Dr Ellie Stevens had no idea what she was letting herself in for when she walked into the British Museum that evening. In fact, she was slightly surprised that Professor Alexander had even remembered to send her the invitation to this, his famous mummy unwrapping at all; then she recalled the brisk and efficient girl with the clipboard and thought that her job was probably exactly this, to follow the professor around and do the things he had promised. Nice job.
Ellie couldn't see Kaiser and hoped this wasn't going to be a wasted evening when a warm hand took her arm, and she looked up and he was there beside her, looking down at her through fringed black eyes. He had the most absurdly thick eyelashes she had ever seen on a man.
"I thought you were just being polite to my father," he said. He must have moved silently and stealthily as a cat, Ellie thought, to have reached her like this without her being aware of it.
"I'm not really the polite type," she replied. She didn't know how she knew it, but his eyes held a smile, though his face was as impassive as before.
"No," he said, "I can imagine. If you've never seen a mummy unwrapped before we should sit quite close to the front." And, his hand still on her arm, he manoeuvred her effortlessly through the crowd, acknowledging the people who greeted him. He was wearing a white cotton shirt again, and khakis, his sleeves rolled up over brown elbows. When they sat his forearm brushed against hers, and then stayed there, relaxed on the arm of his chair. Women, Ellie noted, looked at him constantly, but if they planned on catching his attention they failed. He leaned his head slightly towards her, his eyes on the stage and the painted mummy case that lay on a covered trestle table. Professor Alexander stood at the side in animated conversation with two men.
"My father," he told her softly, "has a theatrical streak that he would die rather than admit to. You should have seen his 'exorcisms' to calm our workers on a dig a few years ago when we discovered a new tomb." Ellie saw that small movement again at the corners of his mouth, and heard the amusement in his voice.
"Ah," she said, "so he's the exhibitionist in the family?" Unexpectedly Kaiser turned his face to her, and his dense black eyes were very bright.
"I," he said gently, "have my moments." It made Ellie laugh; it made her wonder. Before she could reply his father moved forward to the front of the stage and leant casually on the lectern and, as if he were at home with his family, started talking, easily, eloquently, comfortably, and Ellie, to her surprise, found her attention engaged.
Physically, the two men were very similar: Kaiser had inherited his father's black hair and dark complexion, and height. But the professor was broader, thicker, while the man beside her was built with the lean lines of a hunting cat: long legs stretched gracefully, not awkwardly, in front of him; his hands with their long, sensitive fingers curled easily around the arm of the chair. Ellie shivered and thought of Francis, previously the most beautiful and graceful man she knew, golden and elegant, and wondered what he and Kaiser would look like together: light and dark, day and night, angel and devil. Only Francis wasn't by anyone's standards uncomplicated or even always morally correct; and Kaiser?
"The mummy case is wood; typical of an 18th dynasty burial, but painted with a gold lacquer and then enamelled. The face painting is on linen, again typical, and tells us that the deceased was high-born but not royal. We might expect to find amulets and other charms and implements useful to the deceased on their journey through the underworld interspersed through the mummy wrappings, assuming, of course, that the body hasn't already been robbed." Kaiser's father was enjoying himself enormously, and held the attention of the room effortlessly. Ellie knew she too would have been absorbed if it weren't for this man beside her. His physical presence, unexpectedly, disturbed her. Their shoulders were pressed lightly together, and Ellie wondered now which one of them had moved first. She hoped it had been him. The bare flesh of his arm lay against hers, brown against her golden tan, and built on elegant bones. His thighs were hard and she suddenly imagined kneeling between them, her palms spread flat on his taut body. Ellie took a slow careful breath and held it and then let it out gently. As if he could read her thoughts Kaiser turned his head and looked full into her eyes, and everything that she felt was echoed excitingly there.
And then the audience was clapping and talking excitedly and moving, and Ellie realised a little dazedly that the professor had stopped talking.
"A break," Kaiser said, and even his dark voice now was inviting. "Then my father will start on the mummy." Ellie felt like they were the only two people still sitting, and made a move to stand. Kaiser moved with her, amusement somewhere in his face.
"Doctor Alexander!" a voice called peremptorily, and a small man with a few strands of grey-red hair combed neatly over his scalp waved and pushed his way towards them.
"Damn!" Ellie heard Kaiser swear under his breath. He introduced Ellie to Eric Rudge, the Director of the British Museum, and Ellie found herself swept by cold grey eyes and then dismissed. It was not the way men usually looked at her. Rudge had leapt into a complaining technical conversation with Kaiser, who, Ellie thought, was exasperatingly amused.
"Excuse me," she murmured and backed away.
It was cool and peaceful in the bathroom. Ellie washed her hands and then studied her reflection. Her golden blonde hair was loose and casual, and her deep blue eyes bright in her tanned face. She wore little make-up, as she thought appropriate for an academic, but frankly she didn't need it. She smiled at herself, her red lips curving delightfully, and then snapped the smile off her face as the door opened.
It was Kaiser.
