Page 133 of Her Reluctant Hero
“It means I’ve put it behind me. That’s what you want, right, not to talk it to death?”
Okay, her own fault for bringing it up before diving. His mind wasn’t on her apology. She squared her shoulders. Maybe her words would sink in later. Regardless, she would keep the past in the past and not linger on the bad or the good. Resolved, she followed him onto the boat.
Adrian laced his fingers behind his head and stared at the ceiling of his tent that night, Mallory’s words replaying in his head, the despair in her eyes burned into his memory. She really hadn’t thought she’d done anything wrong, and Toney’s words seemed to have hit her like a blow. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t resented her for her actions at the time, but his own sins had been far worse than the ones he attributed to her.
He understood wanting to leave the past behind them, but for him it was impossible. It was a weight he needed to bear, to remember so he could never repeat that mistake.
Mallory sensed Adrian’s growing frustration as the days passed, felt it herself. Archaeology was not a job for the impatient, but the lack of funds hung over their heads. Because of the fragile nature of the ancient wood, they couldn’t remove the sand with a blower, so they had to sweep it away by hand. Because of the depth, they couldn’t stay on the bottom too long and were only able to dive twice a day. Four divers couldn’t make too much difference with those limitations.
Excavating the wood was going to be next to impossible. Even with the gentlest of movements, the ancient wood dissolved into splinters, especially from the starboard side, which had been exposed longer. They’d be lucky to be able to salvage one timber, and that would have to be from the port side. Along with the buckle, they’d found some coins and part of a crucifix, celebrated when they were able to pinpoint them as Byzantine. But they couldn’t celebrate long—there was more work to be done.
Jeff hadn’t contacted Adrian about sending more divers and that weighed on Adrian. He worried Jeff had lost faith in him too, but wouldn’t risk sending the artifacts they’d found to him. He couldn’t spare any of them to go to Jeff personally.
So they dove as often as possible and learned as much as they could about their ship, sitting around Dr. Vigil’s tent night after night, studying his books.
Mallory waved her brush farther to the left as they continued excavating what they now had decided was the captain’s quarters, since they’d discovered an inkwell and erasing knife. Even then, that was presuming the captain had that level of education. Still, the quarters were at the stern of the ship, which was clue enough. She left Adrian and Toney to continue excavating the quarters while she pursued her hunch.
Her body clock reminded her that her bottom time was running out and Adrian would be coming to get her. She didn’t let that pressure her to hurry, though. She wanted to save as much of this ship as possible so there was no doubt in anyone’s mind where it had come from.
No more wood. She fanned again and found the ship was curving upward.
She’d found the bow.
Her heart thudding, her breath coming faster than was wise through her regulator, she swam laterally, following the line of the ship with her eyes before lowering herself to sweep again.
It would be here if it still existed. Please God, let it still be here.
The alarm on her watch sounded. Two minutes. Damn it. She forced herself to keep steady. Whatever was under the sand would be fragile. She couldn’t let the time pressure or her excitement rush her. Just a glimpse was all she wanted for today.
Adrian swam by on his way to the line, carrying tools to send to the surface. He stopped to motion her along, so she waved him over and pointed at the sand beneath them.
She didn’t have to tell him what she was looking for; the fact that she was looking was enough. He tapped his watch and sent her a warning look before he went to work beside her.
There. A glint, something under the sand. She dropped her brush and began digging with her hands around the edges of the metal to uncover it, knowing she needed to surface, but needing to see this first. Adrian must have sensed her desperation and worked hurriedly too. Toney and Jacob swam over to remind them it was time to surface, but seeing Mallory’s focus convinced them to join in.
More of the metal came to light. It was huge, and as they uncovered it, Mallory could see the carvings, the sinew of a lion’s neck, the point of a tooth in an open mouth, the wave of a mane.
Again, her watch alarm sounded. They were overdue on their ascent. They had to go now or risk their health. Mallory held up a finger when Jacob tried to pull her away. One thing she wanted to see before she returned tomorrow. She followed the sand up, gauging the scale with her eyes, and swept away sand.
There it was. The lion’s eye, in glinting stone. The stone was difficult to identify in this light, but it was intact. She gave Adrian a triumphant look, before she helped him cover the find with the heavy rubber tarp.
Elation rose in her chest. She spiraled up through the water as they ascended to the first decompression stop. She couldn’t bear the wait, wanted to rip her regulator out and scream her joy to the whole crew. She wished she could dance and sing and laugh. The last thing she needed to do was dangle on a rope above the site, unable to do more work on it for hours.
She looked at Adrian hanging across from her and saw the glow of righteousness behind his mask tempering his own excitement.
When Adrian surfaced, he could tell by the vibrations coming off Toney and Jacob that they hadn’t revealed the find below. Good. Mallory had found it. She’d earned the right to make the announcement. Adrian turned to help her out of the water and she ripped off her mask with a squeal.
“God, can you believe it? It’s perfect!”
Adrian swung her into his arms, absorbing her joy to balance out the relief thrumming through him. She looked up, her eyes bright, her smile brilliant, staggering him more than the find below them. Not one ounce of wariness shadowed her eyes, so he didn’t hesitate. He dropped his mouth to hers.
He tasted the salt on her skin, the slight chemical taste of the Heliox, and her taste, hot and familiar.
Just as he felt she was about to soften against him, he became aware of the sudden silence around them. He released Mallory and stepped away.
She didn’t take her eyes from him and looked a little off balance as she raised the back of her hand to her nose and pulled it away clean. No nose bleed.
“Well, what is it?” Dr. Vigil demanded, breaking the silence. “What did you find?”
