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

Cole was momentarily shocked by Gideon’s actions, until he remembered the presumed explanation for why Gideon was working at the gallery. I wouldn’t mind in the least if it was real.His shoulders slumped as he went back to his office. But it’s not and it never will be. Romance novels to the contrary, there’s rarely if ever such a thing as ‘gay for you.’ And it definitely won’t happen with a married man.


Cole was deep into what he doing—writing up and then printing tags for a new consignment of artifacts that would be put into one of the cases in the showroom—when there was a knock on the office door.


“It’s open,” he called out, smiling when Gideon came into the room.


“I forgot to tell you,” Gideon said. “Quint’s reporter contact at the Postloved the idea of doing a story about stolen artifacts. It’ll be in the paper tomorrow.”


“Then we pray Keith sees it and reacts the way we want him to.”


Chapter 24