The Lies Uncovered Trilogy (Books 4, 5, and 6 of The Dancing Moon Ranch Series) (45 page)

She moved her hand a little further around and felt a brushing of hair and something hard

You could get us both in a lot of trouble. I don't have any condoms

Didn't matter. It was the wrong time of the month

What if I don't want to get into a committed relationship?

Then I'll find out before we consummate whatever this is we have going on

Which she was on the verge of doing if she didn't stop things now.

Reeling herself in, she sucked in several ragged breaths and released what she was holding and removed her hand from inside Marc's pants, and tugged his hand from inside hers, and pulled his head away from her breast, and said, "We'd better stop. This isn't working."

Marc raised moist, passion-filled eyes to her, and replied, "I didn't think it would." After looking at her breasts for an inordinate amount of time, he hooked a finger in her bra and handed it to her, and said, "You'd better cover up or this won't stop."

Kit put on her bra, then reached for her shirt, and said, "It wasn't easy to stop what you were doing. I wanted it all. You must be very frustrated now."

"I am," Marc said, as he re-buttoned her shirt. "We'll work on things."

She wanted him to expand on what, exactly, he meant, and was on the verge of asking, but she knew he needed time to sort through it all before moving to the next level. The problem was, the step from where they were now to commitment was a giant one, and in between, a whole lot of hormones were demanding to be recognized, and she was running out of reasons why they shouldn't be.

"I want to stay here with you tonight," Marc said.

"I know," Kit replied, "but if you do, one thing will lead to another, and that's not the way we need to work on things."

"When, then?" Marc asked.

"We're not setting any time limits on anything," Kit replied. "I know what I feel, and you have to come to your own conclusions about the way you feel. There's also a pyramid waiting for you in Belize, and the work there is important to you. Those are the things you need to work out." She curved her arms around his neck and kissed him soundly, and said, "But I still liked everything about the waist-up plan, even if it failed."

Marc dropped his forehead against hers. "You're driving me a little crazy, you know that."

"Then you've come a long way from being the professor, and that's good," Kit said. "He was so all-together, nothing could have budged him, least of all being a little crazy."

"Yeah, but you're still sending me to my tent to play with myself."

"Maybe not forever," Kit said, leaving him with that thought as she sent him on his way.

***

The following day, Grandma Hansen greeted Marc on the front porch of her log house and gave him a bright smile and a big hug, which Marc expected. She wasn't one to point fingers. He was sure each of her grandchildren thought they were her favorite. He always did. But that was before he learned he was no blood relation. Still, he knew that wouldn't matter. When Sam married Jayne, Grandma swept Becca into the Hansen family fold as if she'd been born into it.

"Let me look at you." Maureen held Marc at arm's length. "You are a handsome dog, ponytail and all," she said, while giving his ponytail a little jerk.

"There weren't any barbers in the jungles of Belize and a ponytail's easy to keep," Marc explained, "but I was thinking about getting rid of it just before coming here."

Long hair looks really hot, and combined with big balls raises your score...

"What are you smiling about?" Maureen asked.

Marc looked at her, baffled. "What?"

"You were grinning like the Cheshire cat, and your eyes had a far-off twinkle in them," Maureen said. "Or maybe I shouldn't ask. My Adam used to get that kind of look on his face when he was feeling playful."

Marc tried to digest that. They'd grown up hearing all of Grandma's praises about Grandpa Hansen until the man was a legend, but at no time had she ever referred to him as playful.

You work out your own marital euphemisms... some get very creative...

Marc couldn't even begin to imagine what Kit's euphemisms would be, but there was no question, they'd be creative.

"You're smiling again," Grandma said. "Does it by any chance have to do with Kit?"

Marc eyed his grandmother, dubiously. "Have you been talking to Mom?"

Maureen laughed. "Honey, when a man shows up at the ranch with a beautiful woman who's his female counterpart, then gets that look in his eye, I don't have to talk to anybody. You might as well write it across your forehead with a big marker."

"Kit's funny," Marc said. "She has a really good sense of humor."

"That's good," Maureen replied. "It'll keep you young. It also makes bedtime more fun."

"Uh, Kit and I aren't there yet," Marc said. But definitely closer, he mused. Expanding the boundaries was half way there. Kit's response was almost startling. And when they engaged in a brief male-female examination, there was no question Kit liked what they were doing.

"I'm talking about after you're married," Maureen said. "Humor and playfulness keep the sparks of passion alive and make the marriage bed a welcome place to be. Just a piece of advice from a woman who knows." 

Marc took a couple of moments to process that. Odd advice to get from a woman in her seventies. "I'll keep it in mind." Not a hard thing to do, with
it
on his mind most of the time, although not in the context of a marriage bed...

Look around me little brother. Do you see anything here I should regret?

Odd that an image of Kit pregnant with his child should come to mind

"So, you've got your masters and you're working on your PhD," Maureen said. "Your grandfather would have been very proud of you."

Which seemed odd now, Marc thought, since he wasn't even related by blood to the elder Adam Hansen, or the younger one, he remembered. But being back on the ranch, it was easy to forget. "I'm sorry I never got to know him. My other grandparents are pleased though."

"So, you've managed to contact them," Maureen said. "I wondered if you might. It's good you've traced your roots, but you still have roots here, just different kinds. So, how did you manage to find them?"

"It wasn't that hard," Marc replied. "I knew Mom was a widow when she married Dad, and that her name had been Templeton, so before I left I went to see Flo, the woman who worked here when I was born, and asked what she knew about my father. All she remembered was that he was a professor at a university in Texas. It wasn't hard to find him after that. My grandparents were pretty upset with Mom for not telling them about me though, but since I'm their only grandchild they insisted I stay with them. My grandfather's wanting me to look into teaching so I could put down roots, but I like moving from dig to dig."

"Does Kit?"

Marc pictured Kit's campsite and all the comforts she'd never had at the dig at Belize and wondered if she could be happy in the jungles if she had the same set up as she did here. But there would still be the heat, and the bugs, and snakes. Yet, it would be an opportunity he couldn't afford to pass up. Which was a dilemma now, leaving Kit to go excavate a pyramid. But Kit had her own dreams, which didn't work with his.

He looked at his grandmother, who was waiting for his response, and said, "Kit wants to be curator of a museum." 

"And you don't know what to do about it," Maureen said.

"How did you know?" Marc asked.

"Because a woman has wandered into your life, who you weren't expecting, and you're struggling to find a way to hold onto her without making any changes in your life."

"Kit's different," Marc said.

"I know," Maureen replied.

"Then Mom has been talking to you."

"No," Maureen said. "Kit's different because with her in your life all those little empty compartments are starting to fill, and the doubts you have about yourself are beginning to make sense. But if you want to hold onto her, you might have to do a little compromising." She reached out and patted his hand. "Now, that's all the wisdom I intend to pass on. You can ruminate over it or bury it out there in the Indian mound."

Marc looked into his grandmother's perceptive eyes. From as far back as he could remember she'd been passing on nuggets of wisdom for him to mull over, and never once had he thought about burying any of it. But unlike the other times, this time she'd been straight forward in what she was telling him, and what she'd said couldn't be passed off lightly.

It's called marriage, which is even scarier than unmarried commitment...

That, he couldn't deny. But he also couldn't deny that Kit was filling in a lot of empty compartments in his life, while also helping him make sense of it all.

***

Kit spent the following morning updating the unit notebook by documenting the progress of the excavation, which included sketches and diagrams of the holes dug. Marc told her, as she arrived on the site earlier, that before he got back to digging he wanted to spend some time with his grandmother, who'd returned from visiting her brother, so Kit didn't expect him back at the site until after lunch, along with Ryan, Tyler and Maddy, who stopped by earlier to tell her that she wanted to help too. Marc wouldn't know that yet, but he'd be pleased.

Deciding the best way to make the morning pass more quickly would be to start excavating, she picked up a trowel, and walking over to Unit I, continued scraping away where she and Ryan left off the day before. They'd uncovered a slew of artifacts already, some intact, but mostly broken pieces of what had been arrowheads and bird points and the chipped remains left from tool making. But as they'd made their way down, other artifacts began to appear, household pieces like pottery shards and animal bones, and even one antler that had been used as a scraper. With luck, they'd locate a dugout area where a pit house once stood, which would almost assure a grant sizable enough to enable her to dig up the mound in an organized, methodical way.

But as she began to dig, she realized it was the first time since she'd met Marc, almost four months before, that she was at a site without him, and it seemed strange. Lonely. Especially after last night. Passions heated up fast and she'd been on the verge of letting things take a natural course, but even though she managed to stop what they were doing, she wasn't sure she could the next time. She kept coming up with reasons why sex without commitment would be okay as long as it was with Marc, since their relationship was way beyond a casual one. Maybe a little lopsided though, since she felt commitment on her side. But Marc wasn't that far behind.

Although he didn't realize it yet, he had the makings of a family man, someone who'd put wife and kids above all else, even above putting muon detectors down holes, though she'd never deny him the joy he got from his work. But in the past couple of weeks she'd also wondered if being a field archaeologist wasn't Marc's excuse for not having a place to call home because of his self-imposed estrangement from his family. By moving from dig to dig, he wouldn't have to explain, even to himself, why he didn't want to go home.

We'll work on things...

Yes, they certainly would.

Shortly after lunch, Marc arrived with his siblings. After Kit demonstrated the use of the tools, and went into a lengthy explanation about how they'd be proceeding with the excavations, they broke into digging teams again, but with Maddy joining Marc and Tyler.

Early on, Kit realized Ryan wouldn't be staying much longer. It happened when he spotted the hickey on her neck. She hadn't been aware when Marc put it there the night before, but when she saw Ryan's eyes fixed on her neck, her hand went up automatically, and she wondered if he was seeing what might possibly be there.

Ryan answered her unasked question, when he said, "It took me a while, but I get the picture now. When we were growing up we all wondered if Marc would ever stray. He was the only one who followed Dad's rules."

"He still is," Kit said.

Ryan smiled in a way that told her he wasn't that dense, and said, "I'll keep digging here, but maybe not with as much enthusiasm, but if Marc gets to be a bore, let me know."

"He won't," Kit said.

"So, what's he got that I don't have?" Ryan asked.

"Round balls," Kit replied.

"You want to run that past me again?"

"Marc's not a bull rider. His balls aren't flat. So he said." And that really didn't come out right. "Marc and I talk about strange things a lot of the time," Kit added by way of explanation. "It happens when you spend hours together digging in the dirt."

"I'm just glad Marc's somewhat human," Ryan said. "And just for the record, bull riding doesn't flatten balls."

"I know, it makes them tougher," Kit said.

Ryan looked at her, soberly. "Do you know that for a fact?"

Kit laughed. "Ha! I got you on that one, but I won't tell Josh."

"Good," Ryan said. "I won't tell him Marc's got octopus tentacles for a mouth and uses your neck for tentacle-sticking practice."

Kit appreciated Ryan's humor, but she was also tempted to go into a long-winded, defensive dissertation by explaining that Marc still hadn't broken his father's rules, and the hickey on her neck was the scope of what went on behind the closed flap of her tent, but decided it was better that Ryan think what he did. It would keep him at bay. More importantly, it would solidify Marc's position at the top of the pack where he needed to be right now. Even something as noble as Marc remaining chaste in high school, because he wanted to please his father, could have been enough to make him an omega wolf among the juveniles.