Free Rogue Angel 49: The Devil's Chord by Alex Archer Page B

into it. I doubt Jeanne had time for love affairs when she had God speaking in her head.”
    “That does challenge any romantic notions, doesn’t it? God or the guy? Hardly a choice at all.”
    “If you’re into stuff like communicating with the divine,” Scout said.
    “You’re not?”
    Scout shrugged. “I’ll stick with having the usual love life. And wouldn’t you guess a teenage girl might be a little more interested in the guy?”
    “You said you didn’t buy into them having an affair.”
    “I don’t. But that doesn’t mean she didn’t pine for a wink from someone.”
    Annja rolled her eyes. The man had a weird romantic flair to his storytelling. He’d romanticized the story of the thieves as well.
    “So how’s your love life, Creed?”
    A graceless conversational switch if ever there was one. “None of your business. So back to this cross René d’Anjou gave Leonardo.”
    “That diversion was not even subtle.”
    “You started it.”
    “Touché. The world-traveling adventuress keeps her personal life under wraps. I can dig it.” Scout had a sip of water and continued, “Love doesn’t come easy doing what we do. We take it when we can get it, right?”
    She would not dignify that one with a reply, although he was close to the mark. Annja had no great love affairs, but she would never deny herself sex when she was in the mood. As handsome as Scout was, she wasn’t feeling it. She was more interested in the man’s brain than what he could do for her physically. Besides, she still didn’t trust him. And he was kind of flaky.
    “Doing what we do?” she repeated. “I’m not completely sure what it is that you do, Scout. Treasure hunter? Archaeologist?”
    “Former. You checked me out, I’m sure.”
    “Right. Fell out with the University of Columbia over a dig in Peru.”
    “That’s what it says.”
    “And what do you say?”
    He swallowed a forkful of pasta and smiled as he chewed. “No comment.”
    “Uh-huh. You’re very young for a professor, you know that?”
    He emptied his water glass and gestured to the waitress for a refill. Once the waitress had left them, Scout picked up the conversation. “Back to the topic we can both manage without spilling secrets or alluding to our sex lives. Leonardo da Vinci!”
    She’d drop the age question for now. Annja found the garlic-and-chili-pepper-laden pasta much too good to spend the time talking when she could be eating. “Agreed.”
    Scout set down his fork and wiped his lips with a napkin.
    “Some accounts report that d’Anjou and da Vinci were friends,” Annja offered. “I fall more on the side that they were acquaintances.”
    “That’s where we get to the conspiracy theorists versus the purists. Could Leonardo have been involved in the Priory of Sion or the Order of the Crescent? Two secret organizations d’Anjou was known to have participated in.”
    “Who knows?” Annja bypassed her glass of water and took a drink from her wine goblet instead. “No definitive evidence has been brought forth to verify Leonardo was ever interested in the occult,” she continued. “And frankly, if you want to find something in a drawing or painting, you will, if you are determined and believe in it hard enough. There are so many crazy theories, I remain a skeptic until proven otherwise.”
    “Fine.” Scout rapped his fingernails on his goblet. The waitress removed their dinner plates and brought another bottle of wine.
    The last rays of sun turned the waters of the Cana Reggio golden as they softly beat against the dock. Times like this, when she had a calm moment with no looming deadline or dig to consider, Annja found she had to remind herself to enjoy them. And yet, even when she’d found such a quiet minute, things always seemed to be happening. Best to stay alert.
    “How long have you known Roux?” Scout asked from behind a swallow of wine.
    She shrugged. It was never wise to divulge too much information about her relationship