hundred thousand?”
“I know. Sounds wild, doesn’t it? Unless you’re a cat lover.”
“Like you?” Ace guessed.
“Like me,” she agreed, grinning. “I’ve got two.”
Figured. A college librarian with those wholesome, girl-next-door good looks. Not the type to go for a pit bull or a big, galumphing Lab.
“One—Mittens—is the laziest feline in the universe. She usually can’t be bothered to do more than lift her head and twitch her tail when I come home from work. The other—Boots—is more lively. The little stinker has shredded two sets of living room drapes.”
Good Lord! Mittens and Boots.
Restraining a grimace, Ace gave his passenger another quick glance. Was she for real? Or really, really good at projecting an air of wide-eyed innocence to disguise other, more suspicious activities? Damned if he could decide … yet.
He had pretty well made up his mind by the time he pulled into the parking lot for the Sound and Light Show.
Jaci Thornton had to be exactly what she seemed—the archetypal American tourist on the trip of a lifetime. When Ace had brought up Ma’at, she’d scrunched her forehead and said she’d read something about that goddess but couldn’t recall specific details.
He’d then casually steered the conversation to Egypt’s current political situation. Other than knowing the name of the current president and that he advocated reforms that had stirred opposition among some conservatives, Jaci didn’t seem to have a clue as to who led the opposition.
She’d sounded so convincing, so sincere, that Ace was ninety-nine percent sure she was the naive, trusting tourist she appeared to be. Until he’d satisfied the remaining one percent doubt, however, he didn’t intend to let the woman out of his sight.
He made sure of that by parking the car and insisting she let him walk her to the entry point for the Sound and Light Show.
“I’m fine, Deke. Honestly. My knee hardly hurts at all anymore. I can navigate on my own.”
“Save your breath. No way I’m going to just dump you in the parking lot. Besides,” he added as he hooked her arm through his, “I’ve never seen the laser light show. I’m thinking I might join you. If you don’t mind?”
Mind?
Jaci’s heart skipped a beat. Like she would mind sitting under the stars with this kind, thoughtful, incredibly sexy man?
In the few short hours she’d known him, he’d rescued her from an unscrupulous camel driver, used his own body to break her fall and rearranged his schedule to get her to a doctor. He’d also promised to set up what sounded like a truly magical evening at his friends’ home. Incurable romantic that she was, Jaci already viewed Deke Griffin as her own personal knight in shining armor.
“Of course I don’t mind,” she said in answer to his question. “But …”
She slowed to a stop and stood beside him in the parking lot. Chewing on her lower lip, she tried to find a delicate way to express her thoughts. There wasn’t one.
“Look, I don’t want to sound ungrateful for all you’ve done or, well, misconstrue your motives. It’s just that I’m, uh, not …”
His eyes locked with hers. “You’re not what, Jaci?”
Okay, she could do this. She owed it to him as much as herself to be completely honest.
She’d learned that painful lesson from her first and only love. If Bobby had been honest with her, if he’d told her about the “freedom” he’d discovered his freshman year in college, she wouldn’t have followed him to Florida—or endured the agonizing humiliation of knowing he was out partying with a different girl every weekend.
Jaci hadn’t dated all that much since college, but she made it a point to be totally honest with the men she did go out with. After all his kindness, she owed Deke Griffin the same courtesy. Pulling in a deep breath, she met his intent gaze.
“I’m not looking for a vacation fling.”
Was that a glint of surprise that came into his eyes? Or approval? She was still trying to decide when his mouth curved and the glint turned positively wicked.
“Glad you let me know. Guess I’d better scrap my plans to carry you off to a remote desert oasis for a wild orgy.”
Jaci had to laugh, but the erotic vision he’d painted sent a shaft of sudden and totally unexpected heat through her belly.
Now that, she decided, would be the adventure to end all adventures! Her vivid imagination concocted an image of the two of them alone in a silken tent, of her peeling off his sport coat and shirt. Popping the snap of his jeans. Gliding her palms over his taut belly.
She didn’t realize her breath had shortened and her face had heated until Deke cupped her cheek with his palm. His skin felt smooth and cool against hers.
Good Lord! Was she really blushing like some Victorian schoolgirl? She didn’t know—and when he dipped his head and covered her mouth with his, she didn’t care.
The kiss reinforced her growing conviction she’d stumbled on an honest-to-goodness Lancelot. As his lips moved over hers, she could taste the heat in him, feel the strength in the arm he moved to her waist. Yet he lifted his head and ended the contact long before she was ready, darn it!
“I shouldn’t have done that.” His gray eyes were stormy now, his brow creased. “I’m sorry.”
She let out a slow breath. “I’m not.”
They stood in the dusty parking lot for several moments, his gaze on her face, hers on his. The honk of a taxi driver impatient to disgorge his passengers jerked them from their separate reveries.
“We’d better get inside,” Deke said, a muscle working in the side of his jaw, “or we’ll miss the show.”
As they approached the modernistic building that formed the entrance to the laser show, Jaci leaned more heavily on his arm than she needed to. Her senses were still running riot from that kiss, and the play of hard muscle under his sleeve evoked another series of images—more X-rated this time. She pictured him naked this time, stretched out on a bed covered with jewel-toned silks and his body sleek with sweat as she straddled his hips and …
“… your ticket?”
She blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Do you have your ticket,” Deke asked, “or do we need to buy another?”
“Oh! I’ve got it. Somewhere.”
She fished around in her tote for several moments before finally producing the envelope of tickets included in the welcome packets provided by the tour agency. Deke paid for his and ushered her inside.
The entrepreneurs who’d come up with the idea of an ultramodern laser light show to tell the story of four-thousand-year-old pyramids hadn’t missed a trick. The building giving
