Then he spotted a woman with a head of sleek white-blonde hair. She wore sunglasses and a jacket that was obviously tailored to fit her very slender frame. She had the look of a foreigner and carried herself with a regal bearing that was born into a person, not bred—same as horses.
He started through the crowd to intercept her. Someone stepped into his path, but as soon as he saw a big cowboy striding straight for him, he quickly stepped out of the way.
Mathias placed himself in the blonde’s path. “Madeline?”
She looked up at him—or at least he guessed that she was. He couldn’t tell where she was looking with her dark sunglasses on.
“I gave instructions to stay outside and I’ll come find you.”
“Well howdy-do to you too. I’m Mathias and I’ll be your driver today.” His joke fell flat. He didn’t even get a quirk of her naturally pink lips for his effort at an ice-breaker. Changing tactics, he glanced at her single, very small backpack. “Do you have more luggage?”
“No.”
“So you travel light and you’re lighter on conversation. This should be an easy gig, then. I’m not much of a talker either.”
He was met with the black shades instead of her stare. “You seem to be doing fine in that department. Let’s get out of here.” She set off through the growing crowd of passengers reuniting with loved ones.
Mathias took off behind her, keeping her within grabbing range. For not being a very tall woman, she could walk damn fast. When they reached the main corridor that would lead to more gates or the exit, he stepped up behind her. “This way,” he rumbled.
The quicker they got out of here, the better. Seconds later, he pushed through the glass door to the outside. Cool mountain air filled his nostrils, and he inhaled deeply as he left behind the stuffy airport.
“C’mon.”
She kept pace with him to his truck parked at the corner of the lot. She stopped. “Wait—you rented this?” She looked over the truck.
He followed her gaze. Sure, it wasn’t one of the new company vehicles but it served him well for years. “I drove.”
“You didn’t fly?” Every question came out with the same emotionless tone, like one of those professors in the movies that bored a classroom to tears.
He shrugged. “By the time I flew plus layovers, I had about the same travel time as driving. Besides, I like to be in control.”
She hitched her pack higher on one slim shoulder. “Of course you do. Well, let’s get out of here. We’ve got a long day ahead of us and I’d like to get to New Mexico before sundown.”
He unlocked the door and reached to open it. She put out a hand and latched on to the handle before he could open the door for her.
Backing off, he circled the truck and jumped behind the wheel. She didn’t remove her glasses or even lower them. Either she was one of those uppity women or a fashionista.
He started the engine and drove away from the airport. Silence stretched between them.
“I’m Mathias, by the way. Mathias Trace.”
She sat coldly upright, but she’d settled the pack on the floor at her feet. “I know.”
“I figured Ross would fill you in about who would be guarding you.”
She didn’t respond.
“How’d you know I was the one meeting you here and I wasn’t just looking to traffic you?” He kept his tone on the light side as he navigated out of the web of roads toward the interstate.
“Because I looked you up. Besides, you resemble Ross.”
He grunted. “We’ve been told we look like brothers rather than cousins.”
She said nothing, just sat there like a block of ice. Now he knew where she’d earned her nickname.
“So fill me in on what’s happening,” he pressed, even if she wasn’t willing to talk.
“How much did Ross tell you?”
He swung his attention to her and then back to the highway. “Everything you told him. But it’s not nearly enough. What’s your reason for going to New Mexico? Are you meeting some drug lord family member who wants you dead so he can steal your part of the inheritance?”
“What a colorful imagination you have.” Her tone never shifted from the flatline delivery she’d given him before.
“I had a long drive and a lot of time to think on it.”
“There’s no drug lord family member and no inheritance either. Someone is going to try to steal an ancient artifact hidden in a cave—at least I think it’s a cave—in New Mexico. And I have to get to it before he does.”
Mathias had come up with a lot of different scenarios during his long drive from Montana, but he hadn’t expected that.
“What is the artifact exactly?”
“I don’t know for certain. There are legends and lore surrounding it, but nobody’s seen it in over a hundred years.”
“So how do you know where it’s at?”
She looked at him. Damn, those sunglasses were really starting to bug him. Why didn’t she take them off?
“Do you have some chronic eye problem or something?” he asked.
“Why?”
“You haven’t taken off your sunglasses. I don’t even know what you look like. I’d like to at least be able to give a description of you.”
She lifted a pale hand to her temple and slowly lowered the glasses. She slid them down her face enough for him to stare into her very piercing blue eyes. Before he could react, she slipped the glasses back into place.
He returned his attention to the road. “You didn’t answer my question.” He opened his mouth to remind her what that was, but she cut across him.
“I have a pretty good idea where the item is.”
“Who is trying to steal it and why?”
She spread her hands over her lap, proving that even glaciers moved now and then. “There’s a collector. He’s been searching for it for years. I first got wind he might try to steal it three months ago. I’ve been hoping he couldn’t get a bead on the location to go looking…but now he has.”
“So we’re hunting for an object, but you don’t know what it looks like or where it’s located.”
“Correction—I’ll be hunting for it. You’ll be watching my back.”
“Do I at least get a play-by-play of what comes next?” He shot her a look, but she didn’t remove her glasses to meet his eyes. Not a blonde hair had shifted from its place in her tight ponytail, and she didn’t relax against the seat back.
“We go to the motel.”
“You have one booked?”
“No, but I have one in mind.”
He side-eyed her. When he finally got Ross alone, the man would get an earful. He just had to be the one sent on this mission.
“And after the motel?” Getting information from this woman was like directing a stubborn bull down the chute.
“We load up on supplies. I thought about bringing them with me, but in the end, I realized it’s best to grab what we need near the site.”
“What exactly is this place like? I’m assuming we’ll be in some pretty remote places and the artifact’s not hidden in Albuquerque.” He merged onto the interstate and ramped the truck to the speed limit in seconds just to see if he could get a reaction out of Madeline.