Thomas shook his head, shocked that Rose hadn’t even mentioned the possibility. Had she known? “I invited her to join me to find the tablets.”
Rafe’s brows shot up. “Did she say yes?”
“I may have goaded her into it.”
“Was that wise?” Keaton asked. “The tension between the two of you was evident.”
Thomas wasn’t sure why he’d behaved so abominably, taunting her. Something about her regal composure annoyed him—she certainly wasn’t the girl he once knew. He’d wanted to draw the old Lizzie out. Yet he realized that keeping Lisbeth around probably wasn’t a good idea. “I will speak with her tomorrow and let her know she isn’t needed.”
Keaton and Rafe chuckled, and he glared at them. “What?”
“I’m not sure anyone would like to be told that,” Keaton said.
“It will be fine. She will likely come to that conclusion on her own before we meet. Will you both be joining me?”
Keaton sighed. “Not me. I have other work, but I wish I was. The trip sounds entertaining.”
Rafe grinned. “I will let you know.”
Thomas frowned. “She isn’t going.”
The next day, Thomas waited in the small sitting area of Rose’s hotel lodging. She was staying at the only real hotel in Latakia, and he suspected the nicest room. He shouldn’t be surprised; she was a duchess after all.
Her guard and Mr. Abbas sat with him as they waited. Finally, she entered the room, smiling stiffly and carrying something in a cloth bag. “I’m sorry I took so long.”
Thomas shook his head. “It’s fine.”
She nodded and placed the bag on a table in the sitting area. Thomas studied her as she delicately opened it. She was so different from the Lisbeth who left him. Her hair was perfectly done up, and she moved with a grace that he didn’t remember from their younger years. He watched her hands as they pulled a fragile antique map out. They were slender, and his mind flashed to a moment in their past.
*
Eighteen-year-old Lizzie grinnedand swirled her finger down his bare chest as they lazily lay naked on pallet bedding in her tent in the desert. “You are stuck with me now, Thomas Easton. You’ve compromised me.”
He laughed. “Does that make me a rogue?”
She snorted, her blue eyes sparkling with mischief. “You are the last boy I would ever suspect of being one.”
Thomas leaned forward and kissed her lips. “Not a boy, a man.”
She lifted a brow. “A man?”
“I seduced you, didn’t I?”
Lizzie giggled. “I was the seducer.”
“You are the daughter of an earl. This shouldn’t be happening. I was trying to be respectful.”
She kissed his chest, causing his body to hum. “Yet, you ran off with me to seek adventure.”
Her mouth drifted further down. He couldn’t fight the words any longer. “I don’t care about adventure. I’m here because I love you, Lizzie.”
Her head jerked up, and she looked at him. “Don’t say those words unless you mean them.”
Thomas flipped her on her back and looked down at her. “I’ve always loved you. My whole life, and I always will.”
She beamed a smile so beautiful that Thomas knew he’d never forget it.
*
