by J. R. Ward
“Don’t you like me?” The words were spoken softly and his face contracted as if he was preparing himself for a hit.
“Of course I do,” she said gently. “But not romantically.”
“But you like my uncle like that.”
Carter couldn’t answer him. She didn’t want to lie, couldn’t confront the truth.
“I’d like us to be friends,” she offered.
“Yeah, sure.”
“I mean it. I like spending time with you, too. And I’d like your help on the dig. I need your help.”
“You have those other two.”
“There’s a lot of area to cover.”
There was a pause.
“You really have started digging?” He looked up.
She nodded,
“Found anything?”
“Ellie dug up some arrowheads.”
Cort started to fiddle with the controls, making the train go forward and backward.
“Look, we really could use an extra set of hands up there. Will you come join us?”
He shrugged. “Maybe. But I gotta work on my trains right now.”
“Well, I hope we’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah.”
Carter left with an ache in her chest. She remembered getting her heart broken for the first time by a teacher she’d had a crush on. He’d let her down as gently as he could, but the sting of the rejection had been a terrible blow. It had never dawned on her that one day she’d be on the other side of that pain.
The experience from this end wasn’t much easier, she thought, as she walked out onto the lawn.
She was passing the mansion, her head low and filled with heavy thoughts, when Candace appeared in front of her. The woman was wearing a short print dress that was bright pink and green—a preppy getup that teetered on being a Rorschach test. With a string of pearls and matching earrings, she looked like she belonged at a country club sipping iced tea and playing bridge.
Well, except for the expression on her face. That made Carter think of pro wrestling.
Candace jabbed the air with her forefinger. “I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but I won’t let you come between me and Nick.”
Carter took a deep breath. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
She tried to step around the woman, thinking that she should have stayed farther away from the house.
Hell, she’d have taken a trip through another zip code if it meant avoiding this kind of confrontation.
“Don’t play dumb with me.” Candace’s eyes were little slits in her pretty face. “I am going to be the first and only wife of Nick Farrell. If you think you stand a chance of getting in my way, you’re in for a nasty surprise.”
The woman paused, waiting for a response.
“Well, thanks for the warning,” Carter said dryly.
Candace seemed momentarily nonplussed. “I don’t think you understand. Nick loves me. You may be able to flirt with him across a table, but I’m sleeping in his bed.”
Jealousy coursed through Carter. It was the kind of unconscious reaction that told her so much about what she was feeling. And it was one more reason she could have done without the altercation.
Before she could say anything, a screen door slapped shut and Nick rounded the corner. Candace’s demeanor changed on a dime.
“Are we going for that sail?” she asked him serenely.
Nick looked through the blonde. “I just spoke with Ivan, who’s called a tow truck. Swift’s car needs to go into town.”
Carter managed to reply evenly, “Thanks. I’ll let him know.”
She refused to meet his eyes. She wasn’t proud of having slapped him the night before but was unsure how she could apologize without backing down from her stance. And she sure as hell wasn’t going to get into it with him in front of Candace.
It was a relief to turn away from them.
“By the way,” Nick called out, “I’ll be coming up to check and see how things are going later.”
“Don’t hurry,” she muttered, thinking that her life was suddenly overflowing with people and conflicts and drama. Where had all those calm hours spent with books and papers gone?
“What did you say?”
“Don’t worry. Everything’s fine.”
* * *
Buddy and Ellie were on their hands and knees together when Carter stepped into the circle.
“Just in time!” her partner said, with a delighted grin.
“For what?”
“The grand unearthing.”
Carter surged forward. “What’d you get?”
“It’s hard to ID finds in the field, as you know,” he said cautiously, “but offhand, I think it’s the carburetor from a ’fifty-six T-bird.”
Carter stopped short. “You’re kidding me.”
“Nope.” He reached into the earth and pulled out a hunk of metal. “I never kid about auto supplies.”
“What’s it doing here?” Ellie asked as Carter laughed out loud.
Buddy turned the find over in his hands. “Some people have an odd idea of what needs to be interred. I once dug up a roasting pan that had a eulogy inside. A whole page extolling baked hams and turkeys.”
“Ewww. That’s creepy.”
“Yeah, considering your mom’s still using it.”
“She is not!”
“Is too. With that kind of product endorsement, she had to try it.”
Ellie muttered, “Why do you tell me these things?”
Considering the scene she’d just been through with Candace, Carter was so happy to be back around her friends and her work, she had an urge to hug both of the Swifts.
She smiled and put a casual hand on Ellie’s shoulder. “I hate to break up this Martha Stewart meets Night of the Living Dead moment but the Range Rover is about to be towed into the nether regions of the Adirondacks.”
Buddy got to his feet, looking resigned. “Ivan the Terrible couldn’t fix it?”
“Guess not.”
“Well, I better get down there.” Buddy looked at his daughter. “You coming?”
“Aye, Captain.”
After the two left, Carter settled down to work on her area, hoping to get in another two hours of digging before it got too dark. She found her mind turning back to her run-in with Candace.
Carter had never played the other woman before. Not that she was involved with Nick, she reminded herself. But she’d never been on the receiving end of another woman’s aggressive turf protection. It wasn’t a position she relished.
After all, she wanted Nick all to herself.
She groaned at the thought.
While she was fervently trying to talk herself out of such idiocy, her shovel hit something hard. Putting the tool aside, and thankful for the distraction, she peered into the dirt and was pleasantly surprised to see an arrowhead. She picked it up and was turning it over in her hands when she heard someone approach through the woods.
Nick’s sail with Candace must have been cut short, she thought, tensing.
At least she was semiprepared for his arrival. On the trip up the mountain, she’d composed two speeches. The first was all about how they were going to keep things on a professional level from now on. No more arguing, no more clashes. No more kisses. What she had to say on this point was short and direct, although it made her stomach clench like a fist.
The other speech was longer and easier. She’d mentally reviewed what she wanted to accomplish in the next week and was prepared to bore him with technicalities. She figured this would discourage frequent updates. Her spiel would last about fifteen minutes and then, if she was lucky, she could get him to leave.
Bracing herself, she started talking before he even came through the boulders.
“About what happened last night—”
But it was Conrad Lyst, not Nick, who entered the circle of stones.
She fell silent and felt a needling sense of fear as she realized how alone she was on
the mountain. She hoped the Swifts would be back soon.
Lyst moved fluidly across the ground toward her. On someone else, the gait might have been seen as elegant. Considering the antagonistic way he was looking at her, however, it came across as sinister. His eyes, small and dark in his pale face, were predatory.
She shuddered.
“I suppose some congratulations are in order.” He gestured around the dig site.
“What are you doing here?” She rose to her feet.
“I’ve come to see how the competition is getting along.” When he settled against one of the boulders, she moved away.
“All your little string boxes. So neat and orderly,” he murmured. “Has anything come of your efforts?”
“I think you better go.” She was impressed with how strong her voice sounded.
“You seem rather eager to be rid of me. How about some collegial respect?”
Show me a colleague, then maybe I’ll share a little, Carter thought.
“So I’m dying to know,” he said in a slick voice, “how far did you have to go to get Farrell’s permission to dig?”
The implication behind his words made her feel dirty, and she didn’t like the drift of the conversation. Instinct told her to start looking for an escape route.
Where was Buddy when she needed him?
Lyst’s eyes drifted over her body. “You know, I’ve always thought you were a woman with hidden talents. I wasn’t able to get so much as an audience with the great Farrell much less permission to ply his soil, but here you are.”
Carter took a step back, wanting to position herself so she was near an opening in the stones. From his casual perch, he tracked her movements.
“Okay, you’re not willing to go into the specifics. I can understand that. Wouldn’t want to kiss and tell. But have you found anything?” His false smile made his eyes seem more hostile.
“No.”
He shrugged. “No matter. With your expertise, I’m sure it won’t be long before you’re pulling that gold out of the ground.”
She shrugged and kept silent.
“You’re awful quiet,” he murmured. “Cat got your tongue?”
“I’m just waiting for you to leave.”
Lyst looked up to the sky as if pondering a mathematical theory.
“You want me to go.” Abruptly, his eyes snapped back to her. “I find the cross that brought you here, to this place where a fortune may be hidden in the earth, and all you can do is tell me to go.”
“That cross was a fake.”
In a flash of movement, he lunged at her. She turned and tried to escape but he grabbed her arm. Carter struggled, feeling his fingers digging into her skin, but not only was he faster than she’d thought; he was stronger, too. Panic, thick and suffocating, began to clog her throat.
“Without the cross,” he snarled, “that bitch at the Hall Foundation would never have called you. You didn’t even know about this place until I went to her.”
He snapped her around to face him and she felt his breath on her face, hot and damp. “You may be planting shovels in the ground but this dig is mine.”
“Let go of me!”
Lyst reached up and grabbed a fistful of her hair. With a yank, he wrenched her head back. As he held her in the awkward position, she watched in horror as his expression morphed into sexual anticipation.
“What did you give Farrell in return for permission to dig?” She struggled against his rough hold. “You’ve got a terrific body. I bet you know how to use it to get what you want.”
She gritted out, “My credentials stand on their own. I don’t have to lower myself to your level—”
He pulled her hair hard, and she had to bite her lip to keep from crying out. “You could work on being a little more complimentary—you know that? Considering what you owe me.”
“I owe you nothing,” she said roughly.
“Bullshit. You cheated me out of this.” His eyes roamed over her face. “The least you can do is make good on the theft. And considering everything you have to offer, I think the pleasure of your company would be sufficient. At least, for the time being.”
Carter thought with dread that Buddy and Ellie wouldn’t be back for at least another hour and there was no one to hear her scream. She was going to have to save herself and the only option made her sick.
Her hand shaking, she reached out and touched Lyst’s face. Affixing a smile to her lips that she hoped he’d fall for, she murmured, “I’m sure we can work something out.”
Her voice was frail, but apparently his ego lent her words the credibility they otherwise lacked.
“How very wise of you,” he said, looking at her lips.
She felt him let go of her hair and loosen his hold on her arm. Just as he was bringing his mouth toward hers, she shifted her weight, gripped his shoulders, and drove her knee up so hard she could feel the bones in his pelvis when she made contact.
Lyst crumpled like a paper bag, falling to the dirt and coughing. She didn’t stick around to measure the damage. Racing out of the circle of stones, she fled toward camp, found the trailhead, and started barreling down the mountainside. With her feet pounding over the dirt and her arms flailing from side to side to keep herself from falling, she was dangerously close to losing control of her descent. Rounding a sharp corner, one that was perched on top of a high rock shelf, she skidded wildly and had to push herself off a sturdy pine to keep from going over the edge. At the last moment, she bounded back onto the trail.
Only to careen into Nick.
She hit his chest with enough force to throw them both off balance. Grabbing onto his shoulders to keep from hitting the ground, she felt his arms come around her and the world tilt alarmingly as they started to fall off the trail. For a sickening moment, she thought they were going to end up tumbling onto the jagged rocks below.
But then he threw an arm around a thick tree trunk. Using all his strength, his muscles going rigid, he halted their free fall, righting them a mere foot from the ledge.
Carter took one look at where they might have ended up and buried her face in his shoulder. Numbly, she felt his arms wrap around her and bring her closer to his warmth.
“What happened?” When she didn’t answer, he pulled back a little and looked into her eyes. “Good God, you’re shaking.”
“Nothing. Nothing. It was nothing.” She nestled farther into his shoulder. The material of his polo shirt was soft against her cheek.
“It sure was one hell of a nothing. Are you okay?”
She risked a glance up at his face. His diamond eyes were sharp and concerned, and she got the sense that, as soon as he was sure she was all right, he was prepared to go after whatever had frightened her and beat it into a pulp.
She was surprised at how much this appealed to her.
“Was it an animal?”
Carter started to shake her head before finding the lie to her advantage. She was hesitant to tell Nick what had happened, afraid it would only muddy the waters further. And considering the bloodlust that had been on Lyst’s face, she figured it wasn’t that far from the truth.
“Er—yes.”
“What kind?”
“Bear.” It was the first animal she could think of.
“I’ll get Ivan up here to find it.”
“No, that’s okay,” she said quickly. “I think I scared him off.”
At the very least, the bastard was walking with a limp now.
Carter’s laugh was forced as she pushed some hair out of her face. “I’m just overreacting. I don’t know where I was running to.”
She looked up the trail, wondering when it would be safe to return.
“Forget about going back there,” he said darkly. “You need to come down to the house for a little while.”
Carter was tempted to argue, but the idea that Lyst might still be around kept her silent. “Okay.”
He tilted her head toward him with his finger. “Are you sure you’re all right?
”
His eyes were impossibly tender, especially after what they’d been through the night before, and she struggled to comprehend the safe haven he seemed to be offering. It had been so long since she’d felt like someone was watching over her, someone who would be strong when she was weak.
The pad of his thumb brushed across her lips. In a rush, she became aware of how close they were. That the solid wall of his chest was against her breasts. That one of his legs was in between hers, tight against her soft core.
His smell, that combination of expensive cologne and something altogether more primal, filled her nose. Her heart started racing again.
And then he leaned forward and his lips touched hers softly.
The sensual contact brought her out of the trance and made her remember that he already had a woman to take care of.
Pulling away sharply, she turned from him. “I think we better get going. Don’t you need to get back to Candace?”
Without bothering to see if he was following, she began walking, her head down, her eyes trained on the beaten earth of the trail. Distantly, she heard the sounds of him behind her and did her best to tune them out.
When they reached the mansion, Nick led her out to a porch that overlooked the lake. He suggested a sherry and she took it tensely, sitting down in a wicker rocking chair. As she took a sip, she watched from under her lashes as he leaned against one of the white columns. He was staring out at the lake when at last he spoke.
“I think you should stay down here. All of you.” His voice was full of command.
She took another small drink from the glass and felt the sherry burn a path to her stomach. “We’re fine.”
“I don’t like the idea that you could be in danger.”
“I’m not and we’re going to keep staying at camp.”
She watched impatience flicker across his face. “Ivan will be able to tell if the site’s in some mother’s territory. You may not have a choice.”
“He doesn’t need to go up there,” she said sharply.
The last thing Carter wanted was that woodsman poking around. She hadn’t seen a bear anywhere in the vicinity since she’d arrived, and if Ivan the Terrible went up there, she knew he’d find nothing. Except maybe Lyst’s footprints.