Page 135 of Her Reluctant Hero
“It’s the proof he needs,” Mallory murmured, sinking to the chest containing the professor’s books, her knees weak with the realization that Adrian’s dream was coming true.
“You don’t have to come and keep me company,” he said. “Go party with the other ones.”
“I’m not much in the partying mood.”
He lifted a white eyebrow. “Fought with Adrian, huh?”
She didn’t deny it but couldn’t admit it.
“You’d always come talk to me after you fought with him and always pretended it didn’t bother you.” He stepped behind the privacy screen to change.
She flushed. “Surely that wasn’t the only time I talked to you.”
“No, of course not. But I would know when you’d had a fight.”
She sat on one of the camp chairs and ran her fingers over the top of the waterproof chest. “Nothing’s changed.”
“You still love him.”
Great, he would take her comment to mean that. She’d barely admitted to herself she still loved Adrian. She wasn’t ready to admit it to her mentor.
“He still loves you. I haven’t seen him so relaxed in three years.” He came from behind the screen in old-fashioned cotton paisley pajamas. She hid her smile, not hard to do after his next words. “He needs you. You’re good for him.”
“He couldn’t think I’m coming back to him just because I joined the dig.”
“Of course he thought it,” he replied gruffly. “Why wouldn’t he? You break up with your fiancé over diving? What kind of fool reason is that? You and I both know you’re still in love with Adrian.”
As much as she wanted to prove him wrong, she couldn’t. “All the reasons for me leaving are still there.”
“And those are?” He hobbled stiffly to the table with its decanter of whiskey. She’d always thought he’d watched too many old archaeology movies, the way his tent was set up with its rough comforts, almost Hemingway-esque.
He offered her a drink. She accepted, sipped, savored the punishing burn. “He’s emotionally unavailable. He gets so wrapped up in his work, I don’t matter—no one else matters. I need to matter.”
Dr. Vigil made his way to his cot and sat down heavily. “Mallory, when two people like you, people with such strong personalities, get together, there are going to be fights. But look at the two of you now. You’re together, you block out everything else in the room. You bring out the best in each other.”
She took another sip. “And the worst.”
“Maybe.” He conceded the point with a lift of his glass. “But no matter what you were fighting about, you had respect for one another. You respected the job and you respected the intelligence.”
“It didn’t stop us from saying hurtful things.” Even the memories of the words made her heart squeeze. She’d never talked to anyone like that in her life. But she’d said them to the man she loved.
“No, but you’re older now. You’ve learned control. I’d like to think that I made the two of you the archaeologists you are today, but the truth is, you made each other, with your competition and your drives. You can’t deny it.”
“I don’t.” There had been a time when she’d been so happy. She’d thought no one deserved to be so happy. “I just don’t want to forget the way he hurt me.”
“I know you must feel that way, but Adrian loved you more than anything in his life.”
“Loved. Past tense.” She edged toward the tent opening. If she didn’t remind herself of that, she might be tempted to fall into old patterns, no matter what lessons she’d learned last time. She couldn’t bear that pain again.
Something was off, something was wrong. Adrian realized it the minute the ship came into view the following day. It wasn’t covered, for one thing. Had the currents shifted in the past twenty-four hours, had they pushed the rubber sheet off the ship? He scanned the site and saw the tarp flipped back, not rolled as if it had been pushed by water.
As a result of being uncovered, much of the ancient wood had dissolved into the water. His stomach clenched. The more wood he lost, the more the integrity of the site was compromised. He couldn’t afford that.
He finned over to a curved shape rising out of the ocean floor. That hadn’t been there yesterday, had it? Or in their excitement over finding the figurehead, had they missed it? His heart rate picked up when he realized it was an amphora, and he reached for it.
A slender shape shot out of the mouth of the amphora. Shock blended with the sharp pain in his arm and he dropped the amphora as he jolted backwards.
Shit. Shit. Fucking moray eel had made its home in the ceramic vase. Adrian had been too distracted to notice. Hell and damn.
