Deadly Promises (Tracers #2.5)(68)
Kelsey glanced around impatiently. A trio of students stood at one of the tables, their heads bowed over various labeling tasks while they pretended not to eavesdrop. Kelsey needed to wrap this up. At twenty-eight, she was considered a mere toddler in academic circles, and she already had enough trouble getting students to take her seriously. Her kick-ass job at a world-renowned forensics lab, which set her apart from the rest of the university faculty, was her saving grace. But even her job at the Delphi Center couldn’t salvage her reputation if word got out that her mommy had been calling her at a dig to fret over safety.
“Listen, Joe, I appreciate the call. I really do—”
“I’m sending someone out there,” he bowled right over her. “He should be there today, about sixteen hundred.”
Four heads turned as a car rumbled up the dirt road leading to the dig site.
Sixteen hundred. Kelsey’s mind reeled. She clutched the phone to her ear and stared, stupefied, as the car-that-turned-out-to-be-a-pickup-truck rolled to a stop beside the row of SUVs. Dust coated the truck’s sides and tires. Smashed bugs dotted the windshield, hinting at a lengthy trip. The door pushed open and a man climbed out.
But he wasn’t a man, really—he was a giant. He stood well over six feet tall, with wide shoulders and muscular arms that screamed warrior. His olive-drab T-shirt stretched taut over his pecs, and he leaned an elbow on the roof of the truck while he scanned the area.
His gaze landed on Kelsey and her throat went dry.
“Kelsey? You there?”
“You sent me a SEAL?” she choked.
“His name’s Lieutenant Gage Brewer, Team Nine, Alpha squad. Like I said, he should be there by sixteen hundred. He’s got two weeks’ leave, so it worked out perfectly.”
“You hired someone to… to—”
“He owes me a favor. It’s no big deal, really. This’ll be a silver-bullet assignment for him. He’s looking forward to it.”
Lieutenant Whoever-He-Was reached up and peeled off his sunglasses to reveal a pair of laser-blue eyes as hard and unyielding as the rest of him. Looking forward to it. Yeah, right. This guy was so not happy to be here.
He slammed the door of his truck and strode toward her.
Two
“Kelsey Quinn?”
Her ability to speak evaporated as she stared up at him.
“Gage Brewer,” he said. “I’m here to sign up for your dig.”
Sign up for your dig. Right now. Today. The field school had only a week remaining, and every last person here had been toiling in the sun all summer.
His gaze bored into hers, daring her to challenge him. Damn right she’d challenge him. As soon as she could talk.
She glanced around.
And as soon as she could get away from all the prying eyes of her students.
“Glad you made it.” She forced a smile. “Right this way, please.”
She started for her camper, then realized it would look strange, disappearing into a private room with a man she’d only just met. She changed course, heading for a rocky outcropping about a hundred yards away. The petroglyphs. They’d be within plain view but well out of earshot.
“So you’re thinking of joining us. Why don’t I give you a tour of the site and you can make up your mind?”
He followed silently, his gaze scanning the horizon looking for… what? Rapists? Mountain lions? Serial killers?
“Where, exactly, did you come from?” she asked when they’d reached a safe distance.
“California.”
“You drove here from San Diego? At my uncle’s request?”
He said nothing to this, just followed her strides across the rocky terrain.
“Listen, Lieutenant—” She suddenly blanked on his name.
“Brewer,” he supplied. “And you can call me Gage.”
“All right. Gage. I’m not sure what my uncle told you, but your being here, it really isn’t necessary. My colleagues and I are—”
“He told me his niece needed protection. I told him I’d come. When you’re safely packed up and headed back home, I’ll return to San Diego, mission accomplished.”
Kelsey picked her way over the stony creek bed, fighting back tears of frustration as she listened to him talk. He was just like Joe, just like the stubborn, mule-headed man who had been a father to her most of her life. Good God, she’d never get rid of this guy. He considered her his mission.
Kelsey scaled the side of the creek, grabbing a branch to heft herself up. It snapped free and she fell backward. A pair of enormous hands caught her shoulders.
“Easy there.”
Her pulse skipped as the feel of him, the smell of him permeated her brain. A jolt of raw sexual awareness zinged through her, and she scrambled away.
Was that what this was about? Was her mother matchmaking with one of her uncle’s SEALs? The idea was unbearable. Mortifying. She felt color flooding her already pink cheeks.
And it suddenly hit her. She must look like roadkill. She was grimy, sunburned, and her last encounter with a mascara wand had been before Memorial Day.
Kelsey scurried up the hillside to the limestone escarpment that looked out over the valley and into Mexico. She ducked under the shade of an overhang and stopped beside a wall of rock decorated with ancient engravings. She turned to face the lieutenant, waiting until her eyes adjusted to the dimness so that she could read his expression.