A Hard-Hearted Man

by Melanie Craft

  Lilah sighed. “That would be practical. But you know what, Elliot? I don’t want to be practical. I want to unpack every box here and make myself believe that we’re going to stay.”

  “That may be out of our hands.”

  “Not if I can help it. I’m going to start working on the permit right away.”

  “And you might just get it. But if you don’t, Lilah, don’t take it personally. There are a lot of factors involved here, and a major one is whether we find anything significant down at the site in the next month. It’s going to be a gamble, so do what you can and hope for luck.”

  “Luck.” Lilah shook her head. “Yuck.”

  Elliot chuckled. “Well put.”

  “I mean it, Elliot. I hate depending on luck. This time there’s too much at stake. Hoping that we pick the right spots to excavate, hoping that we have enough time to find what’s out there and use it to convince the government to let us stay...it’s too iffy for me.”

  “That’s the archaeologist’s cross to bear, my dear.”

  “Maybe so, but in the meantime, I’m going to get everything set up to make use of this luck if—no, when it happens.”

  The afternoon sun was dissolving into rosy evening light by the time camp was set up. The four canvas sleeping tents and large laboratory tent were nestled in a rough circle under the overhanging shade trees, and a stone fire circle marked the center of the group. Elliot and Denise, self-proclaimed gourmet cooks, were busily putting together a dinner that involved opening a lot of cans.

  Lilah was hungry, but not so hungry that dinner felt more important than a canyon visit. After their late-morning start, there hadn’t been a spare minute to sneak away all day, and now she intended to grab her chance before it was too dark to see.

  Only a few hundred yards from camp, the thigh-high savanna grass gave way to the edge of the canyon. From there, the land sloped gently down, becoming a stretch of dry, crumbling earth dotted with tough-rooted plants.

  Moving sideways for better balance, she picked her way slowly down the slope to where the gorge leveled off onto a sandy, rocky soil floor. She wandered slowly, keeping her eyes fixed on the ground.

  The warm glow of the late-day sun brought out the rich earth tones of the pebbles scattered around her feet, and she squinted slightly as different colors and shapes caught her eye. Her trained gaze picked out an unusual stone in the mixture around her, and she squatted down to get it.

  Aha. It was a flake of chert, a smooth and very hard type of stone that came in an amazing variety of colors, from white to black to red. This piece was the same mottled gray as the tools they had already recovered from this site.

  “What did you find?” asked a voice behind her.

  Lilah jumped, startled, and lost her balance. Dirt grated into her palms as she sat back hard on the rocky ground, and she turned to see Ross Bradford walking toward her, looking amused.

  Chapter 5

  “What’s the idea of sneaking up on me like that?” Lilah stood, ignoring the hand he offered, and dusted herself off.

  Ross raised his eyebrows. “Actually, I called to you twice, but you didn’t answer. Did you find something interesting?”

  “A flake,” she said grudgingly, and offered it to him. “Here.”

  He took it, his fingers brushing lightly against hers, and Lilah bit her lip as she watched him examine the scrap of stone. The sun’s golden light picked out strands of mahogany twined into his hair, and his silvery eyes seemed to glow against his face.

  The wind gusted, hugging Ross’s shirt against his broad chest, and Lilah averted her eyes with considerable effort. There was no good reason why she should be reacting like this to a man she barely knew, and it needed to stop. Now. Ross Bradford had already brought more than enough chaos into her life.

  “I am here to work,” she said under her breath. “Work. Work.”

  “What did you say?”

  “Nothing. Look, Ross, I... wanted to thank you for your trouble in getting us these six weeks to work here.”

  “Really.”

  She frowned. “Yes.”

  “You’re not convincing, Professor.”

  Lilah exhaled sharply, annoyed that he could read her so well. “I’m trying to be polite.”

  “Be honest instead. You’re wondering why, if I can give you six weeks, can’t I give you six months? Or even three months? You’re glad for a chance to start your project, but you resent the hell out of me for dropping crumbs in your lap to make up for the loaf I stole. Am I right?”

  He was, but Lilah wasn’t prepared to admit it. “Look,” she said. “This is your ranch, to do with as you please, so obviously I have to be grateful for any crumbs you want to give me. Our priorities may be different, but—”

  “And what are my priorities?”

  Lilah’s face heated up. “I’d rather not discuss this.”

  “You still think that the reason I’m so anxious to sell the ranch is that I want to make a quick profit.”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Not since last night, you mean?”

  “Ross—”

  He held up one hand. “I could make a lot more money by selling this ranch to the industrial developers instead of to the government. But I want this land put out of the reach of those developers. Forever.” His gaze held hers as he spoke. “Money is not the issue here. Do you believe me?”

  “Does it matter whether I believe you?”

  “Yes, because I need your help. I’m taking a risk by delaying the deal, and I want to ensure that the delay doesn’t work against me.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Ross half turned, shading his eyes against the setting sun. “Ten miles to the west,” he said, “my property borders a working cattle ranch owned by a man named Jake Wyatt. He and his powerful friends have been working behind the scenes to convince the government to industrialize my land.”

  “That’s why you’re in such a hurry to sell?”

  He nodded. “I want this settled. Like I said last night, if I wait too long, I could lose the option of selling at all. The government has been known to seize land when it suits them.”

  He gave her a significant look, and continued. “Wyatt is going to see this delay as a gift from heaven. What I need is someone who can get close to him, listen to what he says about his plans and then report back to me, so I can keep one step ahead of him.”

  “Hold it right there,” Lilah said. “I get the feeling you’re talking about me, and if you are, you’d better think again. I’m an archaeologist, not an industrial spy. I came to Kenya to excavate, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Sorry, but no way.”

  “You should let me finish before you put your foot down,” Ross suggested.

  “It isn’t necessary. I can’t do it. I know you’re doing us a favor, and I’d be glad to repay you in some other way, but espionage is where I draw the line.”

  “That’s your final word, then?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “That’s too bad. I was looking forward to seeing what your group found at the site.”

  Lilah stared at him as his meaning became clear. “You can’t,” she said, appalled. “You wouldn’t refuse to let us excavate just because I won’t do this for you.”

  Ross raised his eyebrows. “Actually, I can and I would. The risk of being taken by surprise and losing my deal is too great without your help. It’s not worth it.”

  “That’s not fair! I know I said that I’d do anything to keep my site, but I didn’t expect you to take me up on it!”

  “Surprise.”

  “Oh, very funny. Look, Ross, I’m not cut out to be a spy. I get nervous, and I trip over things, and—”

  “You’re overdramatizing this,” he said. “All I want is for you to attend a few reasonably boring receptions with me and talk to Wyatt. That’s it.”

  “Go to parties with you? What else? What makes you think that this Jake Wyatt person would give me th
e time of day, much less tell me his intimate business secrets over champagne and crackers?”

  “Because Wyatt is his own biggest fan, and he loves to hear himself talk. If you steered him in the right direction, and there was enough of that champagne flowing, my guess is that he’d take it from there.”

  Lilah was silent for a moment, frowning at the ground. It was clear from the cool determination in Ross’s voice that he had no intention of backing down.

  “Fine,” she said grudgingly. “I’ll do it.”

  “I thought you would.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You don’t leave much to chance, do you?”

  “No. I take care of my own business and let other people leave theirs to chance.”

  “I try that, too, but things don’t always work out so neatly,” she said. “Trust me, I know.”

  Ross laughed suddenly, really laughed, with an open, genuine sound that enchanted her. She looked up at him, and was amazed to see that lines had crinkled up around the corners of his eyes, and his mouth had released its usual cynical curve.

  “Having your own problems with luck lately, Professor?” he asked.

  “You know it,” Lilah said. When he looked at her like that, she suddenly felt as if she were basking in a light warmer than the sun. “But at least I have six weeks to improve it.”

  “Then the price is worth it?”

  “I won’t answer that, because I don’t want to ease your conscience.”

  Amusement flickered in his eyes. “I should have known by now that you don’t take defeat graciously.”

  “Everybody tells me that,” Lilah admitted, a reluctant smile tugging at her mouth.

  The sun had dropped behind clouds massed low on the western horizon, outlining them with gold fire, and the coolness of the evening began to settle in as the shadows lengthened and melted together.

  “We should head back,” Ross said. “It’ll be dark soon.”

  Lilah nodded, and stepped forward to walk with him, matching his easy stride.

  Ross’s plan meant that she would be spending time with him, which was an unnerving thought. Something about him awakened all of her senses, made her feel more alive, as if the air around him crackled with an inexplicable electricity. It was a strange sensation, and not a completely comfortable one, but it attracted Lilah as much as it unsettled her.

  The next few days rushed by in a flurry of activity at the site. The archaeologists had been able to hire some of the ranch workers to help speed up the early excavation, but in spite of the increased pace, nothing dramatic had turned up. This was completely normal, but still a disappointment to Lilah, who had half expected wonderful things to come leaping out of the ground to greet her.

  On Friday afternoon, she was on her way back to camp for a water break in the shade of the trees when she crossed paths with Denise.

  “I was just coming to find you,” her friend exclaimed. “Some guy just came by with a message for you. He said to tell you that Mr. Bradford will pick you up tonight at eight, and that you should dress as formally as possible. Does this mean what I think it means?”

  Lilah took off her wide-brimmed straw hat and fanned herself with it.

  “I hope he knows that ‘as formally as possible’ means a sundress to me,” she said. “I came here to work, after all. Nobody warned me that I’d need my tiara.”

  “Lilah!” Denise grabbed her arm urgently. “I’m dying of curiosity. Are you going out with Ross Bradford?”

  “We’re going out, but—” Lilah began, and Denise whooped, cutting her off.

  “You have a date!”

  “No!” Lilah said quickly, feeling her face get hot in spite of the shade. “It’s not a date. I’m just going out to some embassy party in Nairobi with him, that’s all. Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “Come on, Lilah. You’re going to a party with him? Where I come from, that’s what we call a date. Now I realize that you’ve been working pretty hard lately, and maybe you’ve forgotten about stuff like that, but—”

  Lilah groaned. “I know what a date is, Denise, and believe me, this isn’t one. Among other things, the word ‘date’ means something you choose to do, and I definitely didn’t have a choice here.”

  Denise looked mystified, so Lilah explained the condition Ross had imposed on letting them stay at the site.

  “That’s amazing,” Denise exclaimed as Lilah finished. “Why don’t things like this ever happen to me? What I would do for a date with that man.”

  “I don’t have a date! This is business, nothing more. Underhanded business. Blackmail, you could call it. Anything but a date, okay?”

  Denise appraised her with a look. “Lilah, you’re weird. Maybe it is supposed to be just business, but this is a golden opportunity, can’t you see it? Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed that Ross Bradford is one very sexy man.”

  “I’ve noticed,” Lilah said.

  “So...” Denise looked expectantly at her, waiting for Lilah to provide some reason why Ross Bradford was not date material.

  Lilah shook her head. “No. No way. You don’t understand.”

  A new clarity began to dawn on her friend’s face.

  “Aha,” Denise said. “I do understand, Lilah Evans. In fact, it’s becoming crystal clear that you are protesting too much. You already like him a little, don’t you?”

  “What? Have you been listening to me?”

  “I sure have. And I know you. You’re trying to convince yourself that you’re not interested in Ross Bradford because you’re afraid that you might be falling for him.”

  “That’s not true. I’m here to work. That’s all.”

  “This is classic avoidance behavior,” Denise said.

  “I knew you should never have taken that psychology class.”

  “Lilah, you know I’m right. You haven’t had a date in six months. I know, because I set up the last one for you. That was Philip, and you said you didn’t like him because his teeth were too white.”

  “Well, they were.”

  “Too white?” Denise demanded. “What kind of person rejects a man because his teeth are too white?”

  “Me. It didn’t look normal. Every time he smiled, there was this blinding flash of—”

  “This absolutely proves my point. You’re doing everything you can to avoid ever falling in love again. Why?”

  Lilah frowned at her toes. “I’ve been busy for the past six months.”

  “Busy? Or just afraid? You know, you can’t allow Jeff the Jerk to scar you for life.”

  “I’m not scarred,” Lilah said. “I’m just a lot better at being careful. I’m never, ever getting dumped again. The next time I let myself fall in love, it’s going to be with someone so safe and devoted that he’ll be completely under my thumb and I’ll never have to worry about him walking out on me. I want a nice, boring, risk-free relationship.”

  “Loving someone is always a risk,” Denise said. “And I don’t think you can necessarily choose who you love.”

  “I can,” Lilah said grimly. “And I will.”

  “Hmm,” Denise said. “We’ll see. And in the meantime, there’s no way I’m going to let you go to an embassy party in a sundress. Not with that man. It just so happens that I brought along my favorite little black dress, and you can borrow it.”

  “You brought dress-up clothes with you?” Lilah was impressed. Denise, with her usual aplomb, was prepared for anything. “You didn’t happen to bring a parachute, in case we have to dive out of a burning plane one of these days?”

  “Do not joke,” said her friend solemnly. “And never, ever, underestimate the universal need for a little black dress. Lilah, you may be a Ph.D., but there are a lot of things I could teach you.”

  “Don’t you think I should wear my business suit?” Lilah said doubtfully. The idea of wearing a sexy dress did make it seem like a date. The suit would definitely be safer.

  “Absolutely no suit. Think about it, a boring business suit a
t a glitzy evening party? All wrong. You’d look out of place. In my dress, you’ll still stand out, but in the right way. This Jake Wyatt guy will be eating out of your hand.”

  True to her word, Denise personally took over the preparation of Lilah for the evening. The promised “little black dress” turned out to be a slim and silky sheath held up by tiny straps. It managed to combine sophistication with just the right degree of sexiness, and after seeing it, Lilah was a slave to the temptation to wear it.

  “It isn’t too short, is it?” she asked, tilting Elliot’s shaving mirror up and down to try to get an idea of how she looked.

  “Are you kidding?” Denise said, and sighed. “That dam dress doesn’t look the same on me. If I weren’t so selfish, I might give it to you. You should wear clothes like this more often.”

  Lilah grinned. “Right, to department meetings, and all those other glamorous things I do. What time is it?”

  “Almost eight.”

  “Do I have time to go for a walk?”

  “Right now? No.”

  “Not even a quick one?” Lilah smoothed the dress anxiously.

  “Nervous?”

  “A little.” Lilah laughed, but the sound was stiff. “Isn’t that dumb? It’s this spy thing, of course. That’s the only thing I could possibly have to be nervous about.”

  “Of course,” Denise said diplomatically. “Makes perfect sense to me. But you definitely don’t have time for a walk, because I hear a car coming. Your date...ahem, I mean your business meeting, is here.”

  Chapter 6

  The British Embassy was located in the lushest, most upper-class suburb of Nairobi, an area which Ross had always thought seemed more like a winding tropical road in Beverly Hills than a section of official buildings. Most of the embassies were here, housed in huge, beautiful villas which had originally been built by wealthy British colonists back in the early part of the century.

  The embassy was brightly lit and crowded that night, and guests milled around on the terrace and lawn, enjoying the cool evening air. It looked like an elegant house party, if one ignored the high-security fence and the armed soldiers who carefully checked everyone coming through the gate.