Gunshots waken Ian Tunbridge, an assistant curator of classical antiquities at the British Museum, on his first day on a dig in California. The only way to save his life is to run for it, but luck is not on his side. At least, not until he meets Lucas Arpini, the brash American photographer who seems to have some sort of clue what’s going on. Together, they’re supposed to be the tools in finding an artifact nobody believes is real -- nobody, that is, except Lucas and the man kidnaps them both.<br><br>Ian doesn’t know what to believe. His colleagues are dead, he’s injured, and he has no choice but to put his faith in a gorgeous stranger. Their escape should lead them straight to the police, but when Lucas shows him pieces of the puzzle they were meant to solve, Ian is too intrigued to walk away. He wants to solve the riddle as badly as Lucas does.<br><br>Unfortunately, they aren’t the only ones ...

Riddle Me Wicked

He couldn’t lose Ian. Not now. Not when they’d only just stepped over the wall that had been separating them. He would even be all right if Ian said no more sex. At least he would have had a taste of what it could have been like, one amazing night where the world disappeared and for a few liberating hours, Lucas could just be. It took all of his self-control to relax his arms and let them drop to his sides. It took even more to keep his voice calm.


“Other than turning ourselves in, tell me what it’ll take to help you,” he said. “I’m not ready to stop trying, and I’d like it if you weren’t, either. I can’t do this without you, Ian.”


Doubt still darkened Ian’s eyes. The twitch of a muscle in his cheek threatened to kindle into something more, but Lucas watched him swallow twice, each time steadying his breath another fraction, until his nostrils no longer flared.


“I don’t want to be your nemesis on this,” Ian said.


Chapter 45