by S. L. Gray
She snorted. "He can wait his turn."
Kade laughed. "Okay, bad analogy." But the pressure in his head had eased. "Forget that guy. He's a jerk. But you get the idea, I can feel it. Take a deep breath and let go."
"Let you take control, you mean," she argued. There was a note of amusement in her voice, beneath the strain. "You can just come out and say it. I know that's what you really want." She did as he asked, taking a slow breath that she held for a second before sighing it out again. Her shoulders dipped beneath his hands. She tilted back toward him until they bumped his chest. The pain in his head eased away as though draining from his body. She was quiet and the shadows, in response, paled to gunmetal gray.
"Good," he praised in a low murmur. It was working. Now he could concentrate on pushing the rest of the darkness away.
She shifted against him, nestling as she had on the night of the attack. "That sounded like a purr. Do you shadow people purr when you're happy?"
He chuckled. "Not that I've ever noticed. Guess there's always a first time." Not that he'd had a lot of happy memories of late. The idea amused him though and made reversing her unplanned spell easier.
"You kind of move like a big cat," she offered, trusting him with more of her weight. Her voice was softer now, drifting and content like a woman falling asleep. "I wouldn't put it past you."
"If you want to call that a purr, I'm not going to stop you. One more minute." One more push and they'd be out of the shadows and fully back in her apartment. No doors to the in-between accidentally left open. No one stepping into her home on a whim.
"It's going to get bright," he warned. "Not because the light in here has changed. Because you're going to see it differently. It'll balance out again and I've got you."
She surprised him by reaching behind herself and gripping the back of his neck. "For balance," she explained as if he'd questioned her out loud. "Do whatever it takes. Let's get this over with."
Straightforward. Determined. The discovery was in line with almost everything else he knew about her. For a moment, though, Kade regretted not being able to stay like this, sharing space and the shadows together. It felt good — no, it felt right — not to be alone for once.
And that was its own kind of danger. Kade took a breath of his own and pushed, shoving the shadows back where they belonged.
Melanie tucked her chin against her chest, quickly. She was still for a moment, then she whispered, "You really weren't kidding," and let go of his neck. She slipped away, wavered, and caught her own balance, a hand up to shield her eyes despite the lack of a light source in the room. "You didn't say I'd freeze, though." She hugged herself with the other arm. "How long is this going to last?"
The chill washed over him as well. He'd expected it, though. A side effect of losing the connection to someone else. He'd felt it for so long it had become commonplace and he’d ignored it. Now that he'd been reminded of what it felt like to have it gone, he'd have to adjust again. He'd manage. Melanie was not a replacement for those he'd lost.
He cleared his throat. "The brightness will fade in a couple minutes. The cold might take longer to shake off. You did good," he added. "Getting out of the way isn't easy."
She smiled faintly. "Guess sometimes I do listen." She yawned abruptly. Color rushed to her cheeks and she covered her mouth. "Sorry. I didn't know I was going to do that. I guess I'm more tired than I thought." She wrinkled her nose. "Pizza and TV? If you want to lecture me about being careless, I will sit still for it tomorrow. Cross my heart." Her smile went impish and her eyes hopeful. "Please?"
He wanted to teach her. Train her. He needed to keep his distance. He would fail at both if he wasn't careful.
He bit back the smile that came unbidden, wrestling it into a crooked twitch of his lips instead. "I'll hold you to that. Pizza and TV for now. You're buying."
Chapter Nine
"You were supposed to be here an hour ago!" Noura opened the door before the card-reader turned green.
Heat flooded Melanie's cheeks as she ducked inside, trading her jacket for the lab coat she ought to have donned by now. "Is he angry? Dr. Andruss?"
Noura absently straightened Melanie's coat on the hook. "More like worried. We tried calling you but the phone just rang."
"I unplugged it last night."
"And your cell phone?" Noura raised an eyebrow. "That went straight to voicemail."
Guilt hunched Melanie's shoulders. "Must have run out of battery. Look, I'm fine," she promised. "No accident. No illness."
"Then why are you late?" Noura could get away with blunt questions and she knew it. "You haven't been acting like yourself lately."
Melanie paused with another lie on the tip of her tongue. She was really going to have to learn to twist the truth faster if Kade and the shadows and the crazy stuck around. Noura was far too good at spotting stories.
"I just had a long night,." She shrugged. "I've been thinking about this project. I got wrapped up in doing research. Before I knew it, it was too late to keep working and almost too early to bother going to bed, but you know me. I need my sleep."
Noura didn't look entirely convinced but she relented enough that Melanie felt like she could breathe. "You know, if you're going to stay up all hours, you shouldn't do it alone." A sly smile crept over her features. Melanie braced for the inevitable. "Why not invite your handsome detective over? I'm sure he'd be happy to keep you company."
"Agent," Melanie corrected automatically, then struggled not to make a face. "He's an agent, not a detective and we don't have that sort of relationship."
"What relationship?" Noura asked in her most innocent voice. "I just meant you could invite him to watch a movie. Have a drink. Then, in the morning, when you're late again, you can tell me everything."
Melanie laughed and rounded the work table, shaking her head. "You're impossible, you know that?"
"Not impossible, just determined to live vicariously. Someone has to take a full account of the man. Does he have tattoos? He looks like a man who's been marked. And that mouth was made for kissing."
Melanie would never get any work done at this rate. There was a small, ridiculously giddy part of her which wanted to confess that, yes, Kade had very kissable lips. Her larger, more sedate and sensible self knew better than to encourage Noura or herself. "Stop, please. I'm begging you, Nour."
Noura sighed too loudly. "Fine, for now, but I'm not above bribery, you know." Her gaze drifted toward the clock, which prompted a sharp hiss. "But later. They're waiting."
Melanie took a turn at frowning. "Who's waiting, where?"
"Dr. Andruss and his visitor. They've been waiting for an hour."
Her frown deepened. "For me?"
"Uh huh. You've gotten popular all of a sudden. This one came in looking for you too. Dr. Andruss offered him coffee to pass the time. They're probably both floating by now."
Melanie let Noura shoo her back out the door and to the conference room they'd used for Kade. "Why didn't you talk to them? You know as much about the project as I do."
Her friend pursed her lips. "I offered. This man's particularly interested in speaking with you. I tell you, I'm beginning to feel second-rate."
If not for the glint of amusement in Noura's eyes, Melanie might have apologized. As it was, she simply stared at the conference room door, confused. "You could come in with me?"
Noura snorted. "As your assistant? No, thank you. Besides, one of us has to work while the other's being courted by handsome, hot strangers. Go on," she prompted. "I'll be in the lab. Working. Without recognition."
"Noura..."
"Melanie." She smiled in a way that erased Melanie's lingering worries. "Go, before Dr. Andruss pops that vein that's always throbbing in his forehead. You can make it up to me by buying me a drink."
The shorter woman waved and backed away. She'd headed down the hallway, returning to the lab, before Melanie could come up with a good reason to call her back. Well then. She'd handle this on her ow
n.
The two men waiting inside were visible through the narrow plate of glass set into the door. Neither looked particularly angry, though Dr. Andruss did glance from his companion to the clock mounted on the wall and back.
No time like the present. Melanie squared her shoulders and opened the door. "Noura said you wanted to see me?"
Both men stood, though their reactions were very different. Dr. Andruss' lips pressed into a thin, displeased line. "Yes," he agreed, as he straightened his coat. "An hour ago or so. Is everything all right?"
They wouldn't appreciate her attempt at an excuse, Melanie decided, so she hedged, saying, "Power outage at the apartment. I overslept. I'm so sorry."
"No apologies necessary," the other man answered, offering a hand as he crossed the room. He stood taller than Dr. Andruss, which didn't take much effort, but Melanie thought he might have been a matched height with Kade, which did. The suit he wore must have cost a small fortune, complementing the watch that sparkled at his wrist. His grip was solid but not overbearing, and the smile he offered, broad and even, all but oozed confidence.
"I'm Sandoval Moore, Ms. Kendrick. Dr. Sandoval Moore. And you are exactly the woman I've been hoping to see."
Something about his voice, even and pleasantly accented as it was, made the back of Melanie's neck tingle. She had a certain affection for a cultured English voice, but this wasn't the same reaction.
"It's about your latest shipment." Dr. Moore guided Melanie to a seat at the conference table as Dr. Andruss murmured about appointments and slipped out the door. "I have a very personal interest in the contents of those boxes. Coffee?"
"No, thank you," she answered as she sank into the chair he offered. "But don't let me stop you. Help yourself."
"I think I've had more than my fair share." He smiled again, a shift of expression that lightened his eyes and did attractive things to his features. The silver mixed among the dark hair at his temples only served to enhance his appeal. Here was the sort of man women fantasized about, and yet she didn't want to get close to him. Dr. Andruss had left far too willingly. Melanie suddenly wished Kade had thought of another reason he needed to stop by.
Dr. Moore sat beside her rather than in the chair across the table where he'd been before she entered. He swiveled to face her and held her gaze easily, his own somewhat amused. "You look overwhelmed."
"I am a little, I think," she confessed. "I don't usually get personal visits. I'm back in the lab." She dared a smile of her own. "All this attention might be going to my head."
"Then allow me to feed your ego," he answered and leaned back in the chair. He made the stiff, ergonomic contraption look comfortable. "I've done some checking into your background. High marks from Savannah College during your master's program. Your summer at Aldo Galli. Even without that, your list of recommendations and letters of praise is impressive, to say the least."
Melanie's heartbeat picked up a few beats in speed. "Checking into my background. Why?" She shook her head before he could answer. "If you're here to offer me a job somewhere else, Dr. Moore, I'll apologize that you made the trip right up front. I'm not interested in changing positions. I'm happy here."
Dr. Moore's smile widened into a grin. "I'm glad to hear that, because the last thing I want to do is send you haring off where I can't track your progress." He chuckled when she lifted an eyebrow. "I'm very interested in your new project, Ms. Kendrick. As a matter of fact, you could say I have a great desire to see it handled capably. What do you know about Taheret?"
It took a moment to shake off lingering surprise. This man, a stranger, knew where she'd been and what she'd studied. She fought to find the balance between flattery and offense. "Taheret. The region in Egypt? Not much, I'm afraid. The only mentions I've found in all of my readings were in very old books that had been poorly translated. I don't know whether that accounts for the lack of information or explains why what little there is seems to be so vague, but the answer's the same. Not much. It's a shame, really," she confessed. "Every little bit I read just makes me long for more."
"Which is exactly why I want you to stay where you are." His eyes were midnight blue, Melanie realized, not the dark brown she'd first assumed. "And before I make you any more paranoid, I'll explain." He cleared his throat. "My family is from that region, originally. Oh, a long, long time ago," he added with another grin. "But I'm something of a genealogy buff, and I've tracked the line back. Like you, however, there are questions that haven't yet been answered. I'm sure you'll agree that the artifacts this museum has received, therefore, are all the more valuable. All the more important to me."
"Not to put a damper on your enthusiasm," Melanie interrupted. "Or to seem ungrateful for your compliments. I'm not. But I don't understand why you wanted to see me. Or, for that matter, how you know about the shipment at all." She grimaced. "No offense." But Kade suspected someone had been watching her. She'd felt it herself. Was Dr. Moore a part of this whole business between the shadows? How was she supposed to know whether anyone could be trusted anymore?
Dr. Moore laughed, a rich, full-voiced sound that made Melanie's shoulders relax and an answering smile touch her lips. "None taken, I promise. It's a valid statement. I'd wonder the same thing too, if I weren't me." His grin remained. "I've been a supporter of the museum for many years. I've made contributions and donations and now and then passed on a contact's name when they had something unique on offer. It so happens that this shipment came as a result of my network of friends. We were very fortunate to win the bidding war on the boxes. I'm sure we won't be disappointed in what they hold. But that, my dear, relies on you."
Melanie's smile faltered. "No pressure," she murmured wryly.
Dr. Moore touched her arm, a fleeting graze of fingers against skin. They were cold. She held off a shiver. "I have no doubt that you'll bear up."
And if she didn't, with a man as charismatic as Dr. Moore pushing for answers, her reputation would no doubt pay the price. Determined not to let her nerves show any more than she had, she summoned another smile. "I'll do my best, of course."
"Of course." He held his hand out again, a business card caught between his second and third fingers. She hadn't seen him reach for it. She took it all the same. "I appreciate that, and I won't keep you." He tapped the edge of the card she held. "The number is my personal line, and it's available to you at all hours of the day. Just in case you need encouragement, or perhaps a little advice. You will call me the moment you find anything of interest, won't you?"
Melanie studied the card. Thick, expensive stock. A bold design in dark green made up of curls and flourishes common in Middle-Eastern script. Exotic and intriguing, like the man himself. Her gaze lifted to his again and she nodded. What else could she do?
"Good." He clapped his hands once, rubbed them together, and stood. A sharp gesture shifted his sleeve back and he peered at his watch. "Excellent timing. I have a lunch appointment I need to keep." He offered another handshake, holding on to her fingers when she accepted and stood. "It's been a pleasure, Ms. Kendrick. I'm sure I'll see you soon."
~
"Could you talk about something other than work?" Noura — that was the woman's name, Kade recalled — rolled her eyes as she asked the question. "You're obsessed, I swear. You'd think you had no life outside the lab, and we both know that's not true." Her gaze swung to Kade and she grinned wickedly.
It had more of an effect on Melanie than it did on him. He smiled a little, but Melanie grabbed at his leg with the hand hidden under the table. Her fingers caught on the seam at the side of his thigh and twisted. Possessive or needing an anchor? He wasn't sure which.
"It's important, Noura. Important to the museum, at least. And that means I have to take it seriously."
"Sure, sure." The other woman waved her hand. "But we're out to relax, Mel. The only serious you should be having now is serious fun." She paused and laughed at herself. Melanie joined in after a moment. "Okay, so I'm bad at slogans, but you get the
point."
Kade couldn't blame Noura for nagging. When Melanie called to invite him to join them at Hannadays again, she'd sounded stressed to the point of breaking. She'd told him about her meeting with the mysterious Dr. Moore and Kade had Sylvie running down all the information she could dredge up about him. It wasn't a name he recognized, but that didn't mean it wouldn't flag a file or a mention somewhere in the Unit's archives. It wasn't his job to know all the important aliases. Sylvie would figure it out and tell him if they needed to worry.
"I get it," Melanie agreed, hand relaxing its grip on his jeans. "I'm having fun. I have good company, don't I?" She glanced at Kade and her smile warmed. She leaned sideways to butt their shoulders together, dragging him into the argument. "Don't I?"
Kade chuckled. "Yeah, you do. I hope you do. Rather be good company than bad luck."
"You are," she promised. The smile she offered this time was different, full of gratitude and appraisal. It reminded him of the look in her eyes before she'd kissed him that first night. Despite himself, he wondered if she'd follow through.
Noura groaned loudly enough that it couldn't be missed. "Get a room," she teased them. "Or at least move to a different table. In the back. In a corner. Spare my eyes."
Melanie blushed on cue and busied herself with twisting her cocktail — something fruity and a vibrant orange-red — in its ring of condensation.
Kade imagined this had been going on all day given how resigned to embarrassment Melanie seemed. He didn't ask permission to defend her then, when he sat forward, elbows on the table.
"So if a man were interested in you, Noura, would he have to lure you off to some other table at the back of the room where no one could see? That seems like a shame when you could show him off and let the world know just exactly who'd claimed him."
Surprise flared on Noura's face, and for a second, he wondered whether it would crash down into anger. The bed he'd made himself paid off when the moment passed and she grinned, slowly but widely, dark eyes dancing with delight. She looked to Melanie but pointed at him. "Detective or agent or whatever he is, I like him and if you don't keep him, I'll steal him for myself."