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  He started to walk. Liz followed. “You never thought of going back to school?”

  “Oh, I thought. I just never got round to it.”

  There was more to this story. Mike Edmonds was a complicated man. One, she thought, with far more good qualities than the bad ones Alfred Scarr had decided to harp on.

  Chapter 15

  The morning began in much the same way as other mornings. She was up early to explore the rift before Zac showed up. She usually gave herself no more than an hour as she didn’t want him to know that she was hunting for a new bone bed, just as he was. If something was to be found she wanted to document it and attach it to her name. Call it professional pride, competitiveness, or petty spite. It didn’t matter. She wanted to be there first.

  By the time Zac showed up, around nine o’clock, she was at her skeleton, working on the neck, while Will Laverty and the two students were working the beast on Mike’s side of the line.

  “Nice day,” Zac said. He stood, his hands on his hips, examining the ever more exposed bones. “Cretaceous?”

  All the days were nice. And they’d decided the creature was from the last age of dinosaurs a long time ago. “From the strata and the size of the creature, yeah, probably late Cretaceous.”

  He continued to inspect. Liz continued her careful exposure of the bones. She thought about suggesting he pick up a tool and get down to work, but she didn’t bother. She knew he’d take off to explore in a few minutes anyway, so she just focused on her dino and pretended Zac wasn’t even there.

  Eventually, she heard him grab a bottle of water from the cooler, then he sauntered away, without mentioning to her what his plans were. She figured he didn’t bother, because they both knew his pattern by now.

  She settled even deeper into work mode, glad he was gone. Her thoughts drifted from Zac Doyle to a much pleasanter subject, Mike Edmonds. The man fascinated her. Last night as he and his crew sat chatting at the campfire, she’d learned more about his background and why he wasn’t on the academic side of the profession.

  In the aftermath of his cousin’s death, he’d worked the ranch as he always had, running it with his uncle as a dude ranch and leading the popular dinosaur hunting trail rides he’d told her about on an earlier night by the campfire. On one of those excursions they found what Mike thought was an almost intact skeleton of a hadrosaur. He called in an expert, who confirmed his hunch. His initial idea was to arrange to have the skeleton excavated by a museum or university team, but the find generated little interest. Hadrosaur skeletons were fairly common and low priority.

  The bones had eroded to the surface naturally. If they weren’t excavated, the weather and natural forces would continue the process, exposing more of the skeleton, but also wearing away the already exposed bones. Mike decided to launch a rescue mission. He’d dig the creature, with the help of the guests at the dude ranch. He developed a plan to excavate the area over the next summer. He incorporated as Discovering Dinos, hired summer students to be teacher-excavators and set up the camping trip and dig program for families who wanted to do something different on their summer holidays.

  The program was a huge hit, so Mike ran it again the next year, and the one beyond that. The whole area was rich in dinosaur bones and it didn’t take a lot of effort to find other skeletons that could be used for the program.

  Maggy and Justin, both graduates of these trips, had talked enthusiastically about their experiences. As they all sat around the campfire, there had been teasing and a lot of laughter, but Liz sensed that the excavation vacations taught elements of paleontology in an exciting, hands on way that stuck.

  Around mid-day, Zac reappeared as he always did. He picked up a bottle of water and guzzled it down as he watched Liz at her careful work. She ignored him, as she had in the morning, and eventually he muttered something about going back to Scarr’s camp to write up his scouting notes, and left. She listened for the sound of the truck engine that signified his departure, then she stretched, packed up her tools and headed up to the camp for lunch.

  That afternoon, as other afternoons, Mike worked with her on her side of the line until it was time to break for the day. She loved working with him. For some reason, her senses were more alert and she noticed more details than she did when she was alone. Perhaps it was the act of sharing those finds, because she always mentioned them to him and he responded with enthusiasm, or thoughtful insights. Or maybe it was that his warm responses never failed to send shivers of pleasure cascading through her. Whichever it was, as the days passed she found herself looking forward to the afternoon session.

  Between the long days at the dig site and the quiet evenings at the camp, she was getting a sense of the man Mike Edmonds was. He led without ordering, taught by example, was loyal to those he loved, and protective of those he considered to be under his care.

  Like her. It amused Liz to think that she had become one of Mike’s causes, but she had. He didn’t like the way Scarr and Doyle were treating her, but he couldn’t exactly go out and order them to change their attitudes. So he was ensuring she was well looked after by assisting her on her side of the excavation.

  He divided his time between the site and his business. Usually he was at the dig, working his own side of the dino in the mornings, but this morning, two weeks into the dig, he had stayed in camp to return some messages left the previous day. One in particular was interesting. Harvey Earnshaw, the lawyer negotiating the future of the dinosaur skeleton, wanted a strategy session with Mike. Liz wondered what was up and if Mike would explain the details to his crew at camp and in front of her, or if he’d do it privately at some other time.

  She shrugged the thought away and kept on working. Each evening, as she prepared for bed, she felt closer to Mike Edmonds the man, but he was still the owner of a private dinosaur excavation business and Harvey Earnshaw worked for him. She and Mike might be friends, but she wasn’t his confident, and they weren’t in a relationship where she’d expect openness.

  Whoa, stop there! She paused, stretched and grinned at nothing in particular. She didn’t think a relationship with Mike was in her future, but the attraction she’d felt from the time they met was strengthening with each day and as she came to know him better. If he asked, would she go to bed with him? She knew the answer to that, and it wasn’t no.

  She got back to work. The sun rose in the sky, the air down in the rift heated and she began to sweat. Still, she continued to work. Zac returned from his explorations, grousing about the glare of the sun and the heat. He snagged a bottle of water, then stood drinking it as he watched her work. When he finished, he announced that he was going back to Scarr’s camp to write up his findings.

  Liz moved away from her bones and nodded. She arched her back, got herself a bottle of water and said, “You had a successful morning, then?”

  Zac sent her a condescending smile. “This rift is loaded with potential.”

  Well, they agreed there. She thought most of it was down at Mike’s end, but she wasn’t going to tell Zac and by inference, Scarr, that. So far this morning, everything was going to pattern. Might as well continue on the same way. “Did Dr. Scarr say anything about sending over a couple of students to work the site with me?”

  “Al and I talk about the classifying the finds from this season. We don’t discuss staffing,” Zac said. He followed that statement with a disdainful shrug.

  Since Zac had supposedly been brought on to replace her and her job had included supervising the students working the dig, this was a bit much, but she was discovering it was typical. She drank, then said, “I guess the answer is no, then.”

  Zac shrugged again. “I’m headed back to the main camp. Is there anything you want me to tell Al?”

  Liz wanted to ask if Dr. Scarr knew Zac called him Al all the time, but all she said was, “Tell him I need a team.”

  “Yeah, sure.” Zac crumpled his bottle then walked over to the recycling can to drop it in before he headed up the path to his
truck.

  The morning dragged on, the heat increasing with each passing minute. Mike didn’t come down to the rift, and Liz was edgy without him working beside her. Still, she kept at it. She wanted her bones out before the summer dig season ended.

  When Will Laverty cleared his throat to get her attention some time later, she was ready to take a break. There was an air of suppressed excitement about him, but all he said was, “We’re heading up to the campsite to get some lunch. Are you coming?”

  Liz nodded. She stowed her tools, then tromped up the path to the surface and on to the camp. They rested while the sun was high. Liz retreated to her tent to write up notes on her morning’s work. She could hear Will talking to Maggy and Justin, then Mike’s deeper voice joined the conversation and all of a sudden her concentration was shot. Idiot, she thought, and had to force herself not to rush through her task.

  It was about three when they all headed back down into the rift. This time Mike came with them. As was usual he settled in, helping her with her neck bones. They talked about the creature they were excavating, what needed to be done next, but nothing about the telephone calls that had made him absent for most of the day. Down the rift, Will and his team worked steadily through the afternoon.

  They were all tired and Liz knew she was ready to quit for the day when Will shouted, “Mike! Come see this!”

  Mike looked at Liz and raised his eyebrows. “What’s up?” he shouted back.

  “It’s a theropod. We have proof!” Will shouted back.

  Mike was on his feet in an instant and Liz wasn’t far behind him. Will stood by the hindquarters of the dinosaur, his body tense, but there was a silly grin on his face. Maggy jumped up and down, clapping with glee. She chanted over and over, “It’s a meat-eater. We’ve got a meat-eater.” Justin was still brushing away bits of debris, as if he wanted their discovery to be perfect.

  When they reached the scene, Mike crouched down to inspect the exposed bone. The dinosaur lay on its side. The leg and hip Will had exposed was drawn up close to its chest and they could see the other leg peeking out beneath. Will touched the long bone with a gentle finger. “It’s hollow,” he said.

  Hollow bones, the hallmark of a therapod.

  He traced the top of the femur. “Body mass was toward the hip, so I think we’ve got a carnivore.”

  With the body mass centered on the hips, it meant the animal walked on two legs. They hadn’t uncovered the front legs yet, but as Liz stared wide-eyed at the skeleton, she was willing to bet they’d be short and clawed, made for savaging prey, not running on all fours. The next step was to try to classify the animal. “I think we’re looking at around seventy million years ago,” she said.

  Will nodded. “With the size of this bone and the length of the body, it’s big.”

  “T-Rex big?” Justin said, sounding hopeful.

  “Not a T-Rex,” Mike said. He was studying the bones. “A species in the Daspletosaurus genus.”

  “I’ve never heard of a Daspletosaurus,” said Maggy.

  “Daspletosaurus was a tyrannosaurid dinosaur, meaning it was a meat-eater and in the same family as the T-Rex,” Liz said. “It was a smaller creature, though, and not as well documented.”

  Mike nodded. “In fact, when it was first discovered in the nineteen twenties, it was classified as a Gorgosaurus, another predator which lived about the same time. It wasn’t until fifty years later that it was finally given its own designation.”

  “Finds of Daspletosaurus are rare,” Liz murmured, as she outlined the hip with her fingertip. “A skeleton as well preserved as this one will provide much needed information on the creature’s life.”

  “Awesome,” Justin said. His face glowed with excitement. “Maybe we’ll find some of his prey further down the rift.”

  Maggy’s eyes widened. “That would be so cool.”

  “First things first,” Mike said, smiling at his two interns. “Let’s focus on this guy and get him out of the ground.”

  Maggy and Justin looked at each other and nodded.

  Will smiled faintly. “Back to work, crew.”

  Mike shook his head. “Time enough for that tomorrow. Let’s head back to camp now and celebrate.”

  There were nods all around and they scattered to put away their tools for the day.

  Mike strolled with Liz over to her side of the line. “Now, to prove this creature is a Daspletosaurus, all we have to do is find the head.”

  His gaze settled on Liz and he smiled.

  Chapter 16

  Dinner that evening was a celebration. They were giddy with the realization that the beast they were excavating was a rare carnivore, and might even be a new species of carnivore. That thought was enticing, but they wouldn’t know until—or if—they found the head. For now it was enough to know that they were working on something special.

  For Liz this night was a stolen pleasure. Tomorrow, when Zac showed up, she would have to tell him what Will and Mike had surmised and that she agreed with them. She expected him to sneer and say they were wrong. She didn’t intend to back down, so she figured tomorrow morning would be a battle.

  Tonight, though, tonight she would let herself be happy. No, not happy, joyous. She absorbed the elation around her, let it flow through her, wrapped it around her. Lived for the moment alone.

  They ate hamburgers and drank toasts with the bottle of Scotch Mike produced from the lockbox in his truck. While they ate they speculated about the great beast, what it was, how it died. Inevitably they wondered if there were other creatures nearby, perhaps the bones of its prey, or another carnivore who had fought their animal and also died of its wounds. With the help of a couple of shots of Scotch, Maggy drew a word picture of the last days of their dino, revealing a surprisingly fertile imagination and an eye for detail that was impressive. Not to be outdone, Justin invented another scenario, while Will cheerfully critiqued them both amid much laughter.

  Darkness had fallen a long time since when Will, Justin and Maggy finally wound down and retreated to their tents. Even though she knew it would be a long day tomorrow, Liz wasn’t ready to retire yet. She said goodnight to the others, but stayed out by the campfire.

  Mike stayed with her.

  Until they found the head, the most telling part of the skeleton was the back end, Mike’s part of the dino. She could ask him what he planned to do with his section of their awesome find, but she wouldn’t do it tonight. It would bring tomorrow and the conflict of shared ownership and the possibility of argument into this quiet evening. She was still fizzing with the excitement of the find and the energy of the evening. She didn’t want to lose it.

  The thought made her shiver.

  “Are you cold?” Mike asked. His voice was low, rough with something that sounded like concern.

  Smiling, she looked over at him. What she saw made her breath catch and her smile fade.

  “I can get you a blanket, if you need it.”

  His gaze seemed to bore into her, to strip away her outer shell and expose her inner self, shivering not with cold, but awareness. “A blanket? Like the emergency blanket you got for me the night of the storm?” Her voice dropped to a lower register, and she said the words more slowly than she normally would.

  He stilled.

  She wasn’t surprised. She hadn’t deliberately added that sexy edge to her tone, but now that it was out there she was ready to own it. Now it was up to Mike. The next move was his. She wondered if he would take what she was offering.

  “Emergency blankets are warm, but they’re not particularly comfortable. I was thinking of something…softer. There’s one in my tent.” He waited a heartbeat, then two. Then he stood. “I can get it for you.”

  Liz stood too. “I’ll come with you.”

  He stared at her for a minute, then he held out his hand. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes,” she said, and took his hand.

  He didn’t use it to lead her to his tent. Instead, he pulled her to him, buried hi
s free hand in her hair and kissed her.

  His lips were firm over hers, moving sensuously, inviting her to participate. She shook her hand free of his, then wrapped her arms around his neck. Her fingers played with the hair on the back of his head while she parted her lips and let his tongue sink into her. As his tongue stroked hers, she shifted her body closer so that her breasts were pressed against the muscular strength of his chest and her hips thrust against his.

  Desire flooded through her, hot, demanding, urgent. “Michael Edmonds, if you don’t get me into your tent and under that blanket soon, I can’t be held accountable for what happens to us out here.”

  He laughed against her mouth, sound and sensation inflaming her. “Slow down, hot stuff,” he muttered, then went back to ravishing her mouth.

  She whimpered. There was no way she was going to break away from the kiss to protest verbally. Instead she let her body argue her case. She tightened her hold on him and pressed closer, until she could feel the throb of his erection making demands of its own. She moved her hips over his, showing his body hers was ready with what it wanted.

  The kiss deepened. His mouth hardened and his tongue thrust deeper. She met it with her own, fighting for dominance, inflaming them both.

  Mike was breathing heavily when he pulled out of the embrace. “Give me a minute.”

  She smiled at him and held out her hand. “Let’s walk to your tent. Slowly.”

  He stared at her, then down at her hand. “If I take your hand, I’ll take everything else you’re offering, right here.”