“I will,” Tamryn said.
As soon as she ended the call, she called Brady Saunders. Brady was another untenured professor in the department. If he’d gotten news of Reid’s new appointment the same way she did, she would feel at least a measure of relief. But Brady didn’t answer his phone, probably because it wasn’t even nine a.m. yet on the East Coast.
Tamryn tossed the phone on the bed and tried to calm her nerves. But telling herself to calm down was easy; actually doing it proved to be much more difficult.
She reminded herself that just because Reid was now the head of the department, it didn’t mean that her position was automatically on the chopping block. If faculty members were dismissed, it would be done by committee. Reid would not have the final say.
But he wielded enough influence that Tamryn knew he could persuade others within the administration that she was dispensable, especially with the lack of publication credits under her belt. Publication credits she could have had if he’d included her name on the research she’d put an entire year of her life into. Instead, he’d taken all the glory.
Tamryn wrapped her arms around her stomach, brought her knees up, and rested her forehead on them.
Everything she’d worked so hard for was in danger of being pulled right from under her. And without the diary that would prove her theory about her grandmother’s past and help her complete her book, Tamryn couldn’t think of a single thing she could offer that would save her job.
Chapter 8
The moment Mattended the call with the school board’s insurance company, which was now offering to settle Mrs. Black’s case, he shot up from his chair and headed down the hallway.
“Hey, hey, hey. Get over here.”
His footsteps halted at Carmen’s summons. Matt walked over to her desk.
“I’ve got some checks you need to sign.” She spread three checks out on her desk. Matt slipped a pen from the penholder and scribbled his signature on each. “You know, you can actually question what the checks are for every now and then,” Carmen drawled.
“I don’t worry about you stealing from me,” Matt said over his shoulder. “I know where you live, and you and Scotty aren’t leaving Gauthier any time soon.”
He walked over to the area of the law firm that had been cordoned off for months. Dr. Lawrence and his crew of anthropology students were back, digging around and making notations in the marbled composition notebooks they all carried. An extra hunter had joined them today.
When Matt entered the room, the team was packing up their gear.
“Looks like I came in just at the right time,” he said. “I didn’t want to disturb you all.”
“Feel free to come and go as you please,” Dr. Lawrence said. “This is still your office, Mr. Gauthier.”
“Somepeople wouldn’t agree with you,” Matt said. “According tosomepeople, this area of the law firm now belongs to history.”
“And I stand by that statement,” Tamryn said, her brows hitched, just daring him to challenge her. That hint of sassiness was so damn sexy on her.
“Well, an argument can be made for that, too,” Dr. Lawrence said with a chuckle. “We’ll be back on Thursday. I have a colleague from DePaul coming into town. He’d like to see the site, if it’s okay with you.”
Matt nodded. “Be my guest.”
The students and Dr. Lawrence started filing out of the room, but Tamryn stayed behind, lingering just outside of the yellow caution tape that the professor had replaced across the entryway. Matt leaned against the doorjamb and folded his arms across his chest.
“So, did you have fun today?” he asked.
The look she slanted toward him very clearly asked if he was out of his mind. “What do you think?”
“I think you had fun today,” Matt mused.
“I spent the majority of the day completely enthralled.” She held her arm up. “The goosebumps refuse to go away.”
Matt pushed away from the doorjamb and sauntered toward her. In a purposely seductive voice, he said, “I can think of so many ways to give you goosebumps.” A soft mewl escaped her lips as he nuzzled her neck. “I have a surprise for you,” he said.
“What’s that?”
“I’m stealing you away tonight for our first officialdatedate.”
“So all the times you’ve taken me to lunch and dinner over the past few weeks didn’t count as officialdatedates?”
