Ex, Why, and Me (17 page)

A shadow crossed over her and Michelle guiltily glanced up. Annie stood by her as she stared at the hole with growing trepidation. A purse was slung over her shoulder and she held keys in her hand.

It was obvious to Michelle that the bed and breakfast proprietor was stepping out. It was also apparent that she wasn’t waiting breathlessly for the treasure chest to reveal itself anytime soon.

“We’ll clean up once we’re done,” Ryan promised as he paused from scooping up more dirt with his shovel. “I’m being careful with the apple tree roots.”

Annie nodded. “I’m going to leave for a while. The back door is open if you need inside.” She eyed the hole again. “How long will you guys be?”

“Not much longer,” Ryan said as he leaned against the shovel.

“Don’t forget,” Michelle said as the enthusiasm trickled into her voice. “You will get a third of whatever we find.”

“Uh-huh, okay.” Annie nodded. “See you.”

Michelle watched the woman walk away until she was out of hearing range. “She thinks I’m nuts, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“The treasure is here,” Michelle insisted. “I know it. I feel it in my bones.”

Ryan parked his shovel in the dirt. “I know you feel that way, Michelle, and I think that’s great…”

She knew that tone. Knew what was coming. “Don’t give up now,” Michelle pleaded. “We are so close.”

Ryan gestured at the hole with outstretched arms. “It’s not here.”

“Yes, it is.”

Ryan shook his head. “I give up.” He tossed his shovel onto the grass and hoisted himself out of the hole.

“Maybe it’s a little to the right.” Her hands fluttered above the freshly made ditch. “Or to the left. I don’t know, but it is here.” She didn’t know why, but it was very important that he believe with her.

“For someone who used to hate fairy tales, you’re making up for lost time.”

She had to make him believe and do it quickly before he gave up. Michelle placed her hands on her hips and launched into her argument. “I know it’s here and I can give you two very good reasons.”

Ryan didn’t take the bait. He silently found his shirt on the ground and shook the dirt off of it.

“First of all, the marker is for their dog’s burial site,” Michelle started. “Homer and Ida loved their dog. Everyone says so, yadda, yadda, yadda. But do you know what?”

“The dog was still alive when the Wirts died,” Ryan answered as he pulled his shirt back on. “Yeah, I know. You said that on the way here. And I’m telling you, someone else buried the dog.”

Michelle scoffed at the possibility. “No one would have given it an expensive grave marker.”

“You don’t know that.”

Okay, he was right on that point, but she wasn’t going to admit it yet. “Which brings me to point number two.” She held out two fingers. “There are no remains of a dog. No box. Nothing.”

He looked at the hole and shrugged with indifference. “It disintegrated.”

“I don’t think so,” Michelle said and shook her head. “There would be at least something.”

“Okay. Okay. There was no dog here. I’ll give you that. But that doesn’t mean the treasure is here.”

“Then why the marker?” She pointed at the marble slab. “The very expensive and personalized marker?”

“I don’t know, and you know what? I don’t care,” Ryan announced as he picked up the shovel. “Come on, we need to shovel the dirt back into the hole.”

“There is a reason for the marker,” Michelle said urgently. She couldn’t have him throw the dirt back in there when they were so close. “It’s because they had to remember where they stashed the treasure.”

“Like you said, nothing is here.” He dug the tip of his shovel into the mound of dirt by the hole. “No dog and no treasure. If there had been something, it has already been found and spent.”

“It has to be here.” Michelle jumped into the ditch and grabbed the other shovel. “It just has to be.”

Ryan exhaled slowly and tossed the shovel to the side. “Okay. What’s going on?”

“I’m finding the damn treasure.” She dug up some dirt and tossed it out of the hole. “With or without you.”

“This is not like you.” Ryan sat down on the edge and let his legs dangle into the hole. “Did you get addicted with the scavenger hunting and now you can’t stop?”

“No.” She kept digging. Quickly, fiercely. She had to show him the proof before he left.

“Did you start to believe in the legend? You, Michelle Nelson?”

Michelle paused from digging and looked up at him. “Maybe I like the possibility of a treasure,” she said, repeating his earlier words. “I like the idea of possibilities.”

“I think there’s something more.” His lean legs swung gently against the dirt wall. “Why do you suddenly want to believe in it?”

Michelle kept shoveling. Was that what was going on? Did she believe it, or did she want to believe it?

“What do you want to do with the treasure?” Ryan suddenly asked.

She hesitated. What did she want? She hadn’t really allowed herself to consider the answer. “A couple of things,” she hedged.

“Like what?”

Michelle scooped up some dirt and tossed it into the growing pile. “I want to pay back the people who gave to the scholarship fund.”

“You don’t owe them anything.” Ryan’s voice rose in anger. “They donated. That’s the key word: ‘donated.’”

“It was also an investment.” She dug her shovel in for another scoop. “One that hasn’t paid off yet.”

Ryan rubbed the stubble over his jaw. “Then that’s a lot of money to pay back.”

“No shit.” She tossed the dirt with a sharp jab to the shovel.

“Anything else?”

“A nice retirement package for my mom and dad would be good. Throw in a long, long vacation for my mom. That way they won’t have to wait and worry for me to do something special.” She dug her shovel in deep. “Lucrative.”

He nodded in understanding. “Gotcha.”

Michelle leaned against her shovel and looked past the wide-open spaces and out into the evening sky. “And then if there’s any money left—”

Ryan held his head with his hands. “Hold on. How much do you think there is? Remember, you’re only getting a third.”

“I’d sock some away and keep it safe.” She thought about it some more and nodded. “Yep, that’s what I’d do.”

“Okay, now this sounds like the Michelle I know. Don’t you want to splurge it on a dream home?”

“I haven’t thought in terms of a dream home.” A nicer, bigger apartment, sure. But a home? She wasn’t in that frame of mind yet. She might never be.

“How about a dream car?”

She made a face at the suggestion. “That’s a guy thing.”

“Dream vacation?”

“No, not really.” There were a few places she’d like to go, but nothing that made her lie awake at night, wishing she had the money to make a visit.

“Dream?”

Michelle stopped and slowly stood to her full height. That was it and she hadn’t seen it for herself. Nope, Ryan had to rip the veil from her eyes and reveal the truth. Make it stare at her right in the face.

“The money would give me the freedom to dream,” Michelle admitted as she stared into the ditch. “Something that didn’t have an obligation pinned to it.”

“Okay.”

She looked up at Ryan and found him smiling. That crazy smile that always did wild things to her pulse. “Okay, what?”

“Okay. I’ll help.” He grabbed his shovel and jumped back into the ditch.

That’s it? That’s all she needed to get him back to helping her? Something didn’t add up. She watched him suspiciously. “You’re going to help me because I don’t have a dream?”

“No,” he said as he went straight to work in digging the hole. “I’m helping because I want to give you whatever you need to dream.”

Michelle leaned into him. The support meant more than he would ever know. She pressed her lips against his cheek and gave him a soft, gentle kiss. “Thank you,” she whispered, her throat tight with emotion.

Even if they didn’t find the treasure, she had found someone who would keep her dreams safe. In her opinion, that was just as rare a find.

“But I’m warning you,” he went on. “There’s a very real chance that there is no treasure.”

“And I’m warning you,” she countered as she dug up a huge pile of dirt, “there is an equal chance that the treasure is here.”

“Think about it, Michelle,” he said as he shoveled with a lot more expertise than she displayed. “Homer and Ida needed something close enough they could keep their eye on it, but it had to be hidden so no one else saw it.”

“Yeah.”

“They also needed something they could get to easily. They couldn’t dig a hole every time they robbed a train.”

Michelle leaned back against the ditch and looked around. “You have a point,” she admitted with great reluctance. “But I know it’s here.”

Ryan looked over the hole and studied the trees. “Unless…” He hoisted himself out again.

“Where are you going?” It was going to take forever to lure him back into the ditch.

“The tree.” He went directly to the tree behind the marker.

“What about it?” She felt her eyebrows shoot up as he inspected the trunk. “Oh, come on, Ryan. They couldn’t hide it in a tree.”

“Why not?” he asked without looking back at her.

“First of all,” Michelle said, “trees don’t have secret compartments.”

She noticed that what she had to say didn’t stop Ryan from jiggling the roots.

“Trees get diseases.” She ticked that fact off another finger.

He started knocking on it.

“They die.”

He kept knocking.

“Get struck by lightning.”

Knock—knock—knock.

“Burn. Get…get climbed on by obnoxious, curious children.” She watched him tap the trunk. Lower and lower. “It’s a tree! It grows apples. It—”

Ryan turned to her, about to say something, but the words vanished. His perpetual smile disappeared as his eyes widened with disbelief.

“What?” Her stomach twisted so hard it burned. “Don’t tell me there is something there in the trunk. I won’t believe you.”

“I won’t say it.” He motioned with his head. “Look behind you.”

She turned around and faced the garden. It was the formal garden filled with overgrown plants and wildflowers. There were just as many ornate statues and yard ornaments. “What?” She didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

“You must be too low. Let me help you out of the ditch.” He went to the edge and offered his hand. “I’m serious. I need to show you something.”

She took his hand and climbed out. “This had better not be a trick to make me stop digging. Because I’m not going to stop.”

“Lie down by the marker,” he told her. “On your stomach.”

“Lie down?”

“Trust me.” He guided her down and she felt goofy lying down with her hand dangling over a ditch.

“Fine, fine.” She wasn’t going to take much more of this nonsense. She had a treasure to discover. “I’m sitting down. Are you satisfied?”

“Not yet.” His voice buzzed with excitement. “Look at the garden.”

“I’m lookin—” From the level where she lay next to the marker, she saw that statues of varying heights and lengths created an illusion. It looked like a cross with the ornate birdbath in the center.

Michelle slowly turned to Ryan. “No. Way.”

Ryan’s smile dazzled her. “Who would have thought that ‘X’ marks the spot?”

Ryan’s hands shook as he gripped the basin of the marble birdbath. He twisted it one way, putting all of his strength into it. It didn’t budge.

“Didn’t anyone try to look in the statues?” Michelle asked nearby as she studied a partially nude Venus.

“I guess not,” he said through clenched teeth as he tried to turn the basin from the other direction. “Why would they? Buried treasure makes most people think it’s underground.”

The basin gave way and water sloshed over the rim. Ryan paused, his eyes widening as excitement pinged against his ribs. And maybe a hint of nerves.

Michelle was suddenly at his side, the garden art forgotten. “Need help?”

“No, I got it,” he said softly as he kept pushing. Hell, why was he whispering?

Because he was scared, that’s why. What if there was nothing there? He wouldn’t know how to handle Michelle’s disappointment, let alone his own.

But he would eventually get over it. He knew that. And he also would believe that the treasure was somewhere else, waiting for him. Maybe he would look for it some other time, or maybe he wouldn’t.

The treasure didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to sacrifice everything for it. It was a bit of fun. A distraction. A diversion.

But what if the treasure was inside? What if all of his wildest dreams could now come true? His heart jerked at the possibility.

Michelle grabbed his upper arm in concern. “Are you okay?”

He nodded as he pulled the top from its pedestal. The water splashed onto his jeans and the weeds at his feet. Michelle grabbed the other side and helped him lower the basin onto the ground.

She peered into the birdbath stand. “Are you going to put your hand in there? There might be bugs. Or spiders.” She shivered at the idea.

“I’m not going to let something like that stop me now.” Dipping his hand into the wide and short pedestal, his fingers brushed against something soft and slick. He pulled back in surprise.

Michelle yelped and hopped away from the birdbath. “What?” She held her hands up. “What do you feel?”

Plastic? No, Ryan shook his head at the thought. That wasn’t right. Oilskin? Something like a bag?

His heart froze. This was what he was afraid of. From this moment on, everything was going to change. Life as he knew it was never going to be the same.

“Do you feel something?”

Yeah. He felt his old life crashing around him, falling to his feet in jagged shards. He had been doing just fine until Michelle came back to town. He had made peace with life’s expectations and limitations.

“Ryan?”

Now it was all shot to hell. He shouldn’t feel like this. He should be thrilled. Beyond thrilled. “There’s—” He cleared his throat, pushing down the chaotic and undefined emotions swirling inside him. “There’s something in here.”

He didn’t have to look at Michelle to know she didn’t have the same reservation he did. She vibrated with excitement. The cool air crackled with energy.

Why wouldn’t she? This was the answer to all her prayers. He may want this, but she needed it. And he wasn’t going to make her wait one more second.

Ryan grabbed the sack and slowly pulled it out of the base. Michelle clapped her hands over her mouth. Her eyes bugged out as she saw the size of the bag.

It wasn’t as big as it was heavy. It also smelled musty and earthy. Michelle grabbed the drawstring and pulled it over the pedestal’s edge. It took some grunting and straining from both of them before they could lower it carefully onto a dry patch of ground.

Michelle overcame her rare lapse of silence and reverently pulled open the bag. “Oh, my God.” She rocked back onto her heels and fell into an awkward sitting position.

The top of the bag almost overflowed with gold coins peeking through wads of crumpled money. He caught a glimpse of some official-looking paper that said bearer bonds, whatever those were. Jewelry that sparkled with diamonds and colorful precious stones.

“Oh. My. God,” Michelle repeated, unable to take her eyes off of the bag.

“That looks like more than I expected.” He had also expected a treasure
chest
. Not that he was complaining. He’d take what he could get.

“I…I…”

“Yeah, me, too.” Ryan rubbed his hand over his chin. He couldn’t estimate what it was worth. He wasn’t used to thinking of numbers that big.

Michelle pulled her gaze from the treasure and looked at him, her forehead lined with worry. “What are we going to do?”

Ryan dipped his chin and stared back at her. Michelle didn’t know? She didn’t have a plan? Then they were both up a creek without a paddle. “I vote for counting it.”

“Right. Yeah. Good idea.” She delved into the sack, scooping up the money and letting it fall through her fingers. She pulled her hands sharply out of the bag. “But not here.”

“Why not?” It was going to get dark soon, but they could grab a flashlight.

“It’s not safe here.” Michelle scanned the backyard, her gaze pausing at every shadow. “It’s too much out in the open.”

What was she talking about? Too much out in the open for what? “And the problem with that is?”

She rose to her knees and put her hands against the lumpy bag. “We need to handle this like those lottery winners.”

Okay, now she was talking in riddles. He’d had enough of that on the scavenger hunt. “What does that mean?”

“First, we keep it a secret. We need to hide this.” She closed the bag with a quick, decisive move.

Hide it? After all they went through to find it? Ryan exhaled a long sigh. “It’s not going to be easy stuffing this back into the birdbath.”

“No. Not there.” She stared at the marble pedestal, but Ryan had a feeling she wasn’t looking at it. He sensed the wheels in her mind were spinning wildly.

“Annie probably told a few people what we were doing,” Michelle said. “Most of the town will just laugh it off, but not everybody.”

He knew she was talking about Brandy. He didn’t think the redhead was going to do anything about it, but then again, he hadn’t predicted some of her tactics. “Where are you going with this?”

“If word leaks out that we found the treasure”—Michelle turned to him, her gaze intense and serious—“or at least are on the trail, someone will come sniffing around and they might stumble on it.”

“You are paranoid.”

“No”—she pulled the bag’s drawstring tight—“I’m cautious.”

“How long do we have to hide this?”

“Until I get a lawyer on the job. I’m going back to Chicago tomorrow anyway. I’ll get some referrals, and we can decide which one to go with.”

“You’re leaving? Tomorrow?” The news hit him like a punch to the stomach.

“Well, yeah.” She frowned at him. “I have a job I need to get back to.”

His head spun. She couldn’t leave now. Not after what happened between them. Not after finding the treasure. “You trust me alone with this?”

“Absolutely.”

Okay, that didn’t work. “You don’t have to go back. You’re a millionaire.” He gestured at the bag.

“We don’t know that yet. There might be some legalities.”

Michelle was already in planning mode. Assessing the risks, considering options. While he was sitting on the ground wondering what hit him.

“I’d rather be safe than sorry.” She stood up and brushed the dirt off of her jeans. “Okay. Now we need to come up with a good hiding place.”

“Good luck with that. I think the Wirts found the only good hiding place in Carbon Hill. Everyone knows everyone’s business around here.”

“Not always.” She pursed her lips and she thought about the problem. Her expression brightened. “There is
one
place no one goes to.”

Ryan grunted as his strained muscles shook. “This is too risky.”

“Oh, come on,” Michelle coaxed him with a tired smile. They had only a little farther to go. They could do this. “You know you want to.”

“We’re going to get caught.” He gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut.

She watched the play of his muscles under the dim light and felt the tug of desire deep in her belly. “We’re not doing anything illegal,” she responded in a husky voice.

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.”

“Aw, come on, Ryan.” She didn’t want to look at the bad side of this. Of the possible pitfalls and problems. She wanted to enjoy this one moment. “Where is that positive attitude?”

“I left it in the ditch.”

Michelle had a feeling she was going to hear about the ditch digging for a very long time. So that part of the plan had turned out to be a waste of time, but now everything was working in their favor. “You have to admit, this is a good idea.”

“No, it’s a risky idea.” He sagged against the open door and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. “It’ll be a good idea if we pull it off.”

“Which we will.” She knew it. Felt it deep in her bones. The kind of feeling she’d had when she realized where the treasure had to be hidden. She felt confident and bold. Felt as though nothing could go wrong. It was an amazing feeling.

Ryan grumbled under his breath before he grabbed the bag filled with treasures and pulled harder.

“We’re following the same principles as Homer and Ida,” she said, pushing the bag from the other end. Who knew gold was so freaking heavy? “It will always be out of vision, but never out of your sight.”

“There are more people crawling around here than there ever were on their farm.” He scooted the sack another inch across the floor.

Michelle immediately closed the door behind them. “And you can grab the bag quickly if you need to.”

“Are you kidding me? Did you see how long it took for us just to move this bag from the car? The two of us?”

She dismissed his concern with the wave of her hand. “This is the only place that Carbon Hill doesn’t know about.”

“Behind the pinsetters?” He gestured wildly at the high-tech machines in the small room. “Are you kidding me? They know it exists.”

“They don’t know what happens here. No one knows what happened here between us,” she pointed out. They had managed to keep something private that occurred in this room a secret and they could do it again.

He didn’t say anything as he pulled, pushed, and kicked the bag into the corner by the door.

“It’s going to work,” Michelle told him.

“I’m not so sure.” Ryan stood still with his hands on his hips. His chest rose and fell with every hard breath as he stared at the sack. “I haven’t had much luck in this room.”

“How can you say that? You got me.” Okay, that might pale in comparison to the big prize in the corner of the room, but she was trying to make a point.

Regret tugged the corner of his mouth. “Not the way that I wanted.”

“Really?” Her pulse jumped and skipped. She took a step toward him and placed her hand on his arm. “How did you want me?”

A dimple played against his cheek. “In awe.”

She leaned against him, enjoying the feel of his strength lurking under his warm skin. “Show me,” she whispered.

“Show?” He dropped his hands to his sides and glanced around. “No, I don’t think so. Not here.”

“Why not?” She stepped in front of him.

Something close to panic flickered in his blue eyes. “I don’t want history repeating itself.”

“It won’t,” she promised, curling her arms around his shoulders before lacing her hands behind his neck.

“It already is. You’re leaving first thing tomorrow.”

“I’m coming back.” She pressed her lips against the hollow at the base of his throat. She felt his pulse beating rapidly.

“No, you’re not.” The certainty in his voice sent a warning skittering down her spine. She ignored it as he continued, “This town is too small for you. Too confining.”

“You can come with me this time,” she suggested, her lips trailing up the column of his throat.

His Adam’s apple bobbed under her mouth. “I don’t know,” he said hoarsely.

Michelle wanted to convince him. Wipe away any doubt about her, or about them. “Kiss me.” She tilted her face up to his.

He brushed his mouth against hers before pulling back slightly. “You can’t distract me with a kiss.”

Distract? More like make a promise. But would he understand? No, he would just argue some more. “Kiss me just because.”

“Because why?”

She looked at him from beneath her eyelashes. Her chest and throat squeezed, the blood roaring in her ears as she made a leap of faith. “Because you love me.”

The pause screamed at her. Her heart stopped. Her throat tightened and she was about to pull back when he reached for her and slammed her against his chest.

Ryan’s mouth went down hard on hers. He tasted hot and wild. On the edge.

She was going to take that as a yes.

She returned his kisses with abandon. This would erase what had happened between them. This would be the new beginning.

Michelle threaded her fingers through his hair and she clenched the back of his head as he deepened the kiss. Her lips felt swollen. Raw. She felt as if she was being devoured and taken.

Ryan’s hands swept along her shoulders and back, bunching her shirt in his fists. She wanted him to rip the shirt off and take his along with it. Press her skin against his as she watched the play of his muscles when he thrust into her.

Okay, that did it. She needed him underneath her, as in now. To rock against him. Have him look at her in awe.

Her hands dropped to his belt and his fingers covered hers. She frowned, unable to understand why he was slowing her down. Stopping her. A horrible thought hit her. She stared at their hands. “You better have a condom this time,” she warned him.

“I do”—he pulled her hands away from him—“but we’re taking this slow.”

“Oh, we are?” Not if she had anything to say about it. They didn’t have all night.

“Yeah.” He traced his hands along her face and neck. Her skin tingled until the cool air stung. Ryan then gently trailed his fingers down her shirt. The soft touch tickled and she found it almost too much to bear.

Now would be a good time to rip off her shirt, Michelle decided as her choppy breaths echoed in her ears.
Right now. Right…now
.

His hands skimmed under her shirt and he caressed her waist, slowly moving his way up to unclasp her bra and cup her breasts.