Unexpected Love (White Oak-Mafia #2) (8 page)

“Why did you?”

“Because I felt responsible for the anger that fueled their bad attitudes.” He sighed heavily and stared at the ceiling a long time before continuing.

“When the helicopter arrived and started shooting at us, I ordered everyone to the hills. So naturally, they refused to leave the car. I can’t help but think if I had never mixed work with pleasure, they would still be alive. Their parents certainly thought so. They blamed me for luring their daughters into harm’s way.”

“But you tried to stop them from going.”

“The dean seemed to have forgotten that. I was charged with behavior unbecoming and for endangering the lives of my students. Never mind they had approved and paid for the dig, never mind that I had never had sex with these women since they became grad students. They declared the whole disaster entirely my fault.”

She gripped his hands in hers. “It wasn’t. First of all, they pursued you as undergrads.”

He nodded.

“Then they forced you to take them on this dig. And finally, they ignored your orders, which ultimately got them killed. Your only mistake was not to build a wall between personal and professional.” Pain forced her to close her eyes as she realized something. “And Dr. Castile, you’re doing it again.”

“Tess, no,” he pleaded, clearly seeing where she was going.

“This has nothing to do with trust. I trust you with all my heart. I’ll have your back for life. But as long as we work together, we can be nothing more than friends.”

His blue eyes filled with misery. “Tess, you promised you wouldn’t do this.”

“I promised I wouldn’t regress, and I haven’t. I opened my heart to trusting you, and the second I did, I fell in love with you. I would like nothing more than be possibly the first love of your life.”

“I believe you already are. I’m begging you, don’t back away from this. You’ve no idea how rare it is.”

“I don’t, but I can’t imagine it’s common because the feelings I have are so intense. I will always look out for you, even if that means being only a friend and professional partner.”

“Damn you,” he cursed and rolled to get out of bed.

She gripped his arm. “No, you have to listen to me first. To my reasoning. Only then are you allowed to curse me.”

He could have broken away from her grip, but he didn’t. Instead, he lay back down and covered his eyes with his right arm.

“I recall you saying you cursed out your dean from your last college, so I’m thinking your career is in tatters and finding that village and mounds could recover it…if you aren’t seen repeating the same mistake again.”

“What I feel for you is different—”

“I believe you, but they won’t.”

He sighed but didn’t argue.

She gripped his left hand. “But there’s another reason. One that I’d foolishly pushed aside.”

He pulled his arm off his glassy blue eyes. “What?”

“If my father thought you and I were lovers, he might kill you.”

“Helen said he’d just try to corrupt me.”

She shook her head. “He seems to read people pretty well. He would see right off you’re too honorable to dance to his orders. So he would kill you. The only way I can save your career, which you love, and save your life is for us to remain professional. But I have not back-stepped. My feelings for you are very intense. But for your safety, we need to keep our relationship platonic.”

He closed his eyes and sighed heavily. “Okay, first of all, I was cursing at God, not you. Secondly, thank you for insisting I listen to your rationale. You are right about my professional career. It’s hanging by a thread, and the mounds will either save or destroy it. And that is my responsibility. As to your father, I’ll trust your assessment. Helen may have told me what I wanted to hear so I’d be your rock once she’s gone.”

His last words worried Tess until his left hand gripped hers tightly. “I can’t be your rock if I’m dead, but alive, I will always be there for you as the best friend you’ve ever had.”

She didn’t tell him she’d never had a best friend unless her grams counted. It didn’t matter. She had one now.

Steel returned to his own room and dressed for his first official day as forest manager. His first action was to call Tom. “How many people can I hire?”

“That depends. How soon can you get me a project plan?”

“Tom…”

“Sorry, Steel. The governor is personally interested in this project. No cutting corners.”

“So how soon can we get the required software?”

“My assistant obtained two heavy-duty laptops, had all software and encryption security installed, and I’ll be delivering them around noon today…if that suits you.”

“You just want to see those mounds,” he grumbled.

“I do. I need to protect my forest manager.”

“Tess isn’t—oh, you mean me.”

“Yes, and don’t make that slip with anyone else. I imagine you plan to let Tess care for the forests while you embark on an archeological dig.”

God, would he ever get a boss who didn’t want to stick his bloody nose into everything? “That’s exactly what I plan,” he replied.

“Well, before anyone else gets wind of that, you need to determine if those mounds will make or break your career.”

Steel reined in his anger. Tom was only looking out for him, just like Tess had been when she declared their relationship would have to remain platonic. “Sorry for getting snippy. You’re right. Until I determine the age of those mounds, I should be working this alone. But to date the mounds, I’ll require access to a lab competent in carbon dating.”

“I’ve got a friend who could probably slot you in at the University of Minnesota.”

Steel sighed in relief. He really didn’t want to ask his former colleges to get involved. He’d burned too many bridges there. “That would be great.”

“I’ll see you at noon. Any chance you’ll be at the cabin?”

“None whatsoever. But I’ll ask my assistant forest manager to bring you to my find.”

“She’s nicer, anyway. Steel, I know we’ve discussed this, but becoming romantically involved with Tess would be a catastrophe.”

“I agree. Tess and I plan to keep matters platonic.”

“And you seriously can do that?”

“Yeah, given more than my career could die if I don’t.”

The release of a long stream of air crossed over the line. “Great. Sorry I keep bringing this up. I was pretty sure there wouldn’t be a problem…just not a hundred percent.”

Did Tom think he wouldn’t find her desirable? He had never been more attracted to a woman than he was to Tess Campbell. “Why didn’t you think there’d be a problem?”

“Because all your situations have been with predatory women. Tess is nothing like that.”

Steel chuckled. “That’s very true. She’s more like a guy. I expect we’ll be good friends, but nothing more.”

Once he hung up, he mourned the relationship they would never have and then moved on. He entered the main room, smiling at Tess cooking breakfast.

“Tom Barkman will be by at noon today to drop off our computers. I need him to see the mounds.”

She turned, concern written on her face. “Shouldn’t you determine if the mounds are authentic first?”

“He’s got connections with the University of Minnesota.”

“Which is needed why?”

“They have a lab capable of carbon dating.”

She forked the lean ham slices out of the skillet and started the eggs. “So exactly how does carbon dating work? Does one little carbon bring the other a bouquet of flowers?”

He chuckled. God, he loved her playful sense of humor. “Do you really want to know?”

She nodded.

“Well, if you’re dealing with carbon-based items such as soil containing dead plants, you can use carbon-based dating if it’s not older than sixty-two thousand years.”

“So this will be young carbon dating?”

“The mounds should be within the time frame that has been proven to be highly accurate using carbon dating when compared to other means.”

“Like tree rings?”

“Exactly.”

“So how do you do this?”

“We’ll combust a small amount of plant remnants, preferably wood, but other plant residue can be used as well. The Carbon-14 is collected and then measured.”

“So it has a constant change in strength?”

He nodded. “A plant gets C14 during photosynthesis, then when it dies, the C14 has a radioactive component that starts to degrade at a fixed rate. The lab will have to make a small adjustment for isotope fractioning—”

She turned to him, but he waved her off.

“Never mind. Even my eyes glazed over when they explained that part.”

Grinning, she shook her head. “I wanted to know if you wanted two or three eggs.”

“Three…it’s going to be a long day.”

“Give him mine,” Helen called out from her chair. “I’m not hungry.”

Tess lost her smile, and her eyes turned glassy. “Grams, would you like oatmeal and blueberries?”

“Still not hungry,” Helen replied.

Abandoning her cooking, Tess went to her grams.

Noticing she’d failed to turn off the burner, Steel got up and hurried to the stove. While he was mostly clueless, he knew how to turn off burners and collect toast from the toaster. He sorted the food onto three plates, then carried a plate to Helen. When Tess looked up at him, her eyes screamed with misery. He gave a jerk of his head, suggesting she go back to the kitchen.

She kissed her grams and did as he asked.

He put the plate on Helen’s lap. The old gal glared at him.

He held his hand up to silence her scold and spoke softly. “I know you’re not hungry, but for Tess, you need to eat.”

She sighed, then frowned as she studied the plate on her lap. “Are you expecting me to eat with my hands?”

Tess was clearly listening because a second later she scampered over and delivered a napkin, knife, and fork. She smiled from ear to ear as she presented them to Helen.

Tess’s smile was so contagious the old gal gained one as well.

“Thank you, sweetheart.” She then frowned at Steel. “I can’t eat if you two plan to stand here and stare at me. Now go back to the kitchen and leave me alone.”

Tess tried to give him her egg, but Steel refused. When he noticed she didn’t have any ham, he placed a slice on her plate.

“I don’t like ham,” she insisted as she sent it back to his plate.

“Then why did you cook it?”

“Grams likes it, and I thought you might prefer some honest-to-god meat.”

Fate was damn cruel, putting the perfect woman before him but creating barriers so they could never be together. But then fate had never seemed to like him.

He thought back to the helicopter flying toward him and his crew. But for the need to change a damn spark plug, the correct helicopter would have arrived first and everyone would have lived.

He paused mid-bite as he considered another possibility. Or it could have been attacked before they ever got off the ground or in the air, killing everyone. It did no good to wish things were different. He stopped with the self-lectures when he noticed Tess studying him intently.

“I’ll go straight to the mounds. I’m sure you have your own plans with the trails.”

“Do you need help?” she asked.

He sighed and shook his head. How could he tell her she couldn’t be near those mounds until he proved they were authentic?

“Oh…I understand,” she said softly and then grinned. “Honestly, I’ve got so much to do. Sam will be returning our lumber today, and I’m going to extend the swamp boardwalk so it returns walkers to the lower forest…since we’ll be closing the old Indian trail up the cliff.”

That was a great idea, but one that required more than one person. “Once you get the lumber where you need it, may I suggest you return back here and start sketching out what you’ll need in skills for our rangers? Then when Tom arrives around noon, feed him and bring him out to the mounds. Once you’ve delivered him, return here and see if you can grasp how to use the project planning software. Tom won’t give us people until we give him a project plan.”

Instead of being outraged, Tess glanced at her grams and then smiled with gratitude. “I’ve already had my class in project planning, so hopefully it will be similar to the software I used.”

He looked up. “Thank you, God.” He then stood. “I have managed to skirt doing that crap up ’til now, but Tom is holding my feet to the fire. No employees until we get him a plan.”

“I’ll have you a plan within the week,” she promised.

They geared up and headed out. When they came to the fork where they would split, she dropped her pack then dug about, retrieving his lunch and hers. “Take them both in case you need more energy to get home.” She then handed him a gun. “I grabbed this out of your drawer. You can shoot, can’t you?”

He nodded, trying to repress his grin.

“I’m serious. I don’t want Grumpy eating you just because I failed to teach you how to shoot.”

“I served in the British Army as a marksman.”

She smiled for a second but lost it. “If he starts charging, don’t try to scare him. Shoot him right between the eyes. I can’t risk losing such a nice boss.”

Before he could reply to her disturbing advice, she’d already turned to head down the trail.

“Hey!” Steel called out.

She stopped and faced him, her head tilting to the right.

“What’s going to keep Grumpy from eating you?”

“My excellent climbing skill, my hatchet, and a very loud helicopter.”

He tried to hand her back the gun, but she stepped back like he had the plague. “Grumpy likes the mounds…so you need it more than me.”

“All right,” he said, “but keep yourself safe…and don’t forget to be back at the house to receive and feed Tom.”

Her eyes turned glassy. “I will. Thank you.”

Her response confused him until he realized she believed he asked her to stay home so she could care for her grams. Shame lambasted him. He should have thought of that first and foremost.

Tess needed time with Helen.

***

Tess sprinted to the swamp, hoping to finish this chore as fast as possible and get back to Grams. The speed of her grandmother’s decline frightened Tess. Yesterday, she had saved them from Grumpy, and today she evidently didn’t have the strength to get out of her chair.

How long had she been hiding her pain?

Tess slowed as guilt overwhelmed her. God, had she been so wrapped up in herself she had failed to see Grams was hurting? She’d been less than cheery, but Tess had attributed that to Jonas’s betrayal and probable departure from this earth.

She found it ironic that Jonas, the consigliore of their family, taught her father to be the monster he is, and that beast killed him the first time Jonas had failed to deliver on an order. Jonas’s betrayal to Grams had ensured she’d never trust anyone connected to her family…or any mafia again. He’d always seemed such a friendly and kind old fellow.

The men in her family had no honor. They were just thugs in suits.

When she reached the swamp, she pulled out her cell phone. This was one of the few places where she could get service due to a tower across the Mississippi.

Sam answered on the first ring. “Coming up now. I called your landline, and Helen said you’d be at the swamp. Where do you want this stack?”

“I’m not going to build this until we hire staff, so can you stack them on this high ground where I’m waving at you?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“How many bundles do you have?”

“Six.”

“Is that all?”

Sam chuckled. “Helen made me promise to answer incorrectly. She wanted to make sure you’d challenge me. You passed with flying colors.”

“Thanks. So how many are there?” she asked.

“Eight, and before you question the count, they are bundled by the copter’s weight limitation, not the standard. Once I drop this one, you can run the numbers. While Helen will be pleased as punch for you challenging me, I give you my word, I will never cheat you. You are my best customer.”

He had to mean “most profitable” because she knew for certain he had higher volume customers. Now that they’d be processing more lumber, she’d need to reassess what they were paying.

When he set down the first lot, she counted the stack of lumber twice.  While she waited for the next drop, she pulled out her notebook and made notes on the square footage she expected from her tree and what eight deliveries, if all the same as the first, would add up to. She was pleased when they were very close.

Once the fourth delivery was made, she grew antsy about her Grams. “Sam, just deliver the others. I’ll finish the count later. Right now, I need to check on”—she paused, knowing Grams wouldn’t want her illness to be general knowledge— “if the State Parks’ guy has arrived at the cabin yet.”

“You go on. I see a car driving up. We’ll settle the bill later.”

Hearing Mr. Barkman was on his way, Tess took off at full speed. By the time she arrived, Grams stood outside with her gun in her hand.