Treasured Box Set 1-4 by Cari Z

Author:Cari Z.
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2009-08-05T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Two

I fell asleep sometime around dawn. I had been up all night researching and printing out articles, and after a few hours my table was just as messy as it had been when I was in the throes of my dissertation defense.

When I woke up, my head wasn’t resting on reams of paper, though, it was cushioned on the pillow from my bed. I was laid out on the sofa in the most comfortable way possible, which still wasn’t great, but was better than bent over my ancient laptop. The quilt my mother had made for me before I went to college was draped over me, and the air smelled like fresh coffee and bagels. Someone was holding my feet and rubbing a thumb gently along the curve of my ankle.

For a second, I felt nothing but utter contentment. Then reality poured back in, and that light feeling turned to lead in my chest.

“Rhys.” I opened my eyes and looked over at him. He was wearing the shell I loved the best, long and lean and gorgeous.

He gave me a half smile and saluted me with his cup of coffee before glancing at the mess of papers. “I thought you were done with school from here on out, Danny. Instead you’re neck-deep in research.”

“It’s important,” I mumbled, pulling my feet away and sitting. Rhys frowned but let me go.

“Must be,” he said noncommittally. “What’s up, pet?”

I ran a hand through my messy hair and sighed heavily. I could feel Rhys shift a little, like he wanted to come closer to me, but something was holding him back. Rhys had always been very intuitive, and he could read me like a book.

I shuffled through the papers on the table until I found the one I was looking for. I looked at it one last time, then handed it over to Rhys. He took it silently.

“Did you do this?”

Rhys took a moment to read the first few lines, his lips slightly pursed, like he was considering biting into a lemon. “Old news, Danny.” He put the paper down on the arm of the couch and crossed his legs. “Lisbon was three years ago. Long before I ever met you.”

“I know that,” I said, pretty calmly I thought. “So were these ones.” I passed him the first pages of articles detailing thefts at major museums in Barcelona, Kyoto, Rio de Janiero, Rome. Each one was a high-profile theft going after magical artifacts, and all of them were jobs that had to have been done by more than one person. National treasures had been targeted, everything from paintings to jewelry to small statuary, each one sure to fetch the highest price on the black market. Rhys glanced at the pages and then set them aside as well.

“So they were,” he agreed. He stared at me, totally expressionless. “What’s your point, Danny?”

“What about this one?” My hand trembled a little as I passed the articles I’d downloaded on the British Museum theft over to him.

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