The more Quint learned about Marianne, the more he understood the shadows behind Juan’s eyes when he talked about her. Although lately, Daisy had added a hop to his giddy-up.
“Now where were we?” Angélica asked, taking a step back from him.
They were in the jungle sweating their asses off while the bugs fed on them, he thought, but he swallowed his cranky reply while picking a leaf from her hair. “You were about to tell me what happened on the other side of the wall that ended with you looking like you’d been flea-dipped in dirt.”
“Dr. Fernel tripped while staring down at his tablet as he walked.”
“Tripped over what? A tree root?”
“Esteban’s feet.”
Quint grinned. Usually Esteban was the one who tripped over those. “Where do you fit into this slapstick routine?”
“I was bending down, brushing the dirt off a stone I thought might be part of astela—but wasn’t. Dr. Fernel fell into me, slamming into me broadside, and sent us tumbling down a small hill ass over teakettle. We landed tangled in the brush, which was mostly yucca plants and palm fronds, but there were some thorns mixed in.” She pointed at the scratch on her chin. “Thankfully, nothing broke. Not even Dr. Fernel’s tablet, which is good because the bumbler was far more concerned with his technology than either of our bones.”
Quint scowled slightly about Fernel’s obtuseness. “Well, I for one am glad your bones appear fine and dandy, but you should probably get naked later in our tent and let me do a thorough hands-on inspection to be sure.”
She giggled. “You’re such a smooth operator, Parker.”
“Are my seduction attempts working?”
“Oh, absolutely. I’m all aquiver on the inside.”
“Have I told you it’s very sexy when you say things like ‘all aquiver’ and ‘you’re right, Parker’?”
She laughed again. The sparkle in her eyes warmed away his worries about her hiding the truth behind this trip from him. Maybe he should tell her that he knew why they’d ended up here instead of on vacation together. Let her off the hook. Make sure she understood that he wanted to be wherever she was, even in a humid, vermin-infested jungle. Maybe they could take a walk later tonight after supper, just the two of them, and hash it all out.
For now, he bit his tongue. “Fernel needs to be more careful. He’s too obsessed with his LIDAR map.”
Her smile faded. “I can’t say I’m much different on the obsession level when it comes to this place.”
“But yours is only because you’re awfully hard-headed.”
She playfully whacked him on the shoulder.
“Fernel,” Quint continued, “is next-level mania.”
“I don’t know. I think he just wants to prove that his software works and his technology is useful.”
Quint shook his head. “It’s more than that. Last night when I was on my way to supper after my shower, which sadly involved no hot naked archaeologists or cold drinks, I overheard him talking to himself in his tent.”
Her gaze narrowed. “How did you overhear him above the cacophony of monkeys howling and insects chirping?”
“Okay, so maybe I paused while passing his tent.”
She crossed her arms.
“And then I possibly tiptoed closer and eavesdropped. But he was the one talking to himself, and I honestly thought you might be in there.”
That was the truth. Plus, Quint had wanted to ask if Fernel would send him some of the images for the site later on to use in his piece for INAH.
“So, you were eavesdropping on me?” She pointed at herself.
“Of course. You’re the star of my article.”
One of her eyebrows raised.
“And the center of my universe.”
