Page 22 of Nikolai
“Absolutely sure.”
“Okay.AfterApocalypse Then,I was thinking of writing about Justinian’s Plague.Don’t know if you’ve ever heard of it.”
He frowned.“Well, me not having heard about something historic isn’t a sign of anything but my ignorance.But no, never heard of it.”
“Don’t worry.Not too many people have.And yet, it was the first world-wide pandemic that we know of.Some scholars say it was the first outbreak of bubonic plague, though some think it was smallpox.It is estimated to have killed something like fifty million people, about twenty-five percent of the world population.This would be around 550 AD.”
“Fascinating.”Nick stared.“That sounds really timely.And it would sell tons.This is fun.Anything else up your sleeve?”
She blew out a breath.“The Ninth Legion.”
“Wait.I know that one.It disappeared, right?”
She nodded, “Over five thousand men.Gone.In a military culture that tracked the number of bread rolls.An absolute mystery.”
“Wasn’t it in England when it was lost?”
“That’s the theory.They crossed Hadrian’s Wall into Caledonia—what is now known as Scotland.Where resistance to Rome was fierce.Nobody really knows what happened, though there are a lot of theories.You were a military man, right?”
“For twelve years, yeah.Six years as a Navy SEAL.”
“So maybe I’ll use you as a military consultant.You’ll understand military weaponry and tactics better than I ever could.I’ll credit you in the acknowledgements.”
He grinned.“Oh man, yeah.Count me in.That would be great.”The whole idea tickled him.Being a consultant for a book on one of the great historical military mysteries.Getting named in the book.“My mom will be delighted that I got my name in a book.She thinks I am a barbarian.She’s not wrong.”
“No, no.You’re not a barbarian.Far from it.”
Parker covered his hand with hers.Her hand was soft and warm, and he never wanted her to lift it.He was listening to her words, but they came from far away.His hand buzzed where she touched it, like a mild electric shock.
Without even thinking about it, he covered her hand with his and the buzz increased.He looked at their two hands, hers slim and elegant, long fingered.A pianist’s hand.His hands looked like blunt instruments of war.
Not too far from the truth.
That buzz was stronger now.
She said something, and he couldn’t hear the words.All he could see was those amazing eyes and those luscious lips moving.
Finally, she smiled and withdrew her hand.He missed it.Some crazy connection was broken and the world rushed back in.
“—like?”
“What?”
Maybe Parker was used to men zoning out on her because she simply repeated what she’d said.“I said, what would you like?They’re all good.”
What was she—oh.The waiter had arrived while he’d been spaced out and had slid a big hand-painted oval platter full of desserts on the table.
Fuck.If this had been like most of the places he’d been stationed, someone could have slid a platter of grenades before him, and he wouldn’t have noticed.
Parker was messing with his head.And she wasn’t doing it on purpose, wasn’t even aware of it.
She was smiling at him, serving fork in hand, over a platter of what looked like an amazing array of incredible desserts.One looked like a tan mushroom.Or a very strange dick.
“What’s that?”Nick asked.
Her smile broadened and she cut the mushroom into one large piece, the other much smaller.“It’s a baba.”The larger piece was deposited on his dessert plate.“Try it, you’ll like it.”
She watched as he put a bit in his mouth and laughed.“There you go.Great, isn’t it?”
