Someone Irresistible Read Free Page B

“is a superb example of a fully intact jawbone of the Megalosaurus reptile.”
    With controlled fingers, he lifted the cover and pulled it from the glass case.
    Lights shone brightly; a single gasp could be heard, followed by a low rumble of whispers.
    Nathan could only stare, his smile of jubilation dissolving, feeling an instantaneous sinking in his belly, a crowning humiliation to replace his moment of triumph.
    Aside from two small bone fragments, the glass case stood empty.
    His notes, his drawings, and his most valued prize had vanished.
    Anger, red and hot and seeping from his pores, replaced his shock, suddenly threatening to undo him. He would not, however, show his outrage. This was theft, pure and simple. How and when the jawbone had been stolen he could not now be sure, but it was certainly gone. He would explain, question the guests.
    Then the snickers began. Confusion for some, enjoyment for others, and Nathan was numbed by a dark understanding.
    They didn’t believe it existed. Nobody had ever before found an intact Megalosaurus jawbone, and not one of these men here tonight believed that he had. And with his notes and drawings gone as well, he
    had nothing to show for his months of work. Whoever had stolen them knew that. He had been ruined intentionally.
    His fellow paleontologists enjoyed the joke they witnessed, not knowing that for Nathan this was the end. From Owen he saw only pity, embarrassment in the man’s eyes, perhaps a sense of disbelief.
    There was no possible explanation. No money would be forthcoming; no exhibit for the Crystal Palace, for the museum. Only rumor and gossip from his peers, followed by disgrace.
    As Nathan strode from the exhibit, shoulders back, ignoring the murmurs and stares of sympathy mixed with satisfied amusement from his contemporaries, he couldn’t even look at Mimi Marsh.

Chapter 1
    « ^ »
    October, 1853
    M imi Sinclair sat at her workbench, in her private studio in back of her Chelsea townhouse, studying the paperwork that accompanied the Pteranodon skull she was ready to draw and sculpt. It was an amazing discovery, this one, a rare fossil found by a French archaeologist, turned over to her for processing by her father. He still kept his studio behind his home in Holland Park, but he was out of the country with Richard Owen at the moment. It was all for the better that she do this sculpting anyway, as her father’s eyesight had deteriorated considerably in the last few years and his arthritis had recently begun to worsen. This replica had to be exact and without flaw for a year long display at Owen’s Zoological Garden, so Mimi had accepted the work for her father. Of course nobody but those in her family knew that she did the craftsmanship herself, but that was beside the point. As a woman, she wouldn’t be able to receive great acclaim for her efforts, though in this small regard she accomplished something both worthy and praised.
    Artistic talent ran deep in the family, in the blood, and she took pride in hers, even if it came in little, sometimes insignificant, amounts.
    She’d been working a great deal more of late, and she liked that. It
    kept her mind active and was time well spent. Since Carter’s death she had found less and less to do while in mourning, aside from household management. Calling on friends was inappropriate, and Mimi despised not being social and attending a party or two each month. God should never have made her a widow at so early an age, but obviously God hadn’t asked for her opinion on the matter when he’d taken her husband so suddenly. Art and sculpture were all she had now, as she was still in half mourning. Soon, though, she would be able to regain her social gregariousness. It wasn’t in her nature to be quiet and solemn anyway. In truth, she despised the somber nature she’d been required to accept these last two years.
    Laying her sketch pad on her lap, she began to draw with her pencil.
    The afternoon sunlight shone