Undiscovered (Treasure Hunter Security Book 1) Read online

  “Possibly. Maybe they didn’t have time to replace it. Plus out here, we’re really far from the source of granite used to create this.” She pushed up, trying to see into the hole. She saw nothing but black shadows.

  “Here.” Declan moved, and his front pressed up against her back, trapping her against the stone.

  God, the man was as hard as the granite. Her pulse tripped and she tried to tell herself it was the excitement of the find. Nothing to do with her annoying, sexy security specialist.

  He angled the light to shine into the hole.

  “I can’t see anything. I’m not tall enough.”

  Hands gripped her waist and before she could say anything, he boosted her up.

  Layne rested her hands on the stone, excruciatingly conscious of Declan behind her, around her. Blindly, she focused on the sarcophagus. When she saw what was inside, she went rigid.

  Declan leaned over her shoulder.

  “Damn,” he breathed, his breath brushing her ear.

  The inner sarcophagus glinted…with gold.

  Chapter Five

  Dec stared at the glittering color visible through the hole.

  “The inner sarcophagus is made entirely of gold,” Rush breathed. “Oh, my God, Declan, this is huge!”

  She spun in his arms, energy and excitement radiating off her. Her thighs clamped onto his hips and her jubilant laugh raced over him, making his gut clench.

  Then she leaned forward and smacked her lips to his. It was only a second, and then she pulled back and laughed again.

  Dec blinked, trying to calm the growing roar in his head. It was the sound of a hungry beast, and it wanted more of Dr. Layne Rush.

  “Declan?” Her laugh died, her gaze glued to his face in the light of his flashlight. “Sorry. Blame that kiss on the excitement.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  She blinked. “What?”

  “Let’s try it again, to test your theory.”

  Her eyes widened, and this time, it was Dec who pressed his mouth to hers.

  For a second, she stiffened in his arms. He moved his lips, learned the feel of hers, getting that tantalizing taste of her.

  Then she moaned. Her hands slid into his hair and she kissed him back.

  Damn. Desire slammed into Dec like a bullet at close range. He pulled her closer and opened her lips with his tongue. Then her tongue was there, sliding along his.

  He thrust deep, tilting her head back. She moaned, her hands tugging on his hair. She kissed him back with an intensity that sucked his breath away. He cupped the firm globes of her ass, pulling her even closer. She was the perfect armful of toned curves.

  “Dec, you copy? Dec, if you don’t fucking answer me in the next three seconds, I’m coming down there with the cavalry.”

  Logan’s voice echoed in Dec’s desire-fuzzed mind.

  He pulled back, heard Layne’s little cry of protest. His chest was heaving and so was hers. She raised a shaky hand and pushed the hair back from her face.

  “Well…” She looked down and when she realized he’d rested her on the edge of the outer stone sarcophagus, her eyes widened. “Oh my God, let me down. I could damage this.”

  He gripped her waist with one hand and helped her down. He touched his ear with the other hand. “I copy, Logan. We’re fine. Made a discovery. We’ll be up in a minute.”

  Layne was watching him. “We can’t go up now, I have too much work to do—”

  “Sun will be setting soon, Rush.”

  “Dammit, can’t you relax the rules?”

  “No. Anders attacked you at night. You need the right equipment down here, and besides, I need time to work out how to contain the news of this find. Because once it gets out—”

  “Anders will be back.” Her face paled a little. “Okay, so for now, we keep it quiet.”

  He nodded. “Logan and I will watch the excavation site tonight.”

  She tossed her head back, rubbing at a streak of dust on her cheek. “What happened before…”

  Dec, still feeling the edge of desire riding him hard, cocked his head. “What was that?”

  “Oh, don’t make this difficult, Declan.”

  “You mean that moment when you had your hands clamped in my hair, your legs wrapped around my hips, and your tongue down my throat?”

  She hissed out a breath. “You are so infuriating sometimes. The kiss.”

  He leaned in close, his nose brushing hers. “That was more than a kiss, Rush.”

  Her gaze dropped and he knew she couldn’t miss his erection straining against his pants. She jerked her eyes up.

  “Adrenaline, excitement…look, it isn’t going to happen again.” She shook her head. “It was a lapse. You have a job to do, and I have a job to do.”

  Yeah, she had a point. And Dec didn’t mess around with women like Layne. She was made for the whole shebang—career, family, kids. All the stuff Dec knew he couldn’t do. All the stuff he knew he didn’t deserve.

  “You got it, Rush. Let’s write it off as temporary insanity.” His gut turned over. Damn, he hated just saying the words.

  He expected to see relief on her face, but some other strange mix of emotions crossed her features. “Good. Right.”

  “Now let’s get out of here, before Logan storms in looking to rescue us.”

  She pressed her palm to the stone. “I can’t wait to get back here tomorrow.”

  A loud click echoed in the tomb. Dec tensed. When he saw the stone lid of the sarcophagus start to retract, he quickly pulled Layne closer to him.

  “What the hell?” She watched, mouth open, as the entire lid disappeared into the wall. “I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this before. There must be some sort of mechanism—”

  They both peered over the edge.

  The smaller golden sarcophagus inside was shaped vaguely like a man. The bottom half of it was smooth but covered in hieroglyphs. A large, elaborate necklace covered the chest, and it was decorated in layers of bright-blue, semi-precious stone, and another translucent stone of startling gold-yellow color. In the center was a huge, oval-shaped pendant in the same gold stone.

  The face on the sarcophagus wasn’t human. It looked like a dog.

  “Set-animal again?” Dec asked.

  Layne was staring at the artifact, drinking in all the details. “Maybe. It could be Anubis. He was also depicted with a canine head, and was the god of mummification and the afterlife.” She pulled some thin gloves out of her pocket and pulled them on. Then she reached over to touch the stone amulet in the center of the chest.

  “I’ve never seen a rock that color,” Dec said.

  “It…my God, I think it’s Libyan desert glass.”

  “Which is?”

  She looked over her shoulder. “A mysterious yellow glass found strewn across a portion of the Western Desert bordering Libya. It’s suspected it was created when a meteor crashed into the sand. King Tutankhamun had some of this in his treasures, but it was a long and dangerous journey to collect it.”

  “Western Desert again.” Everything seemed to be pointing in one direction.

  She touched the desert glass again before she snatched her hand back. “Oh.”

  The yellow glass started to sink into the sarcophagus.

  Suddenly, the chest of the sarcophagus started to open.

  “My God. I’ve never seen anything like this,” Rush said. “Oh, no, what if the mummy is exposed?” Panic filled her voice. “It’ll deteriorate.”

  The chest plates opened out, like petals on a flower. But no bandage-wrapped mummy was below. “Looks like it’s only a compartment in the gold. It doesn’t go all the way through,” he said.

  And inside the space rested a small gold cylinder.

  “God.” Rush reached in and carefully lifted the artifact out. “It’s a scroll. Made entirely of gold!”

  “I’ve heard of the Copper Scroll,” Declan said. “But not a gold scroll.”

  It was only as long as her pa
lm, but perfectly formed. It was made with small hinges and they easily rolled out.

  It was filled with hieroglyphs.

  “I can’t leave it here,” she said.

  “Got something to wrap it in?”

  She nodded. “I have a pack in the main excavation area.”

  “I’ll get it.”

  Dec was back moments later with a backpack. Carefully, Layne lifted the scroll and together they settled it into the bag.

  The shadows had really thickened and Dec knew that above, the sun would be setting soon. “All right, Rush, we keep the scroll between you and me and my team. Got it?”

  She nodded.

  “Good. Now, let’s get out of here.”

  “The sarcophagus—?”

  “I’ll work out how to close it up and don’t worry, my team and I will keep an eye on it tonight.”

  They left the tomb and crossed over to the rope ladder. He gestured for her to go first. She planted a boot on the bottom rung and grabbed another one with her hand.

  Then she paused. “Declan—”

  His gaze met hers and for a beat, they stared at each other.

  He wasn’t sure who moved first, her or him, but she was back in his arms, the kiss hot and just a little wild.

  When she pulled back, she licked her lips, her gaze a little dazed.

  Shit. Layne Rush was going to be a problem. One he knew he should steer clear of, but wasn’t going to.

  “Climb the ladder, Rush.”

  “Ladder. Right.” She grabbed the rope rung and climbed. Dec followed her up, and every time he glanced upward he was rewarded with a view of her spectacular ass flexing under her cargo trousers.

  He drew in a breath.

  She reached the top and pulled herself over. Dec cleared the last few rungs and climbed out. His team was waiting at the top.

  “Nice of you to join us,” Logan drawled.

  Dec barely resisted giving his friend the finger. “We need to talk.” Subtly, Dec tipped his head toward the hole. “Some new finds will need securing.”

  Logan’s eyes widened a fraction. “Sure thing.” The man turned to Layne. “Doc, we’ve put the statue in the work tent.”

  “The statue?”

  Logan raised a brow. “Yeah, the stone one you were so excited about. The one that almost dropped on your head.”

  “Oh, right.” She shook her head. “Right. I’ll take a look at it.” Then her shoulders sagged. “First, I need to deal with the scaffold mess—”

  “Go, Rush.”

  She glanced up at Declan.

  “Go.” Dec jerked his head toward the work tent. He knew she was dying to get her hands on the scroll nestled in the bag on her shoulder. “I’ll deal with the scaffold.”

  She looked torn. “You’re sure?”

  His lips quirked. “You’ll have to thank me again.”

  That snapped her spine straight, and for a second he thought she was going to be stubborn and decide to deal with the scaffold anyway.

  Declan shook his head. “You know what? I’ll let you off this time.”

  “Doc?” Piper Ross hurried over, followed by some other members of the team.

  “Dr. Rush, the statue is amazing,” a young man said, waving his hands. “You need to see it.”

  As her archeologists reached her, she shared one last look with Declan, then she turned and followed her team.

  “You want to tell me what really happened down there?” Logan said, once Layne was out of earshot.

  “Yeah. We found a tomb. Paintings, artifacts…and a gold sarcophagus. And a secret golden scroll.”

  “Shit.” Logan stepped in front of him. “And you going to tell me why your hair is all messed up, and the lovely doctor had swollen lips like someone just kissed the hell out of her?”

  Dec straightened, and saw Hale and Morgan grinning at him. “No idea what you’re talking about.”

  Logan just raised a brow at him.

  Dec turned away. “Come on, O’Connor. Instead of gossiping, how about we get to work?”

  ***

  The sun was setting, turning the desert sands gold, orange, and red.

  Dec stood near the edge of the camp, staring out at the sunset.

  He figured the beautiful view should make his breath catch, or make him feel…something. Instead, he didn’t feel much at all.

  He rubbed his belly, feeling the thick ridge of scar tissue through the cotton of his shirt. He’d gotten out, he’d survived. He had friends, family, and a really good business. One he enjoyed.

  He should quit worrying because a sunset didn’t excite him.

  Besides, one thing had really excited him—kissing Layne Rush.

  Dec closed his eyes. God, he had work to do. He didn’t need a super-smart, opinionated woman messing him up. And she certainly didn’t need a man like him messing up her life. She had no idea what he was truly capable of.

  As he turned to face the darkening camp, his jaw tightened.

  The local workers were all gathered around a fire, talking quietly and drinking what they called coffee. The stuff tasted like dirt and twigs to him, so he steered clear of it.

  What was worrying him was his and Logan’s analysis of the scaffold. He’d spent a couple of hours down in the excavation with Logan, cleaning it up and helping the workers put the scaffold back together.

  He had nothing definitive, but there were small signs that said its collapse hadn’t been an accident.

  The scratch marks on the anchor points, the loose and worn bolts. It could just be a coincidence, but Dec wasn’t really one for hoping things were just a quirk of fate. Too many times on a mission with his SEAL team, he’d seen that coincidence turn into a big pile of shit.

  It paid to gather information, plan and be ready, just in case coincidence turned out to be someone with a hard-on for making your day suck.

  Dec touched his earpiece. “Logan? Everything quiet?”

  “As a graveyard,” Logan replied.

  “This is technically a graveyard.” Dec’s dark thoughts went back to the collapsed scaffold. He could picture Layne standing there, about to be crushed. “Let’s just keep it an ancient one, not a modern-day one.”

  “Boogeyman getting to you, Dec?” Morgan’s voice.

  “The scaffold incident has left me cautious.”

  Logan’s snort came clearly through the line. “You’re always cautious. Cautious is your middle name.”

  “Just keep an eye out, okay?”

  “Always do.”

  Dec circled the camp. He checked the smaller personal tents. Most were dark, everyone exhausted from a busy day. One or two had faint lights on inside. The archeologists reading up or planning for the next day.

  Then he spotted the larger storage and work tents.

  One still had lights burning bright.

  He knew who was up and working.

  The canvas flap of the doorway was rolled up and tied. He stood there for a second, watching her.

  She wasn’t hard to watch. She was bent over a makeshift wooden bench. On top of it lay the golden scroll from the sarcophagus. She wasn’t wearing her hat now, and her rich, dark hair fell around her shoulders.

  She was wearing gloves and touching the scroll like it was the most precious thing she’d ever seen. The look on her face…it trapped his gaze. He stepped closer, trying to see exactly what she was looking at. She grabbed a pen and scratched some notes down in the notebook at her elbow.

  Then she straightened like she’d been shot and spun toward him. She led with her fist, her green-gold eyes wide, her body tensed.

  Not expecting the move at all, her fist slammed into his face.

  “Goddammit.” He staggered backward, grabbing his nose. “What the hell, Rush?”

  The air rushed out of her. “Dammit, Declan, you scared me.”

  “So you thought you’d punch me?”

  “I thought you were an attacker.” She bit down on her lip, looking like she was trying not to
laugh.

  “It hurts,” he said with a burst of annoyance.

  Now she did laugh. “I know. I’m sorry.”

  He probed it gently. “Don’t think you broke it.”

  She looked contrite now. “It’s been broken before.”

  “Yeah, my brother Callum slugged me in the face when we were kids. My father grounded him and my mother told me to move quicker next time.”

  Layne’s lips twitched. “Should I get you some ice?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “God, you move quietly. You really did scare me.”

  “Sorry. My training. And nothing to do with the fact that you were completely absorbed in your work.”

  She tilted her head. “They teach you to be super quiet in security school?”

  Damn, she could be a smart aleck. “No, in SEAL training. You need to pay more attention to your surroundings, Rush.”

  “I will.”

  He snorted, not buying her contrite tone for a second. “Is your hand okay?”

  She flexed it. “I’ll survive.”

  “So, how’s the work going?” he asked.

  “Okay.” Her nose screwed up in an adorable fashion. “I’ve been working to translate the hieroglyphs etched on the scroll.” She lifted a magnifying glass over the golden surface.

  Dec studied the symbols.

  “The occupant of the tomb is Itennu. He was a high-ranking priest of Seth, and he commissioned this scroll. I haven’t finished deciphering all of it yet. I’ll be honest, most of it just doesn’t make sense.” She sighed. “I think I’m missing something. Added to that, some of the hieroglyphs are a little unusual, so it’s taking me some time to translate them. This one here has me stumped—” She pointed to a tiny squiggle. “I’m going to need to pull my books and tablet out…” She drifted off. “I’m boring you.”

  “Not at all. We might not see eye-to-eye on running all aspects of this dig, Rush, but I admire your excitement and enthusiasm for your work.”

  She was staring at him like he’d shocked her. Her gaze ran over his face. He felt much like the antiquities under her hands. A puzzle for her to decode.

  He leaned closer, feeling her shoulder brush his side. “What’s this?”

  There were some strange grooves in the center of the scroll where there were no hieroglyphs, except for that strange symbol she’d pointed at.