She shrugged, avoiding his gaze. “We’re ground truthing a dig site.”
“Bullshit.” He stepped closer, and tapped her on the shoulder. “What’s really going on withyou?”
She lifted her chin. “I told you before, Parker, there is nothing going on with me. I’m just trying to do my job and make enough progress so that INAH will be satisfied with my field report.”
“I call bullshit again. Ever since we returned to camp last evening, you’ve been acting strange.”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Quiet, then.” He thought again how she’d played with her food at supper. “Maybe even anxious.”
“I have a lot of work to do here,” she snapped, her right shoulder moving slightly.
“I know your tells, woman. You’re bluffing about the workload. There’s something else going on.”
Her gaze narrowed. “You do not know my tells.”
“Oh, I do. Whether you like it or not, I’ve been studying you for a while now.” For months, actually, ever since he’d first laid eyes on her. It couldn’t be helped. He was a smitten man.
She jammed her hands on her hips. “Oh, yeah? Give me an example of one of my tells.”
“Okay.” He checked behind her to make sure they still had no audience. “When you lie, even by omission, your right shoulder twitches.”
“It does not twitch.”
“It does.” He pointed at the guilty shoulder. “It’s very subtle, but it hitches slightly.”
“You’re full of shit, Parker.”
Sure he was about many things, but not this. Not her. Not now. It was too hot to play games. In fact, it was too hot to keep pretending about her game.
“You want to test it, boss lady?”
Her jaw tightened, her green eyes practically sparking. “Yes, I do.”
“Okay. I have a question for you.” He hesitated. Did he really want to do this, right here, right now? Ah, screw it. Now was as good a time as any. “Did INAH really force you to drop everything in order to come here and work?”
She blinked twice, her expression frozen. “What?”
“Or did you cancel our vacation plans at the last minute because you wanted to come to this dig site to find proof for another one of your mother’s theories?”
“I’m not sure what you’re asking exactly.”
Had her shoulder just twitched?
“Don’t play dumb. We’re beyond that, Angélica. I’m asking if you lied to me about why we’re here?”
“Uh …” She licked her lips, glancing toward where her father and the others might be showing up at any moment.
Quint leaned closer. “I know the truth.”
“What truth?”
Christ, she was so stubborn.
“I know that you asked to be sent to this site immediately. That Fernel had requested to come and check it out, and he’d offered a lot of money for the privilege.”
Her eyes widened.
