Chapter Eleven

“Mrs. Hubbard, did you just call your husband Nick?” Professor Marsh asked.

Nick glanced at Caroline’s ashen face.

“I...I...” she sputtered. Her eyes held a look of desperation.

He stepped forward and wrapped a reassuring arm around her shoulders. “It’s a pet name, isn’t it, dear?”

“A pet name,” she repeated in a hollow echo.

“Nicholas is my middle name,” Nick offered.

“But your initials are C. P.” The professor’s confusion deepened into a frown.

They’d decided on Charles for a first name, but what about the P? Think fast. “My given name is Charles Percival Nicholas Hubbard. Caroline has always liked the name Nick better than Percival, haven’t you, dear?”

She nodded in mute agreement.

Marsh chewed his cigar while he glanced from one to the other before giving Nick a brisk nod. “Well, I don’t care what you call yourself. I want to see what you’ve found.”

Nick expelled his breath in a rush of relief and felt Caroline’s body relax against his side. They’d survived the first major challenge. “Yes, sir. I hope you’ll find my horse an adequate mount. I’ll load your gear, and my wife and I will ride the mule.”

Although nine years had passed since the professor’s first expedition to Como Bluff, he seemed to remember the topography and took off in the lead with Nick and Caroline plodding behind on Jasper. For once, the mule minded his manners and didn’t object to the double load, allowing Nick to concentrate on the feel of the woman in his arms. Being able to hold Caroline close almost made up for having to ride Jasper...almost. But he wished she would say something. He hated seeing her so cowed.

“Everything’s going to be fine,” he murmured in her ear. “He doesn’t suspect a thing.”

She turned her head and surprised him with the vehemence of her whisper. “It’s never going to work. I couldn’t even play my role for an hour.”

“Just wait ’til the professor sees the fossils. He’ll be so excited by the bones, he won’t notice anything else.”

“I hope you’re right.” She settled back against him and ruminated for a moment. “I can show him the partial Stegosaurus I uncovered last week and the new vertebrae we worked on yesterday. Perhaps he’ll be able to identify the species.” Then she twisted in the saddle. “Or better yet, maybe he won’t. Maybe I’ve done it. Maybe I’ve found something entirely new!”

Nick smiled to see her face aglow with the passion of discovery again. “That’s my girl.” He planted a swift kiss on her startled mouth then gave Jasper a nudge with his heels.

When they reached the patch of level ground below the dig site, Professor Marsh had already dismounted and was examining a massive outcropping of sedimentary ledge with the remnant of his cigar clamped between his teeth. He turned and squinted up at the sky, where a wash of thin clouds muted the strength of the late morning sun. “Hurry up, Hubbard. I want to get some photographs of the specimens in situ. The light’s excellent.”

Nick’s gut tightened. He’d only been to the site once, and at the time he’d still been suffering the lingering effects of his head injury. It was somewhere on the ridge, but he wasn’t sure of the exact location. Caroline would have to take the lead now; he hoped she was ready.

He lifted her from Jasper’s back, set her on the ground, and gave her waist a little squeeze. “Caroline, my dear, why don’t you show the professor to the fossil bed while I unpack his equipment? I’ll be right behind you.”

Her eyes answered his unasked question with confidence. “Certainly, dear.” She turned to Marsh with a bright smile. “This way, professor, if you’ll follow me...”

Nick smiled as she strode off up the narrow path with the professor in tow, rattling on about something that sounded like ah-lee-sor-us. She had finally found someone who spoke her language. Several minutes later, he joined them carrying the bags of excavation tools and Marsh’s camera.

The professor rose from beside the partially excavated vertebrae and brushed the dust from his knees. “I say, Hubbard, your wife knows a great deal about dinosaurs.”

“Yes, sir. She’s an avid student.” He winked at Caroline.

Marsh had turned back to the specimen but beckoned Nick with one hand. “Bring the camera and that box of glass plates, if you would. I need a photograph of these bones.”

Nick obliged. “Do you have any idea what species this is?”

The professor knelt and ran his hand over the largest bone. “I can’t be certain until we get the entire specimen back to the museum. Don’t want another episode like that fool Cope and his Elasmosaurus. Identification is a tricky business, Hubbard. Sometimes you think you’ve found a new species only to discover it’s a juvenile form of something you already have.”

The professor took photographs of the fossils from several angles before motioning to Nick again. “I need you and your wife to stand beside this specimen...for scale, you know. And Mrs. Hubbard, if you would be so kind as to remove your hat. It’s casting an odd shadow. There...that’s fine. Now hold still.”

When he’d removed the exposed plate and stored it safely in the wooden box, Caroline said, “Professor Marsh, there is also a specimen over here I think you’ll find interesting.”

“Oh? By all means.” The professor followed her with the camera, leaving Nick to trail along behind.

By the time they stopped for refreshment, he felt about as useful as a barrel of barnacles. After just a few hours working together, Caroline and Professor Marsh were so deeply involved in paleontological conversation that if Nick suddenly vanished, neither of them would miss him for days.

****

That evening after supper, the professor retired to his tent, leaving Nick and Caroline alone in the house. She was too exhausted to do more than drag herself to bed, worn out by the stress of playing her role while trying to make the most of the opportunity to work with Professor Marsh. Fortunately, the professor seemed not to notice Nick had stayed in the background as much as possible. Now if they could just maintain the charade for three more days...

By the last night of Marsh’s visit, Caroline was positively giddy. They’d excavated two more crates of fossils, including most of the mystery vertebrae, and the professor had admired her plaster of Paris technique. The fact that she couldn’t take credit for her work under her own name was the only minor blemish on an otherwise successful venture. That and Nick’s attitude.

As the days passed, he’d become progressively more quiet. At first, she assumed he was being considerate, allowing her to demonstrate her expertise, but after two days she began to wonder if there were more to it. He never offered a comment, and when spoken to, his responses were barely civil. Tonight she felt like celebrating and had had enough of his silent treatment.

“What is wrong with you?” she demanded as she wiped the last supper plate with a dishtowel.

He sat staring at the floor with his elbows braced against his knees. At her question, he glanced up with a pensive expression. “What do you mean?”

“You’re too quiet. It’s eerie.”

“Sorry. I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

“Professor Marsh leaves in the morning, and I’m confident he has no idea of our deception. We did it! You should be happy. I certainly am.”

“You have every reason to be happy. You’ve achieved your dream.”

Caroline smiled broadly. “Not completely but I’m much closer than I was five days ago. And it’s all because of you.” She had a sudden thought. “Is that why you’re upset? Because I haven’t thanked you properly?”

He shoved up from the stool and crossed the room to stand in front of her. A hint of a smile played around his lips. “That’s not what’s bothering me, but I’m open to a little thanks.” He reached out and tucked a loose lock of hair behind her ear. “What did you have in mind?”

She raised one brow. “Now that sounds more like the Nick Bancroft I know. The last couple of days you’ve been acting like someone stole your last lemon drop.”

“It’s nothing that simple. Besides, you’re sweeter than any lemon drop.”

Before Caroline could react, he pulled her hard against his chest and shoved his fingers into her hair while he plundered her mouth with a searing kiss. She had a moment of panic when she feared he might consume her, but then the familiar tingle started low in her belly. She grasped his shoulders and moaned into his mouth. Nick muttered something swift and unintelligible and tightened his grip.

Caroline lost all sense of time, and when he finally eased his onslaught, she struggled to catch her breath. “What was that?”

His chest heaved. “I wanted you to know how I feel before I go.”

She reached back for the edge of the table to steady herself and stared at him. What was he talking about? Her mind couldn’t make sense of his words. “Go? When?”

He began to pace in front of her. “I’ve made my decision. I’m leaving in the morning. I’ll take the professor to the train and return the wagon to the livery stable. Then I’m off.”

“But why?”

“I told you before. I won’t be beholden to my father or brother. I need to find my place in the world, make my own life.”

Caroline’s heart shriveled. “But I need you here to help me.” Her voice sounded small and hollow.

Nick stopped and clasped her hands. “No, you don’t. I’ve watched you the past few days. You approach your work the same way you approach your life. You know what you want, and you do what’s necessary to get it.”

His comments bewildered her. “What else could I do?”

“That’s just it; you could do nothing else. But I don’t have your certainty, your plan. I need to find those things for myself.”

“Where will you look?”

“I don’t know.” His lips moved in a ghost of a smile. “Maybe my fortune will be waiting in the Amazon.”

The Amazon. She’d thought he was joking when he mentioned it before. He might as well have said the moon. She jerked her hands away. “I’ll never see you again.”

“I’ll come back.”

She gave a bleak little laugh. “No, you won’t. And if you do, I won’t be here.”

“Why not? There are years’ worth of fossils to be discovered in these bluffs.”

“True, but I want more than to toil away digging up bones for someone else to catalogue and display.”

“Then I’m sure you’ll get more. You’re not the kind of woman to give up on something she wants.”

She squared her jaw. “No, I’m not.”

“So you should understand why I have to do this.”

“I understand you’re just another man chasing after the goose that lays the golden egg, or, in your case, silver.”

A wave of hurt washed across his features before his eyes narrowed. “That’s oversimplified and unfair.”

A needle of guilt skewered Caroline. He was right, but she didn’t care. How could he kiss her like she was the last woman on Earth and then announce he was leaving? She crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I’m sorry, but that’s how I see it.”

“Then there’s nothing left to say. I hope your delusions bring you comfort.” He scooped up his few possessions and stalked out in the direction of the shed.

Caroline sank to the stool with a thud. That was it. The best part of her life was over. Tomorrow Nick would be gone, taking her heart with him.