Her Kind of Trouble (16 page)

"According to the legend," I said, resuming the lecture, "their brother Set invited Osiris to a banquet where enemies ambushed him. Set cut him into pieces and scattered those pieces across
Egypt
. It's only because of her powerful magic that the grieving
Isis
was able to collect all but one of the pieces."

"Do I want to know what that missing piece was?" From his wince, he seemed to have already guessed that they had, as Rhys would put it, Abelarded Osiris.

"No." I considered it. "But she made him a new one—Goddess of Healing, remember? She wrapped him in bandages—the first mummy—and breathed life back into him."

"The king who dies and is reborn." Clearly Lex recognized the familiar motif. "Like Arthur."

"Like a lot of gods. Not only did Osiris revive, but he was able to impregnate
Isis
with the god Horus. Then Osiris became Lord of the Underworld."

"Having been dead and all," mused Lex. "So… he and Isis weren't together after that?"

"One of her ten thousand names is Queen of the Underworld. She was able to move in both worlds, which may explain why her worship continued until the sixth…century… "

But while I spoke, Lex's foot quested up under my skirt. His sock, and the warmth and strength beneath it, grazed the inside of my bare thigh. The rest of my body was definitely paying attention…

Which is when the waiter appeared with our next course.

I watched Lex interact with the man with his usual coolness, there in the starlight, against the sound of waves and sitar music. Damn, but I wished I had a better idea of what I wanted from this man. I wished—

As the waiter turned away, Lex's toes slid back under my skirt and higher, flirting toward the juncture of my thighs, and pleasure skittered through me. My breath stuttered in my throat. Okay, yes, so I wanted that much. But even more, I wanted to understand the consequences. Consequences to the Grailkeepers. Consequences to the Comitatus.

Consequences to us.

"Don't start something you can't finish," I warned him, my voice thick with pleasure and frustration, my eyes half-mast.

"I can finish it anytime," Lex promised.

I forced my eyes open, "No," I warned him. We were about more than a single night in an Egyptian hotel room, whatever that
more
might be. "You can't."

To my relief and despair, he took his foot back, resuming his cool, protective mask. "That's your call, Maggi."

"It is," I agreed.

And we finished our dinner in relative silence.

Chapter 10

"So tell me what you
do
want," asked Lex, as we stepped into the ironwork elevator in the lobby of the Hotel Athens. He shut the external and internal door grills behind us as I pressed the number three.

The elevator rose very, very slowly, alternating views of the floors we passed with views of the painted concrete shaft. The stairs would've been quicker…but this way, we got to stand together, in each other's warmth and scent, for a little longer.

Dinner had offered ultimate romance. Returning to my room with Lex Stuart, even without holding hands or committing any other culturally verboten public displays of affection, seemed so…right. And yet…

"I wish I knew," I mourned, as the elevator trundled past the first floor. As in
Europe
, the lobby was on the ground floor, not the first.

"I deserve more than that," he said quietly. "So do you."

And he was right. I turned toward him and said what I'd been avoiding—avoiding because it wouldn't do any good. "I want to know what's going on with you. I want to know what we're getting into. I want to know your secrets."

His mouth twisted before he could stop it; then his usual composure returned. "Maggi—"

"I
get it
." I framed that handsome, aristocratic face between my palms, regretting his composure. I didn't like this wall between us; it felt better to see proof that he didn't like it, either. "I get why you can't tell me, and I understand. I'm not asking you to reveal secrets. But fair or not; that's what I want. If I were to leap into more of a relationship with you, without knowing everything that entailed… "

We slid past an extended glimpse of the second floor hallway. I let my hands fall from his face.

"It would be like diving into a void, Lex. Jumping out into nothingness. And I can't make myself do that."

He took a deep breath. "Not even with me beside you?"

With a grinding of brakes, the elevator slowed as it reached my floor. His hazel eyes were so needful, so desperate, I wished I could say what he wanted to hear. But I'd be lying.

I cared about him too much to lie.

"You know what's waiting at the bottom," I challenged. "I don't."

"I don't know as much as you think I do."

"And that's supposed to make me more willing to jump?"

Lex sighed, and in that sigh I saw the weight of so many of the frustrations and responsibilities he carried. The poor guy couldn't unburden onto me, maybe not onto anybody.

I still wasn't going to sleep with him. I wasn't going to jump.

But I could reaffirm that I cared.

So at long last, I kissed him.

His arms encircled me, cautiously at first but then, as I leaned up into him and slid my hands over his shoulders, his hold tightened. His lips softened to me, opened for me.

It had been so long. Too long.

I loved kissing Lex. He tasted like coming home. Like my first dance, and like the prom. Like my first love.

Maybe I
did
refuse to be controlled by anyone, or even by fate. But I wasn't writing him off because of it, either.

The way he tipped his head. The way he tasted my lower lip. The little catch in his breath…

"Hey, Pritchard," called an obnoxiously familiar, French-accented voice from just outside the elevator. "You may wish to see this."

Still in Lex's arms, I turned my head far enough to glare at Catrina Dauvergne, standing in the hallway, watching us through the grill with an evil grin.

A bandage wrapped her head, the only indication of her earlier close call.

From down the hall, Rhys's voice approached. "What do you—ah." That last as he, too, spotted us. He stopped, then took an awkward step back. "I can return later," he offered, flushing.

"Coward," challenged Catrina.

Rhys actually glared at her. I'd never seen him look so annoyed. He was usually too…priestly.

"Rhys, no," I protested, as Lex's arms dropped away from me. "Don't go. We—"

Okay, so I wasn't sure what to say. I didn't like that I felt guilty. I didn't like not being sure which made me feel worse—Rhys seeing me in Lex's arms, or Lex's embrace falling away as I asked Rhys not to leave.

It was Lex who recovered first, sliding open first the inside grill, then the outside grill of the elevator's cage. "I'm heading out, Pritchard. And Maggi probably needs to catch you up on her day."

Rhys hesitated. "Heading out where?"

Lex's gaze barely grazed me.
A promise made
… "
Cairo
."

It was Catrina who said, "The last train to
Cairo
has left for the evening.
Quel dommage
. I imagine you are stuck here."

"Have we met?" When he wants to, Lex can do upper-class snobbery with the best of them. The faint curl of his lip was priceless.

"Catrina," I said, as Lex followed me out of the elevator, "this is my friend, Alexander Stuart. Lex, this is my roommate, Catrina Dauvergne. Cat works at the
Cluny
. Her specialty is tapestries."

Amusement lit Lex's cool, golden eyes as he recognized the description, but all he said was, "I think I can find a hotel room, Ms. Dauvergne, and catch a morning train."

"But you needn't leave right away." That was Rhys—could this get more complicated? "That is to say… as long as you're here, don't you want to see the project?"

Lex looked to me, reluctantly parted his lips.

Before he could decline, I said, "Do you think it would be all right with Director d'Alencon, Rhys? I haven't even been here two days myself. If I suddenly show up with a guest… "

"He'll be my guest," insisted Rhys.

So I nodded, barely, and Lex said, "Thank you for the invitation, Pritchard. Really. When should I be here tomorrow?"

Before he left with the necessary instructions, he and Rhys shook hands like ancient warriors—clasping each other's elbows—and I wondered what that was all about. Lex kissed me on the cheek this time, a glint of mischief in his eyes at what he seemed to see as a stay of execution.

"I never said you had to leave right away," I chided in a whisper, which, since my lips were so near his ear, made him shiver. His sigh, warming my neck, returned the favor.

As he stepped into the elevator, Catrina hopped in after him. "Do you think I stand by lifts for no reason?" she challenged, when I stared.

Then Lex had the grillwork closed, and the pair of them rumbled out of sight. Lex's head tipped back as they sank, watching me for as long as possible, as if taking some kind of strength from the sight of me.

Catrina, on the other hand, stared at
him
—with blatant hunger.

I reminded myself that Lex had handled worse than her in his time.

Me, I closed the distance to a seemingly disturbed Rhys and unlocked my hotel room. Lex was right. I had to fill Rhys in on what had happened—or more to the point,
not
happened—in
Cairo
.

Lex enjoyed himself the next morning, and I enjoyed watching it. Dressed casually in khakis and a polo shirt, he seemed completely at home on the cabin cruiser that served as a floating headquarters. He was genuinely friendly with the archeologists and impressed by their expedition. When I overheard him asking d'Alencon what kind of funding the project had, I sneaked a glance at Rhys, who tried—and failed—to look innocent.

The mystery of yesterday's equipment failure still hadn't been solved, but the rumor being murmured between interns and archeologists was sabotage. I couldn't help suspecting Comitatus…but after the way Lex had kissed me last night, I couldn't believe that he knew anything about it. Since I had no proof about his cousin's involvement—only educated guesses—I kept my mouth shut on that subject.