“Have you been here that long?”
He nodded. Yes, he’d camped in the desert for her, and it had been cathartic. He’d come to grips with lots of things. The desert hadn’t haunted him and dredged up bad memories as he’d expected. Positively associating his time here with finding Claire had worked. For the first time in years, he felt whole and at peace. There was only one thing missing now, and she was standing right in front of him wearing a goofy hat and what he knew was a false look of irritation.
“How did you know I’d be here?” she asked.
“Hatshepsut is one of the big attractions. I picked it specifically because this ramp offers a great line of vision and is the only entrance.” He shrugged. “Also, it was on your screensaver on your work computer. I figured you’d show up sooner or later. Sadly, it was later.”
Hands on hips, she mock-glared. “You hacked into my work computer, Mr. Anderson?”
“Damn right, I did.” He smiled and scrubbed his hand over his whiskers. “Besides, it’s technically Anderson Auctions’ computer.”
She pushed her glasses up on her nose. “You look like shit.”
A sprinkling of freckles had appeared across her nose and cheeks since the last time he’d seen her. “You look beautiful.”
She smiled and stared down at her feet. “I missed you, Will.”
Missing her didn’t even come close to describing the hole in his life over the last two weeks.
She looked up directly into his eyes. “I’m sorry I lied to you. I really didn’t know what else to do. Heather did a stupid thing, but she did it for all the right reasons.”
“So did you.”
“Yeah. I did.”
This was his chance. The moment he’d been waiting for, and all of a sudden, he went blank. “I had rehearsed what I was going to say, but now that you’re here, I can’t remember a word of it other than I’m sorry I didn’t chase you down the second you walked out of that office. And I want to be with you more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.” He tilted her chin up so he could see her face under the brim of her hat. “I want to see if we can make this work because I think we’re a good team. You make me better, Claire Maddox, and if you don’t kiss me, I think I just might die.”
And when she got on tiptoe and pulled his face down to hers for a kiss, he almost did.
“What I had rehearsed was much better than that.”
“I would hope so.” She licked her lips. “At least you packed toothpaste.”
He rolled his eyes.
“Because,” she said, heading back down the ramp, “you obviously forgot a razor.”
He followed. “I’ve been living outdoors in a desert.”
“You forgot soap, too.”
He fell into step beside her. “A desert with sand.”
“And you failed to pack deodorant.” She wrinkled her nose and fanned her hand in front of her face.
He laughed. “I slept on rocks.”
She stopped. “I haven’t slept at all, Will.”
He took her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. “I love you, Claire.”
Her voice was light and shaky. “I love you, too.”
“Thank God.”
She laughed and turned to walk down the ramp again.
He caught her by the elbow. “Wait a second, don’t you want to see the temple?”
Glancing over her shoulder back up at the structure, she shrugged. “Nah. I’d rather go back to my hotel and get you all cleaned up and de-whiskered, because you are a lot more impressive than a bunch of stone in the desert.”
“Really?”
“No. But we can come back here in the morning. I have a flight back to the States tomorrow night because there’s something in New York even more amazing than Egypt.”
He was stunned to silence for a moment. “Really?”
“Yeah, there’s this guy I’m kind of into who lives there, but I’ll tell you all about it later. Right now, Mr. Anderson, I’m the boss and I expect you to come back to my hotel and follow my orders to the letter. This job is going to require lots of hands-on hours and I think your work history and high level of expertise in the area qualify you to be on this team.” She struck out down the ramp into the sea of people without a backward glance at him.
Hold on. “Call me,” he said.
“What?”
“On your cell. Call me.”
She stopped. “Why?”
“I’m curious about something.”
She pulled out her phone. When the call finally came through, they both busted out laughing. “I see Chance got a hold of your phone!”
“Yep.”
“So, you’re going to change that now, since you know the truth, right? ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ is so yesterday.”
“What would you suggest, Miss Maddox?”