Hidden Fire (3 page)

“
Power. Riches
,” Jeremy intoned in the background.

Gili shook her head. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Whitey discounted the Aboriginal stories, but was willing to be sucked into this legend?

Whitey laughed. “Oh, I know what you're thinking, but I've looked into all this.
And
we've seen the ring glow. It's real. And you know the best thing, Gillian? We know how you can find it. Your old friend, Morgan Hunt. I discovered he's the Guardian of the stone, supposed to protect it.”

“How the hell did you find that out?”

He tapped a finger on the side of his nose. “I told you a fancy degree doesn't make you smarter than I am. I have friends in all the right places. Hunt is definitely the Guardian. Doesn't matter, though. It's easy enough to arrange an accident for Mr. Hunt if he doesn't cooperate. Can't imagine these academic types are too tough.”

She drew in a shaky breath, but managed to keep her mouth shut.

“Anyway, this fire opal belongs to the Aborigines. Get Hunt to show you where it is. Then offer the Aborigines enough money and they'll be glad to part with it.”

Gili felt as if her heart had dropped into her boots.

Morgan Hunt
?

The man who'd once romanced her, swept her off her feet, and then turned round and called her a thief?

Dear Heavens, how much worse could life get?

“You do realize these offices are out of bounds to students, don't you?” Arms crossed over his chest, Morgan Hunt paused in the doorway. He frowned. Hadn't he locked the office door before his last lecture? Obviously not, which was damned sloppy on his part. “Mind telling me what the hell you think you're doing?”

He stared at the woman hunched down on the floor. She had a large map spread out before her and an open book in her hand. Anger flared at her intrusion into his private domain, making him feel decidedly unsociable.

It had been one heck of a day and he sure didn't feel like dealing with students right now. Besides, all the students at the university knew better than to enter a lecturer's office unless specifically invited.

Despite his annoyance, a flash of heat gathered low in his belly as he eyeballed the female. Hell of an interesting sight to find waiting for him at the end of a busy day. Enough to awaken the libido of even the most jaded of men.

Hipster jeans so low he could see the top of her butt and the very inviting division between. A bare back, except for some type of skimpy top tied in an intriguing bow that his fingers itched to undo. Red-blonde hair, more flame-colored than blonde, secured in a straggly ponytail that trailed over one shoulder. Hmm, not a bad visual at all.

She wasn't dressed any differently than the rest of the student body, but something about the whole picture got to him. He shook his head at where his mind was taking him. Mucking around with students, even if they were adults, was wrong on every level. He knew it went on, but he'd never been party to it.

Hell, maybe he was just tired. He needed to get out of the city and back to the country.

At the sound of his voice, the woman twisted her upper body so she could see who it was. Suddenly he saw it. A tattoo just below the curve of her right shoulder. A tattoo he recognized. And not just from that dig he'd headed on the Iranian Plateau six years ago. He'd been seeing that damn pelican in his dreams for the last few months.

Forget the pelican for the moment though. Right now, he felt as if someone had taken a fist to his gut. The breath wheezed from his chest. Sweat broke out on his forehead. Images swamped his brain. Raunchy, enticing—designed to drag him to his knees if he let them. He thrust them away, determined not to go down that path. At least, not right now.

“What the hell?”
Gili? Gillian Adams
?

His own personal nemesis. “Damn, I don't need this,” he muttered, moving into the room and edging the door shut.

Steps measured, he crossed to his desk and stood over Gillian. “So I guess the question should have been what the hell are
you
doing here, Gili? And I don't just mean in my office.”

She jumped to her feet and spun to face him, tottering on impossibly high heels. He reached out and grabbed her arm to prevent her falling. Why in God's name did women wear shoes like that? She'd break an ankle if she didn't take care. Then he focused on the book she held clutched to her chest and his eyes narrowed.

“Hello, Morgan.” She tilted her head on one side and gave him a hesitant smile.

“I don't believe I gave you permission to go through my private papers. Rather rude, don't you think?” He snatched the book out of her hands and tossed it back onto his desk.

She grimaced. “I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have touched your things. The book was sitting there on the desk and I just flicked it open without thinking. To start with, I was only reading it to pass the time until you returned to your office.” With a shake of her head, she released an audible sigh. “But you're right. I apologize. It was the height of rudeness and a gross invasion of privacy.”

She reached out a hand and Morgan, thinking she was going for the book again, promptly slammed his fist down on it. It was the journal he'd used to chart his progress in the search for the
Dreamtime Fire
.

Damn, he was an idiot. He should have left the book in his apartment. Gillian Adams was the last person he wanted reading his notes.

He picked it up and made a production of locking it in the top drawer. Then he bent and grabbed the map of Queensland Gili had left on the floor, folding it up and tossing it among the paperwork on the desk. “Why are you here, Gili?”

“I have a job to do in Australia.”

“What, you just happened to turn up in Brisbane
and
at the university while I was here?”
Yeah right
. “What are you after, Gili?”

He narrowed his eyes and stared at her. She wasn't as blasé as she was making out. She shuffled from foot to foot as if getting ready to bolt. And she'd gripped her hands together at her waist, the fingers interlaced, but he could see the tremors every time she flexed them.

“Well, you
did
tell me you lectured in Aboriginal anthropology for the summer school program. It didn't take much effort to find out via the internet that the summer semester in Australia is from November to February.”

She tucked her arms tightly across her chest and leaned her hip against the edge of the desk. The pose pushed her breasts high and Morgan had no trouble working out she wasn't wearing a bra. His lower body tightened in reaction at the thought of those breasts. Damn it, six years should have been long enough for his body to forget. Apparently not, but that didn't mean he had to do anything about it. She'd gotten under his skin once. No way was he letting his guard down this time around.

“Hi, Gili. Bye, Gili.” He raised one eyebrow and flicked a sardonic smile at her as he pointed over his shoulder. “There's the door. Don't let it hit you on the ass on the way out.”

Okay, that's totally crass, Morgan old boy, but hell, what does she expect
?

She straightened and dropped her arms, hands fisted at her sides. “Can't we even have a civil conversation, Morgan? I really do need to talk to you.”

“For the life of me, I can't imagine why. Best I remember, we said all we had to say six years ago. Round about the time you tried to seduce me.”

“
I
seduced
you
?” She burst out laughing, although there was more anger than amusement to the sound. “That's not how I remember it. You trailed around after me for six weeks with your tongue just about wiping the floor. You were determined to get me into bed and everyone on that dig knew it.”

“Hah, don't tell me you didn't enjoy every minute of that time. Right up to the moment when you swiped that seal ring out from under my nose.”

“I. Am. Not. A. Thief,” she spat out, a telling pause between each word. A rush of color flooded her cheeks and her breasts rose and fell with her rapid breathing.

As his body responded yet again, Morgan shook his head. It was her fire that had attracted him in the first place. If he wasn't careful, he'd fall into the same trap all over again. Maybe if he pissed her off, she'd get angry enough to march out in a huff and leave him alone.

“I did
not
steal that ring, Morgan.” Her voice had softened, but was just as determined.

“No, you just provided the distraction so your partner could do the dirty work. A great scheme, I must say. You sure had me fooled.”

He stared at her, at her glittering eyes and the slight wobble of her little pointed chin.

Tears?

Ah, hell, he didn't mean to make her cry.

What did you mean, asshole?

He groaned under his breath. He was being a jerk, but it was the only way he knew to protect himself. He wasn't about to go through this again.

“Jeremy was my
boss
, not my partner. And there was no scheme as far as I was concerned. I had nothing to do with it.”

“Yeah, right.” Keeping his face shuttered and pulling the anger about him like a cloak, he suddenly flicked his fingers. “Hey, come to think of it, you owe me, lady. We never did finish that night of debauchery
you
started in Iran. Hell, I never even got to use any of those fancy, glow-in-the-dark condoms you bought. Talk about leaving a man hanging. Maybe I should start collecting now.”

Morgan winced as the words tumbled out of his mouth. He sounded like an arrogant prick. Damn it, he was
acting
like an arrogant prick, but all he could remember at that moment was the pain she'd left behind when she'd betrayed him and disappeared.

“Oh my God, do you actually believe that crap you're sprouting?” she gasped, her face blanching.

She swallowed and dragged in an audible breath before moving closer and poking her finger in his chest. “The way I remember it, we'd no sooner arrived at the condom stage when you jumped out of bed and took off without any explanation. I lay there for half an hour wondering what the heck I'd done wrong. Only to have you return and accuse me of being a thief. If anyone was left high and dry it was me.”

Damn. She was right…to a point, anyway.

“I tried to find you the next morning, but you'd left the site.” He paused a moment. “Along with the ring.”

“You think I'm going to stay around after that? I'm not that desperate.” She eyed him up and down, a smile full of derision twisting her lips. “Baby, you looked like a good thing, but not
that
good.”

Morgan felt the lash of her scorn. It flicked him raw. His pulse pounded in his head and common sense disappeared in a heartbeat as another burst of anger rushed through him. He whipped an arm about her waist and pulled her close, flattening her breasts against his chest.

How could he have forgotten these glorious breasts?

That was the problem. He hadn't forgotten anything, including the pain of thinking she'd betrayed him.

Before she could protest his caveman tactics, he lowered his head and captured her mouth in a savage kiss. Sensation slammed into him, driving through his blood like a bushfire out of control. Heat rolled over him, stiffening certain parts of his anatomy into almost painful proportions.

He wanted to punish her for leaving the way she had, but what started as a kiss of retribution soon softened, took on a richer texture.

Hunger rode him.

Sudden.

Intense.

Until his legs shook and his fingers dug into her soft arms.

Wanting more, he increased the pressure, his tongue flicking at the seam of her mouth. She immediately opened to him and he submerged himself in her tantalizing taste.

With a groan, he angled his hips until his erection pressed against her lower stomach. He was right. Six years wasn't anywhere near enough time.

Gili whimpered as Morgan slanted his mouth over hers. For a moment, she resisted his dominance. Then, with a little shiver, she gave in to the swirl of emotions taking over her body. Despite having a job to do, she had a sneaky suspicion this was what she'd wanted all along.

Her breathing sped up as she threw herself into the kiss. His mouth softened, gliding over hers. He nipped at her bottom lip before soothing the love bite with the hot sweep of his tongue. He tasted of peppermint and coffee. Of hot burning sun and rolling sand dunes. Of memories best forgotten…if only her body would cooperate.

He increased the pressure and a soft moan slid from Gili's throat. Her pulse kicked up a notch. Her nipples peaked against the jersey fabric of her top. Hormones went on the rampage and heat drove through her, pooling low in the pit of her stomach.

When he thrust his tongue into her mouth in a parody of the ultimate surrender, she gave in. Common sense dictated she resist, but she wanted it too badly. She'd hungered for his touch for too long.

Besides, her mind and body had already made the decision for her. She met him half way, her tongue twining with his, drawing him deep. Tasting. Teasing.

She breathed him in, the tangy aroma of aftershave, the heated musk of sweaty male. All combined, it drove her crazy. Made her feel out of control
and
a little bit afraid.

Every relationship since she'd met Morgan had been a total waste of time. They'd all paled into insignificance compared to what she'd felt for the Aussie anthropologist.

He'd spoiled her for any other man. He'd swept her off her feet. Made her feel things she'd never experienced before. How could that have happened in such a short space of time?

Before she'd had a chance to fill the hungry void deep inside, he broke off the kiss and pushed her back. The abrupt deprivation of his touch, his heat, made Gili reel. She shook her head and stared at him as she came to a realization.
Oh damn, I am such a goner
.