The Nymph's Curse: The Collection Read Online Free

place.”
    “I’m okay.”
    She smiled at his obvious lie. “How long have you been in Crete?”
    “A couple days.”
    “Is this your first trip?”
    Kaden nodded.
    She looked around. The museum was quiet today, as it had been for the entire summer. “You’re lucky you get this place all to yourself today.”
    He looked around with a bored expression. “Yep.”
    She loved the museum, but she felt for the lone teenager who was stuck in a place he didn’t want to be. “You wanna see something cool?”
    The boy’s eyebrows rose. “Like?”
    “This place is filled with secrets, some for visitors and some just for staff. If you would be interested I could show you one of the secret rooms.” Ariadne tried to bait his curiosity.
    The teen looked around the room. “Sure. Let me just tell my dad, okay?”
    Kaden stood up and as he did, a brunette man with a V-shaped torso walked into the room from the hallway. Ariadne’s jaw dropped.
    What is Beau Morris doing in the museum?
    Beau looked her up and down with his alluring milk chocolate-colored eyes. A smile crept over his face. “Hello, Miss … ” he said, gazing down at her chest. He pointed at her nametag. “Uh … Ariadne?”
    She nodded, trying to hide her shock at seeing the archeologist again. His face was clean-shaven and his hair less disheveled than a few nights before. He had been handsome before, but now he was almost irresistible. No wonder she hadn’t been able to kill him.
    Beau walked closer to them and stopped next to Kaden. “Thanks for watching my kid.” Beau reached up and put his arm over the boy’s shoulders.
    Kaden looked uncomfortable as he wiggled out from beneath the man’s touch. “She was going to show me the most secret room in the museum.”
    Oh, not the most secret room. There is no way they could see the real treasure that sat beneath them.
    Ariadne’s cheeks flushed. Thankfully, they didn’t seem to notice.
    “Do you mind if I tag along?” Beau’s eyes lit up.
    From the way his voice vibrated with excitement it surprised her that he hadn’t drooled at the prospect.
    Ariadne looked at Kaden and then back at Beau. There was a striking resemblance between the two men. Except for the dyed black hair, Kaden was just a smaller, less eager version of his father.
    The best thing she could’ve done was to say no, but seeing the way Beau looked so hopeful, she didn’t have the heart to refuse him. Besides, there would be nothing beyond a quick trip to the storeroom.
    Ariadne tried to smile. It was nice to have someone that truly appreciated history. So often the museum was filled with vacationers who came simply to point and laugh at the bare-breasted sculptures and the murals of the bull leapers, but why did the person who finally cared have to be the archeologist she had sworn to stop?
    “Let’s go.” Ariadne pointed to the door to their right.
    Beau ran his fingers over his sexy, disheveled brown hair and his hand came to rest on his tanned neck. “You sure? I mean I don’t want to get you in trouble or anything.”
    She looked at him with a sideways glance. Kat had made him sound like he was a vicious predator, but the man that stood before her seemed far from the type. Instead he seemed humble and almost a bit beaten down.
    “You’re fine. I run the museum.” She walked to the side door and led them to the back store room.
    “It must be nice not having to answer to anyone,” Beau said in a tired voice.
    Ariadne smirked.
He doesn’t know anything about me.
    The temperature-controlled room was muted by the roar of the industrial fan. In the center of the room sat a large lab table and on top, the ceramic statue of her goddess, Epione, stood bare-chested, with a sacral knot at the center of her chest. She wore a floor-length skirt covered with a short apron and snakes wrapped around her elegant limbs as they extended toward the heavens.
    “This is the Minoan snake goddess. Science doesn’t know much about her, but I