The Bloodgate Guardian Read Free

caught her attention. His good looks and charm had baited the hook, but what had pulled her to the shore were the long talks they’d shared about the Maya. Other couples talked about movies, books, or sports. They’d shared a love for Mesoamerican history.
    Too bad he couldn’t decipher a glyph to save his life.
    “Surely if you understand the creation story and how the Jaguar God travels through day and night, then you know that this glyph—” She took the dry-erase marker out of his hand and corrected his drawing. A few dots and marks, who would notice if one was missing or out of place? Only someone who knows what she’s doing! “Seven Caves, Seven Canyons in this situation doesn’t refer to the Place of Cattail Reeds, the place of creation, but to Xibalba. You’re in hell, Dr. Malcolm, not heaven.”
    Chuckles from the audience made him flush hotly. “At least I’ve been to the center of the world.”
    Inept he might be, but as her lover, he knew how best to hurt her. She lowered her voice and leaned closer, keeping a polite smile on her face for the audience. “If I left anything at your place, I’ll pick it up tomorrow. Next time, you might want to make accurate copies of my translation so you don’t make such an obvious error.”
    Turning, she sauntered up the aisle, smile firmly in place. “Who needs to muck around in the jungle with snakes and mosquitoes to translate a glyph when we have computers and digital cameras? All the prestige, none of the malaria.”
    Laughter and applause followed her out the auditorium, but she wasn’t elated. She wasn’t even hurt, not really. She hadn’t convinced herself that she loved Geoffrey, so losing him was no blow to her heart.
    She no longer had a heart, because it’d been sacrificed long ago in a Maya ruin.
     
    Ignoring the dull twinge in her right knee, Jaid trudged upstairs to her office. If she hadn’t forgotten the midterm composition books on her desk, then she’d never have returned to campus and learned about Geoffrey’s lecture. Okay, forgotten wasn’t exactly the right word. Deliberately avoided was more accurate.
    The only thing she hated more than grading was lecturing. However, if she wasn’t actively researching a dig for the university, they wanted her to teach. Publishing research with her father was good, but it wasn’t good enough.
    “Do you know what the students have started calling you?” Geoffrey strolled down the hall as relaxed as though he promenaded in the park. “The Un-Indiana Jones, because you never go on a dig.”
    The name stung but she refused to show any emotion. None of them knew what she’d gone through on that last dig over twenty years ago. No tremendous discovery was worth such a terrible price. “I was called Jaid ‘the Ferret’ Merritt as a kid, too. I thought you were above such grade-school games.”
    Sighing softly, he nodded. “We can’t be at each other’s throats and hope to work together.”
    “I’m not at your throat.” Jaid unlocked her office door. “I was very polite. I’ll continue to be polite, no matter how much I want to hit you.”
    She flipped on the light and set her leather carryall on her desk. Opening the bag, she shifted her current research notes aside to make room for the towering stack of composition books. This would take her the rest of the night to grade, and at least a glass or two of wine.
    Maybe she’d grade half tonight and half tomorrow.
    Or wait until the weekend and do them all at once. She heaved a long-suffering sigh. This might take the whole bottle of wine.
    “I really am sorry, you know.” Geoffrey propped a shoulder against the door. Even slouching, he managed to look elegant. “You’re always doodling glyphs and leaving them lying around. Even when we’re at dinner you draw on your napkin, or reach into that pack and pull out the latest photograph from your father. I can’t help but see and be intrigued. I love the Maya as much as you do.”
    “The