by Linda Turner
In the process of loading film into her camera, she didn’t realize that Max intended to sit with her until he was in the seat next to her. Surprised, she glanced up…and found him within touching distance. In the time it took to draw in a quick breath, her resolve to keep her heart under lock and key went up in smoke.
Max saw the surprise in her eyes and only just then noticed that he’d chosen the seat next to her without even thinking about sitting anywhere else. There was just something so right about being with her. When the dig was over and he regained his sanity, he was, no doubt, going to regret the fact that he just couldn’t summon up any resistance where she was concerned, but he’d just have to worry about that later. They had four days together. He intended to enjoy every one of them.
Giving in to impulse, he reached for her hand and grinned. “Excited?”
“Stop that!” she hissed, trying to tug her hand free. “Everybody will see.”
“Relax.” He chuckled. “Steven Tucker and Lisa Green are the closest ones to us, and they’re six rows back. They can’t even see the tops of our heads over the backs of the seats.”
“But what if they walk up here to talk to you for some reason? They’ll see—”
“Two people who like each other holding hands,” he said simply, twining his fingers with hers. “What’s wrong with that?”
“Max!”
“I love it when you say my name that way. Do it again.”
“Max!”
“Yeah, like that. There’s just something about the sound of my name on your lips that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.”
She laughed at his outrageousness, just as he’d hoped she would, but she didn’t pull her hand away. Instead, her fingers curled around his. It was a simple gesture, innocent, sweet. And nothing had ever felt quite so right before. Alarm bells should have been clanging in his head, but they didn’t make so much as a peep. And he didn’t care.
Chapter 10
The Broken Arrow Ranch was twenty thousand acres of prime Colorado ranchland that backed up into the Rockies and held centuries of secrets. Creeks and streams flowed through its canyons and pastures. Hundreds of years before the Pilgrims ever stepped foot on Plymouth Rock, the rugged wilderness was the home of a band of Ute Indians. The Spanish had been there, too, leaving behind abandoned mines throughout the mountains and rumors of a rich vein of gold that was lost long ago in a landslide.
It was the perfect place for a dig, but Max had known nothing about the ranch until its present owner, Buck Maverick, had contacted him. A lover of history and mysteries, Buck was the last of the Mavericks, but unlike the six generations of Mavericks who’d come before him, he hadn’t been born on the ranch and knew nothing of its rich history. His great-grandfather had gone to England as a diplomat at the turn of the twentieth century and married there. He’d never come back to the ranch, and over the decades, the two sides of the family had lost touch with each other…until the last American-born Maverick had died. Now it was Buck’s and his sisters’, and he wanted to know everything there was to know about the people who had called the place home long before he’d come on the scene. He’d read Max’s last book and loved the idea of the Broken Arrow being the setting for one of his books.
When Buck called him and suggested that he not only investigate the summer campgrounds of the Indians but also look for the lost mine, Max had jumped at the idea. He’d been looking for a site where he could take his students, without success. The few available sites were either too far away or had been so picked over by other archeologists that there was little left to find. The Broken Arrow, a three-hour drive from the university, was uncharted territory and available to him without restriction. All Buck required of him was a report once a semester of what he and his students had found.
Buck was as excited as Max and his students and was waiting for them at the drop-off site with a handful of men and a team of packhorses when they arrived. “The hike into the mountains isn’t terribly difficult,” he told Max as he stepped off the bus, “but I knew you would have a great deal of gear. My men will help you load the horses and escort you to the dig site, then they’ll return on Sunday when you’re ready to hike back out.”
“You didn’t have to go to all this trouble,” Max said, grinning. “But I know the students will appreciate it. They weren’t looking forward to carrying everything in on their backs.”
Natalie had stepped off the bus right behind him, and he turned to introduce her to Buck. “Natalie’s helped me with all the planning,” he said as the two of them shook hands.
“Max told me about the problems with the tour group,” he said with a smile. “I hear you’ve been a godsend. Welcome to the Broken Arrow.”
“Thank you,” she replied. “I’m thrilled to finally be here.”
“Max told me he’d be bringing fifty students, but I hadn’t realized what an undertaking that would be until now. This is going to be quite an expedition. I almost wish I was back at university again.”
“You’re welcome to join us as much as you like,” Max said. “It’s your land.”
“I know.” He chuckled. “I still have a difficult time believing that.” Smiling ruefully at the oddities of fate, he held out his hand once more to Max. “It’s wonderful to have you here. Unfortunately, I’ll have to wait until next time to join you. My sisters have flown in from England and we’re recovering from our first American Thanksgiving. So I’ll get out of your way and let you get started. If you need anything, just let one of my men know. John’s my head wrangler. He’s going to go with you and take care of the horses.”
True to his word, he gave them the space, driving off with a wave as his men helped load everything onto the pack horses, and less than thirty minutes later it was time to head for their base-camp site. No one had been looking forward to packing everything in on foot to the camp, but that all changed, thanks to Buck Maverick’s generous offer of horses. With the head wrangler leading the way, they made the three-mile trip in record time.
As Max divided everyone into groups and began setting up camp, Natalie couldn’t help but appreciate how efficient he was. He was always so laid back and charming that it was easy to overlook the fact that he was a scholar and teacher who definitely knew what he was doing. Within two hours of arriving at the site he’d chosen to set up camp, all the tents were assembled and he’d begun laying out the grid for the excavation of a grassy area near a bubbling creek where a band of Utes had reportedly camped every summer for hundreds of years. Once half the students were working on that, he had Natalie and the rest of the group accompany him to a steep hillside where the lost Spanish mine was rumored to have been located.
Surveying the area with a frown, Natalie didn’t think it looked any different from any other hillside in the foothills of the mountains. And she wasn’t the only one who thought so.
“How do you know this is the spot?” a tall, gangly eighteen-year-old with wire-rimmed glasses asked.
Max grinned. “We don’t. Since the Mavericks have owned the property for a century and a half, we know from family history that the other site is definitely the location of the Ute’s summer camp, but the mine is purely speculation.”
“In other words, we’re doing this one just for fun?” Natalie said. “Hoping we’ll get lucky?”
“Got it in one,” he said with a grin. “From historical records, we do know that the mine was on a hill within sight of the Utes’ camp. Unfortunately, if you stand in the center of the valley and do a 360, all the mountains look the same.”
“But wasn’t there written documentation somewhere that said the mine was near a huge bolder that sat on the edge of a cliff?” another student pointed out. “That shouldn’t be hard to find.”
“True,” Max agreed. “But you’re forgetting another important bit of documentation. Just months after the mine was discovered, there was a major landslide that wiped out half the mountainside…and all landmarks. All the Spaniards working the mine
were killed, and when the next supply train arrived, it was impossible to tell where the entrance to the mine was. The Spanish had detailed descriptions of where the mine was, but the landscape had completely changed.”
“And no one looked for the mine since?” one of the girls at the back of the group asked incredulously. “Are they nuts? It could be worth millions of dollars!”
“Maybe.” Max laughed. “Maybe not. There’s never been a significant amount of gold mined in this area of the state, though that doesn’t mean it’s not out there.”
“So we’re not really looking for gold?” another female student asked, disappointed. “I wanted a nugget!”
“We’re archeologists,” he reminded her. “We’re looking for Spanish and Indian artifacts. And even if we did happen to stumble across some gold, everything on the ranch belongs to Mr. Maverick. We’re just here to experience a real dig. So let’s get started.”
Ruefully accepting the fact that they weren’t going home at the end of the long weekend with their pockets filled with gold, they immediately went to work. Eagerly following Max’s instructions, they staked out an area near a small mountain stream that would have been an ideal location for the miners to camp. Then they began the delicate job of shifting through the dirt, looking for anything that might indicate the Spaniards had been there.
It was tedious, detailed work—and Natalie loved it. Watching Max, seeing the excitement in his eyes, she could now see why he loved archeology. They were chasing a mystery. Who were the Spaniards who’d walked these same mountains four hundred years ago? Where had they camped? What had they brought with them and left forever in these mountains? There would, of course, be tools, clothing, cooking utensils. But what about more personal items like jewelry and religious items and journals? Only the mountains knew for sure.
Max moved between the two sites, answering questions, instructing, getting right down in the dirt with everyone else, and no one noticed the passage of time until it was nearly dark. Suddenly glancing at his watch, he swore softly. “Where’d the time go? Okay, everybody, that’s it for today. Let’s wrap it up and get back to camp. Is anybody hungry?”
The roar that went up from the group was all the answer he needed. Chuckling, he made sure everything was secure for the night, then found himself falling into step with Natalie as the rest of the class surged past them as if they were standing still.
He lifted a dark, teasing brow at Natalie. “Was it something I said?”
“Now you know how to start a stampede,” she said, chuckling.
“Speaking of dinner, what are we having?”
“Not macaroni and cheese and hot dogs.”
“Darn! I suppose chocolate-chip pancakes are out of the question, too.”
She grinned. “I’m afraid so. How about liver and onions?”
Shocked, he stopped in his tracks. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”
“It would serve you right if I wasn’t,” she retorted, amused. “Do you realize you never once asked me about the meals? You just told me to take care of it.”
He grinned sheepishly. “You’re a mom. I figured you would know how to feed fifty teenagers.”
She just rolled her eyes. “Lucky for you I didn’t take the boys shopping with me and buy fifty cans of ravioli—that’s their idea of heaven. Just out of curiosity, who usually cooks when you go on digs?”
“Someone who doesn’t have a clue what they’re doing.”
“Ahh. So even if I’ve never cooked for a crowd—on a campfire, no less—and the food is mediocre, it’s going to be the best you ever had on a dig?”
Grinning, he winked at her. “Again, you got it in one.”
“And if I’m more than mediocre?”
“Sweetheart, I knew that the first moment I laid eyes on you.” And uncaring who might see, he took her hand and kissed it.
Just that easily he made her laugh and stole her breath at one and the same time. “Max, you’re such a flirt! Stop that!”
“Make me.”
Unable to stop smiling, she tugged her hand free and tried to look stern. “Keep this up and I’ll tell one of Maverick’s men we need some liver for dinner.”
“No, no! Anything but that. I’ll be good. I promise.”
He was already good—that was the problem—but she had no intention of telling him that. “Then how does grilled sirloin burgers, baked potatoes and salad sound for dinner?”
“Are you kidding me? Do we have the makings for all that?”
She grinned. “I did the grocery shopping, remember? That’s nothing. Before the trip’s over, I’m making peach cobbler!”
“You are not!”
“I’ll need some help, of course. Cooking for this many people, we’re going to need at least five campfires going at one time so we won’t be eating at midnight.”
“You got it,” he said promptly, and called a few of the guys over to help him.
Fifteen minutes later the fires were going and the students had gathered enough firewood to last a week or longer. As the fires burned down, Natalie organized a makeshift kitchen on two folding tables and had some of the girls wash the potatoes and wrap them in aluminum foil. As soon as the fires had burned down to mostly embers, she and Max placed the potatoes in the hot ashes.
“Now what?” he asked her, dusting his hands.
“We have a while before we need to start the burgers, so we can get everything else ready. I brought instant tea, so we can add that to four of the gallon jugs of water, and then put a salad together. Everyone has their own camp kits to eat from, but we’ll need to put out napkins and salt and pepper. Oh, and there’s steak sauce for the burgers and butter and sour cream for the potatoes.”
“You brought butter and sour cream on a dig?” Max asked, amazed.
“It’s not the real thing,” she admitted, “but I was able to find some of the individual containers like they have at fast-food restaurants at a grocery warehouse. They were cheap, didn’t require a lot of ice to keep cool and didn’t weigh much. They might not be the real thing, but I figured they’d taste pretty good out in the middle of nowhere.”
Max laughed. “Sweetheart, with everything that went wrong with this dig from the beginning, I thought we’d be lucky if we had bologna sandwiches for lunch and dinner and Pop-Tarts for breakfast. This is fantastic! How’d you do this and manage to stay within the budget?”
“I’m a single mom with two growing monsters who love to eat,” she replied, smiling. “I learned how to shop for bargains a long time ago. And I saved a ton of money on the tents.”
“Remind me to hire you for all my digs from now on. What’s for breakfast?”
“You’re going to have to wait and find out, just like everyone else.” She laughed. “Right now the only meal that’s important is this one. It’s time to put the burgers on.”
Max had brought some metal grills he’d used on previous digs, and he quickly laid those over the coals, supporting them on the rocks that ringed each campfire. Natalie retrieved preformed sirloin burgers from the ice chests, seasoned them and set ten patties on each grill. Within minutes the smell of grilling burgers wafted on the evening breeze, drawing sighs of appreciation from all around the camp. By the time the food was ready, the students had their camp kits in hand and were lined up ready to eat.
Just about all the students had brought folding stools to sit on and they soon circled the campfires and dug into their food as if they hadn’t eaten in a week. One of the last to serve herself, Natalie remembered too late that the lightweight aluminum folding chair she’d meant to bring was still hanging on a hook in her garage.
Sighing—it had been a long day and she’d really been looking forward to a nice relaxing meal—she hesitated, looking around for a place to sit. Her choices were either the ground or a rock.
“The cook deserves the best seat in the house,” Max said, surprising her as he came up behind her and reached around to take her plate from her. “Follow me.”
“But I forgot my chair—”
“Don’t worry—I always bring an extra.” Leading her to a spot on the far side, he grinned. “Alone at last. Have a seat, sweetheart.”
He’d set up two chairs under a tree twenty feet back from the circle of students around the campfires, allowing him to keep an eye on things without being in the direct line of sight of anyone but the students on the far side of the fire. And even they wouldn’t be able to see him very well as it grew darker with the setting of the sun.
Hesitating, she tried not to smile at the romantic setting he’d somehow arranged despite the fact that there were forty-nine students twenty feet away from them. “You don’t think we should sit with everyone else?”
“We are,” he said with a grin. “We’re just giving them their space.”
“Max…”
“I love it when you say my name that way.”
“Stop it!” She laughed. “You can’t do this.”
“I won’t do anything,” he promised, grinning, “if you’ll just sit down and eat. You just cooked the most incredible meal in the middle of nowhere! Please…sit down and enjoy it.”
How could she resist him when he was so darn charming? “Okay,” she said, smiling. “But you have to behave yourself.”
“I’ll have you know I behave very well. I can prove it to you any time you like.”
“Max!”
“Okay, okay.” He chuckled, and relented. “Eat.”
Sinking down into one of the chairs he’d set up for them, she sighed in contentment. As they both dug into their food as though they hadn’t eaten in a week, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this happy. And that should have worried her. This was just a holiday weekend stolen out of time. She was Cinderella at the ball, and the magic would all be over once she went home.
But home—and the real world—seemed very far away at that moment. Max was within touching distance, and she was falling in love with him.