He lifted his hand slowly and cradled her face. His gaze never left hers. The force behind his look stole her breath and threatened to steal her heart. His fingers plunged into her tresses until he cupped the back of her neck and drew her toward his mouth. When his lips settled over hers, all energy was siphoned from her, and if he hadn’t held her up, she would have sank to the floor.
The blare of the phone jarred the air. Maggie gasped and flew back a few paces. Her hand came up to cover her mouth where his had been only seconds before.
Glaring at the phone, Zach hastened toward it and answered it on the fourth ring. “Yes?”
Maggie turned away, her fingers trembling as they ran over her lips. She hadn’t dated much because of school and work, but never in her life had she been so thoroughly kissed. It was one thing to team up with Zach, but totally different to become romantically involved. The guilt she had kept locked away bubbled to the surface and nibbled away at her composure.
“I don’t know, Ray, if I can make it.”
Maggie glanced over her shoulder at the frown on Zach’s face. How had Ray gotten this number?
“Yes. Yes, I’ll try. I know the expedition could be in jeopardy if I don’t.”
When Zach replaced the receiver in its cradle, he stared at it for a moment before releasing a long sigh. “That was Ray calling to remind me about the reception tomorrow night at the college, and to tell me Señor Martinez had to back out of funding our expedition.”
“Why?”
“One of his plants in Mexico blew up. There was some kind of explosion, and he’ll need all his resources to take care of it.”
“What are you going to do?”
Zach combed his hands through his hair. “Ray said that Dr. Lanier and John are looking for someone else to fill in for Señor Martinez. They’re inviting a couple of them tomorrow night and especially need me there to sell the expedition to any potential investors.”
“Are you going?” She heard the panic in her voice and bit down on her lower lip.
“I need to. Ray not-too-gently reminded me I’m the one the people will want to talk to since I’m heading the expedition.”
“Oh.”
A wry grin appeared on his face. “Yeah, oh. If I go, you could stay here with Evelyn and Hawke. You should be all right.”
“How important is this expedition to you?”
“Very. I’ve been working on it for the whole school year. Last year, in the Amazon, I started my research into certain plants whose chemical properties are amazing. I want to continue it now. The potential is great.”
“So if you don’t show up, the expedition is in trouble?”
Zach shrugged. “Possibly. I had three sources of funding and Señor Martinez was one of them. Now he’s pulled out. That leaves a large hole to fill.”
“It might not be safe.”
“That’s an understatement. I know it won’t be safe.”
She tilted her head to the side. “How?”
“Always prepare for the worst and be thankful if it doesn’t occur. That’s my motto.”
“So if we go, we will be in danger?”
“There’s no we to it. You don’t have to put yourself at risk.”
She walked the few feet to him. “We are a team. I would go crazy sitting back here waiting for you to return and wondering if you’re all right.”
“I’m flattered you care.” The corners of his mouth hitched up in a teasing grin.
She huffed. “Don’t be. I’m a doctor and trained to care about anyone.”
“I deserved that.” His smile broadened. “Let me sleep on it. I need to come up with a way to get us there safely, then back here without anyone finding us. I think the reception itself will be fine.”
“What would I wear to something like that?”
He chuckled. “You don’t think jeans are appropriate?”
“Reception sounds pretty fancy to me.”
“As you know from John, it’s at the museum. The dean of the science department, Dr. Lanier, is hosting it. I’ll be expected to give a speech.” He leaned toward her ear and whispered, “Which is the real reason I don’t want to go. I don’t like giving speeches.”
The brush of his breath along her nape heightened her awareness of him. “I don’t, either.”
“Aah, we have something in common besides our grandfathers.”
A few days ago she would have denied any commonality between them. Now, though, she saw even more than the distaste in giving a speech. He was passionate about his work, much as she was. And he cared about others. While she treated people who were ill, he was devoting his life to finding cures for those illnesses.
“Evelyn can probably help you with something appropriate to wear if we decide to go.”
“Just in case you haven’t observed us together, she is several sizes larger than I am.”
“I have a lot of female cousins. She’s very resourceful.”
Maggie needed to put some space between them. With him so near it was becoming difficult to keep her mind focused on what they had to do. “Speaking of resourceful. How did Ray know where to call you? I didn’t think you gave this number out.”
“Call forwarding. I figured my cell wouldn’t work at the ranch so I had my calls forwarded from my home and cell. There are always last-minute details to see to when putting an expedition together, and I’m hoping Cassie calls about the names of the people who visited the center.”
“Then it’s a good thing you have Ray to help you. Have you been working with him long?”
“Only this year. I didn’t know him before I came to the college, but he’s been there several years.” Zach folded his long body onto the couch in front of the diary, opened to the pages where they had stopped before taking a break. “We’d better get back to work.”
“I’ve been wondering what the significance is of the Bible verses every few pages. Everything is written in Spanish except them. They’re in Latin.”
“He was a monk. Let’s finish translating the Spanish part, then come back to the Latin verses.”
“Why did Father Santiago switch to Latin when the rest is in Spanish? Gramps was fluent in Spanish and had no trouble with those passages, but the Latin Bible verses he had to have translated.”
Zach sat up straight. “By whom and when?”
“Years ago, and he had several different people do it for him. They never knew why.”
“Maybe we should do the verses now, then. We can take them and list them and see if there’s any connection or significance, especially to a cave.”
“Gramps tried that and couldn’t figure anything out. Puzzles weren’t his thing.”
“My granddad loved them. I got in the habit of doing crossword puzzles every morning while drinking my coffee because of him. Gets my brain going.”
“Maybe our grandfathers had the wrong parts of the mystery. Gramps was always great at reading a map.”
The sound of a car approaching drew Zach to his feet. He hurried to the window. The strain that gripped him dissolved when he parted the curtains and saw who was coming. “It’s Evelyn. Hopefully she has what we need.”
While he went through the kitchen and out the back door, Maggie studied the map. A vague familiarity niggled at her mind. Surely she hadn’t ever seen this map before, and yet she felt as though she had. Why?
Staring at the black squiggly lines did nothing to spark her memory. Like a mirage, the memory was illusive, just out of her reach. Frustration churned her stomach. Again the question, why was the map familiar? tantalized her. And again she had no answer.
In Evelyn’s living room Maggie closed the protective case that held the diary. “Done. I feel so much better with the pages on this flash drive.” She held up the device that fit in her palm.
Zach stood and stretched. “And they are clear enough that we can work from the computer instead of handling the book. Ain’t modern technology grand?”
“Yep. That’s why Gramps didn�
��t work with the diary much, especially in the past fifteen years or so.”
“Tomorrow, after we secure the journal in a safety-deposit box, we can get to work cracking the code. The more I think about it, the more I think it has to do with the Bible verses.”
Maggie rose and rolled her head to ease the stiffness. “We’ve been at it for hours and hours, and my body feels every second.”
Zach laughed. “Yeah, Evelyn gave up on us.” He glanced toward the darkness beyond the window. “I thought Hawke would be home by now. Something must have kept him at the station for the third night in a row.”
“He sure is dedicated to his work.”
“I think it runs in my family.”
“Mine, too.”
“Another thing we have in common?”
“I’m afraid so. Scary, isn’t it?”
“Our grandfathers wouldn’t be too happy.”
“I quake thinking what Gramps would do if he were here,” she said.
Zach crossed the room and checked to make sure the front door was locked. “We should talk about what happened sixty years ago. We’ve been tiptoeing around the feud.”
“Since we have to work together, I’m not sure it’s wise to bring it up.”
He approached her. Her body was held in a rigid line. He knew the subject probably wasn’t a wise one, but they needed to trust each other completely. The very idea of putting his trust in another scared him after what had happened the year before with his business partner. But the more involved with Maggie he became, the more he felt God’s hand in this, not just in helping solve the mystery but because Maggie was hurting. Maybe he would be able to help her find her way back to the Lord. “Ignoring it won’t make it go away,” he said.
Maggie released a breath through pursed lips and looked to the side. “I know, but you need to understand that my grandfather was the most important person in my life, and just being here makes me feel very guilty, as though I’ve betrayed him.”
He cupped her face. “Don’t you see, we haven’t betrayed them? We still love them. In fact, what we’re doing is a testament to our love. We want to find whoever is responsible for their murders.”
She cocked a shaky grin. “I don’t think we had a choice.”
The warmth beneath his palms seared into him. “We always have a choice. You could have turned over the diary to that man in your house.”
“No! Never!” A fierce expression accompanied her fierce-sounding answer.
“You see? You’ve chosen to fight rather than hide.” He brushed his fingers through her curls, and her eyes slid closed for a few seconds.
“I’m still debating the wisdom of that decision. I’m a healer, not a fighter,” she finally said.
“Believe it or not, that is how I see myself, but circumstances have forced me to be the latter.”
“Like when you were in the Amazon?”
He pulled her toward him, cradling her against him. “Yes.”
For a few seconds she held herself up stiffly. Then all of a sudden as if she had made a decision, she sank against his chest and wound her arms around him. “I’m glad, because I certainly will need a crash course in defending myself.”
“You did a pretty good job at your house.”
She shuddered. “I’d rather not think about that.” Another tremor passed down her length.
Zach stroked his hand along her spine, willing his warmth into her. “Then not another word,” he whispered against her apple-cinnamon-scented hair. The aroma brought back memories of when his mother had been alive. She had loved to bake, and her specialty had been apple pie. He had told Maggie he had worked his way past the pain of his loss, but memories like this always produced a dull ache in his heart of what he and Kate had missed out on with their parents’ and sister’s deaths.
When Maggie drew back, he saw her pain reflected in her eyes. As much as they wanted to forget certain things, it wasn’t easy. “I know how tired you are. We don’t have to discuss our grandfathers tonight. But I do think we should sometime soon.”
Her shoulders sagged. “Thanks. All I think I can do is fall into bed. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”
“And I need to make a decision about the reception.”
She nodded.
He took her hand and tugged her toward the short hallway. “I’ll walk you to your room.”
She laughed. “I think I can find it, since there are only three bedrooms in this house.”
“Still, I would hate to have you get lost.”
“I’ll have you know I have a great sense of direction.”
“Oh, no—another thing we have in common.” He forced mock horror into his voice.
When she stopped outside the door to her room, she spun toward him. “I forgot the diary.”
He waited while she hurried back to the living room and got the case. He couldn’t believe they had left everything on the coffee table. He would love to chalk it up to the fact he was bone tired, but the real reason, if he was truthful with himself, was that Maggie Somers’s presence made him forget everything but her.
When she returned, she thrust the computer, flash drive and copy of the map into his hands. “I’ll keep this with me. You take those.” One corner of her mouth lifted. “I know they’re all right in the living room, but I probably wouldn’t go to sleep, even as exhausted as I am, without the diary near. Dumb, isn’t it?”
He shook his head. “We should separate them. Smart thinking.” Why didn’t I think of it? Her actions reminded him he couldn’t let down his guard for a second.
He bent forward and brushed his lips across hers. The natural gesture took him by surprise, and obviously Maggie also, if her widened eyes were any indication. She hugged the case against her.
“The flash drive will be easy to hide. I’ll also find somewhere to keep the map in Hawke’s bedroom. Good night, Maggie.”
She fumbled with the handle, and after opening the door, backed into the room. Inside she flipped on the overhead light and leaned against the wall. Her legs trembled from the casual kiss Zach had given her in the hallway. Her lips still tingled although the contact had been only a second long.
Oh, Gramps. What is happening to me? I can’t be falling in love with him. I won’t!
Taking a few minutes to compose herself, she scanned the room for someplace to hide the journal. Finally she decided to shove it under the bed. After doing that, she collapsed onto the mattress, fell back onto the covers and stared at the ceiling. She needed to get up and turn off the light, get undressed, but for the life of her she couldn’t find the energy to move from the bed. Instead, she curled onto her side and closed her eyes. She would rest for a moment, then…
The mouth of the cave yawned before her. The gloominess taunted her, beckoning her to enter. She took a step forward, then another. Her whole body shook as the black void swallowed her up. Pitch-dark enveloped her, its chilly claws clutching her with fear. A rumble, followed by a swishing sound, rushed at her. Thrown back against the rocky floor, surprisingly soft beneath her, she tried to breathe in the musky air. She couldn’t!
Pinned under something huge, Maggie opened her eyes. A black ski-masked face loomed above her. The sharp blade of a knife pressed into her throat as a familiar odor emanated from her attacker. Garlic.
“If you don’t want to die tonight, you’ll keep quiet and tell me where the diary is.”
The gruff threat froze her. Her mind blanked. All she saw was the man’s blue eyes and black mask. Visions of the knife cutting into her flesh filled her thoughts.
Then a sound off to the side caused her to slice her glance in that direction. Another huge man in a ski mask and with hairy arms guarded the door. Paralyzed with fear, as though she really did stand in the middle of a dark cave, Maggie looked back at her attacker, sitting on her chest and making each inhalation difficult and shallow.
“Okay,” she mumbled through dry, dry lips.
He eased the pressure of the blade on
her neck. “Where is it?”
“Under the bed.”
He motioned to the other man to get the diary. The whole time his gaze stayed on her, his cold blue eyes drilling into hers. “Just remember, if you try anything, you’ll get hurt, as will your friends.”
As his accomplice rose with the case in hand and checked its contents, Maggie caught a glimpse of a gun the man had tucked into his pants.
Her tormentor smiled, turning the knife until the pointed end poked her. He slid it down her neck. “It’s good to see you’ve smartened up.”
“C’mon. We need to get out of here,” his partner said. “We’ve got what we came for.” He started for the window.
“What do I do about her?” her tormentor asked.
“Kill her.”
NINE
The words kill her struck terror in Maggie’s heart.
Her attacker’s icy stare stabbed into her while his beefy hand covered her mouth. The salty taste of his sweat on his skin sickened her.
“Ah, such a shame I’m in a hurry. We could have some fun.”
She couldn’t take her gaze from his. His contorted image swam in front of her as fear paralyzed her. For a fleeting second a vision of Brad Wentworth swam in front of her eyes. Then the nick of the knife brought her out of her trance. She was going to die.
Lord, help!
“Such a waste.” He shifted.
Headlights sliced across the wall. He jerked up and around toward the window, his hand slipping some from her mouth. “What the—”
He moved enough to free one of her arms. She yanked it up, grabbing for anything on the table to use as a weapon, while her scream rocked the room. She grasped something solid as he cursed and swiveled back toward her. His grip on the knife tightened. He pulled it back as if to ram it into her heart.
She twisted and screamed again, slamming the alarm clock into the side of his face. His eyes widened. He shook his head. The gleam of the metal caught Maggie’s attention, poised above her for that split second before it started its downward trek.
The door crashed open. Zach rushed inside, diverting her attacker enough that she managed to roll away as the point of the steel plunged toward her. The knife stabbed the mattress next to her arm, the blade cutting through her shirt and skin. For a few heartbeats she felt nothing, then pain radiated upward from the wound.
Buried Secrets Page 10