Page 26 of A Royal Temptation

She released a tight breath. She didn’t like heights and they didn’t like her, so no rock climbing was a good thing. “I’m excited. I have a good feeling about this,” she said. “I’m imagining the artwork tucked inside the mountain somewhere, deep inside a cave.”

“Then let’s go find it,” he said.

He dismounted and strode over, lifting his hands to her waist again. Dust kicked up by the strong wind mingled with the potent scent of horseflesh and earth. More threatening clouds gathered above, and a shiver shook her shoulders as she slid into his arms. His hands steadied her until her boots hit the ground. Then he took the reins of both horses and they began walking toward a row of rocks, stacked neatly like building blocks five stories high.

He stopped at the base of a formation where two giant boulders separated and an opening appeared. It wasn’t much wider than a double-door refrigerator, but large enough to allow a man to enter. “Wait here,” he said. “Stay with the horses. I’ll go inside and see if it goes anywhere. It might be a dead end. I’ll be back in a minute.” He pulled out a flashlight and turned to her. “Okay?”

She took the reins with one hand and stroked Sugar’s nose with the other. Eyeing him, Portia confessed, “I’m not very patient.”

A grin crossed his features, that gorgeous mouth of his lifting crookedly. “Good to know.”

For real? The man had a one-track mind. “Come and get me, if you find anything.”

“Will do. We’re in this together,” he said, and then disappeared into the gap.

Just then, the wind knocked her back against the rocks. It was fierce today. She huddled behind the horses, allowing them to block the sharp bite of cold. Her teeth chattered anyway. Goodness, it seemed as if Juan Carlos had already been gone for hours but it was more like a minute or two.

Then she heard his approach, his footfalls scraping the ground of the cave. Thank God. A thrill shimmied through her belly. She really wasn’t patient, not when it came to this. If only they could find the artwork today.

When he emerged from the opening, she took one look at Juan Carlos’s expression and her shoulders slumped. “You didn’t find it?”

He shook his head. “Not in there.” His eyes were solemn as they toured over her face and body. “You’re freezing.”

“I’m...not.”

His lips twisted at her denial. Then he turned away from her and grappled with both of their saddlebags, freeing them from their fasteners and tossing them over his shoulder. “Come,” he said, handing her their blankets. “It’s warmer inside. Besides, there is something I want to show you.”

“Really? What is it?”

“You’ll see.” He took her frigid hand and immediately the blood began pulsing more warmly through her veins. One would think he was a flaming hot furnace with how easily his touch could heat her up through and through.

He led her into the darkness. The flashlight illuminated the way and she squinted as her eyes adjusted. Around her, stone walls made up a cavelike space, tall enough for them to stand in and wide enough for an entire hunting party to take refuge. The air inside was cool, but without the outside wind gusts it was warmer by a dozen degrees. “You’re right, it is warmer in here.”

“Take a look at this,” he said, aiming his flashlight at a far corner.

Eyes appeared first, round and frightened, and then the light followed the length of the animal, stretched out on the ground nursing her young. “Kittens!”

Five tiny bodies fought for a place at mama’s table, eager for their meal. The mother cat, striped in reds, browns and grays, eyed both Juan Carlos and Portia warily. “She’s scared,” Portia said. “Poor mama.” She’d had lots of experience with birthing pups and kittens at the rescue where she volunteered. “She might be feral, though I doubt it. She would’ve been hissing and scratching her way out of here by now. The babies look to be only a few weeks old.”

“You think she’s domestic?” he asked.

Portia crouched down, studying the cat from five feet away. “I think she’s somewhere in between. She might’ve been abandoned. She’s doing what comes natural and found this place to have her kittens. Cats like dark cool isolated places to give birth.”

“Well, she found that,” Juan Carlos said, keeping his voice soft. Both of them whispered now, so as not to startle the wary cat.

“I wonder if she’s hungry. She looks pretty scrawny.”

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