The Eden Factor (Kathlyn Trent/Marcus Burton Romance Adventure Series Book 2) (30 page)

 He found Kathlyn helping a
couple of the roadies load up boxes of canned food. He immediately grumped at
her, took the box from her, and passed it up to the waiting worker. She put her
hands on her hips and frowned at him.

"It wasn't that heavy,"
she said.

He gave her one of those classic
Marcus Burton condescending looks. "You shouldn't be doing anything like
that and you know it."

"It's just a box."

"Full of heavy cans."

She rolled her eyes at him and
turned away, walking toward the front of the truck. "Can I at least walk
on my own or do you want to do that for me too?"

"Don't be a smart ass."

She turned and stuck her tongue
at him, half serious, half not.  He cocked an eyebrow, watching her dig through
a bag on the passenger side of the truck.

"How close are we to
leaving?" he asked.

"Close enough," she
pulled out an earplug that went to the cellular phone and began fooling with
it. “Mark and Juliana are getting the last of their stuff together
and...."

She was cut off by a shout from
Debra Jo. The red head was jogging toward her, the Iridium cellular phone
outstretched.

"Kat!" she said again.
"Ballard!"

Kathlyn took the phone, wriggling
her eyebrows at Marcus. "Hello, Don," she said into the phone.
"How are you?"

Marcus watched her pace away from
him, one ear plugged, listening to Dr. Ballard on the other end of the phone.
It was noon in Egypt, at least midnight in Los Angeles. Kathlyn seemed to be
concentrating intently on whatever Ballard had to say. The man and his
corporation had remained painfully silent throughout the entire ordeal when
they had always been the foremost sponsors of anything Kathlyn had ever done.
Although she would never admit it, he knew she felt somewhat abandoned. He was
pleasantly surprised that Ballard's phone call had come when it did.

"Did he say why he was
calling?" Marcus asked Debra Jo.

She shook her head. "He just
wanted to talk to Kathlyn. Lord, I hope it's good news, like a full sponsorship
for this expedition and the lead article in the January issue."

Marcus grunted. "That would
almost make it all worthwhile, wouldn't it?"

Debra Jo nodded as they both
continued to watch Kathlyn pace about. Her voice was too low for them to hear
what she was saying.  Juliana and Mark came up, loading a couple of big duffle
bags into the truck, and curiously watching Kathlyn as she talked on the phone
and walked in a circle. Marcus told them what was up and a gleam of
anticipation came to their eye. It was the same gleam Kathlyn got when she was
excited about something. Marcus thought all these wacky Biblical Archaeologists
were cut out of the same mold.

 Just when they thought they
couldn't stand it any longer, Kathlyn abruptly turned off the phone. She was
several yards away by this time and retraced her steps. Marcus, his arms
crossed and lazily leaning back against the truck, was the first to speak.

"Well?"

Kathlyn looked at him.
"World Geography is backing me all the way and I get a full spread in the
January issue," she smiled at Juliana and Mark as they congratulated each
other. Then she looked back at Marcus. "But Ballard said that due to
liability issues, my team and only my team are allowed to go on this little
excursion. No one else."

Marcus' good mood fled.
"Bull. I'm going with you."

She shook her head gently.
"You can't. Marcus, if something were to happen, Ballard would never
sponsor me again." Before Marcus could explode completely, she put her
hands on his arms. "He's got the same opinion of me that you do; he knows
that things were very relaxed in the past with Dougray and he doesn't run the
business the same way. He says things are going to be tight from now on,
meaning I have to do what I am told to the letter or he'll cut off all
sponsorship. That means that non-contracted personnel can't go on any foray
backed by World Geography, including you."

Marcus' jaw ticked furiously.
"Then officially put me on your team."

"I will. But that will take
days and we don't have the time."

Marcus' cheeks flushed and Mark,
Juliana and Debra Jo decided it was a very good time to leave. They slipped
away as Marcus' outrage gained steam.

"We've had this discussion
before. If you think for one minute I'm going to let you go without me, you're out
of your mind.  With everything that's happened, I can't even imagine that you
would consider going anywhere alone."

She wasn't going to match his
outrage. She understood it completely. "I've been doing this kind of thing
alone for many years before I met you," she reminded him softly.
"Three days, Marcus. I'll only be gone three days."

He wasn't satisfied in the least.
"SCU was backing you, and my presence as well, up until five minutes ago.
Tell Ballard you refuse his sponsorship if I can't go."

"It's not that easy. If I do
that, I lose the article as well and potentially, any future sponsorship. World
Geography is like a pipeline to the world, Marcus, you know that. The exposure
is incredible and from that, dollars pouring into SCU and World Geography to
fund even more expeditions.  This is bigger than you and me."

Marcus was so angry he could
barely speak. "Does Ballard know about your abduction?"

"No."

"Then you tell him or I
will. Tell him I'm going along to protect you if for no other reason than that."

She didn't become upset with him.
She understood him completely, but he needed to understand her as well.
"Marcus, when we got married, it didn't mean we were physically joined at
the hip. You and I do everything together; we've compromised each other's
careers, one for the sake of the other. We haven't been apart in two years.
Every day I live, breath and dream you. I love you more than I can express. But
there has to come a point in time when we may have to do things separately,
that you will have to let me go for a brief amount of time, and trust that I
know what I'm doing. I'm not stupid; I can take care of myself and I have
exceptional common sense. I made it thirty-five years in life without you and I
think I'm pretty capable. You must trust me, just a little."

He gazed down at her, the hard
stare she was so accustomed to. "So you're putting your career over my
feelings."

"No. But you're putting your
feelings over my career."

The ticking in his jaw
increased.  "Don't turn this around on me. I'm seriously concerned for
your health and safety and you're telling me that some damn article is more
important."

She removed her hands from his
arms. There was no reasoning with him right now. With a shake of her head, she
turned and walked away. Marcus followed.

"Don't shut me out, Kathlyn.
This is damn serious."

She paused. "Yes, it is, but
it's like beating my head against a wall. You're so protective that you smother
me sometimes, Marcus. You've got to let me breathe."

"This isn't a matter of
breathing, Kathlyn.  It's a matter of you going into a hostile country, into an
uncertain situation, and I'm not going to let you go without me. If I didn't
care about you, I wouldn't say a word. But I love you and I don't want anything
to happen to you."

"But you're trying to live
my life for me, don't you see?" she said. "You knew what I was when
you married me. For two years, I haven't done any of what I normally do. I've
stayed here with you, in Egypt, and I've been quite happy with that. But I want
to go to Iraq, Marcus, and I want you to understand that I must do this with or
without your approval."

He just looked at her.  "So
it doesn't matter how I feel?"

"Of course it does. But you
need to let me do this, with or without you."

Marcus could see where this was
going. He felt desperate and furious and hurt at the same time.  "Then
you're basically saying that I don't matter."

Now Kathlyn became angry.
"Don't you dare say that, not ever. You know that's not true and you're
just trying to lay a guilt trip on me.  I'd do anything in the world for you or
give up anything in the world for you. I love you more than anything. But this
isn't an issue of any of that.  It's an issue of you having faith in me and
letting me spread my wings when I need to."

He knew his statement had been
unfair and she had called him on it.  He uncrossed his arms and just stared at
her, his expression slackening into one of almost grief. "You have no idea
what it would do to me if something happened to you," he said hoarsely.
"When you were gone just those few days, I thought I was losing my goddamn
mind."

She reached out and he grasped
her hand, putting it to his lips. He squeezed his eyes shut, painfully, as she
spoke.

 "You're my life, Marcus
Burton," she whispered. "Never forget that. I will always return to
you, just as I know you will always return to me. You and I are soul mates in
every sense of the word. But you have to let me live my life."

It took her a moment to realize
there were tears glistening off his lashes. Shocked, she wrapped her arms
around his neck and he lifted her up so that her feet dangled off the ground.
He buried his face in her shoulder.

"I just don't want to lose
you," he murmured.

She held him tightly. "You
won't, I promise."

"But I'll have absolutely no
control over what happens to you."

"Everything will be fine,
please believe me," she kissed his ear. "It's hard enough for me to
go without knowing I've left you an emotional wreck. Please be strong for
me."

He pulled his face out of her
shirt and looked at her. "I may be a bully and an ass, as you have called
me in the past, but you've got to realize that deep down, I'm nothing but a
weakling."

She smiled. "I love you just
the way you are."

He let her slide to the ground.
"So I guess I've got to let you go."

"Please?"

He cocked an eyebrow.
"Thanks for making me feel like you're at least asking my
permission."

"So can I?"

He sighed heavily. "Three
days, Kathlyn."

She nodded her head obediently.
"Three days."

CHAPTER
FOURTEEN

Six hours, fourteen minutes and
thirty-seven seconds. That's exactly how long Kathlyn had been away from him.
She had promised that she would call in at regular intervals to reassure him
she was well. Any deviation from the schedule they had worked out would have
Marcus swooping into Iraq under the impression that she needed saving. 
Regularly scheduled calls every eight hours was the only way he would peaceably
let her go.

It was mid-day hot. Humidity had
risen from the Nile, giving the air a very sticky feel as Marcus trudged up to
the site. The tomb itself was immune to the blaring heat, offering a dark, cool
retreat. He moved down the slanted passageway that led to the first chamber and
the familiar smell of musty oldness filled his nostrils. The exceptionally
steep stairs that led from Chamber A to the tomb below had become something of
a hazard and for safety's sake they had installed much-needed handrails. He
didn't like the look of them, but they were necessary.

 Marcus passed through the
half-excavated Chambers D and E and into the sarcophagus room.  It seemed so
empty without Kathlyn and her team; he kept expecting to run into Otis and his
engineering calculator, or the doctoral students as they filmed every bit of
brushing and drilling as if they were Hollywood's greatest directors.  Now it
was just him, Lynn, Gary and Dennis, and although it was a crack team, he still
missed the experience and excitement of Kathlyn Trent's team. He hadn't
realized until this moment how much of an integral part they had become. But
one thing he knew for sure; he missed his wife so bad that he ached.

Lynn was in the sarcophagus
chamber when he got there. They were drawing closer and closer to the actual
removal of the coffin containing Ay's mummy. While Marcus had been traveling
with his wife, the team had made great strides in preparing a system to remove
the coffin. Marcus had been consulted at every turn; as site director, it was
his right, but also as a genius in math and engineering, his input was
critical.

  "I've got Dennis coming
down here in a few minutes." Lynn had been crouched beside the
sarcophagus. He stood up and removed a glove, scratching his bald head.
"He and Gary are going to help us get some leverage on this coffin lid so
we can slip the slings underneath it.  At this rate, we ought to have this
removed by next week."

It had taken them almost two
years to get to this point.  There had been three concentric coffins and upon
removing the top portion of each one, there had been months of careful
examination of what lay beneath.  Beaded shrouds and wreaths of ancient flowers
had been the gist of what they'd discovered. A Paleobotanist from the EAO had
been on site for nearly a year, an older woman who took delight in even the
smallest ancient leaf fragment.  Now they were at the third coffin lid, the
last one, and the anticipation was growing.  Marcus just wished it had his full
concentration.