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GEARY SAT IN THE CAR, STARING AT HER PERMITS AS IF they were the mythical Holy Grail that had nored her She didn&039;t knoas keeping the men Maybe Arik had found soered an odd jealous twinge-which really ladly pay soaze in the rearviewhave you worked for Solin?"

"Long enough, h"

Boy, wasn&039;t he the font of all inforuys finally left the building

They were much more subdued as they joined her in the car

Solin offered her a tight-lipped smile "Are you happy now, Dr Kafieri?"

"Thrilled beyond belief"

"Good" He cleared his throat "By the way, I would like to apologize for my brother&039;s unconscionable behavior"

"I don&039;t need you to apologize forit e hadn&039;t picked that exact second to pull into traffic, she&039;d have swung the door open and left

"And just out of curiosity, what hed "I wasn&039;t thinking at all The truth is you surprised me and I reacted poorly For that I&039;m truly sorry I would never have insulted you in any way"

Okay, so the guy could be char when he put forth the effort

But she still wasn&039;t quite ready to let hi a woaze as he returned her question with one of his own "Do youthe of dread consu human was hard

"No, I don&039;t," she snapped, her eyes blazing "And I can assure you that I will never do such a thing again Especially not to you and not in public, private, or anywhere else"

" Good going, Arik," Solin said snidely in his head " Any ies and you&039;ll be able to sell icicles on the equator"

He glared at Solin " Have you a better one?"

"Tell her that you couldn&039;t help yourself, you were overwhelmed by her beauty That she is the most desirable woman you&039;ve ever kissed and because of that your emotions ran aith you"

"I don&039;t think that&039;s going to work"

"Trust me, it alorks"

Arik wasn&039;t so sure, but since Solin had more experience on this plane, he decided to listen to him "I couldn&039;t help myself, Geary I was overwhelmed by your desire and I&039;ve never kissed a wo her, that only seeer her more

"That&039;s not what I said, Arik Jeez"

"You were overwhel each word slowly so that they conveyed the full weight of her anger "What planet are you from?"

"Moronia," Solin said out loud "Every full moon they teleport the Morons to earth and let them loose

Consider this your first encounter"

"Shut up, Solin," Arik said from between clenched teeth Then he projected, " I told you it wouldn&039;t work"

"It would have had you said it the way I told you to"

Before he spoke to Megeara Solin glared at hiive my brother, Doctor He was raised in the mountains where there wasn&039;t any real civilization of any sort He&039;s basically a goat far with people He lacks many social skills"

"Oh, thank you Why not tell her that I wet the bed in my sleep while you&039;re at it?"

" If it&039;ll work, I will"

Megeara gave hiimlet stare "Is that the truth?"

"Yes," Arik said "I haven&039;t had h "Human people, huh? Are there any other kind?"

As a matter of fact there were, but now didn&039;t seem like the time or place to educate her on that

Grateful that her ive me for my behavior?

Please"

She looked down at the permits in her lap, then smiled "I think I can, but only if you proain"

"I swear it on Solin&039;s life"

Solin sputtered, "Uh, excuse me?"

"I would, but there&039;s truly no excuse for you"

He folded his arms over his chest "Ha, ha"

Geary rolled her eyes at the play made her ache She and Jason used to bait each other like that It would drive her father to distraction, and the weird thing was neither she nor Jason knehy they did it

Itbehavior that made theood-looking teenager ould have followed her father to the ends of the earth without coht, Megeara?"

She aze before she nodded "Sorry, I was just thinking about so?"

"Personal," she finished

He nodded and she was grateful that he didn&039;t pursue his line of questioning Anytiht about Jason, it made her cry

"So what do we do now in preparation for the excavation?" Arik asked, changing the subject

When she didn&039;t respond quickly enough, Arik pointed toward her perain?"

"I reain is this?"

"That I would allow Arik to participate on the teah with the permits"

Solin arched a brow "Really? Well, in that case I want to join you"

Geary was aghast at his request The boat was crowded enough with their team, they really didn&039;t need anyone else And especially not soet in the way "I don&039;t think that&039;s a good idea You don&039;t strike me as the academic type"

A seductive smile curled his lips "Oh, I assure you, I&039;eable about this subject So much so that soht Mr Rolls and Are just not jibe with her? Oh wait, because he amos

"Uh-huh You study ancient history?"