Page 35 of Troy Story
Did that mean he might get more than just a summer with her? With all his heart, he hoped so.
By the time he went back inside the field house, the coffee was done. He grabbed a box of Ülker tea biscuits from the cupboard but dropped them in shock when someone clasped him around the waist. A soft pair of lips grazed the back of his neck, and a singsong voice woke up a different part of his anatomy. “Good morning, Dr. Carlson.”
He leaned against her, taking a moment to savor her nearness and the feel of her soft curves pressing against his back. “Good morning, Dusty. You’re awfully chipper.”
“Thanks to my delightful dreams. Which will hopefully soon become reality.” She trailed kisses up his neck, then tugged on his earlobe with her teeth.
Damn, he really liked Dusty this way. But he froze at the sound of an irritated groan.
“Can you not?” Emilia said as she strolled into the kitchen. “Waking up at six is hard enough without you two going at it.”
Dusty released Stuart from her grip and grinned at her friend. “You’re just jealous.”
“Damn right. But it’s still annoying as hell. Keep it in your pants until after dinner.”
Stuart’s cheeks blazed. Maybe Dusty could be nonchalant about getting caught, but if he wanted the others to respect him, he needed to show more restraint. After picking up the box of biscuits, he turned to face Emilia. “Sorry, Em. We’ll keep it G-rated in the morning.”
She grabbed a mug from the counter. “You’d better. Bad enough that I was kept up last night by TJ’s snoring. I could hear it clear through the walls.”
TJ ambled into the room and glared at her. “That wasn’t me.”
“Bullshit,” Emilia said. “I recognize your snores from Istanbul.”
“Not Istanbul again. For the love of God, will you get over it?”
* * *
Once the crewhad assembled and headed out to the site, Stuart forced himself to push Dusty from his thoughts. The only way to succeed at his job was to switch his brain into organization mode and maintain strict boundaries between his personal and professional life. If he wanted to be alone with Dusty, he could seek her out after the day’s work was done.
But when Kerim approached him and asked if they could talk in private, Stuart’s stomach clenched up. As far as he knew, Dusty hadn’t told anyone about them except Emilia. While he had no problem owning up to their relationship, he didn’t want to discuss it while supervising the students. He followed Kerim until they were clear of the trenches, standing beside a weedy patch of grass. Without the protection of the canopy, the sun beat down with a blistering intensity.
He adjusted his hat and wiped his forehead. “Is everything all right?”
“Something’s come up, and I thought we should discuss it.”
Better to apologize now than act like a coward. “If this is about Dusty, I’m sorry if you felt blindsided. I’m not sure what she told you, but we didn’t expect to end up together.”
Kerim raised his eyebrows. “You two are together? That’s not what she said yesterday.”
“It…um…happened last night. At dinner. When I told her how I felt.” The words came out in a messy jumble, making him more self-conscious than ever. Unlike him, Kerim didn’t seem like the type to lose his cool over a woman.
But Kerim merely chuckled. “Good for you. I take it she shared your feelings?” When Stuart nodded, Kerim glanced at the trench where Dusty was crouched down, scraping at the dirt with her trowel. “Can’t say I blame you for going after her. She’s truly a delight. But there are plenty of fish in the sea, so to speak. No harm done.”
Stuart blew out a relieved breath. “Thanks. I’m glad that’s out of the way.”
Kerim gave him a wry smile. “Though I appreciate the honesty, that’s not why I wanted to talk to you.”
So his awkward confession was for nothing?Ouch.“What was it, then?”
“It’s our friend, Dr. Hughes. He’s not satisfied with our progress.”
Stuart scanned the site until he located the professor. As usual, Dr. Hughes was sitting in a camp chair talking to Mort. “Not satisfied? He’s barely lifted a finger to help us.”
“Believe me, I feel the same way. It’s not so much our pace as our discoveries that are upsetting him. Or, rather, our lack of spectacular finds. He’s convinced we’ll unearth the lost cemetery if we expand our efforts beyond the lower city.”
That damn cemetery. Why couldn’t Dr. Hughes take pride in what they’d already accomplished? In the three weeks since they started digging, they’d uncovered a large storage building and two residential dwellings. Their finds included pottery, stone tools, animal bones, carnelian beads, and fragments of jewelry. Some of the potsherds and beads were from places like Mycenaean Greece and Egypt, confirming Troy’s reliance on international trade.
“Last night, Dr. Hughes called me at home,” Kerim said. “He found out the Germans started digging in another section of Troy last week. They’re working near the ruins of the ancient Temple of Athena. He’s convinced they’re onto something, and he assumed I’d know what it is.”
