Page 4 of Reclaimed By His Billion-Dollar Ring

If she’d had any doubt, the glint in those dark and devastating eyes deepened, the sudden brush of his long lashes veiling it, but not before she’d read the meaning in it as clearly as she’d heard the words he’d just said.

For a second—or was it far longer than that?—she could not move. Not a muscle. Only sit there while those incredible eyes washed over her.

Marking her out...

For himself...

Out of nowhere, she could suddenly hear her own pulse, her own thudding heartbeat. Hear it and know why it was so suddenly, overpoweringly audible.

Then, breaking the moment, and breaking the look he was giving her, Georgia spoke.

‘No treasure, Nik,’ she said with a laugh. ‘Just pots. And some bronze, if we’re lucky.’

The dark, devastating gaze left Calanthe and she felt she could breathe again. Shakily, she reached for her wine, feeling the need for it.

What the hell had just happened?

She didn’t want to think about it. Wanted to make herself listen to what was being exchanged now...just stuff about the excavation.

Nik had clearly picked up on what Georgia had said. ‘Bronze? No iron, then?’

‘Maybe some,’ Dave put in. ‘But Prof says this site is likely to be on the cusp, timewise, between bronze and iron. Probably eleventh...maybe tenth century BC.’

Nik nodded. ‘OK, so post-Mycenaean, then? More Dark Ages, pre-Archaic?’

Calanthe glanced at him, open surprise in her face at the knowledge he’d just displayed. For her pains she found herself on the receiving end of another glinting look from him. He was clearly aware of her surprise, and why it was there.

But now Dave and some of the others were launching into a discussion of just when the site might prove to date from, and what the implications of its location might be.

Nik, it seemed to Calanthe, was holding his own, although he was clearly no specialist. He made some remarks about building styles and methods in use in the period, and then Calanthe heard herself speak.

‘You seem to have picked up a bit of historical knowledge by working on a modern construction site!’ She spoke lightly, as if humorously, but his response was to throw another glinting look at her.

‘No,’ he replied pointedly, ‘what knowledge I have of historical building styles and methods I’ve gained on my degree course in architecture—I did a module back in my third year on Classical Greek architecture.’

Calanthe felt her face stiffen. It had been a put-down, clear and obvious.

And I deserved it. I put him down first, implying I was surprised that he should know anything intellectual since he’s only a brickie on a building site...

She picked up her glass, knocked back a mouthful of wine as a diversion, wondering why she’d felt the need to speak as she had. Seeking to keep him ‘in his place’?

To keep him at a distance—that’s why I did it. Because...

Her glance stole to him again. She heard him laugh at something one of the others had said, his dark head thrown back, his smile open and ready, displaying strong white teeth and carving lines around his mouth, crinkling his eyes.

Calanthe felt her breath catch. He really was the most incredible-looking guy... With a sigh of defeat, she admitted it.

Georgia had turned away, diverted by Dave, and Calanthe leant forward, leaning her elbows on the table, wine glass in her hand, sipping from it, giving in to what she wanted to do. Just sit there and gaze at him...

After all, why not let herself gaze at him? Admit how gorgeous he was?

It was harmless enough, wasn’t it?

Quite harmless...

Athens: the present

Harmless...

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