Canyon of the Sphinx (23 page)

She just shook her head and
walked towards the path leading out of the gully. Turning, he went after her.
"Kathlyn, I’m sorry.”

She was half way up the slope,
refusing to respond to him. He clamored up after her, struggling to catch up.

  "Kathlyn," he called
after her. "Don’t ignore me. Answer me."

 She turned on him in a voice he
didn’t recognize, so icy and vicious that it made his blood run cold.  “You
just stay away from me right now,” she hissed. “Go apologize to Murphy for
being a jealous ass. I hope he can forgive you. I’m not sure I can.”

He stood below her on the path,
gazing up at her with eyes that were as wide open as the Mexican sky. Every
guard, every defense, was down and he was as vulnerable as he had ever been in
his life.

“Don’t say that,” he begged
quietly. “I said I was sorry. I told you that I trust you implicitly, and I do.
But when I saw all of that… hell, Kathlyn, I just snapped. I won’t apologize
for wanting to protect what is mine.”

“You don’t know the meaning of
the word trust,” she snarled. “I believed you when you told me you had never
touched Jensen Elder. Maybe I should rethink my position.”

It was a cruel blow. She couldn’t
have done more damage if she had physically attacked him. Marcus watched her as
she turned and wandered back into the jungle. He waited a nominal amount of
time before following.

When they had vanished, Dennis
and Mark looked at each other. It was Dennis who let out a soft whistle.

“God Almighty,” he said. “I never
thought I’d see anything like that between them, ever.”

Mark was stunned. For as long as
he had known Kathlyn, he knew her very well and knew that she was hurting
beyond words. Marcus had cut her deeply, though the man’s reaction had been
completely understandable. For a fraction of a second, they all thought what
Marcus had thought. He wasn’t entirely to blame for his reaction.

“I’m so sorry,” Christopher’s
soft voice floated on the air.

Mark and Dennis turned to him; he
was pretty beat up, but solid enough. Dennis just looked at him and shook his
head.

“Don’t you know never to touch
another man’s wife, least of all Marcus Burton’s wife?” he asked pointedly.

Christopher was ashamed, deeply
ashamed. He was also deeply emotional about it. “It didn’t even occur to me,”
he said, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. “I just… I was excited
and… oh, hell, that’s not true. Tell Burton if you want to, but I wanted to hug
her. She tried to pull away, but I grabbed her. It’s my fault and if he wants
to try to kill me again, let him come. He can do whatever he wants; I deserve
it. I don’t know what in the hell I was thinking other than the fact that she’s
a beautiful woman and I… oh, hell, I just don’t know.”

Dennis was prepared to plow into
him again but Mark stopped him. “No way, man,” he said to Dennis. “This isn’t
our fight. And there’s no way in hell you’re going to tell Marcus what he just
said. Do you understand me?”

Dennis muttered a curse and
turned away, making his way back to the trail. Mark watched him wander away
before turning back to Christopher.

“Dr. Murphy,” he said steadily.
“You’ve got your city.  Kathlyn did her job. But you stay the hell away from
her now, do you comprehend me? So help me, I’ll kill you myself if you come
near her.”

Christopher put up his hands in a
surrendering gesture. As Mark walked after Dennis, he just stood there, never
feeling so terrible in his entire life.

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

April

Los
Angeles, California

Marcus had been to Lynn’s home
many times throughout college. It was in an area of central Los Angeles that
was wracked with drive-by shootings and drug dealers. But Lynn’s mother kept a
neat, tidy house behind a wrought iron and brick fence, guarded by two big
pit-bulls in the front yard.

 The dogs came running at him as
he rang the bell on the gate.  Lynn emerged from the house less than a second
later, calling off the dogs and practically running out to open the gate. He
looked at Marcus and when their eyes met, the only thing he could do was hug
the man. He looked like hell.

“Welcome back, man,” he said
softly. “Mama’s got a whole lot of food waiting for you. She knows how much you
like to eat good home cooking.”

Marcus smiled weakly. He was
unshaven and pale, and his short dark hair was in desperate need of a cut. He
looked thinner to Lynn. He wasn’t himself at all.

“I wish she hadn’t gone through
all that trouble,” Marcus said. He couldn’t even wait until they got to the
front porch before asking the obvious. “Have you talked to Kathlyn?”

Lynn opened the front door for
him, kicking one of the dogs out of the way. Before he could answer the
question, Lynn’s mother was there and gave Marcus a big hug. She was a round
white woman in a black neighborhood, but the entire neighborhood loved her as
one of their own. She was especially fond of Marcus.

“Come on, baby, sit down,” she
coaxed him. “It’s been such a long time. How are those babies of yours?”

“They’re fine,” he said, forcing
a smile. “Growing like crazy.”

Lynn’s mother knew all about what
was going on with Kathlyn and Marcus. With Juliana and Lynn living in the
house, it was hard not to know everything that was going on.

“I’ll bet those boys are big like
their daddy,” she said. “How old are they now? Two?”

Marcus nodded, thinking of the
tow-headed twins. “Just over two. And the baby just had her first birthday.”

“Juliana told me,” Mama said. She
didn’t waste any more time on that subject because she could see the pain in
Marcus’ eyes. “Well, you must be hungry. I’ve fixed a whole mess of stuff to
eat and, as I recall, your favorite, Key Lime pie.”

Marcus didn’t want to eat. He
wanted to talk to Lynn. But Mama had gone to a lot of trouble and he wouldn’t
be rude. He stood up and walked into the kitchen, where Mama had a huge spread
laid out. She gestured for him to sit down at the old Formica table.

“Oh,” she exclaimed softly.
“Forgot the sun tea. I’ll be right back.”

She waddled out of the kitchen
out of the back porch. Marcus raked his fingers through is hair, put off by the
sight of so much food. Lynn sat down beside him.

“Where’s Juliana?” Marcus asked.

“She had to run an errand for
Mama,” he said. “She’ll be back.”

“Have you guys talked to
Kathlyn?”

Lynn took a deep breath as he
poured himself some cola. “Juliana talks to her every day, sometimes two or
three times.” He looked at Marcus. “She’s changed, man. She’s hard and angry
and Juliana can’t seem to break through to her.”

Marcus knew that. He sat forward,
his elbows resting on the table. “We’ve been back from the Yucatan for a month
now. She wouldn’t even fly home on the same plane with me.”

“I know.”

“She kept the kids at her mom’s
house and I could only go visit them when she wasn’t there.”

“I know.”

Marcus rolled his eyes,
frustrated with the whole thing. “I know you know. I’d go to the house at odd
hours, hoping to catch her there, and she’d be gone. Then I find out she’s gone
on a lecture tour for SCU. McGrath has sent her around to several universities
in California to talk about her adventures and the school is apparently raking
in a small fortune. He said she had to go or she would have gone crazy.”

Lynn nodded; he knew all of this,
too. “He was only trying to help, Marcus. Sending her out, away from all of
this and away from you, was a way of maybe helping her to think more clearly.
There’s so much going on right now, with the trial coming up and all. He didn’t
do it to separate the two of you.”

“We’re already separated,”
Marcus’ voice was hoarse. “She won’t even talk to me. So I took the kids from
her mom and took them back up with me to Modesto.”

“What are you going to do up
there?”

Marcus toyed with his fork; there
were dark circles under the cobalt blue eyes. “Bardwell has offered me a
professorship in spite of everything that’s going on with the IRS. I’m going to
take it and move home. With the kids. I just want to forget about Egypt and
everything that’s happened there over the past four years.”

“What about your wife?”

He snorted ironically. “Well,
now, that’s a good question. I think she’s had it with me. I keep waiting for
divorce papers along with the paternity paperwork that they keep threatening me
with.” He covered his face with his hands. “Who goddamn knew my life was going
to turn out like this. Sometimes I wish I’d never heard the name Kathlyn
Trent.”

“You don’t mean that.”

Marcus paused and uncovered his
face. “No, I don’t,” he whispered. “But there are times I wish I was dead. Without
Kathlyn, there isn’t much point in life.”

Lynn had known Marcus for years.
He’d never heard the man so down on himself. Rock-hard, tough-as-nails Marcus
Burton was having the weakest human moment of his life.

“Do you know where she is right
now?” Lynn asked softly.

“Somewhere in San Diego, I’m
told. McGrath has given me her itinerary, so I know every move she makes. I
don’t think she knows that, and it’s probably best that way.”

“Probably. But what about the
trial? I thought the date was coming up soon.”

“It was. Robert postponed it for
another two months. He says Kathlyn can’t take anymore strain right now. He’s
afraid she’s going to have a nervous breakdown.”

 Mama came back in with the sun
tea and poured a big glass for Marcus. He took a long, healthy drink and
realized he could probably eat something. He couldn’t remember when he last
ate. Mama put a giant helping of macaroni and cheese on his plate and was about
to throw him a slab of cornbread when the dogs began barking and the front
screen slammed open.

“Baby’s back,” Mama announced.
She stuck her head out of the kitchen door. “We’re in here, honey.”

Marcus wanted to see Juliana
almost more than he wanted to see Lynn. She was someone who knew Kathlyn almost
better than he did. He turned around when he heard the footsteps and looked in
the kitchen door only to see something he never thought he would ever see
again.

Kathlyn was standing in front of
him with a shocked look on her face.  Dressed in a Burgundy-colored suit, she
looked like she had just stepped off the lecture circuit. But Marcus noticed
one thing immediately; she was far too thin, thinner than he had ever seen her.
There was no health to her face at all.

“You!” she gasped.  She whirled
to Juliana, standing behind her. “What in the hell is going on here?”

Marcus bolted up from his chair.
He wasn’t sure what to do or say, but one thing was for certain; he wasn’t
going to let her out of his sight.

“Don’t be angry, Kat,” Juliana
pleaded; she looked rounded and rosy with pregnancy. “Lynn and I thought that
if you two could only talk….”

“I don’t want to talk to him,”
Kathlyn shouted, trying to push past her. “You lied to me. You set me up. You
said we were going to have dinner with Lynn and his mother!”

“I didn’t lie to you,” Juliana
sounded firmer. “You never asked me if Marcus was going to be here.”

Kathlyn was furious; she turned
to Marcus, her green eyes blazing. “You arranged this, didn’t you? Christ,
you’re a sneaky bastard. You just couldn’t wait for me to come to you on my own
terms; we had to do it your way!”

“Now, hold on,” Marcus found his
voice. “I didn’t know anything about this.”

“He didn’t, Kathlyn,” Lynn said. “I
brought him here. He didn’t know you were coming, I swear it.”

Kathlyn was feeling shaken and
betrayed. For a month she had done nothing but make herself sick over the
entire situation. But she wasn’t ready to face him yet. Now, he was here,
larger than life and looking every inch the desperate, repentant soul.  Half of
her wanted to throw herself at his feet and plead forgiveness for her
unreasonable fury. But the other half was still very much hurt, very much
angry.

 “No,” she said after a moment.
“I’m not staying here. I can’t.”

“Yes, you can,” Juliana had her
by the arms. “You’re not going anywhere until you talk to him. You’re two of
the most stubborn people I’ve ever met and you’re going to hash this out right
now, do you hear me? I’m sick of you calling me every day, crying about how
miserable you are. It’s your own fault that you’re miserable.”

Kathlyn’s initial shock was
fading.  She gazed into Juliana’s olive green eyes. “So you’re telling me that
what he did was perfectly reasonable?”

“No,” Juliana replied. “It was
horrible. But for Heaven’s sake, get over it. It’s not like he did something so
terrible that he should be punished for the rest of his life.  You hurt so much
that you’re determined to make him hurt, too.  That’s petty and selfish, and
I’m ashamed of you.”