Dragon Warrior (Midnight Bay) by Janet Chapman Read Free Book Online Page B

some parts of it today. Sanskrit is supposedly as old as Latin and Greek.”
    She squinted down at the coin. “Do you know what the word is?”
    He lifted it out of her hand and held it up to study the marking. “No. It’s worn smooth in places, and I don’t know jack about ancient languages.”
    “Do you know anyone who does?”
    He shoved the coin back into his pocket and clasped both of her hands between his. “What’s on the coin doesn’t matter as much as the fact that it’s real. And now I need you to confirm for me that the woman is also real.”
    Maddy felt a bit like flotsam, herself. “I-I don’t know what to say, Trace.”
    “Say you’ll come out on my boat with me Saturday. And once you see her, say you’ll help me figure out how a woman can be swimming around in the Gulf of Maine as if it were a heated pool.”
    “And if I don’t see her?”
    “Then we go back out on Sunday.”
    “And if I go out there with you every day and I still don’t see her?”
    He took hold of her shoulders—more to anchor himself than hold her in place, Maddy suspected. “Then we concentrate on figuring out where that coin came from.”
    She pressed her palms to his chest, but instead of feeling a racing heartbeat like she’d expected, she felt a strong, steady, surprisingly slow thumping; and Maddy realized that Trace wasn’t nearly as desperate to confirm his sanity as he was deadly serious about proving that the coin-throwing woman actually existed.
    “You’ve been deployed to Afghanistan at least twice that I know of in the last five years,” she said. “Which, if I remember my high school geography, is one country away from India. There’s a good chance you came across the coin during one of your tours, forgot about it, and just found it again in the pocket of an old pair of your jeans.”
    “I came home with only the clothes on my back. I gave everything I owned to some kid and his mother in Kabul.”
    “Everything? But why?”
    He shrugged again, and this time she knew he truly was indifferent. “I figured they needed it more than I did.”
    Maddy looked deep into his storm-gray eyes. “Oh, Trace. What happened to you over there? Where’s the boy who chased me halfway home when he caught me watching him screwing Leslie Simpson in the woods and then threatened to cut off all my hair if I told anyone?”
    “He left Midnight Bay ten years ago.” He enveloped her in a heartbreakingly fierce embrace. “And for the last three years, he’s been trying his damnedest to get back here in one piece.”
    Maddy felt him suddenly tense; his arms around her coiling with energy, every muscle in his body poised to respond.
    “Ye’d best be telling me you’re her brother ,” a deep, threatening voice said from directly behind her.
    Maddy gasped and tried to step back, but Trace held her firmly, threading his fingers through her hair to hold her head pressed against his chest. “Are you the bastard who put that bruise on her face?” he asked far too softly.
    “Well now, I was just about to ask you the same question.”
    Trace’s grip slackened ever so slightly, though he continued to hold her facing him. “Is this your boyfriend, Peeps?” he asked—loud enough for William to hear.
    Maddy tensed. Damn. Saying yes would only encourage William, but saying no might get him beat up. And with both men being equal in strength and stature, and apparently temperament , well . . . things could get really ugly real fast.
    Trace gave a chuckle, though it lacked any humor. “Are you still hung up on jocks, Maddy? I would have thought you learned your lesson with Billy.”
    “Trust me, I did,” she muttered into his shirt.
    “Then why does this . . . gentleman look like he wants to rip out my throat if I don’t get my hands off what he obviously considers his property?”
    “Please don’t antagonize him, Trace.”
    “Why? Because he might suddenly turn violent? Tell me who hit you.”
    “I fell off the