Her Greek Doctor's Proposal (12 page)

The one they’d died trying to find.

Laurel gave her head another forceful shake and stepped into a jewelry store, wanting to rid herself of thoughts of death and tragedy, of failure and unfinished dreams. At the back of the store, she peered into one of the many open cases of jewelry. A silver necklace reminded her of the one she wore at that moment—the necklace her sisters had given her for her birthday a few years back.

She reached up to grasp it in her hand, glad to have something to think about that made her smile. The three of them had made a massive birthday cake for her, one that ended up flat on
one side and such an ugly deep blue they’d all laughed themselves silly over it. But it had tasted good, and it had been a wonderful evening of sisterly togetherness. A lovely memory among so many special moments the four of them had had over the years. A lovely memory among some that were not quite so great. Memories of all the times she’d despaired over her lack of maturity and skill trying to raise them.

A pair of earrings caught her eye and she picked them up, wanting to look more closely at the silver swirls that curled around the stones, thinking they seemed similar to an ancient pattern on a bracelet they’d unearthed at the dig.

“Moonstones help protect you during your travels, I’ve heard,” a deep voice said next to her ear. “Maybe you should get those earrings, since you’ll be moving on soon.”

She turned to see Andros behind her, but of course she’d known it was him. Even if she hadn’t recognized his voice, every nerve in her body had, tingling and quivery and instantly alert to his nearness. Just as they had been earlier in Kastorini, when flirting with him had been so much fun, even as she’d told herself she shouldn’t. When touching and kissing him had been at the forefront of her mind even as she’d been fascinated by the history of the place.

“What are you doing here?”

“Hoping to find you. Wondered if the media had harassed you anymore.”

“Thankfully, no. And I don’t need the moonstones quite yet.”

“I thought maybe that had changed. That maybe you’d be closing down the dig sooner rather than later.”

“Why would I?” She stared into his eyes, dark and serious, with a touch of something else. Puzzlement? Frustration? “I’m here until the funding ends and the university tells me I have to leave.”

“Do you really want to have to deal with all the media questions now? They might not have followed you here tonight, but I promise they’ll be up on the mountain, hounding you.”

“I can handle it. I’m not afraid of them. Speaking of which, while I appreciate the gesture, I didn’t need you to rescue me today.” Didn’t need it, maybe, but hoped he didn’t know how much she’d been glad of it.

“I know you didn’t. Just didn’t want him scaring Cassie.”

The way his lips curved showed that was a lie, and that he probably knew she’d been lying too. She found herself smiling back. “Got to admit, he was pretty scary.”

“I do have one question.”

“That sounds ominous.”

“Why? Why don’t you just be done with it,
so you don’t have to worry about whether the illness has to do with the dig or worry about the damned reporters swarming around?” His hands moved to cup her face, tilting it up as he moved closer, practically torso to torso. “Surely after five years of excavating here, it can’t matter much one way or the other if you close it down now or two weeks from now.”

“We don’t know what amazing artifact we still might find, just like we don’t know anything about Mel and Tom and John and why they got sick. I…okay, I can’t deny it worries me. But since we don’t know if it had anything to do with the dig, I can’t justify completely closing it.”

He just kept staring at her, and, despite the unsettling, irksome conversation, Laurel found she couldn’t move away from his touch. From the heat of his chest so close to hers. Couldn’t stop her gaze from slipping from his eyes to the oh-so-sensual shape of his lips and back. What was it about this man that shook up her libido so completely?

“Until I met you, I’d always figured archaeologists to be easygoing, steady academics who analyzed facts,” he said.

“And the facts are…?”

“Three sick people with similar symptoms. Cause unknown.”

“Those are pretty vague facts, if you could
even call them that. I wouldn’t have a chance at any kind of grant if I told them a dig site was kind of like another dig site, but I didn’t really have any idea what might be found there or why.”

His lips curved slightly again as he shook his head. “Who knew your head was as hard as the rocks you’ve unearthed?”

“Is that a compliment?”

The smile spread to his eyes, banishing the deep seriousness, and Laurel found herself relaxing and smiling too, in spite of everything. She didn’t want to have to defend herself and her decisions and her goals to anyone, least of all this man she couldn’t deny sent a zing with a capital Z through every part of her body whenever he was near.

Like now. Very, very near.

His lips touched her forehead, lingered, and, surprised at the deep pleasure she felt from just that simple touch, Laurel let her eyes drift closed until he dropped his hands and drew back. “If you won’t listen to logic, at least let me buy you the earrings. Maybe they’ll help you remember Delphi, and keep you safe on your travels into that damned cave.”

“Not a good idea.”

“Why? You afraid I’ll expect a thank-you kiss?”

His expression was teasing and serious at the
same time, and at his mention of a kiss Laurel’s gaze dropped right to his mouth. She wasn’t sure she should tell him about moonstone lore, but just as she decided that would be a bad idea the words came out in a near whisper. “Because for thousands of years, people have believed moonstones are a channel for passion and love from the giver to the receiver. A talisman for secret love. Carnal love. Can’t risk igniting the power of a moonstone, can we?”

The scorching blaze that instantly filled his eyes weakened her knees, so it was a good thing his strong hands grasped the sides of her waist, pulling her flush against him. Everything about him seemed hot—that look in his eyes, the breath feathering across her lips, every inch of his body touching hers.

“I don’t know. Can we? Seems like something’s ignited even without the stones.”

Whew, boy. Her body answered,
Oh, yes, we can, and right now, please
, while her brain tried not to short-circuit any more than it already was. She opened her mouth to say something—what, she wasn’t sure—when she realized the shopkeeper had come to stand next to them.

“Welcome, welcome. May I assist you?” he said in a loud, robust voice. “Would you like a price for one or more of our fine pieces of jewelry?”

They both turned, and Andros dropped his hands from her. She should have welcomed the interruption to help her gather her wits, but really wanted to tell the guy to go away so they could get back to the steamy conversation that made her breathless. “No, thank you,” she said. “I was just looking.”

“Mister? Surely you wish to buy the beautiful miss something as beautiful as she is. At the best prices, you understand.”

“We’re still deciding if it’s worth the risk. Thanks anyway,” Andros said, his lips quirking as he looked at her, but that barely contained blaze that still smoldered in his eyes had her quivering all over again.

The man looked perplexed at Andros’s answer, and kept peppering them with questions and various offers as they made their way out of the store, shouting after them to be sure to return for ‘the better price’ than the original ones he’d been offering.

Andros’s arm was around her back, her waist again cupped in his hand as they walked to the darkest end of the street. It curved around in a U-turn to the adjacent street full of more tavernas and shops, but Andros stopped next to a stone retaining wall, beneath tall, arching shrubs that grew from behind it.

He pulled her into his arms, flashing a smile that practically lit up the dark corner he’d finagled them to. “It’s not helping, you know.”

She had a pretty good idea what he was talking about, but said instead, “What’s not helping?”

She could feel his hands splay open on her back, pressing her close, as his warm mouth touched her cheek, moved over to her ear, giving it a tiny lick. “Not having the moonstone. Don’t need that to feel a powerful desire for you. To want to share some passion with you. I’ve been fighting it since the second I met you, but it’s been a losing battle.”

The low rumble of his voice, along with the little kisses he kept placing against her ear, her neck, her cheek, managed to narrow her entire universe down to those singular sensations. She let her hands slip up his wide chest, outlining his hard pectorals as she went, gratified to feel his muscles twitch and bunch beneath her touch.

She turned her face to give him access to her other cheek, because she liked the breathless feeling it gave her and wanted more of it. Apparently amused at that, he chuckled as he softly kissed every inch of sensitive skin on that side as well.

“I don’t have time to…to get involved with you.” Proud of herself that she’d managed to remember
that, she tipped her head back as his tongue explored the hollow of her throat.

“I know. And I can’t risk getting involved with you.”

“Risk?” Risk? What did that mean?

“Never mind.” His mouth moved in a shivery path up her throat until it was soft against her lips. “This isn’t involvement, right? Just friendship.”

That startled a little laugh out of her, and she felt his lips smile against hers. “Yes. Friendship with benefits.”

And then he kissed her for real. Softly at first, then harder and deeper. Dizzy from the pleasure, she moved her hands up from his chest to cling to his shoulders. There were some firm, taut muscles right there, perfectly placed for her to hold on to so she could stay on her feet and not melt into a small hot puddle on the still-steamy blacktop.

One wide hand slid farther up her back to gently cup her nape, his warm fingers slipping into the hair against her scalp that had loosened a bit from her ponytail. She thought her heart might pound right out of her chest at the thrilling barrage of every sensation he’d managed to make her feel in a matter of minutes—hot, weak, strong and slightly delirious.

A sound of need came from one of them, a
little moan from one moist mouth to the other, with an answering gasp in return. The kiss got a little wilder as he pressed her so close, she felt her body mold completely with his. In the foggy recesses of her brain, a bizarrely wild sound filled her ears, and for a moment she feared it had come from her. Then realized with relief that it hadn’t, that, somehow, they were surrounded by a cacophony of cat meows.

Andros seemed unaffected, kissing her with a single-minded focus that weakened her knees all over again, until the crescendo of sound was so distracting, she was finally able to break the kiss to look around.

“What in the world is that?”

His eyes, glittering through the darkness, met hers with heat and humor. When he answered, the sound was breathless and amused. “Feral cats. They’re everywhere in Greece. Haven’t you noticed?”

“They’ve stared at us and walked around while we ate dinner on the outdoor patios here, but I guess I didn’t realize. Thought they were pets of the owners.” Still caught close in his arms, she turned to the tangle of shrubs next to them, astonished to see a nearly uncountable number of eyes staring at them luminously through the darkness. Big, small, up close and hiding deeper
in the greenery; she couldn’t imagine how many there must be.

“Greeks have a love of animals. And also can turn a blind eye to their needs sometimes as well, unfortunately. But many do feed the strays, when they can.” He loosened his hold on her to dig something from his pocket, tossing it to the cats, then tossing more of it deeper into the thicket. The mad scramble that ensued made Laurel’s heart hurt for the poor hungry creatures.

“Are they never neutered?”

“Just by a few of us. Our secret, though.”

She looked up at him, so impressed at his caring. At his warmth, which he’d now shown her extended to all creatures, great and small. “Our secret. Though I didn’t know you had surgical skills, too.”

“I have many mad skills you don’t know about.” Their eyes met and held, and it was all there, swirling between them. The intimate smiles, the banked-down heat, the connection that made her feel as if she knew the man so much better than she possibly could after only days.

Had she ever felt such a strange, sensual connection with any other man? As soon as the question came, she knew the answer.

Never.

“It’s good that you help little creatures. Back at home, we—”

The harsh ring of his phone made them both jump. The instant he looked at its screen, a deep frown replaced every bit of the heat and humor that had been there before.

“Ah, hell.” His gaze lasered in on hers for a moment before he took a few strides away to answer. “Di. What’s the matter?”

The second she heard who it was, her gut clenched. The man wouldn’t be calling on a Sunday night to catch up on the weather.

Her breath seemed to completely stop, and her hands went cold as she watched his expression get grimmer with each passing second. Finally he turned to her, and she found herself praying.

“Andros. Please don’t tell me…Mel and Tom…” She gulped, not able to finish the sentence.

He reached for her hands and held them tight. “It’s John. They’re doing everything they can, but Di felt we should know. He’s taken a turn for the worse.”

“J
OHN IS SICKER
?”

The blue eyes staring up at him were wide and worried. Her hands had tightened on his so hard, her short nails dug into his skin. “The breathing machine is having trouble compensating for the pneumonia in his lungs, getting him enough oxygen. But they’re giving him the best care they can.” He’d known John’s condition was becoming more precarious but hadn’t seen any reason to alarm her more than necessary.

“What about Mel and Tom?”

“They’re getting better every day.” He stroked her back, hoping to soothe. “They’re going to be fine, and hopefully John will come around too.”