The Lost Chalice (The Relic Seekers Book 3) (11 page)

She gave him a tired smile. “I have special powers.”

“I know you’re magic,” he whispered, leaning close. “You’ve done something to me.” He touched his mouth to hers. His lips were warm and felt like heaven. She didn’t want to start trouble with all three of them in the same room, but she needed to feel and taste him. He stood and pulled her to her feet, holding her tight against him. She slipped her arms around his waist, fingers caressing his back as the kiss grew hungrier and his hands more demanding. His desire combined with hers created an explosion of need. Trust her senses to work when it came to sex. She wanted to push him down on the bed and make love until neither of them could move.

“You taste good,” he said against her lips. “Think this door has a lock?”

Kendall slipped back a few inches and slid her hands around to his chest, keeping him back. “Jake, we can’t . . .”

“Not with King Arthur here? Feels a little like history repeating itself, eh, Guinevere? Damn. Killed my own mood.” Jake sighed, but still held her close.

“Do you really think we’re . . . them?”

“I don’t know how any of this can be, but if you’d seen those bodies in the tombs.” She felt a ripple move through him. “And what about the couple in the woods? They were dressed just like the corpses. We were there, Kendall. I felt it. I felt her. You . . .”

The door opened and Nathan came in, wearing his borrowed clothes. He cleared his throat. “Talk? And to think, just a few days ago you two couldn’t stand the sight of each other.”

Kendall stepped back and saw Nathan’s undisguised look of regret. For introducing her to Jake? Sometimes she felt like she was caught in a tug-of-war. “I’m going to shower.”

“Want to borrow my underwear and a shirt?” Jake asked.

“Sure,” Kendall said, not because she wanted to cause more tension, but because she felt dirty and grimy, and she would have worn just about anyone’s clean shirt and underwear.

Jake pulled out a pair of boxers and a T-shirt and handed them to her. “I’ll walk you to the bathroom.”

“I think I’ll be fine from here to the bathroom.”

“Remember the maze,” he said in a patronizing voice.

Kendall rolled her eyes but let him walk her to the bathroom. At the door, he kissed her softly. “I could shower with you. I need one too.”

“Jake, we can’t.”

He opened the bathroom door and guided her inside. “Why not? I need to feel you, touch you.”

“You want sex.”

“Of course I do. Anyone would, but this is different. I’m obsessed with you. I can’t get you out of my head.”

Kendall’s hands were bunched in his shirt, holding him gently back. “Do you want me out of your head?”

He met her eyes, and she saw the flicker of confusion. “Sometimes. I’ve never felt like this. I’m not sure what to do with it.” He stroked her hair. “No. I don’t. I need you. I need to feel you inside and out. Your heart, your body, your soul.”

That took her breath, in part because she was sure she’d heard Lancelot say the same words to Guinevere in the forest, so Kendall let him kiss her. It was a hot kiss, the kind that made her forget what she should and shouldn’t do, and before she realized what was happening, he had her stripped. Jake pulled his lips from hers long enough to remove his shirt. He was fumbling with his zipper, mouth searching for hers again, when she came to her senses.

“Jake, we can’t do this.”

He reached over and turned the shower on. Contrary to their first opinion of the property—which Raphael must have intended—the castle had been modernized somewhat. “Why not?”

“Nathan’s in there waiting.”

“Let him wait. He knows we’re . . . sleeping together.”

“Jake, we need to slow down.”

His eyes narrowed. “Slow down. Because he’s Adam.”

“No . . . yes. I don’t know. There’s just too much going on.”

His mouth tightened, and he nodded. He pulled his shirt back on.

Kendall touched his shoulder. “Jake, it’s not that I don’t want to. I do. You know that. But the timing isn’t right.”

Jake’s face was tight. “I’ll be outside.”

She hurried through her shower. When she was finished, Jake was still waiting outside, arms crossed over his chest, as watchful as a sentinel. He escorted her back to the room. Nathan was in bed under the covers, leaning against the headboard, hands propped behind his head. The clothes Jake had lent him were in a pile on the foot of his bed. “Your pants are unbuttoned,” he said.

Kendall and Jake both looked down and saw that Jake’s top button was undone. Had he left it that way on purpose? He seemed quiet, not in a mood to poke at Nathan. “My turn,” Jake said. He grabbed some things from his bag and left the room.

Kendall settled on her bed and started braiding her wet hair. “It’s not what you think,” she said to Nathan.

“What do I think?” Nathan dropped his arms and crossed them over his chest, which reminded Kendall so much of Jake’s. Except for the tattoo. And the cut beside it.

“You’re hurt.”

Nathan glanced down at his arm. “It’s nothing.”

Kendall climbed out of bed and walked over to him. She wished she hadn’t when she saw how much of his chest and stomach were exposed. “You need a bandage.”

“It’s not bleeding. It’ll heal.”

“You always did heal quickly.”

“Did I?”

It was the first time he hadn’t thrown up a wall when she referred to him as Adam. “Yes. Scrapes, cuts, they always healed right up. You never got sick.” Kendall smiled. “I thought you were a superhero. Not really, but you were somewhere above human.”

“Did you get hurt a lot?” Nathan’s eyes were curious. He scooted over, as if to make room for her, like they’d done time and time again when they were kids. Without thinking about it too much, she sat on the edge of his bed.

“Not much. You were good at keeping me safe. You were downright bossy sometimes. ‘Stay away from that rock. It’s not stable.’ But you were usually right.” She told him a couple of stories and felt his mind opening to his memories. Then Jake stepped inside the room, wearing only jeans, his face set. “So you’re holding hands the minute I leave the room.”

“He has a cut on his arm.”

“He’s a big boy. He’ll heal.”

“Leave her alone,” Nathan said. “She wasn’t doing anything.”

“You two are impossible. I should sleep in the tower room,” she blurted out, not really meaning it.

“No!” they both said.

“The Reaper is itching to get his hands on you,” Jake said. “And if he does, after he gets what he wants—the relics—he’s got a little matter of revenge to settle with you. You hurt him. I doubt anyone in centuries has hurt him. No way we’re letting you sleep up there alone.”

“I’d feel better if you were closer,” Nathan said. “I trust my guards, but we’re dealing with someone who could be a couple of thousand years old. And if he can open a portal to the Fountain of Youth and bypass the statues, who’s to say he can’t do it here?”

Kendall hadn’t thought about that. If he could open a portal to the castle, he would have access to all the relics kept here.

“You need rest,” Nathan said. “We’ve been to Camelot and back, faced the Reaper, found the Fountain of Youth . . . none of us have really slept since.”

“I slept some,” Jake said. “Raphael knocked me out.”

“I bet you were pissed,” Nathan said.

“Yeah, but he got the same thing. Marco knocked him out.”

“Marco can do that?” Kendall stifled a yawn. “I shouldn’t be surprised that he can wake statues.”

“I think Marco can do a lot of things we don’t know about,” Jake said. “Let’s sleep while we can. We need to be alert if we’re going to outsmart the Reaper and find the chalice.” Jake pointed to the middle bed. Kendall expected him to demand her to sleep there. “Would you please sleep there?” His eyes were intense, and had a look of worry that made her heart feel mushy. “Please. Do it for us.”

Nathan’s dark eyes had the same worried look. “We would all sleep better. Jake and I need rest too.”

Nathan was using the sympathy card, but he was right. Kendall nodded and walked to the middle bed. She turned back the covers and climbed in.

“I’ll get the lights,” Jake said. He padded over to the light switch and turned it off before returning to his bed. Kendall heard him taking off his jeans. She looked away, glancing at Nathan’s bed, and saw him watching her.

Damn. What was she going to do about them?

They were all quiet after that, and she was certain they were deep in thought, like she was. Still, exhaustion took hold and she fell asleep.

She woke sometime later when she heard someone moving in the room. She looked over at Nathan’s bed and saw someone standing over him. Her heart pounded in alarm, and then she recognized Jake.

He wasn’t murdering Nathan (as she had momentarily feared). He was fixing his sheets. They seemed to be tangled. Nathan had been tossing.

Jake saw her and walked quietly to her bed. “He was dreaming.”

“A nightmare?”

“I think so.”

Jake cared more about Nathan than he would dare admit. And she fell a little bit more in love with Jake. Kendall stroked his hand. “Thank you.”

“For?”

“Being a good man and not the jackass I thought you were at first.”

He smiled and bent down. “Do I deserve a kiss?” He seemed in a lighter mood than he had after she refused to shower with him.

She reached for him and brought his face lower. She touched her lips to his, felt the brush of his unshaven jaw. The kiss was soft, almost chaste. When she pulled away, he didn’t press for more.

“Get some sleep. I think he’s OK now.” Jake kissed the top of her head and moved away. But he did let his fingers trail over her breast as he left and returned to his bed. He rolled on his side, facing her.

Kendall lay there wondering if something was wrong with her because, in that moment, she wished they had a king-size bed so all three of them could sleep huddled together for comfort as they had in the tunnel underneath the Tor. She wanted to feel Jake’s arms around her, and she wanted to comfort Nathan and keep his nightmares at bay.

Adam walked toward the tent where he and his father were staying. Sometimes they stayed in hotels, but this time, his father didn’t want to get too far away from the dig. The men were camped close by. Adam could hear them laughing and talking in their tents. There was always excitement with a new dig, and when it included a burial site, some of the locals were superstitious about curses falling upon the ones who disturbed the tomb.

His legs ached from racing Kendall to the top of the pyramid and back. She could keep up with him now. For a girl, she was bloody fast. He entered the tent, and his father looked up from a table of artifacts and smiled. His father wasn’t that tall, but to Adam he seemed larger than other men. His brown hair was rumpled, as it was when he was intently studying his relics. He reminded Adam of Indiana Jones. Of course, Kendall said her father looked more like Indiana Jones. It was a friendly argument between them.

“What are you working on?” Adam asked.

His father put something aside that looked like an urn. Sometimes the Egyptians buried the organs in urns. Adam thought that was morbid, and very cool.

“Just some recent additions. I haven’t examined them thoroughly yet.” He shared many of his discoveries, but some he protected from everyone. Even his son.

“I need something for Kendall’s birthday. It’s next month. Can I have something from your collection?”

“You don’t want to buy her something nice?”

“Nah. She’d rather have an artifact than something girly.”

“Sure, we can find something when we get home.”

Nathan was startled awake, disturbed by the dream. He could still see his father’s face as plain as if he stood there. His father? Was it his father? Adam’s father. His head started to throb just thinking about it. He didn’t know why the dream had been so disturbing. What could be troubling about a birthday present? Yet, he was sure there was something else he needed to remember.

He rolled over and looked at Kendall, asleep in the bed next to his. If he hadn’t been here, she and Jake would be sharing a bed. The thought made him burn inside. Jake didn’t deserve her. But neither did he.

He felt restless and knew he’d never sleep. Lying here staring at Kendall would just make him feel more frustrated. He climbed out of bed, quietly, counting on Jake’s exhaustion to keep him from hearing. He pulled on the jeans Jake had loaned him and slipped on his own shirt, which wasn’t too smelly.

When he slipped past Jake’s bed, Nathan saw it was empty. Opening the door, he checked the hall. He wasn’t there, but a toilet flushed from the bathroom a few doors down. Knowing Jake would be back in a second, Nathan kept walking. He didn’t feel like talking or answering questions. He curtly nodded to the guard who was at the front door. “Everything OK?”

“All quiet, sir.”

“I’m going for a walk. Need some fresh air.”

“Shall I get someone to go with you?”

“No, I won’t be long.”

The guard nodded and stepped aside. All Nathan’s employees knew he valued his privacy. They were all paid well to follow orders and not question the boss. If they didn’t respect it, they were out. Except Jake. Jake questioned everything and then did whatever he wanted.

Nathan started walking and ended up at the graveyard. He stopped beside the two lone tombstones that lay apart from the others, outside the consecrated ground, wondering if Kendall was right about the graves belonging to her parents. Nathan squatted down by the graves. He was so sick of the shadows in his head, flashes of memories that didn’t make sense. He reached out to touch the grave—he couldn’t have said why he thought this one may have been William’s, but he closed his eyes and said his name. “William. Uncle William.” That’s what he’d called him, even though there wasn’t any relation. He had been a kind man, intense in his work, but with a ready smile for Kendall or Adam.

Nathan’s eyes flew open. He’d remembered something. He looked at his hand touching the gravestone. Or had he picked up a corpse’s memories? That was more in line with Kendall’s gift.
You bloody fool. Why are you so scared to dig into your memories? What are you afraid of?