Chapter Two
Lisbeth sat across from Thomas. Her heart was pounding frantically.
She did her best to stop her eyes from roaming over him.
He was certainly no longer the boy she left behind.
Gone was the slender, almost gangly young man, and in his place was a man comprised of hard muscle, tanned by countless hours out in the sun.
His mouth tilted into a sardonic smile. She’d read the serials about Thomas Easton, the famous explorer, and his roguish charm.
She’d never really believed the description was accurate, but now, sitting across from him, it was apparent that it was she who was wrong.
Still, he was both familiar and different.
His perceptive green eyes remained the same.
The air was charged with emotions that Lisbeth never thought she would feel again.
Benson and Abbas stood behind her, but that didn’t dissipate the tension that swirled between her and Thomas.
He stretched, causing Lisbeth’s eyes to dart to his broad chest. She wasn’t sure if she was ogling him because he lived up to every physical description the serials and gossip sheets wrote, or because he was so different from the boy she left.
“What are you doing here, Serious Lizzie?”
She bristled at the nickname. “That was never my name. I called you that.”
His eyes flicked down her, and he became somber for a moment, but then he shrugged. “You appear to be awfully serious now. I hear you are a duchess. Is that true?”
Lisbeth had no doubt Thomas knew about her title, but she didn’t want to quarrel with him. “Yes, it is.”
“Then the nickname suits you perfectly.”
Quietly, she said, “You used to be Serious Thomas, though I don’t think that would describe you now.”
He leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table, and grinned rakishly at her. “What do you mean?”
Lisbeth studied him. She wished a piece of the practical, rule-following boy she used to know still existed. Was he still in there? The longer she stared, the more intense his perusal of her became. Benson cleared his throat, breaking her stare off with Thomas.
Lisbeth said, “I’m here to deliver the map that shows the location of the last two cuneiform tablets for the ancient epic my club has on display in London.”
Excitement flared in Thomas’s eyes. “I’ve been looking for those tablets for months now.”
She nodded, feeding off his enthusiasm. “The Historical Society for Female Curators is thrilled that we may find them. Once put on display with the other tablets, our exhibit will be the first of its kind.”
While some scholars had translated ancient cuneiform texts, Rose Calvert was the first to decipher a large piece of literature.
It was even more exciting that she was doing it for the Historical Society of Female Curators.
The ancient writing was from the civilization of Mesopotamia.
Thomas smiled at her, a real one this time, and the once forgotten connection of friendship zinged between them. They’d always both loved artifacts.
I cannot get too close to this man, she reminded herself.
It wouldn’t be good for her life. Lisbeth added, “I can provide the map to you tomorrow if you will call upon me at my hotel. I will return to England and let my club and Rose know that you have it. How long do you think it will take to acquire the tablets with the map?”
He was quiet for a moment, and Lisbeth waited for him to say anything. She glanced back at Abbas and Benson, who were both waiting for his response as well. Finally, he shook his head. “There was a time when you would have demanded to join me on the search.”
“I have responsibilities,” Lisbeth huffed.
A gleam of amusement flashed in his eyes. “You have really turned into Serious Lizzie. Don’t you miss the excitement of the search? Digging around in hopes of finding something the world has never seen?”
She didn’t say anything. Thomas sighed, “Perhaps time has changed you too much. I imagine you are used to others doing work for you now.”
Anger flared in her, and she scowled at him. “How long do you think it will take?”
He shrugged. “I’m familiar with the caves. They are extensive, but if the map is as detailed as the village elders have told me, it should only be days.”
She could stay for a little longer. The idea of joining the search with Thomas should make her want to run back to London, but something stirred in her.
It was the thrill of discovering something never seen before.
Lisbeth suspected Thomas knew she was considering it.
Even though they’d been apart for a decade and were very different people, he still seemed to be able to read her so well.
“One last adventure, Lizzie, and then you can go back to being a duchess,” he said quietly.
Abbas leaned forward, “I would be happy to join you.”
Why did Lisbeth want to join Thomas? She’d chosen a different life for herself. Yet, the desire to be out in the world, exploring, thrilled her.
She glanced at Benson. He said, “I’m here no matter what you choose.”
Lisbeth nodded and told Thomas, “I will join you for the next few weeks. If we don’t find them by then, I need to return to England. I have—”
“Responsibilities,” her ex-lover finished for her, almost tauntingly.
She rose and insisted, “Yes. I do, unlike you, who now seems to make decisions without any serious thought. Please call upon me tomorrow at noon.”
Thomas chuckled. “I wish Rose and Benjamin were here. It would be like old times.”
The words he spoke weren’t true. They were both drastically different people.
And, of course, all the feelings they felt for each other were long gone; ten years had passed since they’d been near each other.
Yet, their eyes connected, and something stirred between them.
She scolded herself. Lisbeth had no interest in this version of Thomas, or any other for that matter.
“Tomorrow,” she said, ignoring his remark, and heading to the door.
*
Thomas sat in the empty private room of the café, his heart pounding.
He’d been shocked to see Lisbeth, but the full force was hitting him now that she was gone.
She’d been so different from the young woman who’d abandoned him for England all those years ago, but also, in some ways, strangely familiar.
It was evident she’d been shocked by his drastically different appearance.
When Lisbeth had left, she’d been twenty, and he’d been twenty-one.
Christ, he’d barely been a man, and a scrawny one at that.
Hard work had transformed his body, and if he was being honest, at least to the ladies, for the better.
Neither the changes in his body nor becoming a famed explorer had been something he planned.
Thomas, growing up, had always been a bookish and introverted person.
A few years after Lisbeth broke off their betrothal, a man expressed interest in writing about him.
Intrigued, Thomas agreed to let him travel with him for a year.
People had devoured the serials he published.
Connor Anderson was the author. The man was back in London now, wealthy and retired, but he made Thomas promise that if he ever wanted to write more serials, he’d contact him first.
Rafe and Keaton slinked into the room, curious. Thomas didn’t say anything as they settled in the chairs across from him. Rafe twirled a glass in his hand and finally said, “So that is your duchess?”
He scowled. “She isn’t my anything.”
Rafe looked at him skeptically. “Did you know she planned to travel to Syria?”
Thomas shook his head, shocked that Rose hadn’t even mentioned the possibility. Had she known? “I invited her to join me to find the tablets.”
Rafe’s brows shot up. “Did she say yes?”
“I may have goaded her into it.”
“Was that wise?” Keaton asked. “The tension between the two of you was evident.”
Thomas wasn’t sure why he’d behaved so abominably, taunting her.
Something about her regal composure annoyed him—she certainly wasn’t the girl he once knew.
He’d wanted to draw the old Lizzie out. Yet he realized that keeping Lisbeth around probably wasn’t a good idea.
“I will speak with her tomorrow and let her know she isn’t needed. ”
Keaton and Rafe chuckled, and he glared at them. “What?”
“I’m not sure anyone would like to be told that,” Keaton said.
“It will be fine. She will likely come to that conclusion on her own before we meet. Will you both be joining me?”
Keaton sighed. “Not me. I have other work, but I wish I was. The trip sounds entertaining.”
Rafe grinned. “I will let you know.”
Thomas frowned. “She isn’t going.”
The next day, Thomas waited in the small sitting area of Rose’s hotel lodging. She was staying at the only real hotel in Latakia, and he suspected the nicest room. He shouldn’t be surprised; she was a duchess after all.
Her guard and Mr. Abbas sat with him as they waited. Finally, she entered the room, smiling stiffly and carrying something in a cloth bag. “I’m sorry I took so long.”
Thomas shook his head. “It’s fine.”
She nodded and placed the bag on a table in the sitting area.
Thomas studied her as she delicately opened it.
She was so different from the Lisbeth who left him.
Her hair was perfectly done up, and she moved with a grace that he didn’t remember from their younger years.
He watched her hands as they pulled a fragile antique map out.
They were slender, and his mind flashed to a moment in their past.
*
Eighteen-year-old Lizzie grinned and swirled her finger down his bare chest as they lazily lay naked on pallet bedding in her tent in the desert. “You are stuck with me now, Thomas Easton. You’ve compromised me.”
He laughed. “Does that make me a rogue?”
She snorted, her blue eyes sparkling with mischief. “You are the last boy I would ever suspect of being one.”
Thomas leaned forward and kissed her lips. “Not a boy, a man.”
She lifted a brow. “A man?”
“I seduced you, didn’t I?”
Lizzie giggled. “I was the seducer.”
“You are the daughter of an earl. This shouldn’t be happening. I was trying to be respectful.”
She kissed his chest, causing his body to hum. “Yet, you ran off with me to seek adventure.”
Her mouth drifted further down. He couldn’t fight the words any longer. “I don’t care about adventure. I’m here because I love you, Lizzie.”
Her head jerked up, and she looked at him. “Don’t say those words unless you mean them.”
Thomas flipped her on her back and looked down at her. “I’ve always loved you. My whole life, and I always will.”
She beamed a smile so beautiful that Thomas knew he’d never forget it.
*
“Thomas?” Lisbeth asked, snapping him out of his memories.
Why was he thinking about the past? He shook his head. “Sorry.”
She frowned at him, and he smirked at her, knowing it would rile her up. Lisbeth took a deep breath. “As I was saying, the map is old, and we need to be careful with it. Still, it is quite detailed and hopefully should help us find the tablets.”
He leaned forward and looked at the old document.
The person who drew the picture took great care to ensure it accurately reflected the actual cave system.
Thomas had spent enough time there that he identified some of the corridors he’d explored.
Yet there were spaces he’d never seen. One cavern on the map had various objects painted in it.
“Is this the location?”
Lisbeth nodded. “That is what Rose and the club suspect.”
Lisbeth placed her finger, showing three corridors that led to the place of interest. He frowned. “I’ve never seen some of these areas. The entrance to them must be obscured somehow.”
She bit her lip and asked, “Do you think one of the corridors is still traversable?”
He grinned at her. “Anything is possible?”
She seemed startled by his optimism. Thomas lifted a brow, and a small, amused expression filled her face. “You certainly are no longer Serious Thomas.”
“That boy disappeared long ago.”
The past hung between them. Thomas cleared his throat; he needed her to leave. All of this was too much. “I wanted to suggest that you return to England. I give you my word that this will be my main priority, and once I find the tablets, they will be shipped to England.”
She frowned and then turned to Benson and Abbas. “Could you give us a moment to speak privately?”
The men rose and departed the room. Lisbeth said, “Why are you suggesting I leave after you all but taunted me to go with you?”
He sighed. “It has been years since you did this type of work. I don’t want to have to keep an eye on you.”
Lisbeth bristled. The tiny display of emotion flared feelings in Thomas that he thought were long gone.
When they’d been together and much younger, Thomas had always been the reasonable one, with Lisbeth more emotional and dramatic.
Over the last ten years, she’d learned to master that.
He was a cad because he enjoyed riling her up.
“I don’t need a sitter or keeper. I’m the one who introduced you to antiquities all those years ago.”
He snorted. “Lizzie, I’ve traveled the world since then.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, the famed explorer, Thomas Easton, has done everything. I’m aware that you’ve discovered never-before-seen ancient libraries, Assyrian and Mesopotamian historical sites, and Roman buildings across the continent.”
His lips twitched at her lack of awe for his fame. She tilted her chin up. “I’m going, Thomas. When do we leave?”
Thomas had tried. Not very hard, his rational side taunted. Ignoring reason, he answered, “The day after tomorrow.”
He stood and headed for the door.
Lisbeth said, “Thomas.”
Stopping, he turned back. She smirked and looked down at her dress. “Can you help me acquire more practical clothing?”
The duchess before him was breathtaking, but for some reason, the idea of Lizzie, dressed ready to explore, might bring him to his knees, Thomas thought.
She left you, he reminded himself. Still, he nodded.
“I’m sure Rose has something at the building where we store all our items in Latakia.
I will make sure clothes are delivered to the hotel. ”