Mirage

by Monica Burns

  An instant later, several men raced around the side of her tent and slid to a halt. Knowing her attacker might well be among them, Alex lifted her head to study the faces of the men.

  “It’s all right. She thought she saw a jerboa. She’s fine, a bit frightened is all,” Altair said with a grin.

  The men broke out into laughter, and she sent Altair a baleful look. He couldn’t have come up with a better excuse? She didn’t want the Mazir thinking she was a hysterical female. Someone wanted her dead, and that was all the reason she needed for screaming. Whoever wanted her dead no longer seemed interested in subtlety. This time she’d escaped, but what about the next time? Still laughing, the men slowly dispersed. Left alone with Altair, she tried to force the tension from her limbs. A tremor ran through her.

  “Tell me what happened.” Beneath the quiet demand was a calm resolve to have the truth from her.

  “Someone grabbed me from behind and dragged me into the bushes.”

  “Did you get a look at his face?”

  “No. But I know he was Mazir.”

  She watched his features harden into an implacable expression. He wasn’t surprised. He’d known all along that someone from the Mazir tribe was trying to kill her. His eyes narrowed as he studied her closely.

  “How do you know this?”

  She hesitated. Why should she trust him? The answer whispered through her soft and firm. Because he’d done everything possible to keep her safe. That wasn’t the mark of a killer. But he wasn’t telling her everything either. Why didn’t he trust her? Her eyes met his, and she swallowed hard at the determined glint in his dark gaze.

  “He spoke the Mazir language.”

  “What else did you notice? Even the smallest thing might be important.”

  She tried to remember everything she could about the attack. She shook her head. “It all happened so fast. I can’t remember anything else.”

  The tension in her muscles had slowly ebbed away, and the safety of his embrace made her feel warm and protected. She had no desire to leave his arms. Breathing in his scent, she relished the light fragrance of soap drifting off his skin. Just a hint of dampness clung to him, the clean freshness of it filling the air. Intense longing spread through her limbs as a shudder ripped through her.

  “You’re safe, Alex. I promise you that. If I have to sleep at the foot of your cot, no one is going to harm you.”

  Oh, this was absurd. She definitely feared for her life, but it was the last thing on her mind right now. Fear wasn’t making her tremble—being so close to him was. All she could think about was how she’d touched him moments ago. How he’d filled her palm and the response of her own body.

  She swallowed hard and nervously wet her lips. Brown eyes studied her with the sharpness of an eagle. He was aptly named. The intensity of his gaze sent her pulse racing out of control. She wanted to taste him again. Savor the male essence of him against her lips. It was a heady image. She didn’t care that anyone could stumble upon them at any given moment. She’d faced death three times now in a little more than two weeks. It emphasized how short and precious life could be. It made her realize that all she wanted right now was to be as wild and wicked as possible. The thought made her suck in a sharp breath. His eyes narrowed at the sound, and he slowly lowered his head to kiss her.

  From a distance, she heard someone call out for him. He stiffened and withdrew from her sharply. Deprived of his touch, she turned her head to find Sheikh el Mazir watching them with a strange look on his face.

  His voice sharp, the Sheikh spoke to Altair in the Mazir tongue. She didn’t understand the words, but she understood the tone of contempt. Beside her, Altair was still close enough for her to feel his tension. He didn’t respond, but she saw his jaw clench in a hard, tight line of anger. The Sheikh suddenly spat on the ground and stalked away.

  She reached out and touched his arm. He shook her hand off with a sharp gesture. Shocked, she stared at him in bewilderment. What had the Sheikh said to make him so aloof?

  “Altair, what’s wrong?”

  “It’s time you turned in. We’ll get an early start in the morning so we can reach Khatana-Qantir before the noon hour. I’ll post guards to ensure your safety.”

  He started to walk away from her, and she put herself in front of him. “You didn’t answer me. What’s wrong? What did Sheikh el Mazir say to you? I thought…I thought you…that we…”

  “I overstepped my bounds tonight.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You’re our guest in this camp, under my protection.”

  For a moment, she didn’t understand. Tension flowed between them in the silence. Dark, sensual and inviting. His desire for her still burned in his gaze, but he was refusing to act on it. With a grimace, he grasped her arm and pulled her toward her tent. The silence was heavy with unspoken heat as he shoved her past the tent flap. As the wool door whispered shut, she clenched her teeth. A gentleman. That’s what Sheikh el Mazir had meant. He had accused Altair of not being a gentleman.

  Consumed with unsatiated need, she suppressed a small groan. She’d been more than willing a few moments ago to forget everything but Altair’s touch. Even Per-Ramesses. The thought chilled her. She was letting her attraction to the man interfere with everything she’d set out to do. Everything she and her father had worked for over the years. A shiver skated down her back. She couldn’t let that happen. From now on, she had to stay as far away from Altair as possible. Something that was going to prove more difficult than she liked, because the truth was—she didn’t want to.

  From his dromedary, Altair watched Alex force her mount into a trot. They were close to Khatana-Qantir, and she knew it. He wanted to go after her, see the excitement he knew would be on her face. No, it was best to stay as far away from her as he could. It made it difficult to protect her, but he could still monitor her movements from a distance.

  Last night had been a mistake. A terrible mistake. His cousin had been right to berate him for treating a guest in such a dishonorable way. If Medjuel hadn’t interrupted them when he had, there was no telling how far things would have progressed.

  Ha. The outcome had never been in doubt. He would have bedded her. Damnation. What a fool he was. Desire didn’t mean she cared for him. But her grip on him last night had sent him over the edge. Even now, he wanted her hand on him. No. Not her hand. He wanted her mouth sliding up and down on him until he exploded.

  The enticing image made him wince. He needed to rein in his lust. At present, his main concern was ensuring Alex’s safety. He turned around on his camel to see if he could catch sight of Mohammed herding the sheep behind the caravan. The man was a traitor, but was he a killer? If he was, why? Were the Hoggar plotting Alex’s death using Mohammed as the assassin? Why would the Hoggar want her dead? If they were after Nourbese’s treasure, they needed Alex to show them where it was. It didn’t serve their interests to hurt her before the discovery of Nourbese’s tomb.

  From the front of the caravan, the lead camel driver let out a loud cry. The cry raced back through the long line of dromedaries until the Mazir shout of greeting filled the air. At the noise, the small village of Khatana-Qantir poured out of their stone houses to meet them.

  Medjuel rode past him on his Arabian mare toward the front of the caravan. Alex had already dismounted, and he watched as his cousin stopped and spoke to her before returning his attention to the procession’s encampment.

  His camel lumbered closer to her, and he watched as she rested her hands against the small of her back and stretched her body in a backward arch. She had to be tired. The journey had been a grueling one, and yet not once had she complained. Professor Talbot would have been proud of her. Damn it, he was proud of her.

  In spite of everything that had happened to her, she’d persevered. Now she could honor her father’s last wish. She would discover Per-Rame
sses and help Nourbese join her Pharaoh in the afterlife. He’d keep her from harm and see to it that she was able to succeed in her task.

  The dromedary groaned loudly as he pulled the animal to a halt at Alex’s side. Excitement made her face glow as she shaded her eyes and looked up at him. It was impossible to resist her smile of exhilaration. His own mouth curled upward in response to her happiness.

  “I take it you’re pleased to be in Khatana-Qantir?”

  “Pleased? No, ecstatic is probably more accurate. It’s been so long in coming. Father and Uncle Jeffrey would have been thrilled to be standing here.”

  Sadness lay just beneath the joyful sound of her voice. How was it he’d come to know her so well in little more than two weeks? “I’ll see that the men set up your tent immediately. I take it you’ll want your trunks?”

  “Oh, yes.” She bobbed her head. “I have a lot of work to do this afternoon so that tomorrow we can begin our search.”

  “Then I’ll see to it immediately.”

  She stepped forward and rested her hand against his leg. The touch sent a jolt of pleasure through him. “Altair, I…I want…I want to thank you for helping me honor my father’s last wish. I’m not sure I’d be here if it weren’t for you.”

  The softness of her voice wrapped itself around him, and he swallowed the desire to tell her everything. No. Now, more than ever, he needed her to trust him. With someone out to kill her, the only way he could keep her safe was to have her complete trust. One day soon, she’d learn the truth, but until then he would continue to weave this damnable web of lies he’d built.

  The last thing he wanted was for her to see how vulnerable he was where she was concerned. Vulnerable? Damm gahannam. If he was being truthful with himself, he was completely defenseless against her. He’d not been this smitten with a woman since Caroline. And he remembered all too well how that had turned out.

  Fearing he might break his resolve not to confess everything, he merely nodded before riding away from her.

  Chapter Twelve

  Alex removed her wide-brimmed hat and dragged her arm across her sweaty forehead. Fanning herself, she stared gloomily at the rocky terrain in front of her. Two weeks. Two frustrating weeks with no sign of Per-Ramesses. Nothing. How could they have been so wrong in their calculations?

  Everything pointed to the Pharaoh’s lost city being here. She refused to believe all the work she and Father had done was for naught. The first day of exploration had revealed several pieces of pottery that dated back several centuries, but nothing as far back as Per-Ramesses. Almost three thousand years had passed since the existence of the city. If Ramesses’ golden city had been at Khatana-Qantir, time had hidden it well. There was nothing here to show for it now. It was as if the desert had opened up its arms and swallowed the city in its entirety.

  “Here, have some water.” Altair’s voice made her start with surprise.

  Glancing up at him, she noted the look of commiseration in his eyes. She took the goatskin bag and drank thirstily from the flask. The water was cool and fresh as it filled her mouth. Finished, she capped off the flask and returned it to him.

  “Thank you.”

  He looked just like a sun-drenched Bedouin in his gambaz and the utility belt that crisscrossed his robe. The henna markings on his cheeks made him look dangerous and exciting. The designs held more meaning than simple wards against evil. She remembered how he’d explained the dark symbols also reflected the sunlight away from his eyes to protect them from sun damage. Since arriving in the desert, he’d also taken to wearing the blue Mazir headdress to block the sun’s rays. It only enhanced the edge of danger she found so attractive in him.

  He followed her example and took a long draught from the bag. Watching him tip his head back to catch the liquid refreshment, she had the urge to run her hand down the side of his muscular neck. Done drinking from the bag, he dropped his head and she noted a water droplet glistening on his firm mouth.

  She bit her bottom lip as he pressed the back of his hand to his mouth and erased the shiny bead. For an instant, she found herself wishing it were her hand caressing his beautiful, sensual mouth. Rattled by the image, she frowned and turned her head away. For the past two weeks, she’d focused all of her attention on finding Per-Ramesses, and she’d kept as much distance between her and Altair as possible. He kept his distance as well, although she was always aware of him watching her.

  “You look discouraged.”

  “I am.” She jammed her hat back onto her head and returned her gaze to the landscape in front of her.

  “Don’t be. Did you think you’d get to Khatana-Qantir and just walk into the lost city?” He took another swig from the goatskin flask. His bronze throat rippled in the sunlight as he drank. Was that it? Had she really expected it to be that easy? She grimaced. That’s exactly what she’d thought. She really had believed it would be as easy as that.

  An idealistic fool was what she was. Lord Merrick had been right. Whatever had made her think she could find a city dozen of scholars had been seeking for decades? She shook her head. No, she was definitely a fool.

  “Well, did you?” His question pulled her out of her thoughts. She shot him a quick glance.

  “Yes. I thought I’d be excavating parts of the city by now. But there’s nothing here.”

  He grasped her shoulders and forced her to look at him. “Impatient and impulsive as always, aren’t you? You’ll find Per-Ramesses, Alex, and you’ll do so soon. I’m sure of it.”

  “You say that with a confidence I don’t feel.”

  “Believe in yourself, Alex. You’ll find Per-Ramesses. It just might take longer than you thought.”

  She nodded and sighed as she walked away. The ground beneath her feet was hard. A thin layer of sand failed to cover the finite fissures in the dark clay’s top layer. More than two thousand years ago, this had most likely been a riverbed, but time had turned it into just another parched piece of land. The banks of the dry channel rose up almost to her shoulders, and she marveled at how time and water had carved such a deep passage through the terrain. Continuing along the path, she noted how symmetrical the bedrock looked.

  It always amazed her how nature could define such a smooth line over the centuries. A stone lay on the ground in front of her. Bending over she picked up the pebble. She frowned as her thumb grazed over the textured surface of the rock. Water polished stones smooth. So why was this stone so rough? Still puzzled, she tossed it into the air and caught it as it fell. She repeated the action, but this time missed the stone and it dropped behind her. As she bent to retrieve it, she looked at the side of the riverbed and froze.

  “Oh my God,” she whispered.

  The smooth bank rose up to blend with the encroaching desert, but the bend in the dead river was what took her breath away. She’d only walked the riverbed in one direction. Now, as she stared back the way she’d come, a rush of excitement filled her. She wasn’t standing in a riverbed. The way the terrain turned sharply around the bend behind her was her clue. It was far too sharp a turn to be natural. Time and nature had disguised it, but she was certain she was standing beside what must have been a wall.

  She jerked her head around to look back in the direction she had been headed. The line of the wall stretched on beyond her sight. Bolting upright, she saw Altair leaning against the side of what she was now convinced was a fortification of Per-Ramesses. He stood a short distance from where the wall turned sharply off to the right. Excitement made her leap forward. As she raced toward him, she let out a loud whoop of delight.

  “It’s here! It’s been here all along!” Flinging herself into his arms, she gave him a huge hug. “It’s the city wall. I don’t know how I missed it. Well, I know how I missed it. Nature’s done her best to hide it. But it’s here. I mean it’s really here.”

  “Slow down, Alex. What wall are you talking about? This is a
riverbed.”

  “No, no, no. It’s Per-Ramesses. It’s the city wall.” She released him from her joyful embrace. Grabbing his hand, she pulled him toward the place where the wall turned sharply to the right. “Here, do you see it? It’s the wall.”

  “I don’t see anything, Alex.”

  “Look.” She pulled out the small pick from her back pocket. With several quick strokes, she chipped away dirt from the wall’s corner. The more dirt she removed, the sharper the line of the wall’s turn became. She paused. “See! It’s the city wall. Sandstorms must have buried the city too long ago for anyone to remember Per-Ramesses was here. But this is the city. I know it.”

  Amazement curved his mouth slightly as he reached out to touch the spot she’d cleared away. She watched him turn in first one direction then the other. It was like watching her own reaction to the discovery. The wonder, the disbelief and then the excitement. He suddenly reached for her and lifted her up in his arms. Whooping with a Mazir cry, he swung her around in a wide circle.

  She laughed at his excitement, which was equal to her own. The city was here. She’d found Per-Ramesses. Their laughter didn’t stop as he set her back down on her feet. Enthusiastically he bent his head and gave her a hard kiss.

  Still laughing, he released her and grasped her shoulders. “And just a few minutes ago you doubted yourself.”

  Dazed by the excitement and the sweetness of his impulsive kiss, Alex stared up at him. Had he even realized he’d kissed her? Her mouth burned from his touch, and she swallowed the knot in her throat. For two weeks, she’d agonized over whether or not to act on her instincts. Sweet, tormenting dreams of Altair coming to her and making her his haunted her nights. Although she knew a liaison would probably never grow into something permanent, she didn’t care. There had been opportunities in the past to settle down, but she’d chosen her work. Now, she wanted to experience passion. A passion only he could make her feel. He’d not hid his attraction in the past—the question was did he still feel the same way now?