Digging Deep (Xcite Romance) (8 page)

The conversation in the hut had stopped.

A minute passed.

Nobody moved.

Nobody spoke.

Then Beth felt her insides somersault as Ryan licked the finger he’d obviously been paddling in the juices escaping from Candida’s channel. ‘You taste delicious. Shame I won’t be getting my mouth between your legs for a proper feast. Still, as I say, it’s your choice.’ He came back to Candida’s head. ‘I guess I’ll just bring myself off then. Shame.’

‘Wait!’ A long sigh issued from Candida’s lips. ‘You know I could have got out of here ages ago, don’t you?’

‘Yes, but you are still here. And you let me tie you and bind your eyes.’ Ryan sat down again, his hand lifting her chin.

‘Why do you think I let you?’ Candida’s voice was faint, the edge that could take varnish off woodwork gone.

‘I assumed you hoped I’d leave and Dr Harris would find you. I’ve seen the way you look at him sometimes.’

‘No!’ Candida sounded genuinely indignant, hesitating only slightly before adding, ‘It’s because this is what I like.’

Ryan snorted out a sharp laugh, ‘A submissive? You? Now that I hadn’t seen coming.’

‘Linda saw it, though. Linda sees everything. I swear the woman has extra-sensory perception.’

‘I think she’s just a nosy bitch who is frighteningly ambitious, but you may be right. So this is what you want Harrison to do to you?’

‘Not any more, not since Linda told me she was his girlfriend.’

‘Linda and Dr Harris? Blimey!’ Ryan stroked her hair as it shrouded her shoulders. ‘Well, honey, if he ever did have designs on you, you siding with the slanderous Linda will have killed that off. I assume she fully believes that you and Harrison are an item?’

‘Yes. And that’s the problem.’

Ryan lifted Candida’s chin and kissed her full on the mouth, before drawing back. ‘I don’t understand you. You’re smart, cute, and from what I’ve seen when you do work, you’re a good archaeologist. Why waste your time being such a bitch to Beth?’

‘Linda. When I was here before, well, I had sort of made it known that I liked Dr Harris – and that we, um, went out and stuff. She totally bought my stupid claims about having a fling with him, and of course she knows my father.’

‘Your father?’

‘He’s loaded, and old-fashioned and, worst of all, he funds this dig. Linda threatened to tell him that I was sleeping with Dr Harris if I didn’t rubbish Beth. Dad would have gone crazy and taken me off the course. He’d also have stopped funding the excavation.’

Ryan let out a whistle of understanding. ‘So Linda was blackmailing you with your own lies. And I guess if you suddenly admitted you’d lied about having a relationship with Dr Harris after you’d spent so long saying you had, hardly anyone would believe you, and you’d look a fool into the bargain.

‘But if Linda told your father, who presumably would have tried to kill Harrison as well as withdrawing the funding for this excavation, the scandal would have been huge, and Harrison would have lost his job? Wow! Complicated! That Linda is a piece of work!’

‘I’ve been an idiot.’

‘Yes, you have, especially as there are plenty of younger men who’d be quite happy to give you exactly what you’re after.’ Ryan kissed her again, ripping off Candida’s shirt blindfold. ‘Although not many of us would be prepared to take the time to see if you were a nicer person than you pretend to be!’

‘Would you?’ The hope in Candida’s voice made Beth feel sorry for her for the first time. She’d been naive and manipulated by Linda, just like Harrison before her.

‘Are you sorry for what you did to Dr Andrews?’

‘Linda told me that Beth had a history of seducing her male students. She said I wasn’t to be conned by her sweeter than sweet look. When I saw her in your lap after the snake scared her, it looked as if what Linda had said was true.’

‘What a load of crap! Beth’s a bit of a flirt sometimes, but only in fun. Seems Linda just wanted to make ultra-sure you didn’t like her. God knows why, though.’ Ryan planted another kiss on Candida’s lips, ‘Will you say sorry to Beth?’

‘Linda thinks Dr Andrews is too good at her job for her liking. You can guess the rest.’ Candida shut her eyes for a second, before opening them wide, their blue irises shining. ‘And yes, I’ll say sorry.’

‘Then in answer to your earlier question, yes, I would like to find out how nice you really are.’ Ryan began to undo the ties at Candida’s feet and hands. ‘Get yourself dressed. Apologise to the bosses. Act like the decent human being I’m sure you are underneath, and I promise that, if you want me to, I’ll treat you exactly like the naughty little girl you are very soon. But first, I’d like to get to know you better. Dinner in Sousse on our day off?’

Beth and Harrison silently walked a few paces away from the hut. For once, it wasn’t just Beth’s complexion that was pale.

She was about to break the silence when Harrison wrapped her in his arms, the tension that had been caused by Linda’s manipulations sliding from his shoulders as he bought his lips to hers.

Lost in his kiss, her hands wove up inside his T-shirt, sighing in surprise at the unexpected spring of his lightly haired chest.

A sudden vibrating from his cell phone made Harrison hurriedly step back.

It seemed it had been Ryan and not Candida who’d broken the no mobiles on site rule. He’d sent Harrison a text.

You can both come in now. 

Chapter Eight

‘Candida has something she’d like to say to you.’

‘She isn’t a child, Ryan.’ Harrison shot the Welshman a warning glance as he surveyed the interior of the hut. A pile of field-walking equipment and tangled tape measures was heaped on the grubby floor. ‘She can say sorry all on her own. In the meanwhile, perhaps you could both explain how you’re going to get a whole day’s work done in one afternoon?’

Beth’s eyebrow’s rose. In her desperation to find out what had been behind Candida’s malicious lies, not to mention her pussy’s constant reminders that she felt as horny as hell, she’d temporarily forgotten about the work they were supposed to be doing. Glancing at her watch, she saw it was almost one o’clock. The other students would be wondering where on earth they’d got to.

Candida, her usual haughty disposition somewhat diminished, stood with as much dignity as she could muster. ‘You were watching?’

Harrison virtually growled, ‘Neither of you was where you should have been. We were worried that something had happened to you.’

Beth didn’t trust herself to speak. The image of the American on her hands and knees remained vivid in her head, and the seat of her own panties was sodden with the prospect of what might happen when she and Harrison were finally alone. The kiss she’d exchanged with her co-supervisor lingered like a future promise on her lips, helping to absolve the adolescent mistakes of the young woman before them. Suddenly, they just didn’t seem worth the worry they’d caused.

‘How dare …’

‘Candida!’ Harrison cut across her, his entire body bridling with barely suppressed irritation. ‘Don’t you even
think
about judging us. We had no choice but to watch if we wanted to learn who you’ve been spreading lies about Beth to.’

His student took a step back in surprise at Harrison’s rarely unleashed fury, her hand going out to Ryan’s for support. Ryan took it, but his eyes never left Beth, who stared back at him, searching her student’s features for some sort of comprehension as to why he’d been so keen to defend her honour in the first place, and in such an elaborate way.

Candida’s voice ricocheted off the thin walls at full volume. ‘What? I could report you! You – you saw me … Like that!’

‘For heaven’s sake, Candida!’ Harrison snapped. ‘The entire campus of Colorado thinks I’ve already seen you like that, thanks to your rumours! What you’ve done to me is bad enough – I mean, what other university would touch me now, thinking I was having an inappropriate relationship with one of my students – but I’ll be damned if you’re going to do the same thing to Beth.’

Candida, knowing she was in the wrong, reverted to her more familiar scolded child look. ‘Students do go out with lecturers sometimes,’ she pouted.

‘Yes, but they do
not
shout it from the rooftops.’ Harrison ripped his Stetson from his head. ‘Don’t you see, Candida? University rules are very clear. Relationships between students and staff are severely disapproved of. If it does happen, then the lecturer is pointedly advised to seek work elsewhere. The only reason I kept my job, after all your lies, is that the Vice-Chancellor is a friend of mine, and doesn’t believe a word of it. Plus, of course, he didn’t want to upset your father. Money, I am reluctant to say, talks!’

Candida’s tanned cheeks shone a brighter red, and her mouth opened and closed like a goldfish gasping for air, as Harrison asked, ‘Why didn’t you simply tell us the truth about Linda? About the blackmail? I would have helped you!’

Beth could almost feel the adrenalin pumping through Harrison’s veins as he fought to regain his usual quiet state. He gestured to Ryan with his head. ‘Unlike this young man here, I am not your type, Candida. You must have realised that, surely? I don’t have so much of an inflated ego to believe that your crush on me could have lasted for more than a week or two.’

Candida reddened further as she confessed, ‘I did like you. A lot. For over a year, actually. And I really wanted us to – you know. But by the time we got here again, and I saw you getting on so well with Beth, I realised it had worn off. But the rumours I’d begun got out of hand, and of course Linda had picked up on the site gossip last year. She was livid. I hadn’t realised she was with you at the time.’

‘So –’ Beth took a sip from her water bottle ‘– Linda stored up your lies until they could be useful to her. I presume she told you that your father would be informed of your slutty behaviour if you didn’t blacken my name.’

Tears prickled at the corner of Candida’s eye, and she sniffed quietly. ‘Linda called me three weeks ago. She said that …’

‘Linda! Always freakin’ Linda.’ Harrison’s roar cut through Candida’s explanation. He addressed Beth. ‘No wonder she referred to you as the “one to watch”, doll. I didn’t think she meant like this! She’s a fuckin’ maniac!’

‘It’s OK.’ Beth flipped his hat out of his hand and stuck it back on his head.

‘How on earth is this OK, doll?’

Beth raised herself onto her tiptoes and kissed the end of Harrison’s nose, no longer caring that they were being observed. ‘Because Linda just lost all her power.’

Candida’s forehead wrinkled. ‘How?’

‘You are going to tell Linda that your father already knows about your now extinct obsession with Dr Harris, and that she forced you to use it as insurance against him ever revealing how she manipulated him to fast-track her own position. If you need to, you can say that you also intend to tell him that you’ve been rubbishing my name because she sees me as a rival to her own supremacy.’

Far from convinced, Candida added, ‘Why would Linda believe me? And my father would go nuts!’

Beth smiled, finally seeing how absurdly complicated they’d all made this situation. ‘Your father won’t know.’

‘But …?’

‘For supposedly intelligent people, we haven’t half been stupid here! Listen.’ Beth held up her hand for silence. ‘Now Linda has finished using Harrison as her gullible ladder to success –’ Seeing Harrison wince, she added as an aside, ‘Sorry, hon, but you were gullible. We are just left with her insecurities surrounding my rise through the university’s ranks. A rise that exists only in her head.’

Beth sighed as Candida looked blank. ‘Candida, if you hadn’t noticed, you are 22 years old! You don’t need parental permission to live your life. Plus, this dig only has one more season left. Neither Wales nor Colorado Uni are going let the work that’s already been done go to waste if your father decides to pull the plug on the funding. Which he won’t, by the way, ’cos Linda will
never
tell him anything.’

‘You sound very sure.’ Ryan, his eyes shrewd, tilted his head to one side as he listened to his supervisor.

‘All Candida has to do is tell Linda that her father knows everything anyway. Linda is hardly going to call him to ask, is she?’

Harrison laughed. ‘I can picture it now!’ Adopting a terrible high-pitched English accent, he tried to sound like his ex. ‘Good day, Mr Harker, I was just checking to see if you’d heard how I conned Dr Harris and blackmailed your daughter?’

Candida was still unconvinced. ‘I’m not sure I can talk to Linda. I’d crack under cross-examination!’

Ryan wrapped an arm around her waist. ‘I could. Linda doesn’t worry me, and as I have no plans to do any of her courses, she won’t have any influence over my final degree mark.’

Beth nodded. ‘You could, thanks, Ryan. First, though, can I ask why you set Candida up like that? In that way, I mean? You could have just asked her outright what she was playing at.’

‘You mean apart from the fact I fancy the pants off her?’

‘Apart from that.’

‘Isn’t it obvious?’

‘No.’ Harrison and Beth spoke in unison, impatient for an answer.

‘Candida’s not exactly quiet. I overheard her on the phone to Linda. And what I learnt didn’t square with the sort of things the nice American girl I’d got to know on site over the past week would say.’

Harrison nodded. ‘The same call I overheard about you and Beth on the roof and your bet?’

‘No.’ Ryan grimaced. ‘I did hear that call, but it was an earlier one that made me suspicious. I wanted to know why this cute Yank was rubbishing my boss in such a nasty way. I knew it was Linda at the other end. I could hear her shouting down the phone. That’s when I decided to discover exactly what Candida was reporting to Linda by telling her I’d broken the mosaic in order to trick a fuck out of Dr Andrews. To make sure Candida fell for my lie, I made sure she heard me make a fake call.

‘I kept an eye on Candida after that. Then I saw her making a call to Linda in the garden too. If I’d seen you, Dr Harris, I would have spoken to you sooner.’ Ryan focused on Candida’s deathly white face as he spoke, his eyes trying to reassure her that everything was OK now. ‘I knew she was talking a load of crap about Beth better than anyone. I’m darn sure I’d remember if someone as gorgeous as Beth decided to seduce me. I didn’t like the idea of other people hearing such gossip. And anyway, after breaking the mosaic I figured I owed her big time.’

Ryan addressed Harrison. ‘I’m sorry about the mosaic. It really was an accident. I was being a prat. I’ve been trying to make it up to Beth ever since.’

Surprised at the strength of his relief that Ryan hadn’t broken the mosaic as a backhanded way of getting into his supervisor’s knickers, Harrison nodded.

‘Apology accepted, Ryan. Although I would advise choosing a simpler way of making amends next time!’ Taking hold of Beth’s hands, he smiled. ‘Well then, I guess we should all get back to work, unless you have any other bright ideas, doll?’

Grinning up at him, her eyes gleaming with kinky promise, Beth answered, ‘I have lots of ideas, actually, but let’s get this sorted once and for all first!’

Trying to ignore the effect Beth’s flirting had on his body; Harrison said nothing as she took out her phone. ‘Here you go, Ryan. This is Linda’s direct office number. Call her.’