Chapter 10 #2
The toes of her boots touched the ground, but he didn’t release her. Instead, he kept her there in the circle of his arms, and he beamed down at her.
“Ye really are brilliant, love. A real archaeologist.”
This time she didn’t look away.
“I owe it to you.” The blush started again. “You have taught me so much.”
It was near impossible not to waggle his brows and comment on what sort of things he’d taught her, but he tried to keep the moment serious.
“I’d like to teach ye more,” he said gently, “as a partner.”
“A…partner? What kind of partner?”
He had to grin at the suspicious tone in her voice.
“Oh, in all sorts of things. But I need a dig partner to start with.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “Ye see, I’ve been invited to look for a particular artifact—”
“The Roman chalice in the Holy Land,” she said flatly. “I read your letter.”
“Oh good, then ye ken as much as I do.” He tried to keep his tone light and teasing.
“Will ye help me, Olive? Will ye go to London with me, to the Society, and meet with the Board? I ken they’d be thrilled to meet their newest author, and I want ye to have all the information I’ll have before we leave on our adventure. ”
She was quiet for a moment, before repeating in a small voice, “We?”
“Aye, lass,” he whispered. “I want ye to go with me. I want ye to be my archaeological partner. I want—I need—yer help and yer brilliant mind. Please come adventuring with me?”
Something sparkled behind her spectacles. He wasn’t sure what the emotion was, but it was intense, and her hands closed around his forearms.
“You want me to be your partner? To—to go on an adventure with you?” She sounded breathless. “I would be adventuring with Aberdeen Jones?”
“Well…” He winced. “I’d rather hoped ye’d consider adventuring with Phineas Oliphant. I ken ye have a bit of a favorite—”
“Nay— I mean, no.” She apologized for the interruption with a smile and a shrug, her grip turning softer, almost caressing. “I mean, I like Phineas Oliphant far more,” she finished softly, her cheeks still pink.
But her gaze was direct, and he felt his cock respond to the frank admiration in her gaze.
“I thought…” Now it was time for him to stumble over his words, to bite his tongue while he tried to get his thoughts in order, his gaze still on her lower lip. “I thought, perhaps, if ye were amenable…we might stop at the church on our way to London.”
Her eyes had widened. “The church?”
He took a deep breath. “Aye. The laws are clear, and since we’ve both been residing in this parish for three weeks, the vicar should have nae objection.
I’ve obtained yer brother’s blessing, dinnae fash.
I thought we might adventure together, no’ as Aberdeen Jones and his assistant, but Mr. and Mrs. Phineas Oliphant. ”
Her eyes had widened, and her mouth dropped open. “You—you are proposing to me?”
Why was she so surprised?
“What did ye expect— Nay, dinnae answer that. Ye thought I was going to bed ye—experience the most absolute bliss of my life, thankyeverramuch—then go gallivanting off on some adventure without ye? Without yer brilliant mind and brilliant hands and wonderful wit and—and— Why are ye looking at me like that?”
“You cannot want to marry me!”
“Why no’?” He frowned.
“Because!” she wailed. “You do not even love me!”
He burst into laughter. “Olive, love, of course I do. I’ve told ye many times.”
With a gasp, she pulled her hand from his and jabbed him in the chest. “You did not. You did not, Phineas Oliphant! I would remember that!”
For the first time, her lack of response to his declarations began to make sense, and his grin was slow, lazy. “Olive, I told ye while I was inside ye. Ye really didnae hear me say it?”
She was frowning thoughtfully now. “I heard ye say my name many times, then trail off.”
“Och, aye?” He couldn’t hold back his teasing tone. “And what did I say?”
“Well, ‘Olive, ye…’ and then you would trail off.”
He leaned forward and very gently brushed a kiss across her forehead. “I love ye.”
I love ye?
In a flash, it made sense, and Olive gasped.
“Neptune’s slimy balls, I love ye! Olive ye!” She groaned and dropped her forehead against his shoulder, realizing how similar her name sounded to I love. “I cannot believe I am so stupid!”
Chuckling now, he pressed his cheek to her temple. “No’ stupid, love, but perhaps short-sighted. Ye really thought I would make love to ye without being in love with— Nay, dinnae answer that either, it’ll likely hurt my estimation of mankind. Instead, tell me where ye learned such a curse.”
“I am inventive,” came her muffled response.
“That ye are. But Neptune doesnae have legs, so his bollocks—”
Her head jerked upright, and she glared at him. “I meant his slimy sphaera.”
He chuckled again, accepting her obvious attempt to cover her gaffe. “I love ye, Olive L’arbre. Olive tree, my favorite kind of tree.” He leaned toward her. “Marry me? Please?”
Slowly, her expression turned from irritation to wonder. “You really do love me? As much as I love you?”
His heart gave a happy little lurch and he had to refrain from squeezing her too tightly. “Well, I dinnae ken that, because this is the first I’ve heard of ye loving me—”
With a laugh, she pulled her arms free of his embrace and tossed them around his neck, interrupting him when she pulled his lips down to meet hers.
It was a simple kiss, one between partners, and over far too soon.
“I love you, Phineas Oliphant,” she whispered against his lips, her gaze holding his despite the nearness.
“I have loved Aberdeen Jones for years, dreaming of going adventuring with him, but you…” She grinned.
“Well, the real version of him is so much better. I love you, and I would be delighted—no, honored to go adventuring with you.”
He stood grinning down at her, holding her in his arms as the afternoon sun slowly burned off the dampness from the earlier—life-changing—storm. “Ye’ll be my wife?”
“Yes, Phineas. If Ash—”
“He’s agreed,” Phin was quick to promise her. “I asked him last week, and he said I was likely the only man alive who could keep ye busy and yer brain satisfied for the rest of yer life.”
When she chuckled, he felt her chest move against his. “I suspect you are the only one who could keep me satisfied in other manners as well.”
With a low growl, he lowered his lips to hers once more.
There was nothing simple about this kiss.
When, gasping, they eventually straightened, they were both grinning. “So when can we leave, Olive?”
“Not quite yet, my love.”
He blinked, then frowned. “Ye dinnae want to marry me?”
“I dinnae want to leave Dumpkins yet,” she drawled in a credible imitation of his brogue, “until we have something to deliver to your estate.”
Understanding slowly dawned and he eased his hold on her, allowing them to step apart. “The golden sphaera.”
She nodded, her gaze darting around the fledgling dig site. “We need to find it, Phineas. So we can deliver it to your—our—collection. The perfect pair.”
Grinning at the “our,” Phin held out his hand to her. “The perfect pair,” he repeated. “Partners.”
“Partners,” she whispered softly, slipping her hand into his.
“Well then, partner…” He tugged her toward the grid she’d already staked out. “Let’s get digging!”