Though his head lolled around and his feet moved like there were bricks attached to the soles of his shoes. How the hell would she get him to the car before Busir and his muscle woke up? And what was she going to do once they got there? Just like he’d done once before, Peter Kauffman was suddenly turning her world upside down.
She maneuvered them around Busir, said a quick prayer the man was still paralyzed, and inched them both toward the sidewalk.
“I look as…bad as ‘im?” Pete asked when they reached the icy walk.
“Not quite.” He looked like Adonis to her, even bloodied and bruised as he was. And as dangerous as a king cobra where she was concerned. This was the dumbest thing she’d ever done. And that was saying a lot, considering her history.
“No more champan’ for me, ‘kay? I don’ like hang…overs.”
Sweat slid down her temple as they moved. “Don’t worry. Something tells me a hangover is the last thing we’ll both be worrying about in a few minutes.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Six-and-a-half years earlier
Valley of the Kings
“Your secret admirer’s back.”
Kat hefted her backpack up on a worktable outside the tomb and flipped open the top. She had a killer headache from not enough sleep the night before and the relentless heat, which, after three months, she still wasn’t used to. She popped two ibuprofen and downed them with a gulp of water. “He’s not my admirer.”
Shannon Driscoll rolled her eyes and gathered tools for the day’s work. “Fifth time in a row he’s taken the tour. I’d call that an admirer.”
“Fourth. And you don’t get a vote.”
“You forgot Sunday. He was here, found out you weren’t leading and left.”
Kat frowned at her roommate and reached for her hat. “Coincidence. And besides, even if for some strange reason he is here because of me, which he’s not,” she said with a pointed look, “I’m not interested. There’s obviously something wrong with the man. That or he’s after something specific.”
“I’ll say,” Shannon muttered. Blonde hair fell over her shoulder as she reached for a pick. “And I have a pretty good idea what that specific is. By the way, you have a smudge of dirt on your cheek.”
Kat whipped around and rubbed her palm over her face. “Where? Did I get it? Is it gone?”
Shannon let out a hoot of laughter. “Yeah. And for the record? I’m totally buying that whole not-interested thing. I’ll see you after your tour with lover-boy.”
Kat frowned again as Shannon headed down the slope toward Dr. Latham, the site leader, who, with his trusty clipboard, was doling out assignments for the day. Just Kat’s luck she’d been relegated to tourist duty—again—like the grunt she really was.
Boy, this was an exciting job, wasn’t it? She loved the digging and research, but the catering to the public stuff really grated on her nerves. Now and then was fine. Days in a row? No, thank you.
She hated to admit it, but as much as she enjoyed being a part of the project, she was really looking forward to getting everything she needed and getting gone. Especially lately. Tensions were high on the dig. Several pieces they’d excavated over the last few months had mysteriously disappeared. Consensus among the crew was they’d simply been miscataloged, but Kat wasn’t so sure.
She let out a deep breath, wiped the dust from her forehead, and told herself not to worry about it so much. There wasn’t a lot she could do without proof, and as her colleague Sawil had told her repeatedly, it wasn’t her responsibility. Especially since she really was nothing more than a grunt. What she wanted most was to finish her dissertation. And she wanted to go home for a few weeks and see her mother. It’d been too long already.
Knowing that was several months off at least, she blew out a long breath and smashed her hat down on her head, then turned toward the group of tourists fifty yards off waiting for their guide. And just like Shannon had pointed out, there was the sexy American again, hanging at the back of the group like he’d been every other time for the past four—correction, five—days.
He was the kind of guy a girl would have to be blind to miss. Tall, blond, deliriously handsome. With eyes that were a strange color of gray. Today he was dressed in a white camp shirt and khaki pants, with scuffed boots that looked like they’d been around and back a few