CHAPTER SIX

 

He studied her from the cover of the trees. Her group was digging in a new section of the woods. She was the one—the leader. If he followed her, he’d learn everything he needed to, everything Dr. Ripley wanted him to report. She didn’t know he was here; she’d never guess.

He silently pursued her as she moved through the trees, then watched her take an airlift to the valley floor. Remaining at the cliff top, he studied her for awhile. She was focused on her work, absorbed in her task, staying to herself and not talking with anyone around her. From this height, he couldn’t hear her anyway.

He left her for a short time and went to investigate the others. He recognized Monroe. His instructions were to watch him, too. He took note of the people with the historian, their names when he heard them, what they looked like, and their conversation.

He memorized and recorded what he could. Some of the words didn’t make sense. He knew he was supposed to understand language, recognize the words being used. But he couldn’t fully comprehend some of them. Part of him insisted words limited speech. The pictures and feelings in his mind seemed a more thorough way to communicate. And yet another part of him knew words.

It didn’t matter that he couldn’t understand everything. He was to record and inform. They’d tell him what to do next.

He scanned the area for any of the ones he was allowed to kill. They wanted him to kill Shifters, to practice. But he couldn’t find any in camp.

He paused over one human. She was small and fair. She seemed familiar. Had he seen her before? At the lab? No, that wasn’t right. He watched her for an hour. Something… He’d have to keep an eye on her. He could almost hear her even when she wasn’t speaking. That was important for some reason. He couldn’t understand why, but it was.

When Monroe and the small one did nothing more than stare at the digging, he decided to go back to the first one. The one he needed to learn more about. She was in charge. She was the one he needed to study. He hesitated over leaving the small one, but his instructions urged him to his task.

He stopped at the top of the cliff again to watch her, still bent to her work. Closer, he thought. He needed to be closer.

*****

Ti’ann looked up when she heard footsteps. She squinted into the bright sunlight beyond the shade of the canvas tarp covering her dig area, vaguely wondering what she’d done with her eye-shades. She’d been deep in thought, her concentration turned to things other than chipping away the bits of hard earth encasing a handful of little mammal-like bones. The new excavation occupied some of her thoughts. But mostly, she’d been thinking about the man walking toward her.

“Is something wrong?” She scuttled to her feet and wiped dirt-covered hands along her thighs, leaving purple streaks on her tan pants.

Her heart started thumping hard, like she’d been running. Their time on the cliff last night had left her reeling and more off balance than ever. So much so, she wasn’t even sure how to talk with him right now. What should she say? Should she ask him about last night? Bring up the fact that, for just a moment, she could swear he was going to kiss her? Or would that only reveal her own desires? Would he tell her she’d imagined things and leave her more embarrassed than she already was?

At the least, she should offer to return his jacket.

She was humiliated by the fact that she’d slept in it, surrounding herself with his scent. Dreamed restless, sweaty dreams of having him in her bed again. In her. She woke that morning aching with need, angry that she couldn’t control her desire for Nathan. Yet she’d still pulled the jacket up to her face and breathed in deeply before getting out of bed.

If she brought up the garment, she was terrified he’d see her guilt and guess what she’d done. Though why she thought he’d care, she didn’t know.

Over the course of the morning, as she chiseled carefully at the dirt, she convinced herself she’d imagined the way he’d leaned into her last night, the way his gaze kept dropping to her mouth and neck. And when he’d pulled her braid out from under the jacket, he was just him being polite. He hadn’t meant anything by it.

The idea that maybe he had been coming on to her left her both shamefully excited and heart-wrenchingly devastated. Devastated because he didn’t remember her. Which meant he probably slept with the women he worked for all the time. She wasn’t significant to him now and definitely hadn’t been three years ago. She was just another in a long line of conquests.

“Nothing’s wrong. I’m just checking the site,” Nathan said, nodding at her work. “That takes more patience than I think I have left.”

Ti’ann forced herself to sound steady and professional. “Would you like to give it a try? We could always use another volunteer.” Her voice came out a little breathy, but she hadn’t squeaked or wobbled, so she counted that as a mark in her favor. She might be crumbling and weak inside, but Nathan didn’t need to know. She tried not to think about how hard it would be to concentrate if he took her up on her offer.

She gazed past him. The sun beat down onto the valley floor, waves of heat shimmering in the distance. The tarp offered protection from the sun but not from the heat. Looking back at Nathan, she noticed sweat already beading on his neck and forehead. If he helped on the dig, he’d only get sweatier, and that made her start thinking sweaty thoughts.

He chuckled. “I think I’ll stick to what I do best, Dr. Jones.”

Given the direction of her thoughts, she had to bite back a groan at his potential double meaning.

To pull her mind out of Nathan’s pants, she switched to the other topic that had preoccupied her all morning. “How’s the excavation going?” She stepped away from him and sat on a boulder still mostly in the shade.

“Fine, as far as I can tell. The diggers are doing a lot of sporadic cursing when the Excavation Digger Unit encounters a blip. But I think they’re on schedule.”

She restlessly bounced her foot. “I almost can’t stand to be down here. I know it doesn’t make sense, but I want to hover over the diggers’ shoulders until they break through.” She stared up at the valley wall opposite and smiled. “The thrill of discovery I suppose. I’d like to be the first to see what there is to see.”

“Every scientist does. Why don’t you go up to the site?”

“Because I’m of more use down here. They’ll call when it’s time.” She felt a little dancing in her belly at the thought. The anomaly was almost enough of a distraction to keep her mind off Nathan. Her foot bounced faster.

“You’re really excited about this discovery, aren’t you? No matter what it means.”

She glanced up at him, her foot going still. “Of course. Now that you know as much as you do, aren’t you curious?”

“Yeah,” he admitted with a shrug. “I’m curious. But not excited.”

“Curious but not excited?” She stared at him. How could he not be excited? They might be teetering on the edge of making history.

A tumble of rocks skittered down the valley wall at her back. She glanced over her shoulder to see a blackbird landing on a ledge about a meter up the wall. It squawked at them then started grooming its feathers. When she turned back, Nathan had moved to her side and sat down on the sun-baked ground next to her. He was too close now, making her nerves jump. Her foot started bouncing again. Remembering the feel of his hand on her braid last night made her thighs clench, and it took all her willpower just to stay seated. Though she wasn’t sure what she wanted more, to run away or climb onto his lap. Either would be bad.

“I’m not excited,” he said, cutting into her thoughts, “because one way or another, this is going to bring attention, probably a lot of unwanted attention, to your dig. Dr. Freemont was right to call me in. You’ll need the security. As soon as the news breaks, I’ll have to call in more people. This may turn into a long term job.”

She sucked in her bottom lip. “Sounds expensive.” She felt a little ridiculous for keeping the information about their dig from him yesterday. He knew as much as she and Krin did now. And he’d been right. Knowing everything meant he could plan and strategize better. Her only excuse was that she’d been hurt and surprised by seeing him again after all this time. She hadn’t been thinking logically. Her emotions had gotten the better of her, and she’d allowed pride to speak for her. She was just grateful he wasn’t holding that over her now. She wasn’t sure she could take an “I told you so” from Nathan at this point.

“We’ll worry about the money later,” he said. “The important thing now is to make sure you and your team don’t get caught in the middle of a planet-wide civil war.”

“Civil war? You’re exaggerating a bit, don’t you think?” She knew this could change everything in the debates, one way or another. But war?

“Maybe. Maybe not. The Shifters are a volatile subject.”

That was true enough. She braced her foot against the bolder to still her restless movements. To her surprise, Nathan lurched forward and caught her ankle. She barely had time to gasp before he jerked away from her, holding something in his hand. He tossed it across the valley, cursing under his breath.

“What was it?” Her nerves zinged from the brief contact with him.

She watched as the little black shape he’d thrown out into the sunlight unfolded and scurried away. The stinging horns on its small head twitched then flattened back against its scaled body. “Oh, a Scurian bug. They’re not poisonous.”

“I know. But their sting is painful and annoying. I didn’t think you’d want it slowing you down.”

She glanced at him then looked back across the valley floor at the bug. “Thanks.” Good thing she already had a red face from the heat, because she was sure he’d consider her blush excessive given the simple gesture. Her pounding pulse from such quick skin to skin contact would probably be viewed as excessive, too. How did he do this to her without any effort at all? It wasn’t fair that he could control her body with a simple touch, when he didn’t even know who she was!

As she watched, the blackbird swooped down over the Scurian bug, claws extended. It overshot its target and the bug darted off in the opposite direction, taking refuge under a boulder. With a screech of defeat, the blackbird took to the air, spiraling up to the top of the valley.

“He doesn’t sound happy about missing his dinner.” Nathan chuckled.

Her skin tingled at the sound. “I’m sure the bug doesn’t mind not being dinner.”

“True.” Leaning back on his hands, he tilted his face up to the sun.

She tried ignoring the beauty of his profile, tried not to notice the silky lengths of black hair falling into the purple dust, or the way his position exposed the strong column of his neck. A bead of sweat ran down into the hollow of his throat. That should not be sexy, she told herself. Sweating male flesh should not make you forget who you are. But it did. All she could think about was tracing her tongue over his neck, kissing the hollow of his throat. Climbing over the top of him and rubbing her aching breasts against his solid, hard chest, grinding herself against his erection until he groaned. She imagined his big hands gripping her waist, his mouth capturing hers… She practically tasted him as their tongues tangled.

Three year old memories got overwhelmed by current fantasies. New things she wanted to do to him, places she wanted to touch and kiss and explore.

She told herself to look away. There were other people in the valley. She couldn’t afford to embarrass herself in front of the students and volunteers. But she continued to stare.

The muscles in his forearms flexed as he balanced on his palms, drawing her attention to their strength, and then to his very capable hands and perfectly shaped fingers. He had great hands, and he knew exactly how and where to touch her body to make her scream. Tension gathered low in her abdomen as she imagined his fingers trailing down her stomach. Followed by his lips.

Stop! She had to quit fantasizing about him this way. She’d only end up hurting more. Did he realize she reacted to him every time he was near her? Would he care if he knew?

She cleared her throat. It didn’t matter, either way. She had more important things to worry about right now. “I should get back to work.” Work, Dr. Jones. That’s what you need. More work.

He rolled his head to look at her, sending more of his long hair spilling back over one shoulder. “Are you working to a deadline on this dig?”

She’d have been suspicious of the comment—was he making fun of her discomfort?—if he hadn’t spoken with such genuine curiosity. “Not exactly. The early winter floods will force us out of the valley in another two months, but the fossils will still be here six months after that when the water recedes. The problem is we’ve only got enough money to fund us until the floods. When that’s up, we’ll have to have something to show for our time here if we want to get more money to come back.”

“I’m sure you’ll have more than enough.” He nodded toward the top of the valley.

“Hmm. But whether the museum will thank us or curse us for this discovery depends on what we find.” She felt the nervous energy working its way back down to her foot so she stood and returned to her abandoned bones.

“Do you think it’s some sort of city like Val described?”

She shrugged as she knelt, picked up her brush, and began the careful removal of chiseled debris from around the bones. A little more work and she’d be able to extract the fossils, secure them in a magnetically cushioned jacket, then label and pack them in an environmentally sealed container for storage and transport back to the museum lab. The focus her work required would hopefully keep her mind off other things.

“If I think about it too much,” she said, “I get carried away with what it could be. We’ll know soon enough.”

He grunted as he got to his feet. A moment later, she felt the press of cool metal against her shoulder.

“You look like you could use a drink,” he said as he motioned her to take the temperature-controlled flask.

With a grateful sigh she gulped down a few mouthfuls of water. “Thanks. I didn’t realize how thirsty I was.” She handed the flask back, careful not to touch his hand when he took it from her fingers.

“Don’t you keep water down here with you?”

“There’re a couple of flasks around here somewhere. I think they’re with Glen.” She nodded toward another area shaded by a canvas tarp and surrounded by marker pins where two of the graduate students were hunched over their respective work.

The blackbird picked that moment to return, landing on its ledge again. This time it started picking at the rocks and sparse plants sticking out from cracks in the valley wall.

“Why don’t you have a flask of your own?”

“Hmm?” Nathan’s voice broke into her distracted observations of the bird. “Oh. If I get thirsty I just go get one of theirs.”

“You’ll give yourself heatstroke if you don’t drink enough.”

He sounded like Krin. “I’m fine. Thanks for the water.”

“Here.” He handed the flask back to her. “Keep it. I’ll get another.”

“I’m all right. Really. You don’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I do.” He walked away without taking the flask from her outstretched hand.

“Okay. Maybe he’s worse than Krin.” The bird answered her with a screech.

She looked at the flask. It was the jacket all over again. Now she’d have two things to return to him. Excuses to see him that she didn’t need. The fact that she’d conveniently forgotten to mention returning his jacket wasn’t lost on her. A silly part of her wanted to keep that small piece of him. But forcing him to ask for it back would only embarrass her more. She’d return flask and jacket this evening. How to do that without the entire camp knowing about it was another worry.

With a grunt of irritation, she threw herself back into her work in an effort to forget Nathan, the damned flask, and pretty much everything else going on around her.

She’d just finished labeling and transferring the newly freed fossils when Krin came trotting down the valley toward her.

“We may have a problem,” he said without preamble.

“The excavation? Is the EDU malfunctioning?”

“No. At least not any more than usual. But I’ve called a stop for the evening. They’re seven meters down. They can finish the last three tomorrow.”

Ti’ann looked around and for the first time realized the entire afternoon had slipped away without her noticing. The sun was low, filling the valley with shadows. She shivered as sweat cooled on her back. She’d been so absorbed she forgot to eat lunch. Something she had no intention of telling Krin. He’d immediately start trying to force food down her throat before he explained their possible problem.

“So what’s happening?”

“We’ve just got word from Gremblewreath. There’s a group of government officials there making inquiries into our dig. They claim to be part of an inspection group checking all scientific study sites throughout Narava. Have you heard of them? Did the museum message you about this?”

“No. And no one else I’ve talked to in the last month has mentioned a planet-wide inspection. That’s the kind of thing someone would talk about. Just coincidence we’re the first site they’re checking?”

“Right. Coincidence.”

“Who sent word?”

“Friend of Devin’s who’s working as a façade designer in Gremblewreath. I think Devin asked her to watch out for me.”

“Devin is going to be a very good husband.” She smiled but couldn’t hold the expression as concern trickled into her bloodstream. “Is this group on their way down here?”

“As far as Willa could tell, they’re planning the site inspection tomorrow after they’ve finished collecting information.”

“The new excavation?”

Krin shook his head. “I think we should keep it quiet if we can.”

“But if they’re really government inspectors, we should cooperate.”

“And if they’re not? Can we risk exposing the new site before we know what we’ve found?”

She blew out a breath. “No. No, we can’t. But someone in the group is bound to talk.”

“We’ll spread the word tonight. Mention we’re afraid they’ll leak the information before we get a chance to analyze and publish the data. Most of the group is used to keeping new discoveries quiet. Competitive field, Naravan paleontology.” He grinned a little, but his gaze was serious.

She pursed her lips and stared at the dirt between her feet. The sun was low enough that there wasn’t much shade left under the tarp. Little specks of sand winked purple in the waning light.

“Something’s likely to slip,” she said. “I doubt we’ll be able to keep it a complete secret. But a Shifter graveyard shouldn’t spark off too many warning signals with the government.” Krin’s look said different. She sighed. “Have you told Nathan yet?”

“No. I thought you might want to tell him.”

“Me? Why me?” Her voice actually squeaked. Damn.

Krin raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were talking with him.”

“Not if I can avoid it,” she mumbled. But when his eyes narrowed, she quickly said, “He’s come to talk to me a couple of times so of course I’ve talked back. But aren’t you supposed to be dealing with him?”

“Ti’ann, what’s with the panic? You’ve talked to him once you can talk to him again. You don’t have this much trouble talking to Monroe or Warez.”

Because I’ve never slept with Monroe or Warez, she wanted to scream.

Krin must have read something in her expression, damn him, because he suddenly grinned.

“Stop smiling,” she snapped.

“Has he hit on you?”

“No! Of course not. Why would he?” That episode on the cliff last night had been perfectly innocent. She was sure of it. He was just being a nice guy. Like with the flask today. She’d imagined the heat in his eyes and the way his gaze dropped to her mouth. Nothing personal. Also, nothing Krin needed to know about.

“Maybe he’s got a soft spot for brainy women in baggy clothes,” Krin said with a shrug. “How do I know? I don’t see why he wouldn’t. Unless he’s gay.”

“He’s not gay.”

“So sure?”

“Aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I know he’s not gay. More’s the pity.” Krin sighed.

“Krin!” She was almost as shocked as she sounded. “What would Devin say?”

“To keep my eyes in my head.” He laughed. “Hey, just because I’m in love doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate another handsome man. Devin would probably drool over him, too.”

She laughed even as she felt her cheeks heating. Talking to Krin about Nathan was not helping her. If only the man was gay! She thought about that a moment and changed her mind. If he were, she’d have never had those soul-rending few days with him. Even now, even faced with the reality of knowing that time hadn’t been important enough to him to remember, she didn’t have a single regret.

“So, you’ll talk with him?” Krin nudged her with his elbow, forcing her to look at him.

“All right. Fine. Though I don’t know why you care so much.”

“I just want you to get it through your thick head that you don’t have to be scared of him or intimidated by him. You are not a mouse!”

“Damn straight,” she said, straightening her shoulders. “I’m probably more like a wombok, since they’re bigger than mice.”

He groaned. “Ti’ann. What am I going to do with you?”

“Love me?”

He smiled and put his arm around her shoulders. “Besides that?”

“You can ask me to stand up for you at your wedding.”

“I already thought you knew that was your job. You don’t expect me to make it through the ceremony without you?” His eyes widened in panic only partly feigned.

She chuckled. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”