Irrationally, he wanted to argue that she was wrong, but the words didn’t come. She was a duchess with children, and he was a man who hadn’t been to England in a decade. He nodded and pressed his forehead against hers. They sat there quietly, and finally, he pulled away. “I wish I had been in a different place so that I could have helped.”
She smiled sadly at him. “Neither of us had anything. We were happy, though.”
“If I ever see your brother again, I will give him the thrashing of his life.”
Lisbeth shook her head. “It wasn’t his fault. He was desperate.”
Thomas wasn’t sure he agreed with her. Saving her family should never have been put on Lisbeth’s shoulders, but heremained silent. She’d always been close to Justin. She smiled and added, “It didn’t turn out too badly. You are richer than most of the lords in London, I imagine, and a famous explorer.”
He wanted to scream that he would have given it all up to have her, but didn’t. Instead, he forced himself to smile. “I guess it was the right decision to run off with a hoyden to seek out adventure all those years ago.”
A huff escaped her. “I wasn’t hoyden.”
“You were, and I would have followed you anywhere.”
She gave him a half-smile but then grew serious. “I’m telling you all this because I want you to know the truth, but nothing more can happen between us. We’ve grown too much in opposite directions from each other. I can pretend that the Lisbeth in Syria is me, but it simply isn’t. You are more likely to find me attending a lady’s tea or helping my children with their studies.”
He didn’t want to imagine Lisbeth with her children. Thomas had no doubt she was a good mother, but the thought was too painful and so far removed from his life now. No one he knew had children. He supposed if Rose did someday, she’d be the first.
“I agree. Still, I’m glad we had our time together.”
She threaded her fingers through his. “Me too, and I’m also happy we were able to see each other again. I needed this.”
“I agree,” he said, releasing her hand and standing. “I think I will go inside.”
“I want to stay out here a little longer.”
Thomas nodded and walked away. He didn’t go inside but instead exited the courtyard. He took a deep breath and stared up at the sky. A tear ran down his cheek, and he wiped it away. He couldn’t remember the last time he cried. Lisbeth had given him the gift of closure, he told himself. Thomas should be happy with that, but all he felt was profound sadness.
Chapter Seven
Lisbeth stood withRafe, Thomas, Benson, and the three guides outside the cave entrance. Fadir frowned at the sky, shaking his head. Lisbeth wondered if that meant they wouldn’t be able to enter. Badr shrugged, and then they argued back and forth. Finally, they seemed to come to some sort of conclusion.
She was the only one who didn’t speak Arabic, and it frustrated her. Thomas turned to her and said, “Fadir thinks it may rain, but Badr doesn’t believe it will until later. Fadir will travel with us, Badr will be further back in the cave system, and another guide will stay outside to alert us about any potential weather. We all need to stay close to one another.”
Lisbeth nodded, hoping that the weather would hold. This path had to lead them to the tablets. She followed Rafe, Thomas, and Fadir into the cave, carrying one of the lanterns. They walked until they reached the cavity, containing the eight tunnels leading in opposite directions. Thomas drew a circle over the tunnel that would lead out to the river and a triangle over the pathway that may potentially lead to the tablets.
She closed her eyes, silently pleading they would be found. Lisbeth needed them to be there. As they walked, Thomas trailed the chalk along the wall. A thrill coursed through her as they went deeper into the cave system. There was something exhilarating about being back out in the world, searching for antiquities. In truth, it didn’t even have to be the tablets.
Most excavation work was far more boring than those reading about it in London would imagine. Days consisted of repetitive tasks that focused on caring for artifacts. While searching for something new could be exciting, even that might become mundane to those who weren’t enthusiasts of the field. It often took months or years to discover something from the past. They were lucky to have the map, or they might never have found the last two tablets containing the epic.
She smiled. Still, the search was rather exciting. Liseth had forgotten how much she enjoyed this part of the antiquities field. She was glad to participate but knew that if they didn’t find anything in the next two weeks, she would have to return home. Her children, Alice and Jeremy, were her entire world, and after this little adventure, she couldn’t imagine leaving England for the foreseeable future.
The heaviness and sadness from her talk with Thomas the previous night still hung on her. The conversation had been needed. She was glad that they’d reached some level of comfort with the past.Tell him, her guilty conscience whispered. Lisbeth had revealed everything but one crucial detail. Her chest tightened thinking about her omission. She pushed the thought away. She would not dwell on the decisions she’d made so long ago. It helped no one. She and Thomas had closure.
This tunnel appeared to be well-traveled, and she remembered Thomas saying yesterday that there would be another corridor they needed to traverse. Benson glanced back at her, checking if she was still there. She smiled at him. Her guard nodded, and Lisbeth decided silently that the man deserved a raise when they returned. She didn’t imagine that this was what he expected when she’d explained she needed to travel to Syria.
They stopped, and Thomas handed Badr one of the lanterns.
He turned to Rafe. “Will you stay with him so we are all traveling in twos?”
His friend nodded, and the rest of the group continued on. A smile filled her face. The man everyone saw as the famous easygoing explorer was still very much Serious Thomas. She wondered how much exaggeration the author of the Thomas Easton serials used when writing them.
They walked for another half an hour, and then Thomas and Fadir stopped. They were using measurements to determine their location. The tunnel had widened. On both sides, there were rocks of varying sizes. Fadir said something in Arabic, and then Thomas turned to Lisbeth and Benson, pointing at the wall of stones. “Fadir believes the tunnel is behind here. We are going to see if any of these rocks are movable. If so, we can attempt to travel to the cavern where the tablets and other artifacts are located.
Fadir pulled a metal rod from a bag and pieced it together. Once done, he motioned for Thomas and Benson to join him. The first few rocks they attempted to pry out wouldn’t move. Sweat was pouring down the men. Lisbeth offered to help, but Thomas said, “Not yet.”
They all sat, sharing water. Lisbeth stared at the rocks. Some of them, over time, had become one. She hoped that the tunnel beyond the pieces of stone hadn’t caved in. “Can we use black powder?”
