Nate’s eyes dropped to her mouth, and his hand tightened on her waist. They were still for a long moment, his chest rising and falling under her hands. If she lifted her head slightly, leaned up on her tiptoes, their lips would be together. Kissing. In the middle of the field. Kissing Nate Daley was not on the agenda for today, no matter how delicious he smelled, no matter how his fingers brushed against the soft skin at the back of her neck.
Nate shook his head slightly and dropped his hands. He took a little step back from her and blew out a sharp exhale, like he’d been holding his breath.
She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. ‘I should get the tractor back.’
Nate cleared his throat. Whateverthathad been, he was obviously embarrassed because a rosy flush was tinting the tips of his ears. It was just the excitement of finding gold, that was it. No need to read anything else into it.
‘You’ll be at the pub later, yeah?’ he asked, rubbing at the back of his neck.
‘Yeah, of course.’ She grinned. ‘And first round is on me, not you.’
Nate
It was there. They’d found it.
The earth had given up its delights and Nate and his team had found them. The atmosphere was warm with achievement and hot with anticipation. There were grins and laughter, high fives and hugs between the students, but Nate had spent his afternoon on the phone with the university, with Alex, demanding more funding for a dig tent.
If there was going to be something more than the brooch Anwar had uncovered and he had edged from the earth, then he was going to get all the funding he could. The more finds the better, for him, for Laurel and for Little Willow Farm.
Nate couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face. Laurel had cried. She’d had tears running down her face. It had been the right decision to involve her in this. He hadn’t meant for them to have a moment, but she had been windswept and flushed and it had been a while since he’d had an incredibly attractive woman in his arms.
He watched the sun sag like a limp balloon in the sky. It was hazy and quiet on Little Willow Farm, the only sounds the gentle lowing of the cows. It was muggy though, a thunderstorm threatening. He’d have to make sure that the tarpaulins were tacked down hard, especially over that all-important trench.
Nate, extremely disappointingly, had Anwar clean up the piece and it was exactly as he suspected. A round golden torque, a ridge of twisted metal around the edge. Two thin strips of gold crossed over the front and in the exact middle, an oval garnet of the deepest red he had ever seen. The back had two small rings for a pin to secure to a cloak. It was magnificent; detailed, lustrous and big. It signified someone important, someone rich.
A niggle of worry had started in the back of Nate’s mind as soon as Laurel climbed back into the battered tractor.
Because what if that was it? What if that was the only find?
He couldn’t spend the next months, years, whatever, on a dig that didn’t find anything. Besides that, Laurel would be devastated, and he didn’t want to watch the excitement drain from her face day after disappointing day.
‘Dr Daley.’ Anwar came up behind him, clapping his hand on Nate’s shoulder. ‘Good day, good find. It’s going to be a good site, I can feel it.’
‘It’s a great start, Anwar,’ he allowed.
‘Oh, come on man, let yourself enjoy it.’ Anwar rolled his eyes.
He was right, Nate should enjoy the moment, rather than thinking what if, what if, what if. What he had said to Laurel earlier had been true though, no expectations lead to no disappointment.
‘Let’s head to the car park. The minibus will be here soon,’ Anwar said.
They took the short walk across the car park and headed towards Robin, lounging against the farm gate, smiling lopsidedly at some female students and pointing leisurely at his house. What a dick.
Robin opened his mouth as soon as Nate was in earshot. ‘Hey man, heard you found some jewellery.’
Yep, definitely a dick.
‘Yeah, we did,’ Nate replied, checking his phone. The minibus trundled into the car park, saving him from any more conversation.
‘Sweet,’ Robin said. ‘Ladies, after you.’ He ushered the students on the bus.
Nate rolled his eyes. Of course he wanted to celebrate, but did he really want to spend the evening with a group of kids? Even Anwar was nearly ten years younger than him. Jack’s company would have been welcome, but he hadn’t come because Rebecca had expressly forbidden him from cancelling one of their rare date nights, while Bill watched the kids.
Regardless, he sat on the bus and watched as the hedgerows and crop-filled fields rolled past for the ten minutes it took to get into Little Houghton.
‘Dr Daley, are you okay?’ Anwar said, slurping back a can of Fosters.
‘Yeah, why?’ he answered, frowning.
