Page 10 of Hawk and the Cougar

Ire flared. “Do I in any way look like an abused woman?”

“Most women don’t look the part,” he said.

“Maybe not to everyone, but you’re a seasoned police officer,” she said.

He nodded. “If you need anything, call.”

“I’ll do that.”

They left and Liz collapsed against the door. She’d made a real mess by visiting Professor Hawkins last night. Now she had to fix things—double time.

* * *

An hour later, Liz turned a bend on the dirt road that wound through the Matatzal foothills and spotted Professor Anthony Hawkins’ green Chevy parked amongst half a dozen other vehicles a quarter of a mile ahead. She slowed and turned off the road. His assistant had said he would be at the dig all day.

The driver’s side of the Chevy came into view, and she hit the brakes, eyes glued to the dent in the side of the truck bed. Her stomach knotted. The eight thousand pounds of steel that had created that damage had careened across the parking lot toward her last night. If Professor Hawkins hadn’t pulled her out of the way, the mammoth vehicle would have mowed her down. He’d put his life on the line to save her, despite the fact she’d accused him of seducing her daughter. And she’d mucked up things by making the police suspicious of him.

Liz willed her pounding heart to slow as she pulled the Land Cruiser to a stop beside a Subaru Forester fifty feet from where the desert floor sloped downward out of sight. The dig had to be taking place somewhere beyond the edge.

She cut the engine and gazed through the windshield at clouds that hung low over the higher peaks in the distance. A group of tall rocks, up ahead on the left, rose as if they’d speared through the Earth’s surface. She had lived her entire life in Arizona and never grew tired of the stark beauty. Yellow spring wildflowers grew in spurts amongst the pale green brush, and saguaro cacti stood sentinel throughout the jagged landscape, as they had for eons.

Liz released a breath. She couldn’t admire the view all day. “He asked you to talk to him after you spoke with Em,” she murmured. “You owe him and Emma that much, and he deserves to know the police suspect he—” She groaned. It had been bad enough facing him to apologize about thinking he was sleeping with Emma. Now…. She reached for the keys and realized her fingers were trembling. “Get a hold of yourself. He’s a young man—too young for you—and he isn’t interested in you.”

The admonition didn’t wipe away the memory of his warm breath on her face or the way he’d almost kissed her in the truck. Almost was the key word. He hadn’t. His rough kiss before that had been because he’d thought Vance Reid sent her to seduce him and he’d been mad as hell. A shiver sped down her arms. How did a woman go about seducing a man like him? She jarred from the thought. By being fifteen years younger, for starters.

She got out of the car and caught sight of someone before they disappeared out of sight around the large rocks. Liz slowed, suddenly unsure she could face him. She’d made fool enough of herself last night. If anyone guessed her attraction to him and word reached Emma…. Her apology could wait but warning him she’d been questioned by the police couldn’t. She didn’t like the idea of the two detectives showing up at the dig and accusing him of assaulting her. Or worse, leading him to believe she had told them he assaulted her.

Get it over with, she mentally ordered. Then go home and have a strong drink.

Liz walked to where the ground sloped and stopped. A hundred feet up ahead, half a dozen people knelt or squatted among different sections separated by twine over a tenth of an acre. Hints of three structures were visible in the earth. Trowels, root cutters, wooden picks, shovels, and spades were scattered or in use. Mesh wire boxes were set up for sifting through dirt. She caught sight of Professor Hawkins lying on his stomach, intent on something he was carefully uncovering with a small brush.

Despite Liz’s best efforts, her pulse picked up speed. Dark curls stuck out in a tousled mass below the worn felt cowboy hat he wore. His cotton shirt was rolled up to his forearms, and his long legs seemed to go on forever in tight blue jeans heavy with desert dust. His ass—good Lord, she wasn’t going to be able to do this. He hadn’t even looked in her direction, and already she was melting like a sixteen-year-old.

Of course, he chose that moment to look up. His gaze met hers, and he broke into a smile. Her heart stopped. She really wasn’t going to get through this. He shoved to his feet and stepped over the twine. Liz started down the hill toward him, then realized she should have waited for him at the top. That would have been noncommittal. She could have said her piece, then left. But she’d started this downward spiral. Now she had to crash and burn. They met at the bottom of the incline.

“I’m relieved to see you,” he said.

She blinked against the glare of the late morning sun. Why hadn’t she worn sunglasses? What better way to hide?

“I’ve come to apologize,” she said.

A corner of his mouth lifted. “No need. Emma’s young to be in undergraduate school. It’s a jungle. You’re right to look after her.”

“Thanks, but I should have talked to her before doing battle. She made that abundantly clear.” Liz silently berated herself for the thousandth time. That would teach her to eavesdrop. “Emma’s threatening to drop your class,” she said.

“She’s a smart kid. Surely, she understands your mistake?”

Liz grunted. “Oh, she understands, all right.”

A question flickered across his face, and Liz cursed her big mouth when he laughed and said, “She figured out how what happened when you came to see me, huh?”

Liz nodded. “Like you said, she’s a smart kid. Too smart, sometimes. But that’s not all.” Or the worst part, she silently added. “The police came to see me this morning.”

“I expected that,” he said.

“Did you know they have a witness who saw us in the parking lot?”

His brow furrowed, then understanding gleamed in his eye. “Damn.”