Out of the Ashes (19 page)

He tilted his head to the side, and the slight movement blocked out the morning sun in the sky behind him, creating the effect of a glowing halo around his handsome face. But she reminded herself that he was no angel. He was a spy.

She stepped back, needing to put some space between them, and tripped over the forgotten shovel David had thrown in anger yesterday. Her arms spun around, grasping for balance in the air as she felt herself falling. He reached out to grab her, but her feet tangled with his, and they both crashed to the ground.

David raised himself up on his arms above her, concern evident as his eyes flicked over her face.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, except for the fact that I have a shovel digging into my back, and you weigh a ton on top of me.”

A slow grin crept across his face, the boyish charm he flashed sending her heartbeat into double-time. He reached beneath her and eased the shovel handle out from under the small of her back. After tossing it to the side, he looked back down at her, his upper body hovering over her with his arms braced on either side of her face.

“Better?”

“You’re still on top of me.”

The grin slowly faded. “So I noticed.”

His eyes mesmerized her as they darkened, the pupils dilating to nearly engulf the brown ring encircling them. She couldn’t find the will to look away. He bent his arms, lowering the upper part of his body down onto hers, pressing her into the dirt. He dipped his head, and it took everything in Sera not to lick her lips in anticipation.

Oh, God. He couldn’t possibly want to kiss me. Not here. Not now. Not after everything that’s happened.

“David, no. You shouldn’t. We can’t.”

“I know.” He touched his forehead to hers, his breath falling across her lips like a lover’s kiss. “God, Sera. I tried. I tried so hard to stay away from you. To keep my distance. To not get involved. But I couldn’t. Something always kept drawing me to you. It still does.”

Sera stilled beneath him. What could she say to something like that? How was she supposed to respond?

“I have another confession to make,” he said, his forehead still touching hers. “I lied.”

“What? When?” Now she was more confused than ever. What was he talking about?

“There is no one else. There never was.”

She tried to ignore the hopeful flip of her heart.

“Why did you tell me there was?”

He raised his head and looked her in the eye, his expression full of regret.

“Because I don’t know how long I’m going to be here. My mission will be over soon, and I didn’t want to start something between us that I couldn’t finish. I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“So you lied to me?” Was that supposed to make it easier for her? As if finding herself attracted to a man she couldn’t have—or thought she couldn’t have—was easy.

He squeezed his eyes shut, as if by doing so, it made the truth easier to speak.

“It was stupid, I know. But at the time, it was the only way I could think of to keep some distance between us. To keep me from hurting you.” He sighed heavily and opened his eyes to look at her. “I didn’t want to be like your father.”

Sera’s heart shattered into a thousand pieces and then reformed again. She didn’t think she’d ever seen David so open, so vulnerable.

“Why didn’t you just tell me the truth… about everything?”

His dark eyes pinned her with an intensity that nearly set her on fire.

“Because the truth wouldn’t have stopped me from wanting you. I needed you to not want me.”

She reached up and touched his cheek, feeling the soft stubble beneath her fingertips.

“Oh, David.” Then she repeated the words he spoke to her when he first kissed her in the pit. “How could I not want you?”

Surprise lit his eyes, and then he lowered his head, inch by slow inch, giving her all the time in the world to stop him. She didn’t.

 
He kissed her, softly at first, just a tender brush of his lips against hers. Her head swam with the feel of him. His unique scent of soap and sun-warmed skin surrounded her. Everything felt so natural, so right.

Her other hand came up, cupping his face and drawing him to her. She returned his kiss, feathering her lips against his. He seemed to hold back until she ran her tongue along his full bottom lip, ripping a primal groan from deep within him. Whatever control he’d had snapped.

He tunneled his arms underneath her and crushed her beneath him, deepening the kiss and taking possession of her mouth with his tongue. It was all-consuming, powerful, and sent her senses into a spinning whirlwind.

His lips left hers to trail down the curve of her neck, and her body warmed to his touch. She heard him inhale deeply, breathing in the scent of her. In that moment, she felt beautiful, cherished, wanted.

His mouth resumed its relentless assault on the tender skin just below her ear, sending tingles shooting through her entire body. She felt the heat of his hand on her waist through the thin cotton of her shirt. His hand rose, burning a gentle trail up her bruised ribs until it cupped her breast. He squeezed her gently, and she
arched
into his hand.

She heard a strange sound. Did it come from her? Was she actually purring?

His thumb flicked her taut nipple through the fabric, sending a lightning bolt straight to her core, and her hips jerked up off the ground.

“Oh, God! David!”

He moved over her, wedging his knee between her thighs and pressing her down into the dirt with his full weight.

But the fact that he was an American spy came creeping back from the recesses of her mind. With a groan of regret, she turned her head away.

“David, please…”

He didn’t stop. His lips continued to kiss her neck, his warm breath hot on her skin. She couldn’t contain the moan that escaped from deep inside. She couldn’t stop herself from cupping his head in her hands and running her fingers through his hair.

What was she doing? He was a spy—the enemy—and here she was rolling on the ground with him like some wild animal in the field.

She pried open her heavy-lidded eyes, the only part of her that seemed to obey her. For a moment, her vision seemed blurred, then the ground came into focus, and she saw a small hole gouged in the earth where David’s shovel had been.

Sera’s body stiffened, her mind trying to grasp the significance of what she saw.

“Get off me.”

“Hmmm?” David nestled deeper into the curve of her neck, pressing his leg higher between her thighs.

Finding a sudden burst of strength, she pushed against his shoulders, trying to force him from her. “I said get off.”

He didn’t seem to hear. She wiggled, trying to get out from under him, but all that accomplished was to elicit a masculine groan of pleasure.

“Get off!”

He finally seemed to hear her and rolled to the side.

“Sera, what…?”

She didn’t have time to explain. She scrambled out from under him and crawled on her hands and knees to the place where his shovel had pierced the ground. She used her fingers to gently brush away the loose dirt around the hole, revealing a hardened layer of volcanic matter surrounding it.

“Oh, my God.”

David knelt at her side, looking from her to the hole and back again.

“What is it?”

She could feel herself trembling.

“I’m not sure, but it could be something incredible.”

He looked again to where her hands framed the small crack in the ground.

“What’s so incredible about a hole?”

“Oh, it’s not just any hole. Look.” She stuck her fingers inside. “It’s hollow.”

“So?”

“It might be a body cavity.”

David looked at the dark hole in the ground and swallowed hard.

“Do you mean to tell me there’s a body in there?”

“Not anymore. Bones would be the only thing left now.” She felt breathless. Her whole body shook with the enormity of what may lay just inches away under her fingertips. “But, if I’m right and this is a body cavity, we can pour plaster into it. Then, once it hardens, we’ll chip the volcanic layer away, and we should be left with a perfect cast of the person at the exact moment of their death.”

David looked at her, understanding dawning in his eyes, but his reaction over the discovery did not match her own.

“Like the plaster child?”

As he recalled the reality of what could lie just below them, Sera’s excitement sobered a bit.

“Exactly.”

He seemed a little pale, and she wondered briefly if the big, brave American spy might faint on her.

She turned her attention to the tiny crack in the ground, and everything else seemed to slip away. Nothing mattered now except this. She felt her spirits soar, as if her soul were trying to float out of her body.

Looking back at David, her heart threatened to beat its way out of her chest.

“Have you ever had one of those days when you know, just as it’s happening, that it’s going to be one of the days you will remember for the rest of your life?”

“Yes.”

“This is one of those days.”

“Let me see it! Let me see it!”

David looked up in time to see Olympia’s apple-shaped body and pencil thin legs trotting down the ancient road, her beaming smile reaching them long before she did.

“Where is it?” she huffed, coming to a halt in front of Sera.

Sera hugged her friend and led her over to the now-famous hole with pride.

“There it is.”

“Is it really a body cavity?” Olympia asked.

David chuckled to himself. He couldn’t get over the awestruck expression on her round face.

“We think so. Professor
Moretti
examined it this morning, but we won’t know for sure until the cast is made.”

He turned his attention away from Olympia, following the cheerful tone of Sera’s voice. Her friend’s excitement about the discovery didn’t come close to Sera’s obvious joy. She was practically glowing, and it made her more beautiful than ever.

He wished she’d send a little of that joy his way, but after the discovery, she’d pulled away. He wanted to think that, in her excitement, she was too busy to pay him much attention, but he knew that wasn’t the case.

She was pushing him away on purpose, embracing the awkward tension filling the void between them. He couldn’t say he blamed her. She was the smart one, keeping her distance from him now that she knew who he was.

And he was the idiot, trying to kiss her when common sense told him he should do everything in his power to stay on her good side. Making passes at the enemy wasn’t a smart way to accomplish that, but at the time, with her body soft and warm beneath his, he’d been powerless to stop himself.

“That’s what I heard,” Olympia gushed, bringing his attention back to the two women. “Everyone on the site is talking about it. I’m so happy for you.”

The women squealed and hugged each other as if one of them had just announced she was getting married.

Even though he knew that wasn’t what they were celebrating, the wayward thought tickled at his brain. Just how long ago had she broken off the engagement with Giovanni? Had it been years or only weeks? Was she still in love with him?

“This is so wonderful,” Olympia said when the two women finally peeled themselves apart. “I can’t wait to see the look on Giovanni’s face when he finds out. He’s going to swallow a toad.”

Speak of the devil.

The smile faded from Sera’s face. She looked confused. Or was that concern creasing her brow?

“He doesn’t know yet? I thought you said everyone was talking about it.”

David stabbed his shovel into the dirt. Why the hell did she care if Giovanni knew or not?

“He couldn’t have heard yet,” Olympia remarked as she leaned down to get a closer look at the crack in the ground. “He hasn’t shown up for work this morning.”

“Oh? That’s strange. He’s usually on time.”

Definitely concern, he thought. If she didn’t like the guy anymore, why was she worried about him?

Olympia snorted as she straightened back up.

“Not really. He’s been late several times this month. His Highness comes and goes like he owns the damn place.”

“He better watch out.
Moretti
isn’t going to like it.”

“So far, I don’t think the Professor has noticed, but if Giovanni keeps it up, he’s going to get himself fired, senior archeologist or not.”

David watched Sera’s expression closely. Just how upset would she be if her ex got the ax?

Sera frowned and shook her head. What was that supposed to mean? Apathy? If so, it was better than caring about the snake. David would take what he could get.

The two women resumed talking about the significance of the find and the procedure Sera would take to excavate it. She had been thrilled when
Moretti
told her she could do the excavation herself, with some supervision during the critical casting process. David didn’t have to be a mind reader to know how much the show of confidence from the Professor meant to her.

Once Olympia left, they got down to work. The first part of the delicate job was to carefully remove all the loose earth from around the hard volcanic deposit. In short, direct words, she told David that it would be a very time-consuming process. One wrong move, too much weight on a particularly weak area, and the cavity could collapse. He didn’t have to be told twice to watch where he stepped.

The task required them to work side-by-side, using hand trowels to scrape the dirt and loose pumice into buckets. As usual, Sera became so lost in her work she started singing. It took only the first few words before he recognized the tune. It was “Just as Though You Were Here,” the song they had danced to in her apartment.

Her happiness was contagious, and he started singing the words along with her in his deep baritone voice. Not generally known for his musical abilities, he would be the first to admit that that young Sinatra guy didn’t have a thing to worry about from him. But he didn’t think he was that bad until he noticed Sera’s singing had stopped.

He looked at her. Censure was written on every inch of her face.

“What?” he shrugged, trying to ease the tension between them. “You’re not the only one who likes to whistle while they work.”

She stared at him with a blank expression, evidently not appreciating his attempt at humor. Obviously, not all was forgiven or forgotten as far as she was concerned.

God, he missed the sound of her laughter, her smile when he teased her. Why did he have to go and screw everything up? He resumed singing in the hopes that she would lighten up and join in, but she continued to work silently beside him.

Fine, if she wanted to be that way. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t change what happened yesterday. He couldn’t take back the words he spoke or make her forget who he was. All he could do was try to make things as neutral between them as possible and hope that they could somehow find their way back to the way things had been before.

David continued singing as if her condemning silence meant nothing to him. He would wear her down and get her to relax if he had to sing Big Band tunes until the sun went down.

He was on his third chorus of “It’s Been a Long, Long Time,” when a familiar voice sneered from behind them.

“Well, well. Isn’t this sweet? Is my little
mezzosangue
feeling homesick?”

They both turned at the same time to find Giovanni standing on the edge of the pit. Glancing quickly at Sera, David watched her face pale, and he knew it wasn’t only because of Giovanni’s unkind reference to her mixed heritage.

Stupid. He was so stupid to be singing a song in English. Even though they were far enough away from the rest of the workers, people had been coming and going all morning with the news of the discovery. Anyone could happen by the site and overhear them, just as Giovanni had. David knew better than to take such a risk.

Sera stood slowly, dusting her hands off on her trousers, and squinted through the sun at Giovanni.

“What do you want?”

“Interesting,” he continued, choosing to ignore her question. “I know you like the American music, but I wonder where he learned to sing it.”

David braced himself. Was this it? Would this be the moment she would reveal his identity?

He watched as a cool mask washed over Sera’s face, her original panic quickly replaced by the usual serious façade she always wore. She didn’t even miss a beat.

“I taught him.”

“Really?” Giovanni’s dark brows rose under the black hair falling roguishly over his forehead, doubt etched in his features.

“Yes, really.” She shook her head at him. “Don’t look so suspicious. He doesn’t even know what the words mean.”

Giovanni stared down his nose at David.

“How quaint of you to teach him. Does he realize how it is you know the words so well?”

David rose to his feet, standing straight next to Sera to get every inch out of his six foot height. It didn’t help. Giovanni could still look down on him, since David was three feet lower in the pit.

“He knows about my father.” She crossed her arms defensively in front of her. Was she uneasy because he’d brought up the subject of her father, or was she worried Giovanni might discover his identity? David would like to think it was the latter.

Giovanni looked surprised. “You told him?”

David couldn’t get over it. They were talking as if he were an idiot and couldn’t understand what they were saying. Maybe he wasn’t supposed to know English, but both of them were aware he understood every bit of the Italian words they were flinging back and forth at each other.

“Some people aren’t as bothered by it as you are.”

Giovanni chuckled.

“It never bothered me. Amused me, perhaps, but it never bothered me.”

“Well, it certainly didn’t amuse me to find out you were sleeping with another woman while I was in America.”

That
certainly got David’s attention. This was getting interesting. Maybe being ignored wasn’t so bad after all.

Giovanni’s face grew rigid, the chiseled angles of his jaw turning hard as stone.

“You should not have gone. You postponed our wedding to take your little trip.”

“Well, it was a good thing I did put it off, now wasn’t it?”

“You should’ve stayed here where you belong. If you hadn’t gone to America, I wouldn’t have been tempted to stray. A year is a long time to wait. I was lonely.”

David’s humor at the situation faded. How could he do that to Sera when he supposedly loved her? If it had been David, he would have waited for her forever.

Sera looked ready to blow, like the proverbial Mount Vesuvius. He braced himself in case he might have to stop her from clawing Giovanni’s eyes out. Then again, he might just enjoy watching her do it.

“You weren’t just tempted. You did stray, and I don’t even want to know how many times. My plane probably wasn’t even half way across the ocean before you started looking for someone to keep you ‘company’ while I was gone.”

“Serafina, please. I didn’t come here to argue with you about the past.”

“Then what did you come here for?”

“I heard about the cavity. I wanted to see it.”

She stepped to the side and pointed at the hole in the side of the pit.

“There it is. You’ve seen it. Now go.”

Giovanni’s face took on the look of a hungry tiger spying its next meal. David half expected him to lick his lips and drool.

“Let’s work together on it, you and I.”

“What?” Sera appeared so surprised by his suggestion that her arms fell limp at her sides. A second later, her back stiffened, and she shook her head at him. “No. David and I will manage the excavation just fine.”

“Him?” Giovanni sneered, jerking his head in David’s direction, barely bothering to acknowledge a mere laborer. “He’s not trained for such a delicate excavation. I know what I’m doing. Let me help you.”

“You mean let you take the credit for it.”

David glanced between the two. Something deeper was going on here beyond the typical lovers—or ex-lovers—spat, but he wasn’t sure what it was.

“I would never do that.” Giovanni looked hurt by her accusation, but even David could tell the emotion was insincere.

“Don’t lie to me. It’s the only reason you’re here. I don’t need your help, and I don’t want it.”

“Fine.” Giovanni’s face hardened once more. He stared down at them for a moment, and then an unsettling light flared in his eyes. His mouth drew into a slow, menacing smile.

“You should be careful, then, Serafina.” He started walking around the edge of the pit, making his way slowly toward the cavity area. “You know how easy it is for thieves and vandals to get into the ruins at night. It would certainly be a shame if something should happen to your new discovery.”

The unspoken threat hung in the air all around them.
Let me excavate it with you, or risk losing it altogether.

If he took one more step, Giovanni would be right on top of the cavity. David’s hand shot out and grabbed his ankle. He yanked it hard, jerking him off his feet and landing him flat on his back in the dirt.

Giovanni was back on his feet faster than a cat. “How dare you?”

“Oh, sorry about that. You should watch your step. It can get pretty dangerous around here.”

Threat thrown right back at you, asshole
.

Giovanni obviously heard the implied warning behind David’s words.

“I’ll have you fired for that.”

“No, you won’t.” Sera stepped between them. “He’s my worker. I say whether he stays or goes.”

Giovanni looked back and forth between them, the unspoken assumption that they were more than coworkers dawning on his face.

“So it’s like that, is it?” he sneered, piercing Sera with a condemning look. “My, my. Haven’t you changed? Tell me, are you spreading your legs for all the laborers now, or is it just this one?”

The last thing David heard was Sera’s sharp intake of breath beside him. A vacuum seemed to suck all other sound from the world around him, leaving only the rush of his own blood whirling inside his head.