He sat down on the cot, but kept Jenna wrapped up in his arms. She wriggled for another few seconds before giving up the fight. When she placed her head on his shoulder, a warm sensation of peace filled him.

62.

"Tired?" he spoke against the top of her head.

"Yes," her breath warmed his shirt. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me. You've earned it. It's been a while since I've seen that many people jump to action that quickly."

Her body shook with laughter. "I'm sure you see that every day at CalCorp."

When she tilted her head back Ben's breath became shallow. Even half asleep she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever met. He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead before he captured her mouth in a kiss.

Jenna sighed as she teased the back of his neck with her long fingers. She opened her mouth, allowing Ben to deepen his kiss. He massaged her back with his hand, tugging up her shirt as he went so he could feel her soft skin.

There wasn't anything sexual about his touch. He simply needed to be closer to her, needed to feel her warmth and know that she was real. That everything that had happened tonight was real.

Jenna nipped his bottom lip, and then kissed a trail down his jaw to his neck.

"I hope you didn't have any plans. Because the only way you're going to get me to stay here is if you don't move."

For the first time in his life Ben didn't mind the idea of a woman holding him down. He closed his eyes and breathed deep.

"I wouldn't dream of moving."

Ben couldn't open his eyes again. It wasn't worth the fight, so he let his mind drift into oblivion. He probably would have stayed like that for hours if Jenna hadn't sat bolt upright in his arms.

"What the hell?" he asked, his senses quickly charging to full alert.

"Ben? Jenna?" Matt called from outside the tent.

Ben stood and let Jenna straighten her shirt and pants before he answered.

"What's wrong?"

"You'd both better come see this."

Roger and Matt waited for them outside, though Roger looked more than a little upset.

"We were wrong," Roger said in a tone that both accused and sounded guilty.

"About what? The device?"

Jenna yawned and gave her eyes a rub. Both Matt and Roger had the decency to look guilty for waking her up. A quick look at his watch told him they'd only managed to get twenty minutes of rest. Some night this was turning out to be.

She reached for the thermos that Matt had given them earlier, opened it and took a long swig.

Roger waited for her to finish before continuing. "It looks like this wasn't the only device. Matt found a secondary dig when he was securing the perimeter. It would 63 explain why the end of our artifact is damaged. Maybe the two parts were pulled apart on impact. Regardless, looks like someone else got here first and took whatever it was with them."

Shit.

Jenna crossed her arms across her chest. "Was there anything left? If there is another one of those things out there-"

"Then we have a very big problem on our hands."

64.

Chapter Seven.

Jenna knelt beside the device and looked at the gaping hole in its side where it had been joined to its partner. She ran her fingers around the twisted metal, careful not to cut her skin. It didn't look like someone had ripped this thing apart, so the damage must have come from impact. But the fact someone had known about this at all, taken the other part, whatever it happened to be, meant they had a security risk. The university was going to have her head when they found out about the damage done to their crane, but at least they had managed to move this behemoth to a secure location.

The more she caressed the metal, the stronger the strange stirring inside her got.

Longing and loneliness tugged at her, and for the first time in a long while she actually had to fight the urge to cry. She gave her head a shake. I must be more tired than I thought.

Jenna cleared her throat and tried to sound like she wasn't running through an emotional ride. "It looks like it was ripped apart. Broke up in the atmosphere maybe."

"I haven't seen anything like this," Gareth Sanderson said from the other side of the device.

Ben moved behind her, but she didn't turn to face him. It was hard enough being in the same room with him and the device. If they got too close, things would go downhill fast. She tried to relax and focus on Sanderson. At least he wasn't setting her hormones racing. If anything he was pissing her off more than he should.

"I guess they couldn't move the two pieces together. They probably intended to come back for this, but our team got here first."

Gareth stood and brushed sand from his pants. "So how powerful is this thing anyway?"

"Powerful," Ben and Jenna answered in unison.

Ignoring her blush, she concentrated on the underside of the device. They couldn't possibly make things any more obvious than they already were. Roger had ripped into her after her quick nap in the tent with Ben. Not that it was any of his business whom she dated, and she'd bitched him out for even suggesting it was. Still, she couldn't help but feel a tiny bit guilty. That somehow she was being disloyal to her team. And to Ben.

Regardless, she wasn't about to make their relationship public knowledge. Not yet anyway. Gods, she didn't even know if they had a relationship at this point.

"Who would want a device like this? If we can figure that out, then we can warn the authorities," she said to Ben from the device. He nodded, knowing as well as she what would happen if the wrong people got a hold of this device.

Sanderson joined Ben and turned his back to her. Jenna shook her head and pretended to examine the damaged metal again. Sanderson had been an absolute pig 65 since his arrival an hour ago. She was going to have to get his ass kicked off her project.

That is if she could keep her hands off Ben long enough to talk to him.

"It could be any extremist group. If the other section of this thing has even a fraction of the power this end does, it could produce a very big bang," Ben said in a cool tone.

Jenna finally faced him and immediately wished she hadn't. He stood, leaning against one of the walls, his arms crossed loosely across his chest. He made eye contact with her and Jenna felt her insides quiver. His hazel eyes looked black as he stood in the half-light of the room. His jacket had been discarded long ago and his sleeves were now rolled up to the elbow. A thin line of dirt was smudged along his forearm. He looked hot, tired and very sexy.

He also looked pissed. Ben hadn't missed Sanderson's slight towards her. Jenna gave her head a shake, and prayed he got the message. The last thing they needed right now was infighting. It was going to take everyone, even Sanderson, to solve this puzzle.

A loud gurgle echoed in the room. Jenna grabbed her stomach and cringed.

"Sorry."

"You need to eat and sleep." Ben pushed away from the wall and offered her a hand. "Let me take you home."

Screw that. "I'm fine. Besides, Gareth just got here. I need to get him up to-"

"Roger can do that. You need to rest."

Ben stood there, hand outstretched, and waited for her to take it.

"Mr. Hawthorn, I'm fine."

"My company is ultimately responsible for this project. I can't afford to have one of its most important resources tired and hungry. Gareth, you can handle things until Jenna gets back?"

The question hung in the air as Sanderson stood, mouth gaping, looking at the back of Ben's head.

"Well, since I know he'll do such a great job, I supposed I can take a short break. I'll ask Roger to check in with you. He should be back from breakfast soon."

Jenna smiled and slid her hand into his without thinking. When their hands touched an immediate rush pulsed through her. Her nipples tightened and her pussy practically gushed. She saw her desire reflected in Ben's eyes, only this time he didn't flinch. Ben didn't wait for Sanderson's response and led Jenna out of the makeshift lab.

As they got farther away from the device, the supercharged arousal she'd felt ebbed enough so that she was able to think again.

"Sorry I forgot about the not-touching rule around that thing," Ben leaned in and whispered the words against her ear.

A pleasant shiver ran down her spine at his nearness. "It's okay. I don't think he noticed."

66.

"No, I think he was in shock. Cocky bastard." Ben shook his head.

"That was so worth it." Jenna smiled.

"My staff has been telling me for months Gareth's full of himself since he took over special projects. Thank you for helping me to make a point."

Ben squeezed her hand that now rested in the crook of his arm. Jenna looked down at the contact and realized that it felt right. Which somehow seemed wrong.

"I think I'll rest in one of the tents. I'm pretty sure Matt said something about getting cots set up for us," she said, suddenly needing space.

When she tried to pull away, Ben stopped and looked at her hard.

"I thought we had gotten past this," he asked, confusion on his face.

Jenna shrugged. What the hell could she say? Things didn't make sense, least of all her feelings for him.

"Ben, I don't know what's going on half the time. I'm tired and need to sleep."

Voices from an approaching group caused her to try to pull her hand free again.

Ben made a sound that could have passed for a growl.

"We need to talk. This way."

He half pulled her towards the limo and jerked the door open.

"In please," he said through clenched teeth.

"Excuse me?"

"I said please."

Jenna buried her hands into her back pockets and stood there. She'd played this game with him before and wasn't about to let him win again.

Ben frowned and shook his head. "There's food."

Another loud grumble from her stomach signaled her defeat. Jenna let her head drop to her chest.

"I don't like this."

He tapped his fingertips along the edge of the open door. He took a half step towards her, leaving just enough space so she didn't feel crowded.

"I promise I only want to talk," he said in his low rumble that only reached her ears.

When she looked into his eyes she was surrounded by his smoldering look. Every inch of her wanted his touch. She wanted to lie down, stretch out naked beside him and not move for hours.

"Well, since there's food."

Jenna flopped down onto the seat, and slid over to give him room. When he didn't move to join her she patted the leather beside her. Ben muttered something under his breath as he sat down and closed the door behind him.