Book excerpt: Some believe that love is timeless, but the breadth of life is equally immeasurable, and love is merely one of its many facets, if its most important one. When John Adams and his native guide, Calo, stumble upon the greatest archaeological and anthropological find the world has ever known in the Great Gobi Desert, the anthropologist—along with Katrina Maybridge, the most beautiful archaeologist in all of Asia—is transported back in time some 45,000 years to the long dead ancient Kingdom of Umphar along the Great River Lis. There they not only have the adventure of a lifetime in their quest to finalize a peace treaty with the disingenuous ruler of the Kingdom of Mar-yar, but they also discover what they truly mean to one another.