Kit looked at Marc, puzzled. "Adam's ahead in what way? He's in a committed relationship called marriage, which you don't do, and he has a son, which shouldn't impact you in any way since you can't take a small boy around from dig to dig. Your problem is, you have a bee in your bonnet—well, maybe that doesn't work. Try, a hornet in your jock strap, because you think your family doesn't give a damn about you. Like I said before, stop wallowing in your own crap. Meanwhile, I'm going to talk to your father. If he's open to letting us dig, fine, but if he's not, I'm ready to pack up and leave. Hanging around you is worse than staying with Wally."
Kit turned and headed for Jack Hansen's house while going over in her head how best to approach the man. On the other hand, maybe digging up an Indian mound on the Dancing Moon Ranch was the last thing she should be doing at this point. There was no question, her interest in Marc played a big part in getting her there, but seeing the way he was interacting with his family was playing a bigger part in questioning why she'd give the man the time of day. But whenever she had similar thoughts about Marc, some little voice inside kept repeating to her, like a mantra, that if he worked out his issues with his family, he'd be a pretty nice catch, even though it would take a long pole and a big hook to snag him.
When she knocked on the door of Grace and Jack's Hansen's house, Tyler, the youngest of the Hansen brothers, opened the door. With the way the light was crossing his face, she could see clearly his Indian heritage in his higher cheekbones, but he also resembled his father.
"Is your dad here?" she asked
"Yeah, he's in the family room," Tyler replied. He stepped back for her to enter then led her to a pair of double doors made out of heavy planks with wrought-iron strap hinges, doors that had been closed when she was there for dinner, but which now lay wide open against the walls. He called out to his dad that she was there, then turned and left the house.
Kit entered a spacious room with log walls on three sides and a stone fireplace in the end. The room, which appeared to have been added in recent years, was filled with big, overstuffed leather furniture that looked well used. Jack Hansen sat in a chair, his stocking feet crossed at his ankles, his heels resting on a leather ottoman, a pair of glasses midway down his nose, while reading through a bundle of papers. On hearing her enter, he removed his glasses, uncrossed his legs, and stood, which seemed an odd thing to do, reaffirming what Marc had said. His father was out of a different century.
"Could I talk to you for few minutes, Mr. Hansen?" Kit asked.
"Sure, come on in," Jack replied.
He sounded friendly enough, Kit thought, as she stepped a little further into the room. "It's about the Indian mound," she started in. "I expected Marc to have contacted you long before we arrived but he didn't, and I still don't know why. He's a complicated man."
"What about the Indian mound?" Jack asked, ignoring the rest.
"I'd like to do an exploratory excavation to define areas of high archaeological potential that might contain deposits of interest for research. It's for my PhD. It would only amount to a couple of five-foot-square digs. The mound's obviously a midden—a trash heap where a village once stood—and since Oregon laws about digging on private property are favorable to land owners, any artifacts uncovered would belong to the ranch. The only items that would need be to be reported would be human bones or sacred items, which would not be found in a midden."
Kit refrained from mentioning that, on occasion, bones had been found at winter village sites where a death occurred and the person would have been buried at the site instead of the burial grounds, which would be frozen or soggy, but that was too rare to worry about.
Jack eyed her with concern. "You'll need a permit to do any digging and that will bring in inspectors," he said, "and I don't want anyone coming here telling me what I can and cannot do with my land."
"Permits aren't required on private land for exploratory excavations," Kit replied. "Like I said, we'd only be excavating a couple of five-foot square units. After we're done we'll return the soil to the excavations so the mound will look much as is does now. All it would need would be a little grass seed."
Jack's brows came together and he looked at her long and hard. After a few moments, he said, "Would you be here for a while?"
"We wouldn't have to be," Kit replied. "We could maybe just dig up one unit instead of two and leave right after."
"I want my son here," Jack said. "He's been gone too long and he needs to be with us. It's been very hard on my wife."
"I know," Kit said. "I don't understand why Marc never contacted you and he doesn't talk about it, other than to give me a convoluted explanation about his conception. But if you'll excuse the expression, he's also being a total butthead and it's beyond me to understand why."
"He has his reasons," Jack said, "which is why he should be with us. He needs time to heal, just as my wife does." The worry on his face lifted momentarily, and he added, "Grace enjoyed spending time with you at your campsite yesterday. It made a difference."
"She's a real sweet woman," Kit said.
"You're right," Jack replied, "and she doesn't deserve what Marc's put her through. Like I said, Marc has his reasons. He and his mother need to work through it."
Kit resisted the urge to mention that Marc's mother wasn't the only one who needed to work through things with Marc, but at least Jack wanted Marc there. With a little more time, he might even begin to have a better understanding of his son.
Deciding that Jack might be open to the idea of excavating, she said, "If the exploratory digs show it's the site of a winter village it would probably be eligible for grant money, since the Willamette Valley's been relatively untouched by any well-organized archaeological and ethnological research, and Marc qualifies as a principle investigator, so you'd have him here at the ranch for at least the duration of the dig." Kit knew she was being misleading, since Marc had said nothing about overseeing the mound excavation if things panned out for her, especially when he had every intention of taking the position in Belize if it were offered to him. But she did want a reason to stay at the ranch until Marc was reestablished with his family. A couple of exploratory excavations would give him that time.
When Jack eyed her, but with a distant gaze that seemed more like he was looking through her, Kit knew he was weighing his options. On the one side would be the possibility of authorities coming in and laying down rules. On the other side would be having his son back home. To help give him direction, Kit said, "Working through issues with his family is the reason Marc came home, even though he doesn't realize it yet."
Jack smiled then, which had Kit taking a second look at the man. Even though Marc wasn't Jack's blood kin, for some reason the men had the same smile. One day she'd point it out to Marc. But Jack's smile was almost like a go ahead. Hoping she hadn't read the man wrong, she said, "Then maybe you'll consider letting us do the exploratory excavations?"
Jack nodded. "Like I said, I want my son here."
Kit felt like throwing her arms around the man and kissing him in a fatherly way. Instead, she said, "I'll go tell Marc and we'll start laying things out. And tell Mrs. Hansen I'm expecting her for tea this afternoon around two. They don't do that on digs in the jungle. Well, on digs anywhere, for that matter. Marc thinks what I've set up is overkill, since he doesn't mind sharing his tent with things that crawl and bite and slither, but I've had my fill of that. Afternoon tea at a dig site works for me."
"I'll tell Grace," Jack said. "I'm sure she'll be there."
I'm serious about this work... That's debatable... How so...? You want a cushy job...
Maybe Marc was right. The idea of spending her life on her hands and knees digging around in the dirt, and living out of a tent at sites devoid of every creature comfort, was slowly losing its allure, while working at a museum and putting down roots where she could marry and have a family was becoming increasingly more appealing. Marc, of course, would continue to follow the digs, so maybe some things were
just not meant to be.
CHAPTER 7
From his stance just inside the cabin that Adam and Emily were living in while Adam was building their house, Marc watched his three-year-old nephew, Jesse, push a small metal dump truck across the floor while making truck sounds. On the opposite side of the room, Adam also watched, and smiled, like having a son was the greatest thing going.
"Sit down, Marc," Emily said. "It's crowded in here right now, but we'll be able to spread out by the end of the summer. Did you see the house yet? Adam cut and fitted all the logs and he's building the stone fireplace right now. We're modeling it after the cabin in the mountains but bigger. It's just up the road from Rick and Sophie, but high enough so we have a view."
"I'll walk up there in the next few days," Marc said.
Adam gave a little ironic snort, to which Emily responded by giving Adam a look that was more of a warning, then saying to Marc, "Wait a week or so and the fireplace will be finished. We're starting out small, with only two bedrooms. Jesse will share his room with the new baby for a couple of years, but as the family grows we'll add on. The house is designed that way."
Marc shifted his gaze from the dark-hair, dark-eyed boy, to Emily, and saw that her stomach was sticking out some, and said, "When's the baby due?"
"Around the middle of October," Emily replied. She put her hands to her belly, smiled at Adam, and said, "Adam managed to give me two X chromosomes this time, so it's a girl. Maureen and Grace are thrilled because it means less testosterone on the ranch."
Marc forced a smile. "That's great," he said, and wondered why he couldn't feel happy that Adam's life was good.
Stop wallowing in your own crap...
Adam dragged a kitchen chair back from the table for Marc to sit in, which he did, and after Adam sat adjacent to him, Adam commented, "Dad said you and Kit will be digging up the mound. I can't imagine what Kit said to convince him, but Dad seemed okay with it. Mom too. She couldn't stop talking about Kit, and about having tea in the woods. I think she's sizing Kit up as a potential daughter-in-law. Mom said Ryan was asking a lot of questions about her too, like he's seriously interested, and that he's acting different now, not so cocky, like maybe there's more to having a woman around than what goes on in bed."
Emily laughed. "Like cleaning his house."
Adam grabbed Emily's elbow, pulled her down to him and gave her a little kiss, and said, "If Ryan gets married he'll have both."
"Ryan can forget about Kit," Marc said.
Adam looked at him, curiously. "There's nothing going on with you two, is there?"
"No… not exactly." Marc shrugged. "Like I told Mom, Kit and I are a couple of field archaeologists doing a job. We're just colleagues… pretty much."
"Not exactly, and pretty much, sound a little uncertain," Adam said.
"It's one-sided," Marc admitted, then realized he'd shared something with Adam he hadn't expected to share because in doing so, he'd admitted he was less of a man than Adam.
Adam slipped his arm around Emily's hips and said, while looking up at her, "Sometimes it takes a while to land the right woman. Give it time." Then he looked back at Marc again, and added, "On the other hand, don't wait too long or Ryan will move in and take over."
It seemed strange getting advice about women from Adam. They'd never confided in each other, but as he looked at Adam and Emily, leaning together with their arms around each other, then at Jesse, who was making airplane noises as he flew a small plane in loops around his head, and thought about the new baby coming, and the house that was going up, he was reminded again that whatever Adam wanted, Adam got...
He's in a committed relationship called marriage, which you don't do, and he has a son, which shouldn't impact you in any way...
Feeling disturbed, like there was something missing in his life, Marc stood abruptly, and said, "I need to get back to the site and start unloading tools. We'll be laying things out first thing in the morning." But between now and first thing in the morning, would be a long night, and he didn't look forward to sleeping alone in a tent out by the Indian mound.
It never bothered him before, even when guys on the team were sleeping with women on the team, because the relationships were nothing to any of them but a short rush of hot sex followed by a scorching tropical night that made for sweaty bodies wherever they touched, which precluded sleeping tangled together. But seeing Adam and Emily and little Jesse, all crammed in the cabin, and not seeming to care, and knowing that in the bedroom was a bed where Adam and Emily would be making love and sleeping together tonight, and probably making love again in the morning, had him thinking, maybe not so much about commitment, but more about… not sleeping alone.
On the other hand, don't wait too long or Ryan will move in and take over...
***
The following morning, as Kit was tidying up her tent, she heard horses approaching. Her encampment was located just above the main riding trail leading up the mountain, so she assumed Adam, who was in charge of trail rides, was taking the ranch guests on a morning ride. Curious, she ducked out of the tent and was surprised to see Marc coming on a horse, and leading a second horse behind.
He reined to a halt, and said, "Before we start laying things out I want to take you for a ride up the mountain and show you the view. You do ride, don't you?"
"Some," Kit said. Shading her eyes from the morning sun, she studied Marc more closely. Instead of his usual work-worn khakis and an equally work-worn safari-shirt, he was wearing a western hat with turned-up sides, a western-cut shirt that hugged his chest and broad shoulders, a pair of faded and worn jeans that defined muscular thighs, and scuffed western boots. "Did you tackle and strip one of your brothers or are you actually a cowboy?"
"Leftovers from my previous life," Marc said. "My mother kept my room like a shrine. Everything's just about like it was when I left."
Kit eyed Marc while trying to adjust to his new appearance. She wasn't sure which look she liked most—him as he was now, or dressed in jungle khakis and a worn safari shirt, or bare-chested, fresh from a jungle shower, with his hair loose. All three made her want to set aside her reservations about him and get on with the sex. But after the sex, the personal baggage would still be there, and the urge for more sex with him would be there, and before she'd know it, another three years of a man trying to decide if commitment was right for him would slip by, and by then she'd be pushing thirty. But even if Marc did want commitment in the near future, he had far too many issues to resolve with his family before she'd say I do.
Still, the sight of him had her heart thrumming and her nostrils flaring to accommodate her rapid breaths, and other reactions she hoped Marc didn't pick up on. Reeling her thoughts in, she said, "So, you really are a cowboy."
"I don't chase cows if that's what you mean by a cowboy," Marc said, "but horses are okay when they're moving horizontally instead of vertically."
"I haven't spent much time on horses," Kit replied. "Where are you taking me?"
"To a cabin on the top of the mountain," Marc said.
"And your reason for taking me to a cabin is?"
"Not what you think," Marc said. "Well, maybe it would be if you hadn't laid down the rules to me a few dozen times. Mainly it's the view. You can see for miles, and it's a nice ride."
"What about the dig?" Kit asked. "I thought we were going to get started today. If we don't, your father could change his mind."
"We'll be back in a couple of hours," Marc said. "Besides, I feel like going for a ride."
Kit scanned his western clothes then eyed him skeptically. "You've never mentioned anything about liking to ride. Is this all about one-upping your brothers?"
Marc's eyes sharpened, like maybe she'd hit on the reason for his cowboy transformation, then he shrugged and said, "No, it's about taking you up the mountain so you can see the view."
Kit walked up to the horse and stroked his face and patted its neck, and said, "He's pretty big. Is he gentle?"
&nbs
p; "I wouldn't put you on him if he wasn't," Marc said. "His name's Major and he's trail wise and predictable. You won't have any trouble, but if you do, I'll rescue you, unless, of course, you'd rather Ryan take you up the mountain since he's the world's greatest bull rider."
Kit looked up at Marc, and said, "Has it always been an issue with you, constantly comparing yourself with your brothers?"
"I'm not comparing myself with Ryan," Marc said. "I'm only stating a fact. Ask him if he's the world's greatest bull rider and he'll confirm it."
"Still sounding kind of jealous," Kit said.
"Look, you want to go for a ride or stand here and give me shit about being jealous?"
"I'll ride," Kit replied. "What do I put on my feet?"
"Your work boots are fine," Marc replied.
Kit took the reins from Marc, tossed them over the horse's head and mounted. After settling in the saddle, she gathered the reins and gave the horse a little kick.
While they were riding side-by-side on the wide trail, she said, "I don't understand why you wouldn't go see Adam's son yesterday."
"I went, "Marc clipped. "I was over there last night."
"So, how did it go?" Kit asked. She'd definitely detected some negative vibes.
Marc gave a short sarcastic grunt. "Like I expected. Adam's son looks like him, his wife's pregnant again, which made Adam puff up with pride like maybe he'd done something the rest of humanity wasn't capable of doing, and he's in the process of building a house for Emily. In other words, Adam's got everything he wants, like always."
"You know anything about wolf packs?" Kit asked, ignoring Marc's discourse.
Marc looked askance at her. "Is this going to be small talk or do you have a point to make?"
"I'll let you decide afterward," Kit replied, and hoped Marc would get the point. He was a master at avoiding it whenever she'd tried to point things out.
"Yeah, I know about wolf packs," Marc said. "Why?"
"Because the Dancing Moon Ranch is structured like a wolf pack," Kit replied.
Bittersweet Return (Dancing Moon Ranch Book 6) Page 10