Heart Of Gold (15 page)

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 '56 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
to. 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 semi prepared 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 freefall, 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 blood lust 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.