Gideon Monahan is a man dedicated to what he does -- recovering stolen art -- to the exclusion of anything else, including a personal life. There's a reason for that, something that happened in his past that he can't forget.<br><br>Cole Newell is an archaeologist with a problem. He needs to find out who looted a dig he worked the previous summer, after one of the artifacts shows up at his gallery. Cole calls on Gideon to lend his expertise, which, much against his better judgment, Gideon does.<br><br>When one of the looters is murdered, they set out to find answers, with the help of Detective Quint Hawk. In the process, Cole realizes he's attracted to Gideon, even though he's certain the man is straight. After he helps Gideon open up about -- and accept -- his past, can the two men become more than friends? Both Gideon and Cole hope so, once they overcome the myriad problems facing them.

It Takes an Archaeologist

When Gideon walked into the gallery, a woman came over, asking if she could help him. He asked for Lee Phillips, and she pointed to a man at a desk at the back of the room.


Once he’d introduced himself to Phillips, as Jack Carlson from the BLM, he got down to business.


“I don’t know if you’re aware, but two of the men who looted the dig you worked on with Dr. Newell have been apprehended.” He watched Phillips carefully as he said that. The man’s reaction was what it should have been—interested and relieved.


“Have you found the stolen artifacts?” Phillips asked.


“Yes. Most of them. A few are still missing—ones that were taken by the third man in the gang. Unfortunately, his partners murdered him while attempting to find out what he’d done with them.”


Chapter 15