Chapter Four

“You don’t know anything about paleontology,” she protested.

“You could teach me. I’m a quick learner.”

Nicholas Bancroft’s smile would have brought a lesser woman to her knees, but Caroline was built of sterner stuff. At least she hoped she was.

She frowned and assessed him from head to toe. He offered a tempting proposition. Working alone, she struggled to keep ahead of Harlow and Edwards. She could use a man’s strength to help excavate and move the finds. Nick did look better than yesterday, but he’d suffered a serious blow to the head less than twenty-four hours ago, and the day promised to be a scorcher. “You’d be better off remaining here. You still need rest.”

He flashed another charming smile that brought back the troubling tingle from the day before, and her frown deepened. She’d never be able to work with the constant distraction.

“I’m feeling much better, and I’m interested to see your work,” he said.

“It’s too hot, and you don’t have a hat or a horse.”

“I’m sure your mule—Jasper, was it?—can carry us both.”

Caroline raised both brows. “I’d like to see you persuade him.”

A crooked grin full of even, white teeth slashed across the tan of his face. “That shouldn’t be a problem. I can be very persuasive.”

I’ll just bet you can.

Then she had an idea. She went into the bedroom, slid her small trunk from under the bed, and found what she was looking for. She returned to the main room dangling a faded red sunbonnet by its strings. “There is still the issue of a hat. If you’re determined to come with me, and you can persuade Jasper to cooperate, you can wear this.”

Nick’s eyes crinkled at the corners, but he kept a straight face. “I wouldn’t dream of depriving you.”

She favored him with a gracious smile and gave in to a ridiculous urge to bat her eyes. It was a silly gesture, but after working alone for months, she suddenly found herself saddled with a very attractive, though possibly brain damaged, man. Silly felt fun. Besides, she deserved a respite from the heat, hard work, and frustration; and she was much less likely to be interested in another woman’s man if he were wearing a pink sunbonnet.

“Nonsense. I’ll wear this.” She picked up a wide-brimmed straw hat, plopped it on her head, and handed him the sunbonnet. “I’m sure you’ll look quite fetching.”

He took the bonnet and examined it with a look of disgust. “It’s too small.”

“I doubt it, and there’s only one way to find out. Do you want to come with me, or not?”

He muttered something under his breath and jerked the bonnet down on his head. “Ouch!”

“Watch those stitches,” Caroline reminded him.

He eased the brim lower to avoid his healing wound, turned his back on her, and marched toward the door. “Let’s go,” he said in a gruff voice.

The pink ruffle across the back of his neck was more than she could bear. She laughed out loud and followed him.

“Where’s the mule?” Nick asked.

“There’s no need to be surly. If you don’t like the hat, you can always stay here.”

He turned, and the sight of his hard, masculine features peeking out of the bonnet prompted another burst of laughter.

“I’m delighted to be such a source of amusement for you.”

Caroline wiped her eyes. “I’m delighted, too. I don’t know when I’ve had so much fun.”

He sighed. “Just get the mule.”

She saddled Jasper, added the saddlebags with her tools, and led him from the small shed that served as a barn to the front of the cabin. “After I attach the travois, let me mount first. Then you can try to climb on behind.”

He eyed the mule with skepticism. “Wouldn’t it be easier to take a wagon?”

If I were six feet tall and strong as an ox.

“I don’t have a wagon,” she explained. “It’s easier to load supplies and my specimens on the travois because it’s closer to the ground.”

He stepped forward and took the reins before she could resist. “If you insist on riding this mule, I’ll go first. That way, if he balks, at least you won’t be thrown.”

Nick’s concern for her safety surprised and touched her, especially considering her role in his current haberdashery. “The last thing you need is another bump on the head,” she replied. She reached into her pocket and pulled out two carrots. “Once I’m settled, give him these. They should occupy him long enough for you to climb on.”

Jasper’s addiction served them well, and soon they were headed toward the mountains with Caroline riding in front and Nick perched behind with a firm grip on her waist, his legs dangling loose, and the pink sunbonnet on his head.

By the time they arrived at the dig site, it was nearly noon, and the sun blazed overhead. Nick might look and feel foolish, but Caroline was glad she’d insisted he cover his head. She didn’t want him to have a heat stroke.

He slid off Jasper’s back then helped her down. “So where are these fossils?”

“Up on the ridge.” She pointed to the nearest rocky bluff. “Let me get Jasper settled then I’ll show you.” She tethered the mule to a large rock, emptied a canteen of water into a pail for him, and threw the saddlebags with her tools over one shoulder. “Can you carry these?” She lifted two full canteens.

****

She looked like a pack mule herself, laden with equipment. “Give me the saddlebags,” Nick said, reaching for them.

“They’re too heavy, and you’re injured.”

He ignored her protest and shouldered the bags of tools. “I don’t know how you lug these around. They must weigh as much as you do.”

“I’ve been handling them alone all summer. I’m stronger than you think.”

He bit back a smile. What she might lack in physical strength, she more than made up in determination. She was different from any woman he’d known. He was used to ladies swathed in yards of ruffles and lace and prone to fits of the vapors. If his mother, sisters, or Lucinda wanted something, they wheedled and cajoled, or manipulated people and situations to get their way. Caroline’s direct approach to challenges was refreshing.

“I’m sure you are, but since you’re not alone now, you might as well make the most of it.”

Despite the shade cast by the wide brim of her straw hat, she squinted as she regarded him. “All right, but you must promise to tell me if you start to feel dizzy or faint.”

“I’m fine.”

“Very well. Follow me; the path’s over here.”

Nick was happy to follow behind, where he could admire the movement of her hips beneath the split skirt that allowed her to ride Jasper astride and climb rocky bluffs. Lucinda would have died before appearing in public in such an unfashionable, if practical, garment.

He muttered a curse under his breath. Lucinda again. Why did his thoughts keep turning to her? She’d been more on his mind the past two days than the previous two months.

Caroline paused and turned. “What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

Her brows knit in concern. “Are you sure you’re feeling well enough to continue?”

“Will you stop worrying about me?” he snapped.

“No,” she replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

He halted. “No?”

“No, I will not stop worrying about you as long as you’re my responsibility. Here.” She handed him one of the canteens. “Drink.”

Nick took the canteen without thinking and unscrewed the lid. “I’m not your responsibility.”

“Nonsense. Now take a drink and follow me. We’re almost to the top.”

He obediently swallowed a couple of mouthfuls of the brackish water, and his stomach contracted. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and willed himself not to be sick. When the wave of nausea passed, he opened his eyes and spotted Caroline several yards ahead kneeling on the ground.

“I need my hammer and chisels,” she called without turning.

He strode forward sliding the saddlebags from his shoulder and knelt beside her. She smoothed her hand across the surface of an odd-looking ridge of rock. “I think this is the edge of a vertebra,” she said. “And here’s the next, and the next. Can you see?”

He tilted his head and regarded the formation. Some parts of the rock were a different shade of gray and smoother than others, but he couldn’t pick out anything definite.

Caroline opened one of the saddlebags and removed a chisel and wooden mallet. “Here, let me show you.” She set the chisel against the rock and began tapping, sending tiny chips flying.

At this rate, he figured she might have the bones out by Christmas, if anything was actually buried in the rock. “If I help you, this will go faster,” he offered, reaching for the saddlebags.

“Absolutely not. You have no idea how to properly excavate a fossil. You might destroy a valuable specimen. Paleontology is a patient profession.”

“What am I supposed to do while you hack away at that?”

“Watch and learn. May I remind you it was your idea to come with me? You could have stayed back at the cabin in the shade resting.”

“Isn’t there anything I can do to help?”

She sat back on her heels, removed her hat, and wiped her sleeve across her damp brow. “If you can’t sit still and stay out of the way, there’s a brush in that side of the pack,” she said, pointing. “You can use it to brush away the surface debris. I don’t think you can do any harm with that.”

Nick eyed the small, soft brush. He might not do any harm, but he wasn’t likely to do much good either. “How did you learn so much about dinosaurs and excavation?”

Her eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. “I’ve read everything I could find on the subject. The photos and articles in the New York Herald were especially thrilling.”

“You came to Wyoming by yourself to break rocks in the hot sun because of some newspaper stories?”

“Of course not. Do you think I’m a half-wit? My brother was a member of Professor Marsh’s first expedition here nine years ago. I learned most of what I know from him.”

“So your brother approves of this venture?”

“Arthur? Hardly. He blusters and fusses and threatens to cut off my money. I don’t know what happened to his sense of adventure. He’s so stuffy now that he’s married and working in the bank.” She shoved her hat back on her head and returned to chipping.

Nick squatted beside her and brushed away the dirt and stone dust as she handled the mallet and chisel like a seasoned mason. Slowly an enormous vertebra emerged from the surrounding rock.

“That’s amazing,” he said.

Caroline smoothed her leather-gloved hand over the bone and grinned. “It is, isn’t it?”

“Can’t I do something more than sweep dust?”

She tipped her head and regarded him with mock seriousness. “I don’t know. In that bonnet you make a very convincing maid.” Then her dimple deepened. “Are you good with your hands?”

Was she teasing him? Damn the bonnet. He’d humored her long enough. He reached up and ripped the silly thing off.

“I’ve been told I am,” he drawled.

“Maybe I’ll let you try the serious tools tomorrow, if you’re still here.”

Where else would he be? He had no horse or equipment, and his original plan was losing some of its urgency.

“So what do we do once we get the whole bone out?” he asked.

As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized what had happened. Her contagious excitement had caught him in its snare. He wanted to stay and help her with the excavation. The silver could wait.