Authors: Maya Wood
The Lost Hearts
The Lost Hearts
by
Maya Wood
©
2013 Maya Wood
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may
be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
***
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
***
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Wood:
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Special Thanks to:
Desirée
Sanabria (editor)
Marc Valentin (editor)
Ryan Jones (cover design)
Table of Contents
Prologue
T
hey heard it again. Only this time the noise came from directly ahead. Their heads snapped to attention and Alexis strained to identify the sound above the furious pulse of adrenaline that curled into a tight, high whistle against her eardrum. The dismembered sounds pulled together, and she suddenly realized she was hearing voices.
Oh my God
, Alexis thought, her jaw going slack when she saw him draw a fearsome hunting blade.
What the hell is happening?
Whoever was out there knew they were hiding. All in the jungle but the croak of a tree frog fell into an agonizing still. Th
e air was cotton in her throat, and she became aware of each hair as it stood along her neck. Panic compressed her brain in a vice-like grip, reduced her to an instinct. She was only an animal now, panting against the earth, waiting.
She felt his hand close around her arm. He leaned into her. His voice was a short heavy whisper, but dead clear. “You must run to your horse, Alexis. Get on it and ride back the direction we came f
rom. Just go south. Do you hear me?”
Alexis
’ eyes popped from their sockets and she choked. “Are you out of your mind? What about you?”
He shook his head tightly. His eyes were everywhere but her. “I’ll be right behind you. You must do it, Alexis.”
“I’m not leaving you!” she wheezed, unable to fill her lungs with air.
She saw the ball in his throat rise as he swallowed
. “Alexis, please.” The hard lines of his face almost broke with the plea. “I’ll have the advantage of seeing where they are if you go by yourself. You have to listen to me.”
Alexis
covered her mouth to strangle the sob rising in her throat. He was asking her to go against her every instinct. But she had seen it in his eyes. There wasn’t any other way.
He brushed the pad of his thumb over her
lips. “I’ll be right behind you, Alexis. Now go.”
Chapter
One
“You didn’t think you could hide that easily from me, now did you?” The perfect-bodied voice teased Alexis from behind. Her head bobbed, and she peered over a musty row of books to spot the source. She pulled at her collar, a hot flush sweeping up her neck. How long had he been watching her?
She felt the unmistaka
ble width of a man’s hand on her hip and she leapt with surprise, a tiny shriek escaping her mouth. Green eyes flashed at her. The gorgeous symmetry of his face split wide in a grin and Philip erupted with laughter. Alexis slapped the hard cover of her book disapprovingly against his chest.
“Ssh!” s
he hissed at him.
“When in doubt, check the library
, right?” His hand hadn’t left her waist, and he noticed her breathing shallow as he neared her. He lowered his face until his cheek grazed her jaw, and breathed in the light floral scent coming off her throat.
God, she must drive men crazy,
he thought, a secret smile tugging at his lips.
“Philip, stop! We’re going t
o disturb the other people here,” she tried, only halfway hoping the reproachful tone would repel him.
Philip looked unfazed
, and irresistibly charming. There it was - that self-pleased smile drawing up into a flawless white crescent. His chin was angular and confident, skin smooth and lightly tanned. His iridescent green eyes, outlined with sooty lashes, flared with mischief. Alexis watched him smooth his golden hair, parted off-center and styled back. She couldn’t help but laugh. She had honestly never met anyone whose looks so precisely matched their lot in life. Perfection.
Biting the fullness of his lower lip, he cocked his h
ead to one side and eyed Alexis. “Why don’t you let me rescue you from this tomb? We could see that movie I was talking about, or go for a walk. Anything. You name it.” Gripping the spine of her book, he wrestled it from her hands and examined it with comedic disdain. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you love these books more than you love me.” One corner of his mouth lifted in a fiendish smirk, and in a quick movement, the book disappeared behind his back.
Alexis groaned. She was in no mood for a game of keep-away.
“Philip, please! I need that book. It’s important for my father’s trip.” She lunged at his back, but he stepped into the movement. She was flat against him, his arm keeping her in place.
Philip
sucked his teeth and shook his head. “Now, now,” he cooed. His eyes were different now, darker. Sliding the book onto the shelf behind him, he brought his other hand to her face. She was breathing through her nose now, as she’d noticed she often did when she found herself pressed against him in tight spaces. She watched the fullness of his lower lip as he took one of her hair pins to unleash a tumble of copper locks. “You are so beautiful,” he said, his voice low and thick.
Alexis
peeled herself from his arms and immediately fixed the ground with a studious gaze. She had never mastered the art of accepting a compliment, especially one from such a physically overwhelming man. Her face was on fire, and the best she could do to distract the attention was pat nervously at her hair. Why could she never think of anything clever to say when he looked at her that way? She would have settled for words of any kind, but instead her mouth parted around an awkward, “Umm…” She shifted uncomfortably, her feet suddenly screaming in the red-heeled sandals.
“Come on, Alexis,” he coa
xed, encouraged by the breach in her composure. She felt his open hand stroke her jaw, trace upward over her ear and finally press the grey pearl earring between the tips of his fingers. “I want to get you out of here. You’ve been so wrapped up in this trip of your father’s. I don’t see you anymore.”
“If you give me my book back, I’ll go outside with you. You can make some sugg
estions, but I’m not making any promises. You know how much work I have to do.” Alexis narrowed her dark eyes, arching an eyebrow to caution him, but Philip already looked triumphant. His lips curled into an impish grin and he whirled around to return the stolen book. “Just let me gather my things,” she said.
Philip trailed behind Alexis through the compli
cated maze of the library. His pale green eyes watched her move in front of him, and they traveled the length of her body as she strode confidently through her kingdom. He smiled appreciatively at her slight, unconscious sashay, and that round, voluptuous behind tempting him beneath the burgundy skirt pulled snugly around her waist.
Philip had come to memorize the twists and turns of the library only from his innumerable attempts to
extract this red-headed siren. It had become the butt of many jokes among his acquaintances, and as a matter of social survival, Philip frequently feigned his own amusement. He knew that Alexis was an oddity, perceived more with faint repulsion than with curiosity. But she was unlike any other woman he’d met, her beauty incomparable, and he wanted her more than he’d wanted anything else in life.
Outside the main entrance, Philip stopped short to savor her beauty. The sunlight electrified her wavy locks, casting a radiant crimson halo around her face. Her ample lips, bursting pink, were begging to be kissed. It was all Philip could do to restrain himself from indulging his deepest impulses. He allowed an enormous breath of air into his lungs to calm the wild surge of blood.
Alexis turned her face skyward and let out an appreciative sigh.
Her skin felt rejuvenated under the sun and she remembered how much more she enjoyed reading in the park. She made a mental note to collect all her materials and work outdoors the next day. Spiraling into a series of work-related thoughts, she almost forgot she was standing next to her attentive young lover. She reached a conciliatory hand to his arms, now folded tightly over his torso.
“Alexis,” he began in a hushed, serious tone, “do you think you can forget about the library today? Look at
this weather we have. Please let me take you away from here.”
Alexis wanted to argue with Philip. Her father would be leaving in a few short weeks and there was still much to do.
New Guinea was an important mission, a lot was at stake, and the effort wasn’t likely to be repeated any time soon. But before she could launch an assault with all the reasons why she shouldn’t, Alexis examined his face. She was looking at one of the most important people in her life. She wasn’t certain it had ever struck her so definitively. She’d never seen Philip look so childlike and vulnerable. Biting her fingernail, she nodded her head in concession. “Okay,” she agreed, mentally penciling him into her weekend plans.
Philip wrenched in surprise,
deceived by the fissure in her resistance. He let out a triumphant whoop, and wrapping two hands around Alexis’ waist, thrust her into the air and twirled their bodies in a full circle. Alexis was laughing now, and she caught his mouth in a kiss as he lowered her to the ground.
“I’m taking you sailing then. We’ll anchor at Thompson Island and have a swim and a picnic.”
“Philip, wait.”
He recognized the tone. She was backpedaling. He let her g
o and frowned. “What is it?” he asked her, his voice falling flat.
Alexis offered an apologetic,
lopsided grin. “I want to go with you. I really do. But I can’t today. I have to go to the museum this afternoon and meet with father. I was thinking we could do something this weekend. Just me and you.”
Philip eyed her sideways. He felt the bubbling injustice of
a child being denied his favorite play-thing. He wanted her, and he wanted her now. But Philip had long mastered his emotions, and he suppressed the impulse to plead or connive. He knew better than to do that with Alexis. He smoothed his golden locks with a hand and sighed.
“At least let me drive you there,” he said, his tone lightening.
Alexis beamed at him. “Perfect.”
Philip cupped her shoulder
and steered her toward the gleaming, 1937 convertible Bentley Cabriolet parked flagrantly in a no-parking zone. Alexis raised an eyebrow and shook her head. The Talbot family had an impressive knack for disregarding the rules of mere mortals. Among them, Philip was the least brazen, at least as far as she’d ever seen. Still he couldn’t resist showcasing his trophies even if a little criminally. “You know, Philip, most of us park in parking lots, or along sidewalks with signs that say,
Parking Allowed.
”
Philip snorted
. “I thought you’d like that.” Grasping the door handle, he bowed dramatically like an obsequious chauffeur, gesturing for his date to be seated. Alexis stood defiantly, and she watched as Philip’s eyes moved from the sidewalk, to her legs, following the curves of her hips and waist and finally up to meet her reproachful gaze. “What?” He burst into laughter. “Okay, okay! I wanted the quickest exit strategy possible. You can’t blame me for trying.”
Alexis
’ half-hearted chuckle ended on a sigh. She let Philip usher her with his palm against her back, and she took his hand as she sunk into the decadent interior. The sun had warmed the cream leather of the seat, and it hissed against her skin. Philip flung the door shut and leapt around to the other side, sliding naturally onto his throne. Though he took care to convey total nonchalance, Philip was gleefully aware of the turning heads and envious glances his exotic and rare car managed to stir in passersby. Now his bragging rights were complete with this breathtaking creature at his side.
Philip lifted his chin at her, and a pleased smile crept sidewa
ys along his face. The engine roared as he pressed his custom-made leather shoe against the gas pedal. “Away we go.”
***
“I don’t care if your father
is
curator of this museum. Frankly, it’s an embarrassment to this institution that we have a woman running about in high heels, taking charge of affairs in
my
department.” His pink thin lips curled obscenely around every consonant, and Alexis watched them, suppressing the broiling urge to flatten them with her knuckles.
An aging but handsome man with a silver shock of hair lowered his hand beneath the enflamed faces of Alexis and her long-time nemesis. For a moment, he broke the spell. “H
arry, you’re simply out of line,” Charles Woodall appealed in his matter-of-fact tone.
Har
ry, a short, fat, red-faced man with wire-framed spectacles pushed flat and high against his forehead rolled his beady eyes toward the voice of reason. Alexis shook her head at Charles. She appreciated the gesture of support, but she wasn’t about to let Harry get away with thinking that she needed saving.
“Thank you, Charles,
” Alexis said tightly. “But Harry and I have it under control. We’re just having a small disagreement about an article the Boston Herald is writing. Isn’t that right, Harry?” It wasn’t generally in her nature to make her voice so snide, but if Harry was successful at accomplishing anything at the Boston Society of Natural History, it was at bringing out the very worst of her.
Har
ry swiveled his beet of a head up at Alexis. His voice pinched somewhere in his throat, and it clawed at her ears in a nasal whine. Like a spoiled child, he offered the details to Charles, his eyes flashing with solicitation for male camaraderie. “She’s giving undue credit to others, to her
self,
for the research and development of our New Guinea work.” He was practically whimpering now.
“What else could I tell the repo
rter?” Alexis snapped back. “I was merely answering the questions with facts. Would you like me to lie, Harry?” Alexis felt her neck flush with agitation. She was beginning to suffocate in yet another conflict of male versus female territory. Charles relaxed a little, a flicker of amusement tugging at the corner of his bow-shaped mouth.
Har
ry flapped his arms in aggression. “This is enough!” he sputtered. “I don’t have to defend myself to you. You’re here because of your father. You know it, and we know it. We’ve tolerated it as long as you keep qui-”
A familiar cadence of footsteps sounded down the hallway, and all three heads craned with guilt. Lawrence Scott had emerged from his office, a heavy-bodied coil of pipe smoke trailing behind him. His characteristically jovial expression had gathered into a menacing scowl. Alexis shrunk a little. He would ultimately side with her, but she knew he didn’t like to be put in the position.
“What on earth is going on here?” he demanded, his voice set at a commanding but steadied volume. “This is a museum, not a high school corridor. Please explain yourselves now.”
Charles took a step back, identi
fying the culprits with a sweep of his hand. Alexis saw Harry swallow hard, a bulb rose and fell in his throat, but he found no words.
“Alexis?”
Lawrence persisted.
Har
ry found his courage just as Alexis opened her mouth to speak. “Lawrence, I think we should review the protocol for public relations with Ms. Scott. As you’re well aware, the Boston Herald is writing a piece about our work in New Guinea. She did not consult the board before providing detailed, possibly confidential information about the project’s status. She is not in any position to-”