Surrender (THE DRAGONFLY CHRONICLES) (17 page)

Jackson’s gaze met hers in an unwavering battle. “You’ve named me a treasure hunter, Dr. Whitaker. If you are accurate, you’ve answered your own question. I want treasure.”

Kailin’s heart beat hard. “You will take the orb then,” she accused.

“I hardly think that the orb is the only treasure to be found in the tomb that holds it. You can use whatever you need to free your father.” He held her stare, fusing with it, holding it hostage. “The rest is mine.”

Kailin stared back across the few feet separating them as they swayed in a tandem rhythm on their mounts. “Anthony gets credit for the discovery,” she bargained.

Jackson nodded once. “What does a treasure hunter care for fame? I am here for the money.” He shrugged, lips tight.

The planes of his face had hardened giving him the look of an outlaw. Rugged, beguiling, dangerous. The image caught at her breath and kicked against her heart. Heat fanned down through her body, racing along her veins like little flames.

“
Akh laa!
” Qeb shouted and pointed wildly behind her. “
Fire!
”

Chapter Eight

“Bloody hell!” Jackson yanked his camel in the direction Qeb jabbed his finger. Birds shot up from a line of low bushes marking the edge of the flood plain. Several snakes slithered in
S
-lines across the warming sand. “Control,
Astilva
!” he shouted as he jumped down and grabbed a thick blanket from the pack.

Kailin bristled at his command, but the splashing of two crocs sliding into the Nile made her groan. “Good God.” Kailin breathed and found her magic. It had expanded inside her chest with her emotion, nearly overflowing the bounds of her body. She imagined it small, clasping the wildly growing beast and pressing it inward. Reluctantly, fighting like a child used to little restriction, it struggled back into the hard shell of a pebble. Kailin opened her eyes. Qeb and Jackson beat at the flames that licked across the brittle scrub.

Kailin stared up at the clear, arid sky. Moisture? Was there any? She searched the waves of heat that had begun to roll off the sand like an oven. Affecting the weather was much easier on the British Isles where humidity hung pregnant in the air. Here, the sun sucked and the sand relinquished any moisture in the earth. Only a thin line of cloud formed above them as they worked. Nothing that could squelch flames.

The scrub connected to a long line of bushes running back toward an irrigated field. If she didn’t stop the fire, the farmer would lose his crops, livelihood, and food. Kailin urged her camel closer to the escaping line of flame.

“Cover,” she ordered and flipped her hand in the air, releasing the pebble, letting it expand toward the target. Sand surged up in a wave along the fire line. The wave crested and fell, dropping on top of the flames, smothering them. “Cover,” she repeated and flipped another wave of hot crystalline earth. The dried skeletal bushes disappeared under the blanket of sand, and so did the flames. Kailin’s gaze scanned the line, looking for smoldering twigs, but nothing except a long raised bed of sand remained.

She glanced to where Qeb and Jackson had been thumping the bushes with woolen blankets. Jackson stood holding his blanket loosely in his hands. Sweat glistened off his face as he stared out toward her. She watched his chest expand and contract with a long breath. Qeb stood with his blanket at his feet, arms dropped to the side, eyes wide as milk pans.

“
Ghul
,” Qeb said and backed up.

“No,” Jackson answered. “No demon.” He shook his head at the servant and repeated his statement in Arabic. “
Jinni
, genie.” He looked back at Kailin. “One who can’t control her magic.”

“That was not my fault,” Kailin said as Jackson tossed the singed blanket over the back of his camel.

“Because my motives angered you?” Jackson countered, one eyebrow raised. Qeb remounted but kept his cautious gaze on Kailin. “I gave you what you asked for. The truth. Your temper is your own fault, not mine.”

Kailin fought the blush she knew crept up her neck. She kept her magic locked behind her rib cage. Her anger was indeed misplaced. Most people didn’t usually start by blaming themselves, not if there are other appropriate outlets for the emotion. Yet this was being pointed out by the very man who hurled her far beyond mere irritation right into abject fury and some other emotion that sent her blood racing to spots she’d rather ignore.

Jackson had finally been honest. He wasn’t there for her, wasn’t intrigued by her. Maybe he was curious about her magic, or the spirit woman, or even the crone’s prophecy about the end of the world. But it wasn’t Kailin Whitaker that tethered him to this expedition. He was a treasure hunter and had seized an opportunity for gain. He was finally being honest and she was angry for it.

“Your motives are what they are. The fact that you’ve been lying to me, angered me,” she said, her words as dry and flat as stale toast. “I will not work with someone I cannot trust.”

“I rather doubt that Qeb will stay to help you after that show.”

Kailin let her eyes roam over the dunes ahead. To turn around would be wasteful. Time was important. She didn’t know what conditions Anthony was enduring. Kailin literally ground her teeth, her eyes half-mast, as she followed the sloped contours of the desert beyond. Blast her ridiculous claustrophobia. Without it, she could do this alone.

That would reveal my abilities
, her conscience whispered and she clenched her teeth at the truth. If a woman, burdened by physical weakness, cinched in by societal ropes, not to mention the tight corsets and the restriction of bustles, was able to find and excavate an undiscovered tomb without aid, people would question.

Her eyes caught the dark outline of a lone rider at the crest of one sultry hill, watching their progress. Was he one of the kidnappers? Or an assassin with an unknown motive for stopping her? Or just a farmer curious about the smoke? The dark figure disappeared.

“Very well, Mr. Black. Feel free to continue your treasure hunt.” She swung around to pierce him with razor scrutiny. “But the orb is mine and even though I may not be able to light you on fire”—not that she could ever light anyone on fire purposely, but the threat felt good sliding off her tongue—“I can certainly move mountains if someone gets in my way.”

Kailin didn’t wait for a response but tapped her camel into a fast walk, pulling ahead of the other three camels. She was leading this expedition after all. Jackson Black could turn around and go back to Luxor if he wished. She could certainly take care of herself, society be damned.

****

The plodding of the camel’s feet beneath Jackson marked the time as well as the sun moving above. He watched Kailin untie the gauzy ribbon from under her chin. In a swift tug, she un-hatted herself, revealing her blond, silky hair. The sun plucked the faint red highlights from the mass of glorious waves swept high to reveal the gentle slope of her nape. She leaned over the camel’s neck and attached her hat to the saddle. In another quick flourish, she draped a long white
kufiya
over her head and wrapped it in front of her face.

Even in the headdress usually reserved for native men, Kailin couldn’t hide her assets. The wind off the barren hills of sand yanked and twisted at her body, molding her modest traveling costume to her woman’s figure. The
kufiya
fought to contain her hair, but a few golden curls broke free to dance in the breezes like silky ribbons.

He kept behind her, giving her time, giving him time to adjust to her condemnation. Jackson adjusted his hat and scanned the horizon of sand. It was better for her to know some of the truth, enough to keep her from lowering her guard around him. Because she shouldn’t lower her guard.

His lips pressed into a line of acceptance, acceptance of who he was. He was a treasure hunter and in some circles a scoundrel. He played dangerous games well. He risked much since he had little to lose and slid along the razor edge between honor and self-gratification with ease. She shouldn’t tangle her young, pure heart with his. Besides, he had more significant matters to consider, more important than the lovely slope of Kailin’s neck that the wind flattened the
kufiya
against, more critical than the strength and grace she exhibited with each sway of the camel’s stride, and much more vital than those damn curls flapping about.

Jackson caught sight of a rider off to the right along a dune. A single rider on a camel.

“
Cingene?
” Qeb asked.

“Could be a Bedouin,” Jackson answered in Arabic. “But keep alert.” Qeb nodded and continued to scan the terrain. Right now they were in the open, but soon night and the approaching hills would obscure threats.

They made camp in a small valley between dunes when the sun dropped below the hills and the temperature plummeted with it. The winds at times could whip across the desert at night with a cold fury that seemed like a personal vendetta against human kind. Kailin should be sheltered. The camels were loosed to rest, with one of them tethered. The animals would stay together. If one remained, the others would as well.

Jackson made a small fire in the little circle created by the resting beasts. Their bulk blocked the light and the wind scattered the smoke into the inky black sky.

Hard cheese, fresh brown bread, wine, and smoked
fasieekh
were rationed amongst the three. Not knowing precisely how long it would take to excavate the area Anthony Whitaker had been exploring made it difficult to plan the division of food. Jackson would try to catch some of the scarce wildlife along the way. Snake meat could be roasted easily over a campfire.

Jackson lowered to the cold sand near the fire and washed down his meal with watered wine. His gaze settled on Kailin without conscious thought. She picked at her fish with delicate fingers, catching her thumb and forefinger between her lips. Jackson’s breath hitched in his throat as she licked the digits and slowly pulled them from her moist mouth. She bit off a chunk of bread and chewed, the gentle curve of her jaw working the rough texture. Bloody hell, the woman was a torment.

Jackson shifted uncomfortably on the ground and drank some more wine. He stood to find the jug of washing water and scrubbed a damp rag over his face and neck. He took time to scrub at his teeth too. When he glanced at the fire, Kailin was gone. He was back to it in three strides. “Where?”

Qeb pointed past the camels to a low rise. In the blue-black night, Jackson spotted Kailin’s outline against the white sand. She stretched out flat on her back, without a bustle, along the gentle incline. Jackson strode from the warmth of the fire, grabbing the wool blanket from the back of her camel. As the brightness of the fire faded from his eyes, the night surrendered its shield and he could see the vast dark landscape. Kailin lay staring up at the enormous sky. Her face looked like a narrow pale moon on the night landscape. She’d opened her
kufiya
so that it pillowed her head and her curls framed loosely around her, devoid of hairpins.

Jackson stood several feet away, staring at her silent repose.

“What do you want?” she asked after a minute.

“If you intend to sleep out here, unprotected, at least wrap up in a blanket.” Jackson unfolded the woolen rectangle and draped it over the subtle hills and valleys of her body.

“Thank you,” she said with a chill that mimicked the wind.

He stood for another minute and looked up at the sky. Stars shot the night with diamond-like beauty. He inhaled the clear air and for a moment he stood once again on the prairie back home, the huge night sky enveloping him in awe.

“Do you require something else?” Kailin asked.

“No, just admiring the stars.”

“Hmmm…” She trailed off. “Exquisite display once you step beyond the comfort of the fire. I prefer it.”

Jackson sat next to her, but kept several feet of buffer between them. “That’s the way of it. Viewing the most beautiful things on this earth requires surrender of comfort and security. Anything amazing requires risk.”

Silence. More silence. Jackson rolled down next to her until he too was flat, staring up at the stars. The moon was only a sliver, giving the stars their chance to shine bright. He traced the familiar outlines. Gemini, the twins, linked like one with outstretched feet. His hero, Orion, the great hunter held his bow ready.

“I used to believe Orion would protect me at night when I slept under him,” Jackson murmured as he traced the bow with his gaze.

“Hardly. He was slain by Scorpius,” Kailin said and her finger lifted to the outline of the scorpion. “It is Sagittarius’s arrow that is poised to pierce the villain’s heart. Although his outline looks more like a teapot to me. There’s even a cloud of steam coming from the spout.” She pointed.

Jackson traced the archer with his gaze. She was right. The stars of Sagittarius did look like the outline of a teapot.

“So if any of the great heroes or beasts of the sky are able to protect us, it would be Sagittarius,” Kailin said and shrugged her slender shoulders in the sand. “Certainly not the foolish Cassiopeia. She spends half the night upside down in her throne. Mayhap Perseus and his won head of Medusa will turn the villains to stone.”

“Perseus,” Jackson said, his words caught in the night breeze that blew between them. “Of course he would protect you, a beautiful maiden like his Andromeda.”

Kailin’s head moved slightly, as if her gaze shifted to his profile, but he continued to stare up at the stars, so bright he could easily pick out the outlines.

“You are versed in the constellations?” Kailin asked.

A smooth chuckle came out of Jackson on a breath. “I spent a lot of time under the stars, guiding cattle when I was young. The stars were our guide, the figures were my friends, the legends my favorite stories.”