Undiscovered (Treasure Hunter Security Book 1) (8 page)

Then she paused. “Declan—”

His gaze met hers and for a beat, they stared at each other.

He wasn’t sure who moved first, her or him, but she was back in his arms, the kiss hot and just a little wild.

When she pulled back, she licked her lips, her gaze a little dazed.

Shit
. Layne Rush was going to be a problem. One he knew he should steer clear of, but wasn’t going to.

“Climb the ladder, Rush.”

“Ladder. Right.” She grabbed the rope rung and climbed. Dec followed her up, and every time he glanced upward he was rewarded with a view of her spectacular ass flexing under her cargo trousers.

He drew in a breath.

She reached the top and pulled herself over. Dec cleared the last few rungs and climbed out. His team was waiting at the top.

“Nice of you to join us,” Logan drawled.

Dec barely resisted giving his friend the finger. “We need to talk.” Subtly, Dec tipped his head toward the hole. “Some new finds will need securing.”

Logan’s eyes widened a fraction. “Sure thing.” The man turned to Layne. “Doc, we’ve put the statue in the work tent.”

“The statue?”

Logan raised a brow. “Yeah, the stone one you were so excited about. The one that almost dropped on your head.”

“Oh, right.” She shook her head. “Right. I’ll take a look at it.” Then her shoulders sagged. “First, I need to deal with the scaffold mess—”

“Go, Rush.”

She glanced up at Declan.

“Go.” Dec jerked his head toward the work tent. He knew she was dying to get her hands on the scroll nestled in the bag on her shoulder. “I’ll deal with the scaffold.”

She looked torn. “You’re sure?”

His lips quirked. “You’ll have to thank me again.”

That snapped her spine straight, and for a second he thought she was going to be stubborn and decide to deal with the scaffold anyway.

Declan shook his head. “You know what? I’ll let you off this time.”

“Doc?” Piper Ross hurried over, followed by some other members of the team.

“Dr. Rush, the statue is amazing,” a young man said, waving his hands. “You need to see it.”

As her archeologists reached her, she shared one last look with Declan, then she turned and followed her team.

“You want to tell me what really happened down there?” Logan said, once Layne was out of earshot.

“Yeah. We found a tomb. Paintings, artifacts…and a gold sarcophagus. And a secret golden scroll.”

“Shit.” Logan stepped in front of him. “And you going to tell me why your hair is all messed up, and the lovely doctor had swollen lips like someone just kissed the hell out of her?”

Dec straightened, and saw Hale and Morgan grinning at him. “No idea what you’re talking about.”

Logan just raised a brow at him.

Dec turned away. “Come on, O’Connor. Instead of gossiping, how about we get to work?”

***

The sun was setting, turning the desert sands gold, orange, and red.

Dec stood near the edge of the camp, staring out at the sunset.

He figured the beautiful view should make his breath catch, or make him feel…something. Instead, he didn’t feel much at all.

He rubbed his belly, feeling the thick ridge of scar tissue through the cotton of his shirt. He’d gotten out, he’d survived. He had friends, family, and a really good business. One he enjoyed.

He should quit worrying because a sunset didn’t excite him.

Besides, one thing had really excited him—kissing Layne Rush.

Dec closed his eyes. God, he had work to do. He didn’t need a super-smart, opinionated woman messing him up. And she certainly didn’t need a man like him messing up her life. She had no idea what he was truly capable of.

As he turned to face the darkening camp, his jaw tightened.

The local workers were all gathered around a fire, talking quietly and drinking what they called coffee. The stuff tasted like dirt and twigs to him, so he steered clear of it.

What was worrying him was his and Logan’s analysis of the scaffold. He’d spent a couple of hours down in the excavation with Logan, cleaning it up and helping the workers put the scaffold back together.

He had nothing definitive, but there were small signs that said its collapse hadn’t been an accident.

The scratch marks on the anchor points, the loose and worn bolts. It could just be a coincidence, but Dec wasn’t really one for hoping things were just a quirk of fate. Too many times on a mission with his SEAL team, he’d seen that coincidence turn into a big pile of shit.

It paid to gather information, plan and be ready, just in case coincidence turned out to be someone with a hard-on for making your day suck.

Dec touched his earpiece. “Logan? Everything quiet?”

“As a graveyard,” Logan replied.

“This is technically a graveyard.” Dec’s dark thoughts went back to the collapsed scaffold. He could picture Layne standing there, about to be crushed. “Let’s just keep it an ancient one, not a modern-day one.”

“Boogeyman getting to you, Dec?” Morgan’s voice.

“The scaffold incident has left me cautious.”

Logan’s snort came clearly through the line. “You’re always cautious. Cautious is your middle name.”

“Just keep an eye out, okay?”

“Always do.”

Dec circled the camp. He checked the smaller personal tents. Most were dark, everyone exhausted from a busy day. One or two had faint lights on inside. The archeologists reading up or planning for the next day.

Then he spotted the larger storage and work tents.

One still had lights burning bright.

He knew who was up and working.

The canvas flap of the doorway was rolled up and tied. He stood there for a second, watching her.

She wasn’t hard to watch. She was bent over a makeshift wooden bench. On top of it lay the golden scroll from the sarcophagus. She wasn’t wearing her hat now, and her rich, dark hair fell around her shoulders.

She was wearing gloves and touching the scroll like it was the most precious thing she’d ever seen. The look on her face…it trapped his gaze. He stepped closer, trying to see exactly what she was looking at. She grabbed a pen and scratched some notes down in the notebook at her elbow.

Then she straightened like she’d been shot and spun toward him. She led with her fist, her green-gold eyes wide, her body tensed.

Not expecting the move at all, her fist slammed into his face.

“Goddammit.” He staggered backward, grabbing his nose. “What the hell, Rush?”

The air rushed out of her. “Dammit, Declan, you scared me.”

“So you thought you’d punch me?”

“I thought you were an attacker.” She bit down on her lip, looking like she was trying not to laugh.

“It hurts,” he said with a burst of annoyance.

Now she did laugh. “I know. I’m sorry.”

He probed it gently. “Don’t think you broke it.”

She looked contrite now. “It’s been broken before.”

“Yeah, my brother Callum slugged me in the face when we were kids. My father grounded him and my mother told me to move quicker next time.”

Layne’s lips twitched. “Should I get you some ice?”

“I’m fine.”

“God, you move quietly. You really did scare me.”

“Sorry. My training. And nothing to do with the fact that you were completely absorbed in your work.”

She tilted her head. “They teach you to be super quiet in security school?”

Damn, she could be a smart aleck. “No, in SEAL training. You need to pay more attention to your surroundings, Rush.”

“I will.”

He snorted, not buying her contrite tone for a second. “Is your hand okay?”

She flexed it. “I’ll survive.”

“So, how’s the work going?” he asked.

“Okay.” Her nose screwed up in an adorable fashion. “I’ve been working to translate the hieroglyphs etched on the scroll.” She lifted a magnifying glass over the golden surface.

Dec studied the symbols.

“The occupant of the tomb is Itennu. He was a high-ranking priest of Seth, and he commissioned this scroll. I haven’t finished deciphering all of it yet. I’ll be honest, most of it just doesn’t make sense.” She sighed. “I think I’m missing something. Added to that, some of the hieroglyphs are a little unusual, so it’s taking me some time to translate them. This one here has me stumped—” She pointed to a tiny squiggle. “I’m going to need to pull my books and tablet out…” She drifted off. “I’m boring you.”

“Not at all. We might not see eye-to-eye on running all aspects of this dig, Rush, but I admire your excitement and enthusiasm for your work.”

She was staring at him like he’d shocked her. Her gaze ran over his face. He felt much like the antiquities under her hands. A puzzle for her to decode.

He leaned closer, feeling her shoulder brush his side. “What’s this?”

There were some strange grooves in the center of the scroll where there were no hieroglyphs, except for that strange symbol she’d pointed at.

“I’m honestly not sure. It doesn’t look familiar.”

“You’ll work it out.” He turned his head, and she was watching him. Damn, his gut went hard. “Rush, keep looking at me like that and I’m going to kiss you again.”

She licked her lips and Dec swallowed a groan.

“I won’t deny I’m attracted to you,” she said. “But we have a business arrangement, Declan. And I don’t have time for a man like you.”

“A man like me?”

She waved a hand. “Sexy, potent, attractive.” When Declan grinned she rolled her eyes. “This dig has gotten off to a bad start. I need to ensure it goes smoothly from here. I’m sure the sex would be great…”

“Great? Rush, I assure you, it would be something well above
great
.”

That made her pause, a flush of color in her cheeks. “I’ve never really experienced anything above good.”

Dec made a pained sound. Oh, he wanted to strip her naked and show her just how amazing it could be. “That makes me want you more, not less. But you have a point.”

She blinked. “I do?”

He reached out and fiddled with the buttons on her shirt. “I’m not the man for you. I don’t do relationships. I’m not a forever kind of guy.” Jesus, for the first time in his life, he seriously regretted that. “You need someone better than me.” He held out his hands. “I’ve done too much, seen too much—” Dec broke off. Hell, he’d never told any woman anything like this before.

Rush cocked her hip. “You’re too big and bad for me, is that it?”

“Yes,” he said warily, her tone setting off warning bells in his head.

“Oh, I’m too innocent, sheltered, and naïve?”

“Ah…that’s not what I said.”

She shook her head at him. “You have no idea what I’ve lived through or experienced. We’ve all suffered horrible things, Declan. It doesn’t give you a free pass to cut yourself off from life.” She waved an angry hand. “Why don’t you just head off and brood in the shadows for a bit, Ward. Maybe find yourself a Batcave. I have work to do.”

When she gave him her back and turned her attention to the scroll, Dec just stared. What horrible things had Layne lived through? What made her voice quiver and her face go pale like that?

“Are you still here?” she asked.

Damn, this woman just loved busting his balls. “Someone will keep an eye on your work tent until you’re finished.” He didn’t tell her he’d shifted the schedule around to make sure he was the one watching her tent. “When you’re done, radio for one of us to walk you back to your tent. Got it?”

She didn’t even look at him. “Got it.”

Dec cleared his throat. He needed some distance between him and the lovely Dr. Rush. “Don’t stay up too late, and that hieroglyph you can’t decipher…”

She lifted her head.

“It stands for fierce protector.” With that, Dec exited the tent.

Chapter Six

The next morning, Layne stomped across the dig site, tucking her shirt into her trousers as she went.

She’d slept in. She knew she shouldn’t be angry at herself, as she’d stayed up way too late working on the scroll and then dreamed about a certain annoying, hard-bodied man, but she’d slept through her alarm and she hated being late.

After she’d gotten back to her tent the night before, escorted by the near-silent and intimidating Morgan, it had taken Layne a long time to fall asleep. Then she’d had strange dreams of golden sarcophagi and scrolls, and running through the desert dunes…then the dream had morphed into something else.

The sexy feel of a certain man’s hands and lips. Declan slowly stripping her naked, his stubble scraping her belly and thighs, her husky cries. She’d woken up with damp panties.

Ugh, why was she thinking about Declan? Mr. I’m-too-dark-and-brooding-for-you. God, he’d gotten her all twisted up inside.

He had been right about the obscure hieroglyph, though. It did mean fierce protector. But no matter how she arranged what she’d decoded on the scroll, none of it made sense.

And just how the hell did a former Navy SEAL-turned-security specialist know how to read hieroglyphs, anyway? She wasn’t buying that bull about ‘absorbing’ it on the job.

“Dr. Rush, nice to see you finally made an appearance.”

She barely stopped herself from groaning aloud. She did not have the time or the patience for Dr. Stiller and his attitude this morning.

“Morning to you, too, Aaron. What do you want?”

He looked affronted. “I want to know what the hell you are going to do about all this? To ensure our safety. Someone sabotaged the scaffold and nearly killed us! The local workers are starting to whisper about a curse, what with your attack and the theft, and now this.”

She froze. “Sabotaged the scaffold?”

A smug look crossed the man’s face. “Yes. Mr. Ward informed us that the scaffold was intentionally made to fall and told us to check all equipment for any signs of tampering.”

And Declan hadn’t told her. She dragged in a deep breath. “Declan and his team are the security experts. We follow their recommendations.” God, she needed some coffee. Or just some Diet Coke mainlined into her veins.

She spotted Declan watching a few of her team working a new area of excavation on the surface. Her guys were carefully dusting away sand from the large stone blocks.