by Monica Burns
Altair laughed. “I think that can easily be arranged. Your mother will want to go when I tell her who I saw there.”
“Who? Who did you see?” Gameela eyed him with expectation.
“Your godmother.”
“Aunt Jane,” the child squealed with glee.
“Jane! Why didn’t you bring her with you?” Alex demanded. “Surely she could have come for a short visit.”
She frowned at her husband. It had been almost a year since her friend’s last visit, and they had a great deal of catching up to do.
A slow grin curved his mouth as he sent her a devilish look.“She sent her regrets as she’s been rather busy since her husband’s recent appointment as Viceroy to Egypt.”
“Viceroy!” She gaped at Altair.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so surprised. Jane would be perfect in the role of vicereine. A talented hostess, her friend would excel at entertaining dignitaries. She smiled broadly.
It would be wonderful having her dear friend so close. This new position meant Jane would be living in Cairo full time now, not just a few months out of the year. She would have to make time in her schedule to go for a visit as soon as she could. Altair smiled at her before he winked at their daughter.
“I tell you what, ana emîra, why don’t we kidnap your mother and carry her off to Cairo next week? We’ll visit the Pyramids and your Aunt Jane. Would that make you happy?”
“Oh, yes, Papa. Yes.” Gameela flung her arms around Altair’s neck and kissed his cheek.
“Then it’s settled,” he said in a loud whisper. “But we’ll have to keep her guessing as to when.”
Gameela giggled as Altair set her on her feet. “May I tell Cameron we’re going to see the Pyramids and Aunt Jane?”
“If you like, you can run back to camp and tell him now.” Altair kissed her forehead. “Your mother and I will be along shortly.”
Gameela squeezed her arms around his neck one last time before she scurried out of the temple. As their daughter disappeared, Altair rose to his feet and pulled Alex into his arms. Her hands cradling his head, she pulled his mouth down to hers. She wanted to devour him. It had been so long since he’d left for England.
Heat slid across her skin as her blood grew hot and spread its warmth throughout her body. Her fingers burrowed into his thick, brown hair as her mouth opened beneath his. Their tongues mated in a familiar dance, and her belly grew taut at the sensual touch. God, she’d missed him. From now on they were going to London together. She breathed in the deliciously familiar scent of cedarwood and sweet fennel.
With a bold move, her hands slid inside his gambaz, and she opened his shirt to trace her fingers over his hard chest. The touch pulled a deep groan from him, and his mouth increased its pressure. Already she could feel the familiar ache between her thighs, and she wanted it now. She didn’t want to wait for tonight.
Pushing away from him, she took several steps back. The surprise on his face made her smile. The man had no idea what she was up to. With each step backwards, she undid a button on her shirt. Desire glowed in his eyes as he came after her, stalking her with the grace of a large cat. A breathless laugh parted her lips, before she wheeled about and darted into a dead-end corridor. Turning to face him, she pressed her back into the wall and waited for him to draw near.
“You know the penalty for teasing, yâ maHabba.”
She guided his hands to her breasts. “Oh, yes, my love. I’m counting on it.”
A deep growl echoed in his throat as he dipped his head and swirled his tongue around a hard nipple. Moaning her delight, Alex struggled to slide her feet out of her boots. One boot off, she reached inside his gambaz, past his trousers to find his hard length. God, she was so wet for him. If she waited any longer, she’d surely die from the craving that assaulted her body. His mouth still suckling her breast, his large hands quickly unlatched her trousers until his fingers stroked the sensitive nub at her core.
“Please, my love. I need you. I want to feel you inside me, now.” She shuddered at his touch, a rush of liquid heat flowing over his fingers.
Raising his dark head, he stared down at her. Passion and desire filled his eyes, but there was great love there as well. His gaze never leaving her face, he roughly pushed aside his clothing, followed by her trousers. She gasped as his large hands cupped her buttocks as he pressed himself against her curls. Seconds later, he lifted her high against his chest so he could thrust inside her.
Damn, she felt good around his cock. Even after almost nine years of marriage, he could never get enough of her. The hot, silky folds of her gripped him fiercely as her legs wrapped around his waist. One hand braced against the smooth temple wall, he thrust into her with a fury that drove home his need. She answered with a thrust of her own. The heat of her created a pleasurable friction as his cock filled her then retreated, one stroke after another. Her fingers bit into his shoulders, and the first tremors of her climax ran through her.
The spasms rippling along the length of him tugged a deep groan out his throat. If possible her insides clenched around him tighter as she kissed him, her tongue sweeping into the warmth of his mouth. There was the lingering taste of citrus on her tongue. Need whipped through him, and he surged up into her. A low cry escaped her as her body shuddered around his hard cock. Burying his own cry of release in her neck, he spilled his seed and throbbed inside her.
He threw back his head a moment later and a sigh of pleasure eased out of her. “Now that, my lord, is the proper way to say hello to your wife.”
A deep chuckle rolled up out of his throat. “Heaven help me. Sometimes I think you’re randier than I am.”
“Only with you, my love. Only with you.”
The tender words made him rest his head against her forehead, and he sighed. “I missed you terribly, emîra. Never again will I go to London without you.”
“You won’t get any argument from me on that score, darling.”
As he released her, she gathered her clothes and proceeded to make herself presentable. Moments later, they walked back out into the temple’s main shrine, their arms around each other’s waists. Alex rested her hand against his chest, and she took a deep breath. The question hovering in the back of her mind for the past two months was about to be answered.
“Well?”
“Well, what?” There was a distinct trace of amusement in his husky voice, and Alex scowled up at him.
“You’re as deliberately vague as your daughter.”
He laughed. “The answer is yes. The Museum is going to open up an office in Cairo.”
With a whoop of excitement, Alex danced away from his side to grasp his hands and stretch out his arms. “So, Mr. Director; how does it feel to be running the British Museum’s Egyptian Office of Antiquities in Cairo?”
“Actually, I wasn’t given the post.”
“What! Who the hell do they think they are?”
“Alex—”
“You’re perfect for that job, and no one else knows this area like you do.”
“Alex—”
“I thought once Merrick retired, things would—”
With a quick, forceful tug, he pulled her into his arms, and his mouth covered hers in a deep kiss. As he lifted his head, she sighed. “All right, I’ll be quiet. But I still think they’re fools!”
“Will it help if I tell you I was named Assistant Director?”
She snorted in disgust. “Assistant Director! Ha! So what bumbling idiot is the Director?”
“Someone by the name of Lady Blakeney.”
“Blakeney! Who the hell—?” She stared up at him in stunned disbelief. It couldn’t be. Dazed, she saw the pride gleaming in his eyes as he smiled down at her.
“Yes, yâ maHabba. Viscountess Blakeney, otherwise known as Alexandra Talbot Montgomery.”
“Oh
my God. You can’t be serious? But how?”
“Your work here says it all, emîra. In fact, the temple here in the complex has been the talk of the Museum for months. One new member of the department was especially enthusiastic about your work. Mr. Budge is his name. He was particularly interested in the transcripts you’ve made.”
Alex inhaled a deep breath and closed her eyes to seal in the tears. For so long she’d fought for acceptance in the archeology community, and now that it had arrived, she realized it wasn’t as important as she once thought. She had everything she could have ever wanted—a man who adored her and two beautiful children. It was simply icing on the cake.
“Alex?”
She looked up at him and smiled. “I’m fine. Just a bit shocked.”
“I’d thought you’d be thrilled.” He shook his head in confusion, and she snuggled against him.
“I am, but I’ve learned that you and the children are far more important to me than anything else. This is simply dessert. And speaking of dessert, I want to show you something. Come on.”
With a tug of his hand, she pulled him out of the temple and across the heavily excavated complex of Per-Ramesses. When they reached the palace, she led the way into the completely open site. The centuries of earth that had once buried the palace was now gone, revealing the beauty of Ramesses’ home. As Altair stared around him, he marveled at what his wife had accomplished over the past eight years.
Her father would have been proud of her. Damn it, he was proud of her. As they entered Ramesses’ bedchamber, his jaw tightened. He’d not been in here since the day Medjuel had tried to seal them in what they’d thought was Nourbese’s tomb. When they’d escaped and returned to the shrine, they’d found Medjuel buried beneath the shrine’s collapsed ceiling.
Despite his relief that Alex was safe, the anger and pain of his cousin’s betrayal had not made it easy for him to accept the possibility of happiness with the woman he loved. But Alex had refused to let him retreat from her.
Ruefully, he admitted that whatever his wife set out to accomplish, she did just that. Now as he entered the shrine behind Alex, he looked up at the ceiling. When the edifice had collapsed on top of his cousin, it had revealed the mechanism that opened and closed Nourbese’s false tomb, along with the trigger that caused the ceiling to collapse. It had also uncovered a strange inscription. He read the words again.
When the evil one condemns his brother to a cruel fate, so shall he seal his own destiny under the weight of his treachery.
How could Ramesses have known? It was as if the ancient ruler had foreseen everything and planned for it. There could be no other explanation. Somehow, Pharaoh had known what would happen and designed the ceiling to collapse when someone used the lever to seal the tomb. The theory would explain why he’d built the escape tunnels from the false tomb.
But if all that were true, why couldn’t they find Nourbese’s real tomb? For almost eight years, they’d been searching the complex in hopes of finding the burial place of his Mazir ancestor. And no matter where they looked, they found nothing. It was puzzling to him, frustrating to Alex, but for the Mazir it had become a painful reminder of Medjuel’s dishonor.
“Are you all right, darling?”
“What?” He looked down into Alex’s worried expression. “Hmm, yes, I’m fine.”
“Are you sure? This room holds painful memories for you, and I wouldn’t have brought you here if it weren’t important.”
His pressed his lips against her furrowed brow before smiling at her. “I’m fine. So tell me, what is this important discovery you want to show me?”
“We’ll need to go into the tomb itself.”
With a nod, he watched as Alex slid into the opening that led to Nourbese’s empty tomb. Following close behind, he grimaced at the memories flooding through him. The sound of the tomb rumbling shut was something he’d never forget. He blocked it from his mind as he jumped down onto the floor of the burial chamber.
“All right, Lady Blakeney. What exactly are we doing here?”
“Do you remember my showing you Nourbese’s canopic jars shortly after Medjuel’s death?” Folding his arms across his chest, he nodded at her question, waiting for her to continue.
“Well, two weeks ago, I felt this need to come back here. I don’t know why, but the tomb drew me back in here, and that’s when I noticed it.”
“What?”
“The indentations. Look.” Tugging on his hand, she pulled him into one corner of the room and pointed to a shallow dent in the floor. “Do you see it?”
“Yes, but what’s so important about an anomaly on the floor?”
“Because there’s one in each corner of the room. One for each canopic jar.”
He froze. Slowly he scanned each corner, trying to see the curved indentations before he noticed the canopic jars sitting at the foot of the sarcophagus. She thought she’d found Nourbese’s tomb at last. It was why she’d brought the canopic jars in here. He met her excited gaze.
“So you’ve finally come to grips with the prophecy?”
“Yes. I’ve never really been comfortable with it, but there’s not much I can do about it. Now, are you going to help me set these jars in place or not?”
With a wry smile, he picked up a jar and moved to one corner to set the container in place. As he did so, he noticed the faint, circular outline in the floor. The indentation was so faint, it was amazing she’d even been able to see it at all. The canopic jar settled inside the concave indentation, he watched Alex set her funereal container in place. A moment later, he retrieved another jar and proceeded to place it in the corner farthest from him.
When he finished, he turned to see her waiting for him at the final indentation with the last jar. She truly did believe in the prophecy now. She knew his presence as a Mazir would fulfill the tribe’s destiny. Taking the jar from her, he set it in place. Straightening, he waited for something to happen. When nothing did, Alex expelled a noise of furious frustration.
“Damn it! I could have sworn this was it.”
“It’s all right, emîra. I’m sure—”
The sudden scraping of stone against stone filled the tomb. Wheeling about, he stared in wonder as the entire sarcophagus slid back until the foot of the heavy container touched the far wall. With the sarcophagus moved back, two descending passages were made visible. The first was the escape route they’d used to save themselves. The other staircase descended in the opposite direction. It could only lead to Nourbese’s tomb.
Alex let out a whoop of joy and launched herself into his arms. “I was right! I was right!”
He pulled her close, his heart swelling with love and pride. This glorious woman had given herself to him with everything she possessed. And now, she was about to offer his people the treasure promised to them more than three thousand years ago.
“I love you, Alex.”
“Come on, you have to go first.”
He nodded and taking a torch from one of the wall sconces, he descended the staircase. Behind him, he heard her rapid breathing. Surprisingly, he was breathing hard with excitement himself. At the foot of the stairs, a small passage opened up into a large room.
As the torch lit the room, he could only stare in amazement at the interior of the chamber. Beside him, Alex drew in a sharp breath. “Oh my God.”
Everywhere he looked gold glittered in the torchlight. The sarcophagus in the middle of the tomb was one of the most elaborate he’d ever seen. Scrolls of papyrus lined the walls, while chests and furniture filled the chamber.
“We did it, Altair. We finally did it. The Mazir will have Nourbese’s treasure and knowledge.”
“No.” He shook his head and pulled her into his arms. “No, I did nothing except have the extremely good fortune to find a woman crowned in hawk feathers. Without her, I’d still be a man without a home to call his
own.”
“And when Kahlil becomes Sheikh el Mazir next year and you turn over the reins of leadership—will you still feel that way? Will you still feel like you have a home?”
Staring down into her hazel eyes, he remembered the first time they’d met, and how she’d buried her vulnerability beneath a calm exterior, but her eyes had revealed her trepidation. She possessed that same look now. He tightened his embrace and smiled at her.
“Home is where the heart is, yâ maHabba, and my heart is wherever you are.”
A sigh of happiness eased past her pink lips, and desire and love welled up inside him. Lowering his head, he kissed her deeply. Never again would he feel caught between two worlds. His anide emîra had shown him that love wasn’t a mirage, but a tangible force of the heart with which to celebrate life. He’d finally come home.
About the Author
Monica Burns is a bestselling author of spicy historical and paranormal romance. She penned her first romance at the age of nine when she selected the pseudonym she uses today. Her historical book awards include the 2011 RT Reviewers’ Choice Award and the 2012 Gayle Wilson Heart of Excellence Award. She is also the recipient of the prestigious paranormal romance award, the 2011 PRISM Best of the Best.
From the days when she hid her stories from her sisters to her first completed full-length manuscript, she always believed in her dream despite rejections and setbacks. A workaholic wife and mother, Monica is a survivor who believes every hero and heroine deserves a HEA (Happily Ever After), especially if she’s writing the story.
You can find Monica on her website, www.monicaburns.com, Facebook, Pinterest, and Tsu. You may also reach her via email at [email protected]. To remain up to date on Monica’s latest news and releases, sign up for her newsletter at http://eepurl.com/kwpQP.
Look for these titles by Monica Burns
Coming Soon:
Dangerous
Don’t miss this other title by Monica Burns coming July 2015