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She didn’t need feminine adornments to be the most beautiful woman in any room. Her eyes were jewels enough. Her sable hair the only silk she required.
This was familiar ground. They were back to arguing. All was well with the world.
And yet... he wanted to make her smile, not frown.
He wanted to defend himself, defend his choices.
Tell her that he lived in service to a higher purpose, that he took pride in his work, and was one of the best at what he did. Or he had been the best until that day in Athens.
Until... but he wouldn’t think of that now. He’d been having nightmares about it every night. Dreams where he didn’t make it off the street and he watched himself bleed to death from somewhere outside of his body.
His specialty was controlling conflicts. He either resolved them, or he prevented them from happening.
The threads of a complicated conflict, the egos involved, the profit and fortunes to be made, the lives that would be lost—he gathered all of the intelligence and wove it into plausible scenarios and then he found the thread to pick to unravel the war before it began.
The Rosetta Stone theft could start a war, there was no doubt about it.
Indy was part of the plan to recover the stone, nothing more.
“We can’t all be noble crusaders for a cause. Some of us like our world of familiar creature comforts,” he remarked.
“I will always choose the road less traveled,” she replied. “I’m trying to achieve something worthwhile with my life. I need the stone more than you do and that’s why I’m here. I’m also here because I don’t trust you not to sell it to the highest bidder,” she said cuttingly.
That caught Raven off guard. “You think I’d betray my country?”
“I think you’re on the side of Ravenwood above all else. It’s your interests that drive every decision you make. Which mistress to take, which treasure to hunt, which velvet waistcoat to wear... it’s all self-serving.”
“I may be selfish, but I’m not a traitor.”
The word hung in the air between them. Traitor. His own father had been accused of High Treason. Part of the reason Raven had become a secret agent was so that he could exonerate his father. The charges had never been proven, but they hadn’t been fully dropped, either.
“Very well, you wouldn’t sell the stone,” she conceded. “But you do have items in your collection that belong in museums.”
“You’ve never kept any treasure for yourself?”
“Never. I’m on the side of history. The stone should be in a museum, nowhere else. I don’t much care which museum, as long as I have access to it. Although ladies never do have the access they deserve to educational resources.”
“I didn’t make the rules, Indy.”
“But you profit by them. In your world the line between the sexes is sharply divided. Men are given most of the pie, and women are left to make do with a slender slice.”
“You’re an exception. You have to admit that many females simply aren’t cut out for strenuous pursuits.”
She set her book down on the seat with a thump. “Said every man who ever tried to justify denying a female an education or an opportunity.”
Lewd, crude, and rude. The Ravenwood she knew and loathed, he reminded himself.
“What if all the women started chasing after antiquities?” he asked with a calculated smirk. “There’d be no one left to share my bed.”
“That doesn’t even deserve a response,” she said scathingly.
“Are you going to tell me why you require the stone so badly? I gather you’re translating a hieroglyphic.”
“My aim isn’t your concern. We share a goal for a few weeks and then I go my way and you go yours. You descend back into the murky hell you call a life and I go about the business of making history.”
“Making history. Must be a prestigious prize you’re after.”
“I only have one life to live. I want it to mean something. I want to make the world a better place for young girls. A world where they’re encouraged to follow their interests and talents. Where they’re given the education to achieve their goals. Where their achievements are measured by the same criteria as their male counterparts. Someday that world will exist. I know it will. And when it does, I want to have done my part. I want the women of the future to look back and know that I helped open one small door for them by illuminating the lives of unconventional females throughout history.”
