3 Book Romance Bundle: "Loving The Bull Rider" & "Cowboy Down Under" & "The Escort Next Door"
Page 14
Chapter Two
Dr. Hamilton always insisted on being called Frank. He had a very informal lecturing and tutoring style, wore Armani jeans, and was constantly cracking jokes. He was in his early forties, but clearly felt as though he were still in his twenties. He without a doubt preferred his students’ company to that of his fellow professors.
“Right folks,” he smiled, tapping his laptop with a flourish and bringing up a new image on his power point presentation. “Next time, I want to look at how some of our contemporary historians have shaped our understanding of the cultures of Rome and Greece.”
His bright eyes, filled with passion for his subject, moved over the dozen of us before casting his attention to the clock at the rear of the room. “That’s it for today though,” he declared. “Unless there are any other questions.”
There were none. Instead, the sound of light chatter filled the room along with chairs being pushed back and books being swept up. I closed my notebook, then tossed it and my pen into my bag.
“Faith, you gonna join us for coffee?” a voice from behind me asked as I straightened.
Tossing my face over my shoulder, I found Emily closing the cover of her laptop. She was a striking redhead, who was beautifully petite. I envied her delicate features, and the ease with which she always seemed to smile. It was a genuine smile, too. Not one of those ‘have a nice day’ forced grins.
“Umm,” I hesitated; about to add ‘sure’, but never got that far.
“Actually, Faith,” Frank called from the front of the room, “could I have a word? It won’t take long.”
My face twisted back in mild surprise. “Oh...OK,” I mumbled, unused to being asked to stay after a class. The last time that happened was in junior high, when I’d been caught passing a note between Jennifer Ackerman and Ben Keuther in algebra.
Seeming to note the mild alarm in my hazel eyes, he smiled. “It’s nothing to worry about,” he assured quietly.
I nodded and wandered slowly toward the small desk that held his laptop.
“We’ll be at the Courtyard,” Emily said as she walked past me and placed a light hand on my shoulder.
“Great,” I replied. “I’ll meet you there.” However, my attention was predominantly focused on Frank Hamilton as he shut down his computer, apparently waiting until we were alone to launch into whatever it was he wanted to say.
When the room was completely silent, and the door shut behind the last of my classmates, he lifted his face to mine. “By the way, I thought your paper on Caligula was really good,” he began, grinning broadly. “You raised some very interesting points.”
Rather more confused than when he first asked me to stay behind, I was completely baffled, “Oh, well…. I...Thanks.”
“Yeah, it was very insightful,” he added, slipping one hand into the pocket of his designer jeans as he perched his hip against the desk. His lively green gaze moved smoothly over my face, but I could sense that was not all he wished to say. I also gained the impression that whatever was coming next would not be quite so flattering.
“Thanks,” I said, managing not to stutter and stammer before it.
“Um,” he continued, “the reason I need to talk to you is the summer internship has been oversubscribed.”
“Oh,” I mumbled, not appreciating where this might be heading.
“The dig isn’t going to be as large as initially anticipated, so I’m not going to be able to take as many students as I’d hoped.” Still, he smiled, which threw me a curve ball. If I was one of the ones being dropped, why did he look so cheerful about it?
Running his free hand through the floppy light brown hair on his forehead, he seemed to wait for me to speak, but I had nothing to offer. And eventually, he surged on. “I’ll be letting the others know by email,” he said. “But I wanted to speak with you in person, because I know how much this meant to you.”
“Oh,” I breathed, my features a blank while he continued to grin and confuse the hell out of me.
“How much does it mean to you, Faith?” he wondered aloud.
“Err,” I fumbled. “Well, I...I was really looking forward to it.”
“Let me rephrase the question,” he chuckled. “What would you be prepared to do for it?”
“Excuse me?” I whispered, although it was obviously loud enough for him to hear.
Lifting his hand from his pocket, he reached toward me and swept a strand of hair off my cheek. “I could make sure you’re still in,” he explained, “if you wanted it badly enough.”
For a split second, I was held frozen to the spot, wondering if I’d heard him correctly and then asking myself whether I was jumping to conclusions. It only took that blink of an eye to snap to my senses, though.
Taking a deliberate and hurried step back, I placed myself out of his reach. “Are you out of your mind?” I blurted.
“Oh, come on,” he cheerfully urged. “I’m offering to do you a favor, and it could be a summer you’ll never forget, if you know what I mean.”
He had lost his grip on sanity. That was the only explanation. Some kind of midlife crisis had made him blind to how thoroughly immoral and inappropriate he was being.
“Listen Dr. Hamilton,” I stated firmly, emphasizing the more formal incarnation of his name, “I don’t know who you think you’re talking to, but I am not about to prostitute myself for an internship.”
“Woah, woah,” he hurriedly chuckled. “Who said anything about prostitution? I’m simply suggesting that there’s a way you could come on the excavation, and that you and I could have a very pleasant stay in Greece during our down time.”
“That sounds an awful lot like prostitution to me,” I snapped, taking another pace backward and moving to the door. “The answer is a resounding ‘no’, Dr. Hamilton,” I assured him firmly. “If I don’t make the cut on my merits as a student, then I don’t want to know.” Still looking at him, and hoping he could see the bald seriousness in my eyes, I reached behind me and gripped the door handle.
“You make it sound like some sleazy proposition,” he scoffed.
“Ya think?” I returned in kind.
Flinging the door open, I spun toward it and hastened out of that room as quickly as I could. For a while, as I hurried along the hallway with my heart pounding, I contemplated heading straight to the dean’s office. However, with each step, I lost zeal for the idea. It would be his word against mine. Hamilton would deny it; he might even flip it around and say that I offered myself to him in exchange for a spot on the dig. If that version of events was believed, I could permanently kiss farewell to any chance of getting on a PhD program anywhere.
By the time I pushed on a set of double-doors that took me out into the bright, spring sun, I knew that I had to keep my mouth shut. I hated the fact that I would; every instinct rebelled against it. But it was a battle I was very unlikely to win, and what I stood to lose was simply too great.
Gripping my phone from my pocket, I wrote a quick SMS to Emily, telling her only as much of the truth as was necessary. ‘Just found out I’m not on the Greek excavation. Sorry, not really in mood for coffee. See you another time.’