An Unexpected Pleasure (The Mad Morelands #4)(77)

“No. We are talking of friendship,” he replied soberly. “And Dennis and I became friends. I do not choose my friends on the basis of their birth or their bank accounts. Neither did Dennis. He was a great fellow, always full of stories and laughter and good cheer.”

Tears filled Megan’s eyes at the accurate description of her brother. “Yes. He was.”

“I am sorry, Megan.” Theo came closer to her, reaching out as though to touch her arm, then halted halfway there and let his hand fall. “I know how much you must have loved him. I remember him talking about you. He said I would like you.” He paused, then added softly, “Obviously he was right.”

Megan swallowed against the emotions that rose in her throat. She straightened her shoulders and faced Theo squarely. “What happened then?”

“After Eberhart’s death, the native bearers and guides grew more and more reluctant to travel farther inland. They were full of fears and superstitions. They talked of the ancient gods wreaking vengeance on all who dared disturb their sacred places. They whispered of treasures and curses. We had all heard stories about the gold that Pizarro demanded from the Incas—” He paused, asking, “You know, do you not, about the Spaniards conquering the Inca empire? How Pizarro and his men captured the Inca emperor and held him ransom for a vast amount of gold?”

Megan nodded. “Yes.”

“There were legends, as there always are in such cases, that some of the Incas who were bringing the gold decided not to turn it over to the Spanish but to hide it somewhere in the mountains. Hidden treasure, protected by the curse of the old gods. Pretty irresistible stuff, especially to several young men. Naturally, we hoped we would stumble upon it. The native bearers feared exactly the same thing. Some of them left, sneaking away in the night—with some of our supplies. Of course, with the number of natives dwindling, as well as our supplies, we had to be very careful not to get lost. There was a vast amount of territory—uncharted territory. That is why we set up a system of searching.”

He stopped and sat down on a chair, sighing. He rested his elbows on his knees and his head on his hands, thrusting his fingers back into his thick hair. “God. You don’t know how many times I have wished that we had simply turned back at that point.” He rubbed his hands over his face, then dropped them to his lap and looked at her.

“But we did not. We set up a base camp, where we stored the majority of our supplies, our tents and pack animals. One of the four of us stayed at the camp with the natives at all times. We took it in turns. The other three of us would venture out in short exploratory trips, taking only a couple of donkeys to carry our supplies. Our last trip out, Barchester stayed at the base camp, while Dennis, Julian and I set out to explore. I fell ill about a day or two into the journey. I think that I must have caught the fever that felled Eberhart. As we hiked on, I grew more and more feverish and weak. Then it began to rain. We took refuge in a cave that we found partway up a hill.”

Theo stood up and began to pace restlessly. “That is where Dennis died. Barchester was not even there.”

“How did he die?” Megan asked quietly, watching Theo.

“He fell. The caves went deep into the base of the hill. He was exploring, and he fell.”

Megan’s heart sank, and tears clogged her throat. “You are lying to me.”

She stood up and walked around to stand in front of Theo. He looked at her, and she could see the misery and pain in his eyes.

“I can see it in your face,” she said, unaware that her eyes filled with tears as she spoke. “In the way you stand. The way you turn your head. You are a dreadful liar, Theo.”

“Megan, I swear to you that I did not kill Dennis,” he told her, gazing straight into her eyes.

Megan felt, with the same certainty in her midsection that had told her the moment before that he had lied, that now he was speaking the truth. “Then look me in the eyes, right now, and tell me how my brother died.”

Theo stared at her for a moment, then broke away with an oath. “Bloody hell, woman. I swore never to reveal this to anyone.”

He stopped and stood, gazing into the distance at something only he could see. Finally, with a sigh, he turned. “All right. Nothing will satisfy you now but the complete truth. I suppose it no longer really matters, anyway.”

He came back to her and, taking her hands in his, led her to the small couch, pulling her down to sit with him. They turned toward each other, her hands still in his, and Theo looked into her eyes as he went on, “We went deep into the cave, carrying our lanterns. There were other smaller caves and tunnels branching off from it. We were curious—even I, despite my growing fever—and we searched them. One tunnel narrowed and then emerged into a large, high cave deep in the mountain. It was very much like a vaulted room, empty except for a tall, flat stone that lay in the center of the cave. The stone was carved and looked like an altar.”

“An altar?”

“Yes, I know. It sounds fanciful. But if you could have seen the place—there were soot marks on the walls at intervals, as if something had burned close to them. It wasn’t hard to imagine torches flickering around the cave and people gathered around an altar. But what was even more astounding was what we found in some of the other caves. In two, there were stores of golden objects.”

Megan drew in an involuntary gasp.