“A likely story.”

“Look, I was just as shocked as you. He didn’t even ask if I wanted a desk job.”

“You didn’t stand up and protest.”

“I didn’t have a chance!” Lowe shook his head, as if to clear it, then held up a third finger. “Lastly, you were the one seducing me.”

Her jaw dropped. “That’s the most preposterous thing I’ve ever—”

“You touched me first. You gave me all those amorous looks.”

“I did no such thing! You pulled me into a shadowed corner. And half an hour later you Judased me in front of my peers! You humiliated me.”

“Your father humiliated you.”

“You both did.”

His head cocked. “And you . . . tried to kill us with that chandelier?”

Oh, God. She spun around and strode down the sidewalk. He followed.

“Helvete, you did!”

“That’s ludicrous.”

“Is it? Because I heard what your father said. And I caught some of Mr. Moneypants’s conversation just now. I know a quake when I feel one, and this, Miss Bacall, was no earthquake. Hell, now that I’m thinking about it, I never could figure out what happened with those windows that broke on the train when that thug was chasing us. And then in the baggage car.”

“You’re mad.”

“But not stupid.”

“Please just leave me alone.”

“I’m not abandoning a woman on a dark street in the middle of the night.”

“It’s eight o’clock and we’re in a perfectly safe neighborhood. I told you when we met, I want to be treated like a man. Equal. Not like some frail doll with the brain of a pea. Not hysterical.”

“Hey, that was Moneypants’s word, not mine. But all right, I’m game. You’re a man. Fine. Makes things a bit confusing for me when I consider all the lurid thoughts I’ve been entertaining about the two of us, but what the hell—I’m worldly. Suppose I’m open to new experiences.”

Lurid thoughts. About her? A renewed thrill wove through her erratic thoughts. God, why did she even care? All she needed to focus on was the fact that her bastard of a father had betrayed her, after months of praising her work in front of the board. After years of telling her how smart she was, how capable.

Well. Not capable enough to dig in Egypt. He’d made that clear on numerous occasions. Women had no place in the desert. And when she’d argued that her mother had accompanied him, he said allowing her that liberty was the biggest mistake of his life. No amount of discussion changed his mind. So she gave up on that dream.

Now this one was crushed, too?

But Lowe swore he hadn’t known. Did she believe him? And really, when she stopped to think about it with a clear head, wasn’t the more important question why? Her father was getting what he wanted from Lowe already—the djed. And it’s not as if Lowe had been on his radar before the amulet’s discovery. She’d only heard the Magnusson name in passing.

Father had been so secretive about the djed, refusing to tell her why he wanted it so badly and what he was going to do with it. Did he really think the amulet had magical properties? It certainly gave off a strange energy, that much she knew for certain.

Osiris’s Backbone supposedly opened up a door to the underworld. To the Egyptian Land of the Dead: Duat. But even if the djed’s powers were real, Lowe had only found a fragment of the amulet. Why would her father suddenly welcome Lowe into the museum with open arms—?

“Where are you going?”

Hadley halted and swung around to find Lowe standing on the opposite corner. She’d walked the entire block and crossed the street without realizing. “I’m looking for a taxicab.”

Lowe surveyed the dark residential street. They’d long passed the line of parked limousines waiting on guests at the Flood house. A single car sped by. It was so quiet, she could practically hear the fog rolling in. “Might be hard to find a cabstand around here. If you’d like a ride home, our driver can take you. We’re only two blocks from my home. I walked here.”

She groaned.

He shoved his hands in his coat pockets and crossed the sloping side street. “My family’s probably finishing dinner, so it’s not like I’m hustling you into a secluded house to have my wicked way with you.” He stopped in front of her, his gaze sliding down her coat. “Besides, you may or may not have just attempted to crush my body under two tons of glass. How, I really don’t know. But I suspect I should be wary of you, not the other way around.”

He suspected right.

“Truce?”

“Fine,” she agreed. “On one condition.”

His head lolled on a sigh. He stared at the foggy sky for a moment, muttering something in Swedish before answering, “Why the hell not. Go on. Name your condition.”

“You tell me exactly why my father is bending over backward to let you have your wicked way with him.”

NINE

LOWE LAUGHED IN SURPRISE. A fleeting playfulness softened the angry slant of her eyes, and this made him want to throw her behind the bushes and roll around on the grass with her.

God. He really had no business chasing after this woman. He promised her father he’d see her home when she left the party, but he frankly couldn’t give less of a damn about Dr. Bacall at the moment. He did, however, care about Dr. Bacall’s money. So he needed to tread carefully here. Think with his brain instead of his cock.