She arched a brow. “A compliment, Nathanial? One that has nothing to do with the tempting
nature of my lips or the hypnotic quality of my eyes?”
“I don‟t know what came over me.” He grinned. “I shall try not to let it happen again.”
In spite of herself, she returned his smile. The man was quite engaging. “In addition, I am fluent in nine languages, including Coptic, Persian, Turkish, and Arabic.”
He stared. “Nobody speaks Coptic. It‟s extinct.”
“Not entirely. It‟s still used in the Church of Alexandria.”
“Even so, why learn something so obscure?”
“Because it‟s the closest thing we have to any knowledge of an ancient Egyptian spoken
language.”
“I suppose it makes sense in a strictly scholarly sense. But why would you learn Turkish, Arabic, Persian? Most women of my acquaintance—even those few engaged in scholarly pursuits—learn
French, a smattering of Italian, perhaps German. Even if one wished to travel extensively, that would certainly be sufficient.”
“I thought we had already agreed I am not like most women of your acquaintance.”
“Still, it seems rather unusual.”
“Perhaps it is.” She studied him for a long moment. Telling him her plans hardly mattered now.
Nothing would come of them. Surely she should trust him enough to tell him this, and trust as well that he wouldn‟t laugh at her ambitions. She drew a deep breath. “I had hoped to become knowledgeable enough to join my brother in his work. To be indispensable to him.”
“I see.” He nodded thoughtfully. “I would say it is a farfetched aspiration for a woman, but we have established you are not like most women.” He paused and considered her. “This, then, is what you wanted most in your life, isn‟t it?”
“It‟s of no consequence now.” She shrugged and turned back to the shelf. Somehow, telling him, saying it aloud now twice today when she‟d never admitted it to anyone before, made her loss all the more real. “Besides, I‟m not sure I ever could have convinced Enrico to let me join him. I had hoped if I learned enough, if I made myself…well, essential, important to his work, he would allow me to come with him.”
“Those obscure, remote areas of the world where your brother and the rest of us search for the treasures of the past are not places for western women,” he said slowly, as if treading lightly.
“I know that.”
“And yet that did not deter you?”
“It sounds rather silly, I suppose. I know the proper place of a woman in this day and age. Still, women do travel the world and go all sorts of places not substantially more civilized than those regions you frequent. Besides, I would prefer to be considered an expert in the field of
archeology rather than a mere woman.”
He chuckled. “There is nothing „mere‟ about you.”
“Nonetheless, as a practical matter, I am well aware I can do nothing as a woman alone. It doesn‟t seem especially fair, but it is the way of the world.” She didn‟t have to turn to know he had risen to his feet and crossed the room to stand behind her. “So, my studies, my training, has all been for nothing.”
“I am sorry, Gabriella.” Genuine regret sounded in his voice. “I can only imagine what it must be like to lose something you had worked for. Something you had wanted.”
“And I did,” she said softly, “want it very much.” For a moment, misery swept through her. She had some time ago laid to rest the grief she‟d felt for her brother. This was for her, her dreams, her hopes. She drew a deep breath. Ridiculous, of course. Her dreams never had any chance of coming true. “It was quite foolish to think it was ever a legitimate possibility.” She turned to face him. He was less than the width of her hand away. Her heart sped up. She ignored it. “There you have it, Nathanial. My frivolous hope. As fictional as anything one might read in a novel, I suspect. My—” She sighed. “—secret, as it were.” She cast him a deprecating smile.
He smiled back as if he did indeed understand. At once it struck her that no matter what else he might be, he was a nice man. A very nice man. The kind of man one might be able to depend on.
The kind of man one might possibly trust.
She stared into his brown eyes and abruptly the moment between them changed. Without
warning, an odd tension snapped in the air between them, charged with an intensity and
awareness as unexpected as it was irresistible.
The kind of man one could love.
He stared at her. “And do you have many secrets?”
Where on earth did that come from? She had no business loving any man, let alone this one. She pushed the thought away and forced a cool note to her voice. “Yes, of course. We all have
secrets.”
He moved imperceptibly closer, bracing one hand on the shelves to the left of her head. “Any you wish to share?”
“They wouldn‟t be secrets then, would they?” Her gaze slipped from his eyes to his mouth. Hers weren‟t the only lips that begged to be kissed, not that she intended to do anything of the sort. “I should hate for you to know everything about me. Where would be the mystery? The
excitement? The challenge?”
“I suspect that will not be a problem,” he said under his breath.
She could feel the books on the shelves behind her pressing into her back. Still, why not kiss him? Just once. What harm could it do? “You‟re nicer than I expected you to be.”
“Excellent.” He smiled in a wicked manner that should have seemed silly or overly dramatic or far too arrogant instead of making her breath catch and her knees week.
“Are you going to kiss me?” She swallowed hard.
“I think I might, yes.”
“There is no moonlight now, Nathanial.”
“I may be willing to forgo that condition.”
“Would you?” She raised her lips toward his.
“I can‟t seem to help myself.” He leaned closer.
“You said a first kiss should be savored and remembered always.”
“I shall remember it forever.” His lips were within a breath of her own.
“Nathanial?” She fairly sighed his name.
He paused. “Yes?”
She tossed caution aside and brushed her lips lightly across his. “As will I.”
“Mmm.” He pressed his lips firmly to hers. Her stomach clenched with newfound desire.
“Ahem.” Someone cleared his throat at the doorway. “Beg pardon, my lord.”
Damnation, she knew that voice.
Nathanial straightened reluctantly, cast her a quick smile and turned toward the newcomer.
“Yes?”
Xerxes stood in the door, garbed in the same apparel as every other servant she‟d seen thus far in the household, holding a silver slaver bearing a letter. “This just arrived for Miss Montini, sir. I was told to deliver it at once.”
“Very well.” Nathanial took the letter, glanced at it in passing, and handed it to Gabriella. “Are you new here?” he asked Xerxes. “I was under the impression that John Farrel was the footman on duty in the morning.”
“I am serving in John‟s stead, my lord,” Xerxes said smoothly.
Gabriella clenched her teeth.
“I hope nothing is wrong,” Nathaniel said.
“He was called to the country on a family matter of some urgency, sir.”
A family matter—hah! Gabriella glared. “Was he?”
Xerxes met her gaze firmly. “Yes, miss.”
She narrowed her eyes. “How urgent?”
“Gabriella.” Nathanial shook his head. “I really don‟t think—”
“It‟s his younger sister, miss. My cousin fears she could be getting herself into some difficulty and may need his assistance.” Xerxes‟s gaze locked with hers. “Even perhaps rescue.”
Gabriella crossed her arms over her chest. “Is she a child?”
“In spite of her behavior on occasion, no, miss, she is an adult.”
“Then I‟m sure she‟s more than competent to handle the situation on her own,” Gabriella said.
Nathanial‟s confused gaze slid between her and the older man. “Gabriella?”
“I‟ve no doubt she thinks she is, miss. However, she has been mistaken about her competence in the past.” His eyes narrowed slightly. “The entire family is most concerned.” He turned his attention to Nathanial. “Will there be anything else, sir?”
“No, thank you.” Nathanial cast an amused glance at Gabriella. “Unless you had something more?”
“Not at the moment,” she muttered.
“Then you may go.” Nathanial nodded.
Xerxes headed for the door.
“Oh, I don‟t know your name,” Nathanial said.
“John Farrel, sir.”
“Like your cousin?”
Gabriella choked back a snort of disgust.
Nathanial glanced at her.
“It‟s a family name, sir.”
“I see.” Nathanial nodded, and Xerxes took his leave. “Do you know him?”
“No,” she said shortly. “He reminded me of someone—something in his manner, I think.” She
cast him an apologetic smile. “I seem to be rather on edge today.”
“Not surprising, really.” He nodded at the letter in her hand. “Aren‟t you going to read that?”
“Yes, of course.” Gabriella opened the letter and scanned it. “It‟s from my friend, Miss Henry.”
“Wasn‟t she just here?”
“Apparently there were some things she failed to mention.” Among them the fact that she, or Xerxes, had paid John the footman to go on a bit of a holiday so Xerxes could take the man‟s place. Apparently that was the plan Florence had referred to.
“Now that we‟re alone…”
To keep an eye on her. Gabriella‟s jaw clenched. No one in her household seemed to understand that she was no longer a child.
“Yes?” she said absently. Still, it wasn‟t a bad idea to have Xerxes within reach should she need his assistance.
Nathanial cleared his throat. “Now that we‟re alone…”
“You said that,” she murmured. Indeed she should have thought of it herself. She refolded the note and glanced at Nathanial. “Now that we‟re alone, did you still want to kiss me?”
“And get it over with, you mean?”
“I didn‟t mean that at all.” Even so, the moment wasn‟t quite as electric as it had been. The desire to press her lips to his not as urgent, although she was certain it wouldn‟t take much more than a heated glance for her to again want what she‟d never imagined she‟d want. Regardless, the opportunity had passed.
“I should…” He nodded toward the desk. “…finish the letters.”
“By all means.” She suspected as well that it would not take much to reignite his desire either.
He sat back down and picked up a letter. The first, she noted. He certainly hadn‟t progressed very far. She crossed her arms over her chest, bookshelf at her back, and watched him read.
“I thought we had established that I find your observation somewhat unsettling,” he said without looking up.
She bit back a smile. “Then I suggest you read quickly.”
“Hmph.”
She probably shouldn‟t stand here and watch him, but she couldn‟t seem to help herself. The man was an enigma and not at all as she had expected. She hadn‟t expected his nature. He was nice and funny and wicked all at the same time. Beyond that, he did seem, well, honest. A man who possibly could be trusted.
She‟d never trusted more than a handful of people in her life. And hadn‟t Enrico told her over and over that men who coveted ancient treasures were, on the whole, an unscrupulous lot and not—no, never—to be trusted? Still, there was something about Nathanial Harrington that made her want to trust him. Want to believe that he would never betray her.
What had this man done to her? She‟d always considered herself a completely honest person. But from very nearly the first moment they met, Nathanial had her saying things and doing things she never would have considered doing. As when he caught her in the library and she‟d come up
with that ridiculous story about his once having kissed her. Which resulted in his insisting she owed him a kiss, preferably in the moonlight, although that no longer seemed a consideration.
She ignored the voice in the back of her head that pointed out her actions before then had not been especially legitimate.
And now, God help her, she wanted him to kiss her. Wanted to feel the warmth of his arms
around her, the pressing of his body against hers. Wanted the heat of his desire to burn into her very soul. Wanted the—
“Interesting,” he said under his breath.
Gabriella blinked in surprise. “Well, yes, that‟s not quite what I would…” She uttered an odd, uncomfortable sort of laugh, heat rushing up her face. Again. “I‟m not sure interesting, while somewhat accurate, in that, yes it is indeed interesting if completely unexpected and not at all distasteful, but rather…quite…”
He grinned.
She stared, then winced. “You‟re talking about the letters, aren‟t you?”
“I am indeed.” His grin widened as if he knew the answer before he asked the question. “What are you talking about?”
“The letters, of course.” She adopted a brisk tone and moved to the chair positioned in front of the desk, a safe distance from him. He certainly couldn‟t reach across the desk and pull her unresistingly into his arms. Not that she would be the least bit unresisting. Dear Lord, she groaned to herself, what had he done to her? She drew a calming breath. “Well?”
He picked up a pencil and scribbled on a piece of paper. “As you have said, your brother
considered only four possible suspects. These were all men to whom he had shown the clay
impression made from the missing seal. The list includes an American, Alistair McGowan, and one Javier Gutierrez, a Spaniard.” He shuffled through the letters. “Although, he regards
Gutierrez only as an agent for Viscount Rathbourne.”
She nodded. “Lord Rathbourne is a member of the Antiquities Society and a well-known
collector. I have heard of him and I have seen him on occasion, although I have never met him myself.”
“His reputation is such that I don‟t doubt he would sanction whatever means possible to get what he wanted. If Gutierrez took the seal, he has no doubt turned it over to Lord Rathbourne by now.
The last two names, of course, are mine and my brother‟s.” He glanced at her. “Have we been taken off the list?”
She hesitated.
His eyes narrowed. “You still suspect me?”