The Serpent in the Stone - By Nicki Greenwood Page 0,75
caught the ferry out. I’m sure she’s all right, but she should have called.”
What Becky really should have done—and was currently doing, if she possessed any sense—was to flee as far as possible from Hvitmar and everyone on it. If she was lucky, she’d already be on her way to the Gemini offices. Safer than they were, and no one would use her like that ever again. Sara felt a pang of remorse for the young woman. She’d had her sister. What about others who possessed paranormal gifts? Who did they turn to?
Had Callander found himself alone and scared as a gifted child, and then gone horribly wrong?
With half her mind on the morning’s events, and the other half wondering how to finish the dig in three weeks under the strain of constant danger, it took Sara a minute to realize Flintrop was staring. “Did you want something else?”
His cobalt gaze mellowed. “Are you sure you want me to answer that honestly?”
She leaned away. “We’ve been over that, Flintrop.”
“We have.” He chuckled. “We never quite addressed what we were going to do once we got past the pastry level.”
“That’s because we aren’t past it, and we are never going to be past it,” she said, raising the thermos cup to her lips. She closed her eyes. A sudden flash of Ian’s naked body and scorching storm-blue gaze insinuated itself into her thoughts.
She choked down the swallow of soup and slapped the empty cup down, then stood. “I’ve got to get out there. I’ve wasted a whole day. Excuse me.”
He rose to his feet beside her, and blocked her escape. Frustrated, her mind still full with Ian, she said, “We’re finished here. If you don’t mind—”
He raised a hand to her cheek. The gesture surprised her into stillness. “Don’t leave. You’ve been sliding away from me for years,” he said. He leaned forward until his breath misted her face. “Stay.”
Her heart pounded. She stared blindly, seeing a different pair of eyes. Focus! She wrestled her senses back to the present. Realization of what Flintrop was asking dawned on her. Before she could react, he kissed her.
Her senses blasted into static. The back of her neck prickled. Her skin hummed so loud she couldn’t think. Sara froze, immobilized, even as her body screamed to fly out the door. His palm stroked along her cheek and down the curve of her neck. “Be with me,” he whispered against her lips. His fingers threaded into the thick hair at the back of her head.
His fingertips brushed over the leather lace of the amulet. With her blood fizzing, she put a hand on his chest and pushed, breaking the kiss with an effort of will. “This isn’t going to happen, Flintrop. I-I’m sorry. Excuse me.” She grabbed a jacket and rushed out of the tent, confused and unsettled and needing to be anywhere but near him.
Dusk had fallen. The crew milled about the camp, packing up tools. Sara fought a moment of guilt at having missed a day’s work, but her feet moved as if they had a will of their own. Rather than turning toward the camp, she walked straight across it, heading for the inlet.
Faith met her halfway across the moor. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I’ve just got to get out of here. I can’t think straight.”
“Sara—”
“I’m fine, I swear. I feel a lot better.” A lie, if there ever was one.
Faith looked over Sara’s shoulder. Sara followed her stare to find Flintrop emerging from her tent with a too-composed expression. He didn’t look toward them, walking instead toward the dig. “What did he do to you?” Faith demanded.
“I just need to get out of here, okay?”
Her sister looked unconvinced, but Sara didn’t stay to explain. She strode away from camp without looking back.
Coward. She’d never run from anything in her life.
When she reached the inlet, dusk had passed, and the stars scattered across the sky. The wind carried the sound of surf crashing on the rocks offshore. She hugged herself against the cool evening air, burrowing deeper into her jacket. The temperature seemed to have plummeted in the last five minutes. Her breath steamed in front of her.
She picked out Ian’s darker shape against the starry sky, sitting on a boulder near the water’s edge. She walked faster. Her walk became a jog, and then a run.
He turned and slid off the rock to meet her, catching her in his embrace. His kisses rained across her cheek and down her neck. “I’m glad you’re