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  Clearly she felt something as well.

  Wow. He really needed to get hold of himself here before he screwed something up royally.

  Finally, she shook his hand and let go, which disappointed him. Her wonderful skin felt fantastic against his.

  “Thank you,” she said, managing to nod.

  Her face had flushed slightly and he had a hunch his face was flushed as well. It seemed they both clearly had a reaction to the other one.

  Weird.

  And nice. Damn nice.

  He pointed to a seating area in front of the big desk that had a large couch, three overstuffed period chairs that went with the age of the mansion, and a wooden polished coffee table. The seating area filled the area in front of the large stone fireplace.

  “Director Parks will be down in a minute,” Zane said. “In the meantime, can I get you something to drink? Water, tea, coffee are the options.”

  She shook her head without looking back at him, as if she was afraid to. “Thank you, but I think I’m okay at the moment.”

  As far as he was concerned, she was more than okay. She was flat stunning. Brilliant, a legend, and stunningly good-looking. How was that possible?

  As she sat down in one of the big chairs, her tablet case tucked beside her, he said, “My name is Logan Zane Thomas, but everyone just calls me Zane.”

  Her head snapped up like he had shouted fire or something. Her eyes were actually seeing him it seemed for the first time as he dropped onto the couch.

  “Dr. Logan Thomas?” she asked. “The caver?”

  He nodded. “But I hate that Dr. stuff. Makes me sound like I should be doing prostate exams or something.”

  Thank God she laughed at his stupid joke, a wonderful laugh that seemed to just float in the room for a moment.

  “I hate it as well,” she said. “But not because I don’t like prostate exams. Please just call me Belle.”

  Zane laughed and said. “I walked into that one. I sure enjoyed your books. You are doing some groundbreaking work in combining genetics with genealogy.”

  “And I enjoyed your books as well,” she said, smiling. “Do you really also have advanced degrees in geology, historical library research, and physical training?”

  Zane managed to at least nod. “Far too much time in school,” he said. In his time he actually had two other degrees besides those areas, but those three were set for cover in this time. “Although I got through a few of them at the same time.”

  “Yeah, I did the same,” she said, smiling.

  The silence between them filled the big room for a moment before Zane finally got himself back on the institute script that he was supposed to attempt to follow with someone new coming in.

  “I need to ask what you think the institute can do to help you?” Zane said.

  She smiled. “Director Parks called me here to interview for something,” she said. “Paid my way. So here I am.”

  She smiled at Zane, staring into his eyes. Damn, he could sit and stare into her eyes for a very long time if she would let him.

  “But besides whatever the institute is offering, I have a twofold reason to come here,” she said, finally seeming to get up enough nerve to tell him. “I have heard the institute has vast resources to help historical researchers with projects of various kinds.”

  “It does,” Zane said, nodding. “I’ve been here since last fall doing research on historical lost caves for a new book and haven’t begun to use all of what is available.”

  “I am not rich,” Belle said. “So I would need to know how much spending time in various forms of research would cost.”

  “Nothing,” Zane said, “if you are approved, and considering they asked you to come, that seems very likely. And the institute wants no credit or anything else from your work. The institute exists to help historians such as ourselves to get our facts right.”

  He was very proud of himself for not slipping there, since he knew for a fact that if he didn’t blow this, she would be here at the institute for a very long time to come.

  She seemed to be taken back by that. “This place must have some serious funding.”

  He laughed. “It must, but I have no idea what it might be.”

  There were some things he flat had to lie about instead of just twist the truth, and the funding was one area. The institute had vast resources. Money was easy when you traveled in time and knew what was going to happen.

  “So what is your second reason for coming here?” he asked, trying to stay focused on what she said and not her fantastic eyes and beautiful smile.

  She again looked uncomfortable. “It is a personal research reason.”

  He nodded, indicating she should give more details if she wanted.

  “My great-great-grandfather died here in Boise in 1930,” Belle said, “right after the birth of his first grandchild. He is buried in an old cemetery here, from what I have discovered.”

  Zane watched her. Clearly as an historian, this personal quest bothered her and he wasn’t sure why.

  “A week after my great-great-grandfather died, my grandmother told her son that she was going up to a place called Monumental Summit Lodge to get away. It seems she and her husband had run it for years. She got on a horse and vanished into history.”

  Zane nodded. “And you would like to try to discover what happened to her?”

  “It is a great family mystery that has been handed down over time,” she said. “That family secret drove me to get degrees in genealogy and another in genetics to try to track her. It is the reason I do what I do, actually.”

  “Wow,” Zane said. He hadn’t known that about her.

  “But my great-great-grandparents seemed to have no parents that I can find ahead of arriving at the lodge,” Belle said, “and my great-great-grandmother vanished into the same thin air after her husband died. What happened to her and where they both came from before the lodge has driven my family crazy for a very long time.”

  “And clearly driven you to entire areas of study that are now life passions,” Zane said. He could understand her desire to solve that mystery. It actually sounded fascinating in many ways.

  “It sure has,” she said. “I’m now slowly becoming a leading expert in the new field of genealogy and the application of genetics in historical searches.”

  Zane nodded. He didn’t want to tell her that in his time she was the founder of that entire branch of science.

  “The records of the institute are amazingly complete,” Zane said, “especially concerning the area around Boise and the Pacific Northwest. I am sure you will find some help in them. What was the name of your great-great-grandmother?”

  “Dawn Edwards Rogers,” Belle said. “Her husband’s name was Madison Rogers.”

  Zane somehow managed to not jerk or fall over backwards or even make a motion. Her grandparents were two of the founders of the institute. They were legends as well.

  Thank heavens Belle was looking at the fireplace when she told him their names.

  He took a deep breath and nodded.

  Upstairs, he heard a slight thump from Director Parks’ office. He sure hoped the director would continue to take his time coming down. Zane was enjoying talking with Belle.

  Even though her very presence scared him to death.

  CHAPTER THREE

  June 9th, 2020

  Boise, Idaho

  BELLE WAS STUNNED at her reaction to Zane Thomas. She had spent five years with the same man, another professor at Stanford named Ben, but that had ended a few years back. She had had her share of dates before and after leaving Ben, and otherwise she had no real interest in much else on a relationship front. Her research and books were her passion.

  So a reaction of almost lust levels toward a colleague was unusual for her to say the least. But damn, Zane was handsome.

  He looked to be about her age and had black hair cut short and dark eyes that seemed intense and full of fun at the same time. He laughed easily, which made his
square face come alive.

  He had wide shoulders and considering he spent time climbing in caves, he had to be very strong and amazingly brave. He wore a blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, regular jeans, and running shoes.

  And that handshake had actually taken her breath away. How the hell was that possible?

  It was everything she could do to not stare at him like a lovesick high school girl.

  What the hell was a man like him, with as many degrees as he had and two well-received books out, working at a front desk of a research institute? This place was getting more and more intriguing by the moment.

  She had done her share of amateur cave exploring over the years, and no car she was in could pass a tourist cave without stopping and spending a few hours underground on a tour.

  So she had been a fan of Zane and his books for the last few years. And now just felt stunned to meet him.

  “I’m fairly certain that in the institute records are details about your distant grandmother.” Zane smiled. “Forgot how many greats in front of grandmother there were.”

  “Two,” she said.

  At that moment, she heard footsteps on the wood of the grand staircase behind Zane, and he turned around and stood.

  She stood as well as a man with short brown hair came down the stairs. He was also about their age and was also in great shape. But she had no real attraction to him, even though he was great looking as well.

  He reached the bottom of the stairs and smiled. “Wonderful having you here, Dr. Russell,” the man said, coming around the couch with his hand extended. “Thanks for coming. My name is Jesse Parks. I am the institute’s director.”

  “Wonderful meeting you, Director,” Belle said. “Please just call me Belle.”

  “Be glad to,” Parks said. “I hope your trip was uneventful.”

  “Very nice, and thank you for the nice hotel as well,” she said.

  He nodded. “I understand from what you told Zane that you have a twofold reason to ask to use our research facilities beside our offer for a position. Your own research and your family research. Is that correct?”

  Zane looked slightly startled. Clearly he had not known the director was going to blurt out that the room was monitored. Belle found that charming and relaxing, actually. And revealing it to a perspective employee was a logical business practice.

  “I am,” she said. “I have heard that this institute can really help me with my main field of research in historical genetics. The family research is just a side puzzle for me. But a very important one.”

  “And I hope your research will continue on in the same area as your first three books,” Parks said.

  “I hope to do that for some time as well,” she said. “But finding the time around my teaching schedule is always an issue.”

  Parks nodded. “Time we might be able to help with.”

  Zane nodded to that as well.

  Belle had no idea what he meant, but decided to wait and ask later on that, after she found out why they had asked her to come here. And how this place was funded.

  “We would very much like you to join the researchers here at the institute on your private projects,” Parks said. “The kind of work and research you have been doing is exactly what we are the most interested in helping. Then later this afternoon or tomorrow, after you get settled, we can talk about the reason we asked you to come here. And be assured that even if you decline our offer, you will still be free to research as freely as you would like for as long as you would like.”

  Belle felt stunned. “Thank you. I am honored.”

  “We only have a simple, but binding, nondisclosure agreement for you to sign about what you see here. But past that, any research or work you do here is completely yours. And we would prefer that you not thank us or even give us credit in any fashion.”

  She nodded again, even more stunned. “I will comply without an issue to those terms.”

  Parks smiled and stood, again extending his hand.

  Belle and Zane both stood and Belle shook the director’s hand again.

  “Welcome aboard the research side of things, Dr. Russell. I mean, Belle. We will talk later this afternoon or tomorrow after you are settled about the main reason for your visit.”

  “That sounds fine,” she said, smiling. And it did. Nice to actually have people not in a hurry all the time. “It is an honor to be on board.”

  “I’m going to assign Zane here to show you all the ropes and where things are located,” Parks said.

  He then turned to Zane. “I’ll cover the front here while you help Belle find her way around. She needs to get a place to live I assume, get her passwords and such, if you don’t mind.”

  “Be glad to help,” Zane said, nodding and then smiling at Belle.

  Belle just hoped her face wasn’t red, because she liked the idea of Zane helping her more than she wanted to admit.

  “I have an odd request,” Parks said, turning to Belle one more time.

  She nodded. “I’ll do what I can.”

  “I would prefer if you started your first research here with your great-great-grandmother’s disappearance. It would help in a way you will understand later.”

  Of all the things that Parks could have asked, that surprised her more than she wanted to admit.

  “I would be glad to do that,” she said, nodding.

  “And please, include Zane in your research on that topic if you don’t mind. Again the reason will become clear later.”

  “I wouldn’t mind in the slightest,” she said. “Having another researcher help me with that mystery would be wonderful.”

  “And it sounds damn interesting to me,” Zane said. “Glad to help.”

  Parks nodded and smiled. “Zane, help her get settled here in Boise. Institute apartments are very nice and there are four still open. And give her the tour of this place and the main library as you get started with the research. I’ll check in with you both later to see how it’s going and see if it’s time to talk.”

  With that, he turned and headed for the staircase.

  All Belle could do was stand there beside Zane as they both stared at the director’s back.

  She had been through her share of job interviews, but never one that started like that.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  June 9th, 2020

  Boise, Idaho

  ZANE JUST SMILED to himself at what had just happened. He wondered if someone from his time had come back and given hints to Director Parks about the importance of getting Belle into the institute. That sort of thing was against all rules, but it sure seemed likely in this case.

  Zane still felt stunned that he was here when Belle walked through the door for the first time.

  And there was no way in the world that he was complaining in any fashion that he got to spend time with her. The chance to get to know Belle personally was a dream as far as he was concerned.

  She just took his breath away every time he looked at her.

  Plus, she was one of the very few people that had read his books and seemed to know who he was. Only cavers knew him at all, so clearly she must have an interest in caving which he would have to find out about at some point.

  “Well, looks like Boise is going to be home for a time,” Zane said turning to Belle after Parks vanished up the stairs. “You’ll like it I’m sure. Not as urban as the area around Stanford, but it has its charms.”

  “Looking forward to it,” Belle said. “Since many of my historical family lived here. But I don’t have that much of a budget to stay too long. Professor’s salaries are just not that high and my books do all right, but nothing to shout home about. And I have no idea what the institute is offering yet.”

  Zane laughed. “Here comes the first in a long line of surprises about this place. The apartments Parks mentioned are free to anyone accepted to use the institute for research, as you were just accepted.”

  He loved the look on her beautiful face. Stunned and puzzled.

/>   “You are kidding?”

  “I have more than enough money from a family trust, but they won’t let me pay for them either,” Zane said. “Three bedrooms, furnished, all utilities paid, and they look more like condominiums than apartments by a long ways. Plus they are within walking distance of here down along the river path.”

  “Wow,” was all she could say.

  “Do you have a rental car?” he asked.

  She nodded and again he smiled at her.

  “Second surprise. One of the buildings around back of this mansion has institute cars free for all researchers to use. So we’re going to need to get your rental car turned back in today.”

  She again shook her head. “And I suppose you are going to say that food is free as well.”

  “Third surprise.”

  “You have got to be kidding,” she said, laughing. “I am dreaming still, right?”

  “Nope,” Zane said. “I felt the same way. I came here to research historical caves in the west and they invited me to stay and work on my research for as long as I wanted. Wait until you see the library and research facilities. They will knock your socks off.”

  He smiled at the shocked look on her beautiful face, then turned and headed back over to his desk to start up the paperwork. He had only done this for two others before, so he hoped he would get it right.

  “And the institute is just giving me all this and expecting nothing in return?” Belle asked sort of stumbling over and taking a seat in a chair in front of Zane’s desk.

  “This place honestly just wants to help you do your research and write your books,” Zane said as he fired up his administrative computer. “Nothing more. Now that’s a dream I haven’t woken up from yet either.”

  “But why?” Belle said.

  “When you find out the answer to that question, please tell me,” Zane said, bringing up the nondisclosure agreement.

  He needed to make sure he remained in character. And his character was a worker here who knew nothing of the real affairs of this place.

  He hit print and then faced her. “See why they don’t want you telling anyone about this place except in general terms?”