellent and compelling reasons that were none of her damned business. “Moreover, I loathe Egyptology, as many people in authority would be delighted to tell you.”
    “My cousin Acadia assured me that Lodestone finds anything, anyone, anywhere.” There was now more than a bite to her words. “I believed her assurances that you were as good at this as Zak is.”
    Ah. Her cousin Acadia. Zak’s lovely new bride. Suddenly all the puzzle pieces fit neatly into place. A small detail his friend had conveniently omitted before clasping him on the shoulder and telling him to “Take it easy” while he was out of the country.
    “Well?”
    Bugger it! “Is your photograph under the word tenacious in the dictionary?”
    She sat back, crossing her long legs. She was wearing strappy purple sandals, and her toenails were painted an unexpected fluorescent pink. “I know that my father finally found Queen Cleopatra’s tomb. I believe it so much that I’ve liquidated all my assets to prove it. I’ve sold my condo, Mr. Thorne. And my car. And cashed in my stocks. I’ll do anything to prove once and for all—to everyone —that this time he did it. Will you help me find the tomb?”
    Fuck. He understood high stakes. She was gambling everything on a roll of Lodestone dice—Thorne owed Zak. His capitulation had nothing to do with Isis. Life was for the living, not the dead. Thorne leaned back, steepling his fingers. His thigh throbbed, his chest ached like a mother, and he didn’t need a sixth sense to tell him he was going to regret this. “Start at the beginning.”
    CONNOR THORNE HAD A tightly coiled intensity that Isis found both mildly disconcerting and strangely compelling. He smelled delectable. Not cologne, but clean skin and some kind of outdoor-scented soap. Feeling an irrational need to touch him, she wished he’d offered her a handshake. He wasn’t her type at all, but that didn’t prevent her from feeling the tug of attraction. Either that, or it was the taco she’d hastily consumed for lunch before coming to the Lodestone office.
    Having the window at his back was probably strategic, because it cast his face in shadow and spotlit her. He gave the appearance of strength without being muscle-bound. He was a large man, broad shouldered, probably tall although he hadn’t fully stood up so she wasn’t sure. Isis preferred men on a smaller scale, and a little easier to handle. He didn’t look like he could be handled at all.
    His eyes were hazel, more on the green side; his dark hair, close-cropped in an almost military style, looked as soft and sleek as a seal’s pelt. Unlike his hair, his featuresappeared to be carved from granite. His mouth was bracketed by twin grooves. Isis doubted the man ever smiled. The expensive-looking dark suit he wore accented the breadth of his chest, emphasized by a crisp, pale blue open-necked dress shirt. The charcoal suit had probably cost as much as her car. Or would have, if she still had it.
    He had a beautifully shaped mouth, and Isis had to use concerted effort to maintain eye contact. Just looking at him elevated her pulse to pleasant levels of anticipation. “First, what should I call you?”
    His mouth thinned as he surveyed her out of cool, dispassionate eyes. “Thorne.”
    Boy, was that an accurate description of the man or what? “Just Thorne?” The placard beside his office door said C ONNOR T HORNE . Connor suited him nicely, but then, so did Thorne. He was very prickly, and they’d barely exchanged a dozen sentences.
    “Just Thorne; let’s not mix it up.”
    “Right.” Having people calling him Thorne was just giving him positive reinforcement to be so prickly. But since she wasn’t in charge of his psyche, Isis let it go. She settled back and recrossed her legs.
    He looked, so he wasn’t totally unaware of her.
    Isis considered herself fearless. Spiders and snakes had never bothered her, but she wouldn’t want to bump into