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The sun chose that moment to breach the horizon. The first rays of dawn fell across his rugged profile, gilding it with light. His eyes were warm and happy as he gazed down at her.
Words burst from Ellie’s lips on a wave of pride and affection. “You really are magnificent, you know.”
Adam stilled as though her remark had struck him like a dart. A grin slowly lit up his face.
“You saying that to be nice?” His tone shifted from a rich warmth to wryness. “Or to put off getting in this saddle?”
The tease was casual—but the brightness in his eyes was real. The glow of it filled Ellie up like the light of dawn spreading across the sky.
Jemmahor’s laugh cut through the air, and the camel brayed, reminding Ellie that she wasn’t alone. She glanced over at the rest of their party.
Umm Waseem waited nearby with implacable patience. Sayyid exchanged a quiet word with his wife while Jemmahor let Yusuf help her onto her camel, obviously enjoying the attention. Mustafa watched over them with his hand on the pommel of his sword, looking as though he were posing for a painting.
“What do you think we’re going to be up against once we get to Amarna?” Ellie asked.
“A glorified antiquities thief and a bunch of hired thugs.” Adam flashed her a smile. “Nothing we haven’t handled before.”
A familiar worry flashed through her. “What about Neil and Constance? Do you think they’re all right?”
“I think Connie is more than capable of handling herself,” Adam returned confidently.
“And my brother?” Ellie prompted more dryly.
“He’s gotta stick around for me to give him hell about that stupid note of his, doesn’t he?” Adam let the wry twist fall from his lips. He reached out and touched her face. His thumb brushed comfortingly over her cheek. “We’ll get them out when we get to Amarna, if they haven’t found a way to escape already.”
“It’s my fault that either of them got involved,” Ellie insisted with a dart of guilt.
“Nah,” Adam replied.
“Excuse me?”
“You didn’t hold anybody’s feet to an iron,” Adam pointed out. “They chose to come along.”
Ellie studied his face in the soft light of the early morning. “And you?” she asked solemnly.
His blue gaze burned down at her. His hand slipped to the back of her neck, his fingers tangling lightly in her hair. “I chose it too. And I’d do it again in a goddamned heartbeat.” His mouth quirked into another smile. “But now you’re definitely just stalling.”
Ellie cast an exasperated and skeptical look back at the waiting camel. “How do you know it’s not going to try to eat me?”
“She’s a vegetarian.” Adam more or less picked her up and set her on the saddle. He tapped the camel’s flank. “Qum! Up you get!”
Ellie flailed out to grasp the horn of the saddle as her mount thrust up its front legs, throwing her against the rear of the seat. She bit back an instinctive yelp, and then the rear half of the animal was rising, lurching her forward.
At last it was done. Ellie found herself clinging to a perch that was far higher from the ground than it had any right to be.
“Keep both your legs on one side,” Adam instructed her as he easily mounted his own camel, his body instinctively shifting along with the animal’s movement as it rose. “You’ll be more comfortable.”
“Nothing about this feels comfortable!” Ellie shot back.
“You look great up there,” Adam countered wickedly. “Yalla!”
The camel lurched into a trot, and Ellie clung to it as it bounced after Zeinab, Sayyid, and the others, the yellow dog dashing along in their wake with a happy bark.
??
Twenty-Nine
Constance contemplated thesleeping form of Dr. Neil Fairfax in the morning light that streamed into their tomb, a pot full of river water in her hands.
