I've made some changes to the previous chapters. Just a heads up.

Slight Difference

Chapter 4

I jumped as a bag landed on the table in front of me.

I glared up at O'Connell, lowering my book, as he smirked down at me, "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

"I'm sure." I said deadpan. "You look really sorry."

He tried to look innocent, "Still angry about that kiss, huh?"

I smirked up at him, "If you can call that a kiss."

O'Connell narrowed his eyes before he looked away, unbuckling the straps on his bag and rolling it out roughly onto my table.

I looked down at his bag and raised my eyebrows, impressed despite myself. "Last time really that bad?" I asked curiously.

He looked at me, his eyes dark, "Lady, there's something out there, something under that sand."

I stared at him as he looked away, "Rose."

His head snapped up, "What?" he asked incredulously.

I nodded decisively. "Call me Rose."

I changed the subject, "My sister's hoping to find a certain artifact. A book, actually."

I grinned up at him, "Which is funny considering she's a librarian." His eyes were still dark as he looked at me, I looked away before continuing, "My brother thinks there's treasure."

I picked up one of his knives, fiddling with it as he sat down across from me, "What do you think's out there?" I asked curiously.

O'Connell looked at me seriously as I played with his knife, "In a word? Evil." My eyes shot up to his as my hands froze, the knife slipping in my hands, creating a long but shallow cut across the length of my palm before I caught it again in my other hand.

I hissed softly, "Damn." I set the knife back on O'Connell's bag, grabbing a handkerchief from the bag by me feet, casually avoiding his eyes.

O'Connell didn't say anything for a moment, "The Bedouin and the Tuaregs," He reached across the table, catching my injured hand in his, gently pulling it across the table, "believe that Hamunaptra is cursed." He said quietly, taking a flask from one of the pockets of his bag, uncapping it quickly.

I looked down at his bent head from beneath my lashes, "I don't believe," I grit my teeth as he poured, what smelled like bourbon, onto the palm of my hand, "in fairy tales and hokum, Mr. O'Connell."

He didn't look up from my hand, "Rick." I gaped at him as he took the handkerchief from my other hand.

"What?" I asked taken aback.

His eyes flicked up at me as he smirked, "Call me Rick." He went back to tending my hand, wrapping it in my handkerchief, tying it snugly in place with a simple knot. He straightened, nodding in satisfaction, turning my hand in his grasp, checking for anything he could have missed.

He loosened his grasp on my hand when he found nothing else, looking at me from across the table, an unreadable look in his eyes.

I gently pulled my hand from his grasp, as I stood slowly, "Thank you... Rick, I appreciate it." I smiled at him nervously.

"No problem." He said, rising as I made my around the table.

I stopped next to him, "Um... by the way... why did you kiss me?" I asked, looking anywhere but him as I played with the cloth wrapped around my injured hand nervously.

He was silent for a moment before he grabbed my uninjured hand in his, threading his fingers with my own, "I was about to be hanged," I flinched at the mention of his near death experience, "I figured kissing a pretty lady before I died would be a nice way to go."

I blushed a little, laughing, "I guess I can't argue with you there."

I smiled up at him, standing on my toes, leaning in placing a kiss on his warm cheek, "Thanks for fixing my hand." I slipped my fingers from his shocked grasp, "Goodnight Rick." I patted his cheek lightly, chuckling internally at the dumbfounded look on his face, before slipping past him and making my way back to my room.

I paused as I turned the corner, looking back at him. He stood in the same spot, looking after me with a rather heated look in his eyes. His hand was raised, his fingers touching the same spot I had kissed him.

My face blushed a bright red as the hand that had been resting on his face waved at me cheekily. My eyes flicked up to his grinning face before I looked away quickly, almost running to the room I shared with Evie opening the door quickly, and slamming it shut behind me.

I breathed out heavily. Well that was interesting.

A man was holding a knife to my throat. All of my weapons lay on my bed where I had been cleaning them and Evie was looking at me terrified as she pointed to where the map was.

"And the key?" He rasped threateningly.

Evie looked around frantically, "The key. The key?"

"What key?" I asked breathlessly. The man behind me growled, and the knife dug further into my neck.

The door to our room burst open, "Rose!" I gasped as the man behind me tightened his grip.

O'Connell looked at us fiercely before he turned to the window, shooting the man that had been standing there, effectively distracting the man behind me.

I grabbed the candle that was on the table in front of me, and plunged it into his eye in one swift move. He screamed in pain as I pushed him away from me, scrambling into O'Connell's waiting arms.

He only held me for a second before he pushed me behind him, ushering me and Evie into the hallway as he kept his guns trained on the people still in the room.

Evie started to run down the hallway, before she stopped suddenly and started running back, "The map! The map! We forgot the map!"

O'Connell reached out and grabbed her arm as she passed him, "Relax. I'm the map." He gestured with his gun, "It's all up here."

"Well that's comforting." I said teasingly, winking at Evie as gun shots rang out all around us.

O'Connell grinned as he started shooting bandits, using the wall as cover, "A little faith would be nice ladies. Now hold this." He handed me his bag as he started reloading his gun quickly, ignoring the shots that were getting closer and closer to his head.

I reached out as he finally finished loading his gun and pulled him bodily towards myself as a bullet sped right past his head. We stood there a moment, before O'Connell shook his head and pulled away, quickly firing at the man on the balcony and then others that were in our way, making a clear path to the railing of the boat.

O'Connell took the bag from my grasp as he holstered his guns, "Can you swim?" He asked Evie.

"Of course I can swim if the occasion calls for it!" Evie yelled at him.

He picked her up, "Trust me. It calls for it." He threw her over the edge of the boat and she landed in the water with a splash, he then turned towards me with a grin, "How bout you princess?"

I gaped at him, "Prince- behind you!" I yelled as a bandit climbed over the rail behind O'Connell. O'Connell spun and quickly punched him hard in the face before kicking his legs out from underneath him knocking him out cold. He turned back to me with a questioning quirk of his eyebrows.

"I-" I was cut off again as the warden came running up, "O'Connell! O'Connell! What are we going to do?"

O'Connell grabbed me by the waist and plastered me against him, grabbing my arms and placing them around his neck as he moved towards the railing, "Wait here! We'll go get help!" And with that he propelled us both over the edge of the boat.

His arms tightened around my waist and I buried my face into his neck as we fell towards the murky water, submerging quickly but keeping his grip on my waist the whole time.

We broke through the surface moments later, "Alright, I'm going to ask this one more time." He said once he had caught his breath, slowly starting to make his way towards the bank, dragging me with him, "Can you swim?"

I laughed as I loosened my grip on him, placing my hands on his shoulders, straightening my arms so I could look at his face, "Yes I can swim." I said exasperatedly, "I did try to tell you."