Lord Dragon's Conquest Read Online Free PDF Page A

the shadows, finally finding him in the space between her tent and the one next door. His lined face, as always, was pinched with faint disapproval. “Professor?”
    “I was just coming to speak with you. There are arrangements to be made, and very little time to get things in place.”
    “Arrangements?” she asked.
    “For tomorrow. Breaking camp.”
    “Of course.”
    He stepped closer, looking Keltie over. They’d been at the camp for two months, and she knew she looked rumpled, although she had managed to wash off the day’s dirt. Switzer’s clothes looked freshly pressed. Keltie wondered if he had a staff of servants stashed in a trunk.
    He gave her a stiff smile. “It’s been my experience that it’s hard to get the students moving on time when it means packing up to leave. I’ll need your help to get everyone on the trucks in a quick and orderly fashion.”
    She knew that already, so she simply nodded.
    “I need to leave early,” Switzer went on. “ I need equipment from the university to properly document and test those paintings. There are papers to file. Permissions. Verifications. Claims. Time is of the essence. The sooner I leave, the sooner I can get back.”
    “Of course,” Keltie agreed. This was why she’d taken the discovery to the professor. A find of this importance required someone with Switzer’s connections to make sure everything was done right.
    “Tom and Braden have agreed to act as my media liaisons. They are already preparing a press release.”
    Keltie frowned. Those were his two favorite students. “Shall I drop by and give them my first impressions of the site?”
    “If you like,” he said in a dismissive tone. “We can work that detail into a longer piece if there’s room.”
    Keltie’s cheeks heated. A good teacher would help her get the most out of her discovery, but in true Switzer fashion, he’d made himself the star. “But I was the one who found the paintings.”
    “And I am more grateful than you know.” He paused, stroking his short gray beard. He somehow made it sound like she’d done him a favor.
    “I’m going to be one of the primary scholars working on that site,” Keltie said firmly.
    “We’ll see,” he said quickly. “And that brings me to the point of this discussion. I need you to remain here until I can return with my equipment. Now that we’ve found this site, word could easily get out. There could be vandals, thieves or others wanting to claim the find as their own. Someone needs to keep the site safe until I get back. If you want to be useful, that’s something you could do.”
    Keltie’s mouth dropped open. It wasn’t as if she had a fabulous life waiting at home—she didn’t even have a goldfish to notice she was gone—but leaving her here in the mountains could only mean one thing. Switzer didn’t want her around when he announced his big discovery. “But I should be with you.”
    He shook his head. “Face facts. These events are as much an exercise in politics and public relations as they are about scholarship. The public, and by that I mean donors, want to see familiar faces like mine. Faces they trust. Or at least ones that are media-friendly.”
    Not those of girls who were too tall or too rough, girls who grew up in work camps and on ranches with their brothers. She was smart and capable, but she would never fit with the yacht-and-caviar crowd who could write a check to fund Switzer’s work.
    “You’re stealing my find,” she said softly. Her chest hurt, as if Switzer’s fist was around her heart and squeezing hard. If she didn’t whisper, she’d start to scream. “You can’t leave me behind!”
    Switzer narrowed his eyes, his soft voice suddenly ten times colder. “I’m giving you a role to play. Take it or leave it.”

Chapter Four
    From his place in the shadows, Larkan saw Keltie talking to the leader of the human team. Larkan strained to hear their conversation, but the chatter from around the campfire