Forbidden. Ellen James
a difficult scenario for Dana to imagine, not difficult in the least. “Do you mind if we change the subject?” she asked. “I’d just as soon not talk about men.”
“Let’s see,” Pat went on unabashedly. “Tim, Nick, Jarrett…that only leaves Robert. A Frenchman with a beard. I don’t think I’ve ever met a more argumentative person in my life. He challenges everything I say about archaeology, always insisting on relevant facts and empirical evidence to support my ideas. He’s annoying, aggravating, pestering…. Is it any wonder that I’m so in love with the guy?”
This last statement caught Dana completely off guard. In the blink of an eye, the expression on Pat’s face had turned from cocky to defenseless, and suddenly she looked like a very young woman as she knelt there with her topographical map and large spool of string…very young and very vulnerable.
“Why, Pat. Have you told him how you feel?”
“Are you nuts?” Pat exclaimed. “The guy’s a complete mystery to me. I just can’t get a handle on him, no matter how hard I try. I don’t even know if he’s married or single. I don’t know if he’s actually French, for that matter. Wouldn’t you say his accent is a little off?”
“It seems totally natural–nothing overdone about it.”
“That’s just it,” Pat said darkly. “It’s too perfect. Everything about him is perfect…especially the beard. That really does something to me, you know–a man with a beard.” She positioned another marker in the ground and for a few moments actually seemed lost in her own thoughts. The unexpected silence was almost disconcerting as Dana picked up her clipboard again. But then a rustle came from the nearby forest and both Tim and Robert appeared.
“Speak of the devil,” Pat whispered to Dana. Then she called out to the two men in her usual strident manner. “We were just talking about you…both of you, in fact. We were compiling a dossier, so to speak.”
Robert strolled through the clearing, hands tucked casually into the pockets of his crisp khaki pants. He addressed Dana. “Pat is convinced she’ll discover some fascinating secret in all our pasts. Has she been entertaining you with her speculations?”
Dana smiled noncommittally. “You’d be surprised how much work we’ve accomplished this morning.”
“You’re discreet, Ms. Morgan–an admirable virtue.” Robert smiled back at her with a striking glimpse of charm. Dana supposed he was handsome, with his reddish hair, neatly trimmed beard and aristocratic bearing.
Tim, meanwhile, had brought along some fresh mangoes. Without saying a word, he handed the fruit to the others and then moved to sit hunch shouldered in the dirt. Tim was pale complexioned, with a bony, angular frame. There was a rawness to him, as if he hadn’t yet settled into his own body.
“We thought it was time for everyone to take a break,” Robert said, playing the part of host. “We’ve all been working hard, and it’s an exceptionally hot day.” Robert didn’t look as if the heat disturbed him in the least, however. He seemed entirely cool and composed. He even ate his mango with neatness and control, although everyone else had juice dribbling down their chin. Mangoes were notoriously messy fruit–but not for Robert, it seemed.
“What about Jarrett? And Nick?” Dana added before she could stop herself. Here she was, bringing up Nick’s name and wondering about him again.
“Haven’t you figured it out yet, Dana?” Pat said. “Nick and Jarrett are management. Head honcho and number-two honcho. The rest of us are just the hired help. Now and then they have to make that fact clear to us, so they refuse to socialize.”
“Nick perhaps likes to keep his distance,” Robert observed. “But not Jarrett. He is always amicable.”
“Why is everyone defending Jarrett today?” Pat asked. “He’s not a saint. He can be downright nasty when he chooses.”
“I haven’t seen that,” Dana said, putting in her two cents’ worth. “I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Bravo, Ms. Morgan. We don’t want to encourage Pat. She wishes to believe she is an authority on human nature.”
Pat frowned at him. “I am an observer of human nature. I see things other people miss. Take you, for instance, Robert. I can tell you’re hiding something. You want us to believe you’re some wealthy French businessman, but you won’t even say what business you’re in. If that’s not suspicious, what is?”
Robert seemed to enjoy provoking Pat, and by the looks of things he was particularly adept at it. He smiled again–an economical sort of smile, as if he didn’t believe in wasting too much amusement at one time. “I’ve asked you to believe nothing about me–you draw your own conclusions. Next you’ll accuse me of being the one who hit Jarrett over the head with a rock.”
“Well, it could have been you,” Pat argued. “I mean, you weren’t working here with me the entire morning. You went off by yourself for a while, I recall. And you didn’t tell me where you were going….”
“An obvious sign of guilt. Tell me, Pat. What would be my motive for the attack? If you are such a perspicacious observer, you will have a theory.”
“Anything’s possible.”
“I believe that is what is known as a cop-out, Pat.”
“Oh, stuff a sock in it.”
“I do so enjoy these colloquialisms of yours.”
Dana took another bite of mango, her fingers sticky with juice. She recalled what Pat had just told her about being in love with Robert and tried to picture the two of them actually getting together. Somehow that didn’t seem a likely prospect. It wasn’t just the fact that they were always at odds with each other. They looked nothing alike. Pat was pretty, but she gave a flyaway rumpled impression next to Robert’s elegance. Even her athletic build contrasted with his compactness.
At any rate, Dana felt she’d had enough of listening to the two of them. She moved over to where Tim sat in self-imposed solitude.
“How’s it going?” she asked in a conversational tone.
“Okay,” Tim muttered. He stared at his half-eaten mango as if he had neither the energy nor inclination to finish it.
“It does seem hotter than usual today, doesn’t it?” Dana remarked. “It’s a sort of closed-in feeling…as if there’s a storm pressing.”
Tim exerted himself enough to glance up at the sky. “It’s sunny.”
“Yes, but even so I think a storm is coming. I knew days like this in Missouri…. My dad always liked to joke that I could predict weather better than the weatherman.”
This elicited only a shrug. Despite Dana’s efforts to draw him out, Tim was short-winded in the extreme. It became a challenge to get anything out of him at all.
Dana wondered wryly if she was losing her touch with younger people. She’d made no headway in her attempts to befriend young Daniel so far, and now Tim resisted her endeavors.
“So–I’m from Missouri,” Dana tried again. “How about you?”
Tim gave her an indifferent glance. “Colorado.”
“Hey, Tim. Tell her about that trust fund of yours.” Pat called out this remark from nearly a dozen feet away. Evidently even distance couldn’t contain her inquisitive nature. “What a shame you can’t get at the principal,” she continued. “Then you could be vacationing in Cancún instead of sweltering away on this poor excuse of an island.”
Robert immediately began to chastise her. “You’re an incredibly nosy person, Pat. Tim’s financial status is his own concern.”
“Nosy… I’m not nosy in the least. I just like to be informed….”
As