LITMIR.BIZ

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a smile. “Thanks, Wynne. I’ll try to ignore him.”

      “I think you and Jake could be friends.”

      “I doubt that,” Skye said as Wynne turned to rejoin her siblings.

      Jake squinted in the bright sunshine. He stood at the top of the slope and looked out on the green swell of forest. Below him was the entrance to the mine, and behind him he could see Turtle Town, ten miles distant.

      He’d always wanted to dig on this island. Something about it called to him, a siren song that whispered of secrets and treasures too vast and unusual to imagine. And finding these rocks with the intriguing shapes added to his hunch.

      Such fancies haunted his dreams and drove him on in his profession as a paleontologist. There was no telling where or when the earth might yield the next discovery, revealing new knowledge, new horizons. The oddly shaped rocks in this area just might mean a dinosaur nursery, which could wipe away his earlier failure.

      Too bad Skye Blackbird was so opposed to his presence here. Jake had a feeling she could show him parts of the island no one else had ever seen.

      “This looks like a good spot to get started,” he said. An ocean of wildflowers swam in his vision. Daisies, poppies, black-eyed Susans. He wondered how even God painted with such a palette of colors.

      “Mary said we could set up camp anywhere we wanted,” Becca said.

      “How about at Windigo Manor?” Wynne asked hopefully. “I’m tired of roughing it. Jake, you should be, too. I don’t know what possessed you to suggest camping. Don’t you get enough of that on a dig?”

      “I hardly know how to sleep in a real bed anymore,” Jake said. “I like to sleep out under the stars.” His heavy work boots crushed the pine needles strewn along the path, and he inhaled the fresh scent with gusto. While he’d enjoyed his stint in Montserrat, there was no place like Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Eagle Island, just off the shore of the Keweenaw Peninsula was the place he loved best. He relished the thought of finally being able to explore this island.

      He shook his head at his sisters. “You know we’ll have to deal with security issues. That’s easier if I’m staying on site.”

      Wynne rolled her eyes. “Who would bother things on this tiny island? I think you’re worrying unnecessarily.”

      Newly married Becca stopped to pick a wild rose growing along the path. He grinned at the dreamy expression on her face. Jake had gotten a charge out of watching his sister with her new husband. The normally reticent Becca had bloomed under Max’s love and care.

      Wynne nodded at Becca. “True love is beautiful. It’s your turn next, Jake.”

      “Yeah, right. No woman alive would put up with me and my schedule.”

      “Maybe it’s time you thought about staying in one place, settling down.”

      “That’s no way to make a name in my field.”

      “That’s not the real reason, is it?” Wynne said gently. “You still feel you have to prove yourself. When will you stop beating yourself up over that earlier discovery? It wasn’t your fault.”

      “Any graduate student should have recognized that find as a fraud, Wynne. You’re not the one who sees interest change to amusement when people hear my name.” He still felt sick when he remembered dating what he’d thought was a huge find and then discovering it was a hoax perpetrated by three teenagers in England.

      Wynne patted his arm. “We all make mistakes, Jake.”

      “Well, I want to wipe this one away,” he said grimly. He forced a smile. “And you have no room to talk about settling down. You’re just as bad. Where was it you were last—Italy?”

      “So?” Wynne shrugged her slim shoulders. “Maybe I’m holding out for someone in my own field who will travel with me. I’m not as competitive as you.”

      That was a pipe dream. She’d never find someone like that, Jake thought.

      “What a beautiful spot.” Wynne paused in a clearing dusted with wildflowers. A steep slope rose behind the clearing, and from here he could see the opening to the mine. “What’s that place called?” Jake asked his youngest sister.

      “Turtle Mountain.” Becca stopped and plucked a Shasta daisy.

      “I’d like to tour the mine sometime,” Wynne said. “I’ve never seen a garnet mine.”

      “Skye seems to think she’s going to run into diamonds any day now.” Becca seemed serious.

      Jake laughed. “Diamonds in the UP? Is she nuts?” She hadn’t looked crazy. Skye Blackbird had a cool, elegant look that intrigued him. He supposed any man would wonder what made her tick. She was beautiful in a Sleeping Beauty kind of way. Her high Ojibwa cheekbones were sharp enough to draw blood from a man’s heart. He didn’t intend to let her close enough to see if she could hurt him.

      “In her defense, there are some signs it could be possible.”

      “Oh?”

      “Her stepfather, Peter Metis, has been pouring money into the mine and even hired an assayer a couple of weeks ago. He’s pretty savvy, so I doubt he’d be doing that without a good reason.”

      “Have I met him?”

      “Not unless you’ve taken out a loan lately. He is the president at the bank in Turtle Town.”

      “He’s Ojibwa, too?”

      Becca nodded. “According to town scuttlebutt, he took over the bank—and the Blackbird women—when Harry deserted his family.”

      “Skye’s father?” Wynne’s voice was full of sympathy.

      “Skye was pretty broken up about it, from what I hear. She hasn’t trusted a man since then.” Becca cast a slanting glance up into Jake’s face. “You could show her all men aren’t beasts.”

      “I doubt I’ll get close enough to get the chance,” he said shortly. “And I don’t want to.”

      Chapter Two

      Jake had thought to find something by now. He wiped his forehead with a bandana that had seen better days. Wynne wrinkled her nose. “All you’re doing is smearing the dirt around,” she said.

      Jake ignored her comment as he squatted over the dig. “A week into this, and nothing.” He’d had a hunch about this place, but he was beginning to wonder if he’d been seduced by the island’s beauty.

      “Did you expect to find something this fast?”

      “You know me—I always expect the best.”

      “And seldom get it,” she pointed out.

      Jake grinned and stood. “How about some lunch?”

      “Sounds good.” Wynne trotted to the cooler they’d parked under a nearby rock.

      The rumble of a car engine drew Jake’s attention. He squinted in the brilliant sun. A blue pickup rolled to a stop in the road. A woman got out of the passenger side. Jake’s stomach tightened as a familiar figure got out the driver side.

      “Cameron Reynolds,” he muttered.

      “You’re kidding!” Wynne went to Jake’s side and looked down the slope to the road. “What’s he doing here?” Her voice was tight.

      “I’d say we’re about to find out.” Jake took out his pocket watch and glanced at it. “I’ll give him fifteen minutes, then I’m throwing him off the site.”

      Cameron wore immaculate khaki trousers and a light blue shirt. His blond hair formed a pale cap around his angular face. Cameron was the type of man Jake despised most: a dabbling pretty boy who thought their field of study existed to amuse him. He liked to

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