Chapters (49)
- Also by
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Epigraph
- CHAPTER ONE
- CHAPTER TWO
- CHAPTER THREE
- CHAPTER FOUR
- CHAPTER FIVE
- CHAPTER SIX
- CHAPTER SEVEN
- CHAPTER EIGHT
- CHAPTER NINE
- CHAPTER TEN
- CHAPTER ELEVEN
- CHAPTER TWELVE
- CHAPTER THIRTEEN
- CHAPTER FOURTEEN
- CHAPTER FIFTEEN
- CHAPTER SIXTEEN
- CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
- CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
- CHAPTER NINETEEN
- CHAPTER TWENTY
- CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
- CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
- CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
- CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
- CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
- CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
- CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
- CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
- CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
- CHAPTER THIRTY
- CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
- CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
- CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
- CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
- CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
- CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
- CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
- CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
- CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
- CHAPTER FORTY
- CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
- CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
- CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
- EPILOGUE
- Teaser chapter
A tear rolled down her cheek. “You . . . you want me to go with you? You want us to be partners again?”
Gage shook his head. The hope in Abby’s eyes dimmed, and she glanced away. Gage caught her chin and turned her to face him. “I want us to be more than partners. I want us to be a couple. A married couple. The Logans. We’ll do things that will make them remember our names. Will you marry me, baby?”
She swallowed. “What . . . what if something bad happened to me, Gage? It could, you know.”
“I know it’s a risk. But I figure being with you is worth the risk.”
She gave him a teary smile. “That’s what I think too. Even if something bad happened to you, I’d never regret one second of our time together.”
Gage slid his fingers into her fiery hair, tipped her head back, and took her mouth in a gentle kiss. He’d meant to be brief, just sealing the pact he hoped to make between them, but Abby’s lips softened under his and parted to invite him in. His heart filled an instant before lust slammed into him. The kiss deepened, turned hot and fierce.
It was all he could do to pull away.
“All right, then,” he said gruffly. “From now on, whatever we do, we do it together, husband and wife.”
Abby grinned. “Partners.”
“Right.” He smiled. “Except my word is final.”
“Sure,” she said, with the sparkle in her eyes that told him no way was that happening. “Your word is final. That goes without saying.”
Gage laughed, loud and long.
Abby grinned. “So let’s get married,” she said, sliding her arms around his neck.
And so they did.
EPILOGUE
EPILOGUE
Four months later
* * *
ABBY STOOD NEXT TO GAGE ON A STEEP SANDSTONE HILL IN THE desert above a dry wash sixty-five kilometers from Sweimeh, Jordan. Maggie had done her usual competent job of arranging their first few nights in a luxurious suite at the Ishtar Hotel, a resort overlooking the beautiful turquoise waters of the Dead Sea.
Today they went to work.
Gage had been approached by a private collector who had come across reliable information that a cave in the hills above the sea held a cache of ancient leather scrolls dating back two thousand years.
Like the hoard of Dead Sea Scrolls found in 1947, these would be an amazing discovery. It was rumored they included the Book of Esther, missing from the original find, the story of the Jewish Queen of Persia.
The collector, a man named Thomas Dillard who was financing the trip, wanted credit for making such a remarkable discovery—and of course, the celebrity associated with donating such an import piece of history to the Antiquities Authority in Israel.
The problem was, the ancient Jewish scrolls were somewhere across the border in Jordan.