Read Online Touch of Darkness by Christina Dodd - Free Book Online
Authors: Christina Dodd
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credit. I'm afraid I'm the one who's put you in danger."
At first he started to deny it. Then he chuckled. "Yes. You could infuriate a saint. But no matter whose fault this is, I'm going to do everything in my power to keep you alive." He stood and extended his hand.
She let him pull her to her feet.
Sliding his arm around her waist, he pulled her close and leaned his forehead against hers. "I can't predict the future, but I know this has just begun."
His eyelashes were grainy with dirt, but his brown eyes were somber, calm, thoughtful—and he wasn't talking about the tomb or the explosion; he was talking about them.
Scary. Rurik was scary when he was like this.
Not physically scary. She never thought he would hurt her. But relentless scary.
He wanted her, and he intended to have her. Maybe she could explain why that was impossible. Maybe she could confess her past, and explain the danger of being with her, and frighten him away.
But Rurik didn't seem to frighten easily, and if she talked about the ghosts that haunted her—he'd know. He'd know the brave-reporter facade was a sham, that she was a frightened little girl who shivered in the night. He'd shine a light into the dark corners of her soul, and she'd be forced to face the memories and the fears.
Then . . . what if he hated what he saw? What if he laughed and told her to grow up? What if he used her fears to manipulate her?
What if he walked away?
No, she was better off keeping him at arm's length.
How's that going, Tasya?
Not too good, since he's holding me pressed against his body and looking into my eyes like he understands way, way too much.
Moving with slow deliberation, she untangled herself. "Look, we need to get back to the reporters and the archaeologists so I can upload the photos I took yesterday and today, and send them to my boss at National Antiquities. I'm not too happy about carrying around the only real record of your findings, and they'll be safe on the National Antiquities computer."
Rurik kept one hand on her as she stepped away. Maybe because the rock shelf where they stood was only three feet wide. Maybe because he didn't want to let her go. "I listened to the guys who blew up the tomb. Someone back there wants all the information erased. These are well-funded, desperate men, possibly ecoterrorists, and as witnesses, we need to lie low and not be recognized until we can talk to the authorities."
She almost told him then. It would have been such an easy segue from his speech to an explanation of who those men were, and the real reason why they'd set their explosives.
But then she'd have to tell Rurik what she'd been up to, and that she had put him, and his beloved excavation, in danger.
She looked over the edge of the shelf.
It was a long drop to the ocean.
She'd tell him afterward.
Chapter 7
Rurik kept an eye on Tasya as she climbed the cliff behind him.
She wasn't lying. She had no fear of heights. No fear of anything that he could see—except the dark.
He'd love to know why, but now was not the time. Now they had to run. Run far and fast, protect those photos of the wall carvings, study them, and maybe, just maybe, find a way to save not only his father's life but also his father's soul.
"Here's the situation." Rurik reached the top of the cliff. He flopped onto the flat ground, and belly crawled away from the edge. "We've got to get off this island without being spotted, and I've prepared for such an eventuality."
On a cliff a hundred feet over the ocean, Tasya stopped climbing. She ignored his hand, wiggling for her to grasp it, and looked at him as if he was nuts.
He didn't give her the chance to ask. "I've stashed survival gear not far from here."
"Sure you did." Tasya finished her climb, and flopped on the flat ground, too.
They'd come a long way in the tunnel, and now a rise concealed them from Clovus's tomb. The bare, treeless island left them little in the way of cover; he would have to use the contours
At first he started to deny it. Then he chuckled. "Yes. You could infuriate a saint. But no matter whose fault this is, I'm going to do everything in my power to keep you alive." He stood and extended his hand.
She let him pull her to her feet.
Sliding his arm around her waist, he pulled her close and leaned his forehead against hers. "I can't predict the future, but I know this has just begun."
His eyelashes were grainy with dirt, but his brown eyes were somber, calm, thoughtful—and he wasn't talking about the tomb or the explosion; he was talking about them.
Scary. Rurik was scary when he was like this.
Not physically scary. She never thought he would hurt her. But relentless scary.
He wanted her, and he intended to have her. Maybe she could explain why that was impossible. Maybe she could confess her past, and explain the danger of being with her, and frighten him away.
But Rurik didn't seem to frighten easily, and if she talked about the ghosts that haunted her—he'd know. He'd know the brave-reporter facade was a sham, that she was a frightened little girl who shivered in the night. He'd shine a light into the dark corners of her soul, and she'd be forced to face the memories and the fears.
Then . . . what if he hated what he saw? What if he laughed and told her to grow up? What if he used her fears to manipulate her?
What if he walked away?
No, she was better off keeping him at arm's length.
How's that going, Tasya?
Not too good, since he's holding me pressed against his body and looking into my eyes like he understands way, way too much.
Moving with slow deliberation, she untangled herself. "Look, we need to get back to the reporters and the archaeologists so I can upload the photos I took yesterday and today, and send them to my boss at National Antiquities. I'm not too happy about carrying around the only real record of your findings, and they'll be safe on the National Antiquities computer."
Rurik kept one hand on her as she stepped away. Maybe because the rock shelf where they stood was only three feet wide. Maybe because he didn't want to let her go. "I listened to the guys who blew up the tomb. Someone back there wants all the information erased. These are well-funded, desperate men, possibly ecoterrorists, and as witnesses, we need to lie low and not be recognized until we can talk to the authorities."
She almost told him then. It would have been such an easy segue from his speech to an explanation of who those men were, and the real reason why they'd set their explosives.
But then she'd have to tell Rurik what she'd been up to, and that she had put him, and his beloved excavation, in danger.
She looked over the edge of the shelf.
It was a long drop to the ocean.
She'd tell him afterward.
Chapter 7
Rurik kept an eye on Tasya as she climbed the cliff behind him.
She wasn't lying. She had no fear of heights. No fear of anything that he could see—except the dark.
He'd love to know why, but now was not the time. Now they had to run. Run far and fast, protect those photos of the wall carvings, study them, and maybe, just maybe, find a way to save not only his father's life but also his father's soul.
"Here's the situation." Rurik reached the top of the cliff. He flopped onto the flat ground, and belly crawled away from the edge. "We've got to get off this island without being spotted, and I've prepared for such an eventuality."
On a cliff a hundred feet over the ocean, Tasya stopped climbing. She ignored his hand, wiggling for her to grasp it, and looked at him as if he was nuts.
He didn't give her the chance to ask. "I've stashed survival gear not far from here."
"Sure you did." Tasya finished her climb, and flopped on the flat ground, too.
They'd come a long way in the tunnel, and now a rise concealed them from Clovus's tomb. The bare, treeless island left them little in the way of cover; he would have to use the contours
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