From the way she sucked in a breath, and the way her shoulders shook, Phin guessed that itdid.
As much as he’d love to stand there and discuss her holding his ballocks, he took pity on her and turned away, allowing her time to contain herself. Secretly, he was thrilled to find out his little scholar had a naughty side as well, but he’d invited her here for a particular reason, and he intended to follow through on that.
Clearing his throat, he began to speak nonchalantly as he opened various velvet-lined cabinets. “Our hostess’s not-so-dearly departed husband was something of a collector. He was the one who financed the archaeological dig on the property, resulting in quite a number of fascinating Roman artifacts. He’d thought this the site of a military outpost, but the dig revealed a community full of everyday artifacts, indicating this was more of a town than a fort, complete with governing buildings and a marketplace.”
Sure enough, the draw of archaeology was enough for Olive to overcome her awkwardness. She stepped up beside him as Phin laid a velvet-wrapped bundle on the table, and when he reached for the lamp, she got there first.
“How exciting!” She was smiling. “Imagine how incredible that must have been to realize your dig was ever so much more than you had expected and had greater implications.”
He didn’t have to imagine it; he’d been a part of it once or twice. But he just grinned in response. “Indeed.” With ceremony, he unwrapped the black velvet to reveal a perfect golden ball.
“This is asphaera, found right here on the Dumpkins estate.”
She’d sucked in a breath at the sight of the gold, but Phin suspected her rapt gaze had less to do with the gold and more to do with the rarity of the artifact. She was already reaching for it, but her hands froze a few inches from the ball. “May I?’
She was still wearing her evening gloves, so there was no reason not to agree. “Of course. The gold is soft, but no’thatsoft.”
Reverently, she lifted the artifact. “Stonesphaerawere used to cap a part of a building—likely a porch—of little import. But agolden one?Ifit was used architecturally, it would have only capped the most important buildings in the city.”
“Or settlement.” He nodded along. “This one was found at the dig site near the river.”
She’d hefted the globe in both hands and was peering at it through the glass of her spectacles. “Do they not usually come in pairs?”
When he chuckled, she glanced up at him, and he grinned. “I should’ve guessed ye’d ken that.”
“Of course. Incidentally, you missed the opportunity to make a joke there.”
“About balls coming in pairs?” He winked. “I thought to preserve your delicate sensibilities.”
She grinned at him over the stone sphere, and he liked that her shyness seemed to evaporate in the presence of ancient artifacts. “Thank you.”
Clearing his throat, he forced himself back to the topic at hand. “Ye ken I’m a collector? I’ve made an offer to Lady Dumpkins for this piece, and she’s accepted…but two of them…”
Olive was shaking her head as she examined the minute hammer marks from an ancient artisan. “I cannot believe I am seeing one of these in gold,” she murmured. “Something like this— Gold is such a soft metal!” She hummed. “Mainly for show, I would think. But if you found ithere…”
“I did no’ find it.” Gently, he cupped his palms beneath hers, taking the weight of the artifact, and reveling in the feel of her hand against his. “This was excavated in the original dig the late earl financed. The notes from that dig give nae indicationthe archeologists realized there should have been a secondsphaera.”
He saw the exact moment she understood what he meant. Her head snapped up, her eyes wide with wonder behind those adorable spectacles.
Nodding at her unspoken thought, Phin re-wrapped the velvet around the goldensphaera, then took it gently from her.
“The second one was no’ found,” he murmured, not bothering to hide the way his heartbeat sped up at the announcement.
“Oh my,” Olive whispered as she sank onto the settee. “Lady Dumpkins seems to purposefully eschew her late husband’s interest. Which is a shame, because she has adig siteon her property! If I owned Dumpkins Estate, I would be out there each morning, poking about.”
Chuckling in agreement, Phineas crossed his arms and rested one hip against the cabinet. “I suspect most people in the world aren’t as interested in Roman architecture as ye and I are, Olive.”
In the light from the lamps, he watched her cheeks pinken at the intimation they were similar, but instead of denying it, her gaze swept from his chin to his chest, then down his torso to rest upon his knees. Hisbareknees.
It was safe to grin in satisfaction, so he made a show of nonchalantly crossing one ankle over the other. Lysander might tease the fashion as being outrageously old-fashioned, but Phinlikedhistory, and knew that some females enjoyed the sight of a bare knee. He was happy to report the charm worked on Olive as well.
In fact, it was working a littletoowell. There they were, alone in a quiet room, her looking positively delectable in that blue silk. Phin’s blood was pumping, and the way she was eyeing him appreciatively, well…
It occurred to him all of his blood was pumping in a decidedlydownwardfashion, and it seemed as if Olive had come to that realization as well, judging from the way her eyes widened at the sight of the stirring behind his sporran.
And then she sucked on her lower lip, and Phin squeezed his eyes shut and thrust himself upright, trying to think of anything he could to get his body under control.
Amo, amas, amat.
