an indication that she trusted him, believed in him, was there with him. It was an odd sensation.
“Let’s go with that option.”
“We’ll see…” The stairs were carved from solid bedrock. Hazardously steep, the tread, at least from this angle, looked too narrow, the risers perilously high. The stairwell was almost as narrow as the door opening. It would be a restricted, dangerous descent, with no guarantee that there would be a similar door at the bottom. Or if Isis’s amulet would open that one as well as this. Or, Thorne considered, what would happen if the amulet was removed from one door to carry down to a possible second?
The staircase could be just another thing the ancient Egyptian tomb builders had come up with to trap would-be raiders. Both doors could be traps, sealing them inside a tube of solid rock for eternity.
Or they could be what they seemed.
He backed up and so did Isis. “Well?” she asked hopefully.
“I only saw about a dozen feet, but it’s hellishly steep. There’s no guarantee that after trekking down six or seven flights, there’ll be a door at the bottom.”
“Let’s go down and see.” Isis abruptly paused, her eyes narrowing. “No. You wait here. I’ll go. I’m smaller than you are, and my leg isn’t killing me.”
At her words, Thorne’s heart did a double clutch of fear. “No way.” Jesus, the woman would be the death of him. “No. Absofuckinglutely not.”
“If the bad guys show up here,” she said in tones of calm reason, “I won’t be able to stop them slamming this door closed and trapping you down there. It makes more sense for me to go. I’ll be quick.”
“Not just no, but hell no,” he told her flatly, adjusting the weight of the torch as he weighed the pros and cons of taking the risk—something he’d do if he were on his own—or returning to where they’d started and start chucking rocks until they were free. “I don’t like it.”
Isis ignored him as she fingered the length of delicate chain hanging from the slot. “Let’s see if the opening closes if I take… thiiiis… out.” As she eased it out slowly, they held their breath. The portal didn’t close.
“Which means I’ll probably need it at the bottom. I’ll take the torch, okay?” She clasped her fingers below his on the piece of wood. “Connor, don’t be macho about this.” She gave a little tug when he didn’t hand it right over. “Me going down makes the most sense. Admit it. I’ll be very careful, and we can talk all the way down. I’ll tell you what I see. Please? I’m getting tired, and God knows we’re both dying of thirst. Besides, I want to see if that step machine at the gym worked worth a damn.”
Every damned thing in him didn’t want her going down there. He gave her the torch. “Take your time. Feel every step before you put your weight on it. Use one hand on the wall… Jesus, I hate this.”
Standing on her toes, she brought her free hand up to cup the back of his head. “I know. You’re being very brave.”
“Have I told you…” He didn’t finish the thought, merely slipped her glasses off, holding them in one hand, and used the other to tangle his fingers in her thick hair. Then said, “. . . what a pain in the arse you are?”
“Not out loud.” She smiled against his mouth. “Give me a nice kiss to hold me until I get back.”
“I’d rather give you a naughty kiss to hold me.”
“Six of one…” She pressed her slightly open mouth to his, slanting her head as she wrapped her hand around the back of his neck. She slipped her tongue into his mouth and Thorne met it with his own. There was precious little lubrication, they were both so goddamned thirsty. But it didn’t seem to matter. The more their tongues and teeth mated, the more they kissed, the more moisture they generated. She hummed her appreciation, her fingers gripping his neck more tightly. Without opening his eyes, Thorne used the hand in which he held her glasses to deflect her wrist so the torch she held didn’t burn off his eyebrows. Oblivious to where they were, she pressed her breasts against him and parried the thrust of his tongue with her own.
It was Thorne’s turn to murmur deep in his throat, and he felt the sweet curve of her lips against his. Slowly he eased