Ace to the top of her list for reform—a fact she reminded him of after an attendant had showed him and Jaci Thornton into an exam room and the doctor burst into the room.
“Deke!” She threw her arms around him, digging her stethoscope into his chest as she kissed him on both cheeks. “Why didn’t you give Kahil and me more warning of your visit? I have a cousin I want you to meet. She just might be the woman to wean you from your evil ways. Or …”
Her curious eyes swept over the female perched on the edge of an exam table.
“Have you brought one of your own for me to check out?”
“Curb your matchmaking instincts, Fahranna. I’ve brought you a patient.”
All brisk business now, the physician addressed Jaci in her usual blunt manner. “I am Dr. El Hassan. And you are?”
“Jaci Thornton. Mr. Griffin, uh, Deke and I just met.”
Fahranna lifted one delicately arched brow. “Did you?”
“We were at the pyramids. He was kind enough to bring me here after I fell off a camel.”
“Ah, yes,” she said with a wry smile. “The camels. What did you injure?”
“My knee, but it hardly hurts anymore.”
“Let’s take a look at it, shall we? You will have to remove your slacks. Deke, take yourself back to the waiting room.”
To Jaci’s relief, Dr. El Hassan’s diagnosis confirmed her own. She hadn’t broken any bones, just collected another bruise. The doctor recommended an ice pack if her knee started to swell and heavy-duty aspirin for pain.
When she walked Jaci to the waiting room, Deke tossed aside the newspaper he’d been perusing and offered his arm for support. Jaci took it with a shy smile that the physician didn’t fail to note.
“You must come for dinner,” she announced with a gleam in her dark eyes. “Kahil will want to meet the woman who moves his friend to such noble acts of chivalry.”
Jaci opened her mouth to decline the offer, but her companion preempted her.
“You know I never turn down a free dinner, Fahranna. I’ll give you a call later and set up a time that fits with your schedule and Jaci’s.”
Chapter 3
Ace waited until he had his target back in the rental car and was headed back to Giza to dig the hook in deeper.
“How long will you be in Cairo, Jaci?”
“Three more days.”
“What does your agenda look like?”
“It’s packed, morning to night. We’re doing a breakfast cruise on the Nile, a visit to the pyramids of Saqqara and a whole afternoon at the Cairo Museum.”
With its priceless gold and lapis lazuli statue of the goddess Ma’at, Ace remembered with a sudden tightening of his belly.
Coincidence? Could be. A trip to Cairo’s famed museum was on every tourist’s agenda.
“And,” his passenger added with a flush of excitement, “we’re going to the Valley of the Kings! We’ve got a whole day to explore Luxor and Karnak.”
The Valley of the Kings, where Hatshepsut had constructed the temple to Ma’at. The same temple supposedly raided by tomb robbers more than a thousand years ago, giving birth to the legend that the goddess would someday send a messenger that it was time to restore cosmic order.
Another coincidence? Once again, it could be. But Ace had spent too many years in this business to take anything on supposition.
“What evening could you have dinner with Fahranna and her husband? You need to see their home,” he added when she looked doubtful. “It’s been in Fahranna’s family for generations. The mosaic tiles in the entryway were supposedly fired in the same kiln as the tiles in the Grand Mosque.”
“Really?”
She chewed on her lower lip, obviously torn. Ace reeled her in even further.
“The garden alone will make think you’re in something right out of Arabian Nights. Moorish arches, marble fountains, swaying palms. Last time I was there, they even had a nightingale warbling away.”
“It sounds incredible.”
“It is. How about tomorrow evening?”
She’d taken the bait. Her eyes were as bright as emeralds.
“If that works for you and your friends.”
Ace knew damn well Kahil would make it work. His people were closely monitoring the sudden spurt of emails and cell phone chatter that mentioned Jacqueline Thornton by name. The colonel had already indicated to Ace that he wanted to make his own assessment of Thornton’s motives for visiting his country.
“I’ll give them a call later and let you know.”
He cut the wheel to avoid a wobbly cyclist and decided to go straight for the jugular.
“So what brought you to Egypt?”
“My Thursday-night study group,” she answered with a smile. “We meet once a week to explore ancient civilizations. We’ve been focusing on Egypt for the past year and … well, guess you could say I’m hooked.”
“On?”
Her hand made circles in the air. “The culture, the history, the architecture, the rich pantheon of gods and goddesses. They all fascinate me.”
“The gods and goddesses, huh?” He shot her a quick look. “I don’t know that much about Egypt’s ancient deities, but from what my friends have told me, there were a bunch of ‘em. Anyone in particular catch your interest?”
“Yes!”
Ace gripped the wheel as she angled toward him, her face alight. He paid no attention to her sparkling green eyes this time or the way the ends of her soft brown hair brushed her cheek. His entire being was focused on the seemingly artless disclosures that spilled from her lips.
“I’m thoroughly intrigued by the goddess Bast.”
Bast? Was that another name for Ma’at? Ace knew most Egyptian gods and goddesses had changed names and shapes over the various dynasties. Had he missed that one?
“She was the Egyptian cat goddess,” Jaci related eagerly. “Did you know the Egyptians highly revered house cats?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“It’s true. Cats helped keep vermin out of grain supplies and would kill snakes, especially cobras. Owners would adorn their cats with jeweled collars, even let them eat from their plates at the table. If the owners were wealthy enough, they would have their
