Kathlyn Trent, Marcus Burton 01 - Valley of the Shadow (33 page)

A storm was brewing in the Burton tent. Kathlyn had known it was coming when she'd received the request from World Geography three weeks ago. She braced herself for Hurricane Marcus.

"It's not as bad as it sounds," she said quietly, trying not to upset the baby against her breast. "I'm the narrator and producer. I actually don't have to go into some of these areas, but it's just not normally my style to hang back and let the film crews run amuck. Juliana is going to be co-producer, so I'll send her in on a lot of this. But I do plan to go to Greece and Iran, and I do plan to do a test dig at the site it is believed he is buried."

Marcus' veins were throbbing on his temples. "And just where is that?"

"Libya."

He threw up his hands. "Over my dead body, Kathlyn," he exclaimed. "You're not going to Libya or Iran, and you'll be damn lucky if you're getting out of this valley in the next six months. I'm not having my wife cavorting around in enemy lands just for the sake of a television special."

Kathlyn sat down in a folding chair, rocking Trent gently. Her instinct was to battle Marcus to the death, but on the other hand, she was now a wife and mother. Maybe she shouldn't be doing what had always come so readily to her. She just sat there and hung her head. Marcus was so used to her coming back in his face that he stood there a moment, uncertainty filling him.

"You won't be happy if you can't go, will you?" he asked quietly. "This whole marriage and baby thing is making you unhappy."

She shook her head. "No, of course not. I love you and I love my sons. I've never been more content." She looked up at him. "But there's a part of me that is driven to adventure, Marcus. I can't help it. And Alexander the Great is like a dream for me. I've always been fascinated by him. It's a golden, golden opportunity."

Marcus' jaw flexed. He knelt down beside her. "I guess I was living under the false hope that once we got married and had kids, you'd settle down. But I guess I shouldn't have expected to kill that exploring spirit you have."

She looked at him, seeing how unhappy he was, and it ripped her to shreds. Her life in the past may have been charging all over the earth in search of miraculous things, but her life at this moment was the man at her side and the children sleeping around her. She would never be selfish enough to lose all of it. It was time for Kathlyn Trent to grow up.

  She put an arm around his neck, pulling him close. Marcus enfolded her in his big arms, his face against his son and her swollen breasts.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. "Please forgive me. I didn't mean to be so self-centered. I guess the thrill of it all just overwhelmed my common sense. My life is here, with you and the boys. I'm perfectly happy to stay here with all of you."

"I don't want you to grow to resent me," Marcus said. "I don't want you to feel trapped or suppressed. If you want to go in search of Alexander, then you can. But I go with you, and so do the boys. We're a family, Kathlyn. We're never going to be apart."

"I know," she kissed his head. "I don't want us to be apart, either."

He pulled head up and looked at her. "But we don't want to hold you back, either. Where you go, we go."

She smiled and kissed him. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here with all of my boys."

He brushed the hair from her eyes, studying her face. "You know, you're the most famous archaeologist of our century. To see you grounded at the tender age of thirty-three is a little too much for me to bear."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that if you can put off your search for Alexander until the end of the dig season, I'll go with you to Libya and Iran and wherever else you need to go. Maybe we can have alternating schedules so we can do this crazy stuff together."

She nodded. "I think we can come to an arrangement, Dr. Burton. But what about the boys? They're awful young to be cavorting around."

"That's why there are grandparents." He stroked the tiny blond head. "Look, I'm not saying we stay away for years. I want to see my kids grow up. But a few weeks, or even a couple of months won't matter right now. You and I are young and in our prime career-wise, so we've got to make an even balance."

"Do you think we can?"

"I do."

"So if I help you with Ay, you'll help me with Alexander?"

"Exactly."

The baby in her arms was asleep. Kathlyn lay the baby down, only to be pulled into Marcus' powerful embrace. The afternoon was steamy and still, just like the evening had been the first time they had ever made love. With so much of the future to look forward to, the possibilities were endless.

"You think you can keep up with me, Dr. Burton?"

He pulled her down onto the bed with him. "I've done pretty well so far."

She closed her eyes as he ran a hand up the back of her thigh. "Yes, you have. But you've never been on a real adventure with me."

He kissed her, decided she tasted delicious, and kissed her again. God, he had missed her. "My real adventure with you started the day we met."

"It's only just begun."

His answer was to make love to her.