I frowned. “Then why does he get to decide that the excavation’s cancelled?”

“Why did he decide that?”

“I don’t know. I know there’s some sort of family estrangement, but to stop it a month before the start date—to tell all the diggers and archaeologists and suppliers it would no longer happen after months of work... I don’t know. It didn’t really seem fair.”

Lauren’s poker face wasn’t as good as her brother’s, and I could see the unease in the furrow of her brows. “He cancelled the excavation? But—then why are you here?”

I shrugged. “I had the flight. My professor works here. And even if I can’t dig, maybe I can learn something from old records or by surveying the land in person.”

She nodded, her frown an exact mimic of her brother’s expression. “That’s weird.”

“That’s what I thought.”

We sat in silence for a moment, and then Lauren shook herself. “Well, I have no idea.”

“It’s okay. Anyway, I must still have jetlag. I should head up to bed.”

So we said our goodnights, but when I reached my door, I stopped, and turned to the one that faced it. It was just past ten, a little too late to go knocking on people’s doors.

Despite that, my hand reached out and tapped just below the dove decal on Number 12.

Mike’s door swung inward almost immediately. His eyes sparkled. “This is getting to be habit.”

Somewhere deep inside me, tendrils of heat uncurled and warmed my whole body. “Can I come in?”

He slowly stepped back and pulled the door open in clear invitation.

My arm brushed his as I entered. I felt the touch with the sharpness of an electric shock—except this awareness felt good, exciting. Still, I felt almost shy as he closed the door, and the room seemed to fill with possibilities.

I sat back in the mint green armchair. My tongue darted out and wet my lips, and his eyes fell to them. I swallowed, and his gaze traced my throat.

And then I broke the mood by saying, “I talked to your sister today.”

His expression cleared. “Which one?”

“Lauren.” I paused. Now that I’d opened the conversation I didn’t know where to take it. “About, uh, about Kilkarten.”

He groaned. “Seriously?”

“It just sort of came up.” I licked my lips nervously. “It kind of occurred to me that all three of you siblings own the land.”

“So?”

“So... Why didn’t you discuss it with them?”

“Look, all three of us need to sign for you to excavate there. Since I already knew I wouldn’t, it was a moot point.”

“Yeah, but... There are two of them.”

“This isn’t a democracy.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Do they know that?”

He took a step closer to me. “What are you doing here, Natalie?”

I had to crane my neck back to see his face. “What do you mean?”

“You did knock on my door. Was it to try to change my mind about Kilkarten?”

My breath came short and fast. “I wanted to talk.”

“You talked. Now what?” He braced himself against the armchair’s wings and angled his upper body toward mine. “Are you going to tell me that you should go?”

My mind blanked and I could barely consider his last words. Instead of thoughts, emotions filled me, warmth and want and joy, so powerful they drowned everything else out. I curled my legs beneath me so I could rise to meet him. He slid his hand around the back of my neck, leaned down and kissed me.

I wrapped my arms around him and leaned up into the kiss. He was warm and bright and untamed, and heat unfurled deep in my belly, spreading like wildfire all through my body. It consumed me, urged me closer to him, striking up a conflagration of desire that would destroy us both.

Which was why I had to draw back. I braced my hands against his chest and looked down. My breath came hard and fast from two sources of adrenaline. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

He lifted my chin and kissed my jawline. His breath sent shivers down my spine. “It’s a great idea.”

It was very hard to think with those warm, large hands slipping under my shirt and caressing my waist. Calloused finger pads dragged over sensitive skin. I sucked in a deep breath as his thumb stroked under my belly button. “Mike.” A shudder of pleasure shook me, and then I drew back. “I’m just not sure...because of Kilkarten.”

Now he drew away. “Why are we still talking about this?”

I shifted. “I don’t know. What if something changes?”

“What do you mean, ‘something’? Nothing’s changing. You’re not digging there.” His expression shifted to horror. “Wait, you don’t think that if you slept with me I’d let you excavate—”

“No!” I broke in, hot with embarrassment. He kept staring at me like I’d honestly just offered to prostitute myself. “No, I told you. I talked to your sisters, and they seem in favor of the excavation.”

“And I told you, this isn’t a democracy.”

I shrugged. “I just don’t want to make things messy.”

He lifted my chin. “Hey. Do you like me?”

I nodded as much as I could with his hand holding my head up.

“Good. Because I like you. So why can’t we just focus on that?”

“Because things don’t exist in a vacuum.”

“Can’t we say this room does?”

His eyes were so warm, so pleading, and filled with such heart that I had to close my own to shut them out. But deprived of one sense made me all too aware of the others, of his fingers slowly stroking my jaw, of his scent enveloping me. My body wanted to wrap around his. So, I was afraid, did part of my heart.

My brain was another story. “I should—”

“I know.” He withdrew, and the air around me went cold.

And then I left.

I spent the next morning talking with some neighbors that Maggie O’Connor had sent me pointers to, people whose farms bordered Kilkarten. They were lovely, interesting people, with wonderful stories, none of which included finding Iron Age artifacts on their lands—or even hearing any rumors about ancient Ireland.

I’d just wrapped up my last interview when Mike ducked his head into the library, where I’d been holding them. His brow looked tense. “There you are. Up for a run?”

“Now?”

“Now,” he said shortly. “I’ll be warming up outside until you’re ready.”

My brows rose at his curtness, but I headed for my room. It only took a few minutes before I was back downstairs, hair up in a ponytail, my Archaeologists Do It in the Dirt shirt pulled on. That made Mike groan. “Now you’re just taunting me.”

“It’s a very comfortable shirt.” I did one or two hamstring stretches before he kicked off. After a startled second I caught up to him. “Oh, hey. Thanks for waiting for me to warm up.”

“No problem.”

His strides were longer than mine, but he held back enough that I could keep up without dying. I rarely ran with other people, since I usually used the time to work through whatever issue I was dealing with, but I liked running with Mike. I liked the way our legs and breathing aligned, and how I could glance over and see his strong profile and the fine sheen on his skin whenever I wanted. I could’ve looked forever, if I wasn’t afraid of tripping.

We hit the coastal path and turned north. Stone stairs cut into the rising land, which fell away beside us in a sharp drop to the sea. Instead of the fields and long grasses to the south, we hit bushes heavy with yellow and orange flowers. They mixed with the sea air, making the oxygen fresh and bright.

The stairs brought us to a winding path at the edge of a cliff. It was barely wide enough for two abreast, and wound and bumped too much for a flat out run. Prickly yellow bushes crowded us on one side and short trees with wide leaves lined the other. I ducked my head under a low hanging branch.

When we started up a hill, I slowed. He came up beside me as our rate decreased, until we finally topped the crest and stopped by mutual agreement. Yellow flowers spread out on three sides, the blue above us skewing into gray over the water. My breaths came long and deep, and I could taste the wind in the back of my throat. I leaned my head toward the sky, cracking my shoulders as I raised my arm and circled my neck, and then fell into my stretches. “Okay. What’s up?”