Beautiful Sacrifice

respected amateur Mayanist.” Lina faced Hunter directly. “Am I missing anyone on your mental suspect list? Just give me their names and I’ll tell you what I know.”
    “Simon Crutchfeldt,” Hunter said.
    She blinked with surprise but didn’t miss a beat. “One of Celia’s best clients. He both collects and resells.”
    “Reputation?”
    “Depends on who you talk to,” Lina said.
    “I’m talking to you.”
    “I don’t like him professionally or personally.”
    “Has Crutchfeldt ever been arrested?” Hunter asked.
    “Not that I know of.”
    “Would he be a likely receiver of Jase’s missing artifacts?”
    “He’s too smart to keep them,” Lina said. “He’s not obsessive like Philip or true collectors.”
    “How about being a go-between?”
    She let out a long breath. She really didn’t like some of Celia’s clientele. People like Crutchfeldt were why. “It’s possible that Crutchfeldt is a middleman for illegal transactions.”
    “Anything is possible,” Hunter said. “How about probable?”
    Lina felt like she was being harried into a corner. “All right. Yes. My mother deals with some despicable people. Crutchfeldt is one of them.”
    Callused male fingertips brushed over Lina’s lips. “Easy, sweetheart. I’m not attacking you or your family.”
    “It sure feels like it.”
    “Nobody’s one hundred percent pure,” he said. “Nobody. Once you accept that, life gets a lot easier.”
    “Tell that to Caesar’s wife,” she shot back.
    Hunter’s smile was a flash of warmth stroking her.
    “Such beautiful eyes,” he said, “hot as sin and sweeter than an angel. I’m sure glad you aren’t married. Real glad.”
    Lina felt the ground shift under her feet. His words, the touch of his fingers on her lips, his smile, everything about him kept her unsettled.
    “Hunter, what are you doing to me?”
    “Not near as much as either of us would like.” Reluctantly he withdrew his touch from her soft, warm lips. “Damn. We’re both too tired for what I hope you want.”
    Deliberately she looked at the fit of his jeans. “You don’t look too tired.”
    “I should be. The last two weeks have been hell. Except for you.”
    “Go to bed. I’d hate to have you fall asleep before the, er, main event.”
    Hunter’s laughter was even warmer than his smile. She couldn’t help laughing, too.
    Then his mouth was over hers, his arms pulling her against every hard inch of his body. She hadn’t known she was still cold until she felt his heat. She gave herself to his kiss, the hot strokes of his tongue, to him. He tasted of night and coffee, salt and man, a storm in the tropics. Her fingers clenched in his hair, holding him closer, afraid he was a dream that would vanish between one breath and the next.
    “This is stupid,” he said finally against her lips.
    “I know.” She burrowed closer, nipping his chin.
    With a groan, he stepped away from her. “Help me, here. I’m trying to do the right thing.”
    She licked her lips. “You felt right to me.” Then she shook her head like a dog coming out of water.
    “Feeling bushwhacked?” he asked wryly.
    “Yes. What is it about you? I’m not like this. I don’t just jump into a man’s arms because I like the way he looks.”
    “I’d love to take credit for it, sweetheart, but it wouldn’t be true. Adrenaline is the most underrated drug on the market. Worse than booze for tempting people to break their own rules. So I’ll make you a deal. You look at me like that in the morning and I’ll jump you right back.”
    She closed her eyes, carefully not looking at him. Then she sighed, knowing he was right. “Tomorrow.” It felt like forever to her.
    His glance went over her like ghostly hands.
    “To hell with it,” he said, pulling her back to him. “It’s already tomorrow.”

C HAPTER T WELVE
     
    L INA CAME TO H UNTER EVEN AS HE PULLED HER CLOSER. She breathed out his name when her mouth found his, seeking. The perfume of plumeria and their own scents and the smell of the ocean mixed into something primal, hot, like their kiss. She wasn’t used to wanting a man like this, mind and body savagely insisting, explosive heat and chills and a moan that she couldn’t believe was hers.
    “Be sure, sweetheart,” he said hoarsely after he broke the kiss. His mouth nibbled and nipped over her beautiful cheekbones, her lips. “You’re so vulnerable right now.”
    “And you aren’t?” she challenged.
    Her hips moved over his