Page 106 of Kathryn

“At least?” he prodded.

“I would like to do so here, unless you think I might ruin something. I can always go where everyone else goes to hunt for them.”

“You mean the shore?”

Katie nodded. “Miss Anning offered to take me with her one morning if I cared to go. I—I talked to her the day I went into Lyme Regis with you.” Katie’s cheeks heated at the memory of that day, and she could see by the sudden swelling of his pupils that he was remembering too.

She swallowed and lowered her gaze. “Miss Anning said she walks the beach after each tide, rather than digging. I thought I might go to Lyme Regis one morning when the tide is not terribly early.”

“There are safe places here you can dig.”

Katie’s head whipped up and she tried not to grin like an idiot at his offer. “Er, safe?”

“Often the best fossils are exposed by slides like that one.” He gestured to the hillside. “To a fossil hunter the temptation to dig in a freshly uncovered area is difficult to resist. But it’s dangerous and people are frequently hurt or even killed.”

“Oh, I see.”

“You will not need to worry about that here,” he assured her. “There are plenty of safe places to dig where you can still find something interesting.”

“Miss Anning said your dig was far better than the shoreline for fossil hunting.”

“Correct.” He glanced at her emerald-green habit, with its sweeping train, and a notch formed between his stunning eyes. “Do you have something—”

“I have a more practical habit.”

He nodded.

She gestured to the large fossil. “If you don’t mind, could you tell me more about this—what was it called again?”

“It is a belemnite.” His eyes met hers, and the expression in them was one she had never seen before. It was far too slight to be called a smile, but the harsh lines of his face seemed to relax. “I do not mind. In fact, it would be my pleasure to tell you about them, Kathryn.”

***

By the time Gerrit finished showing his wife around the dig and introduced her to his other workers it was past noon and Jeremy arrived with two large hampers of food.

“Would you care to join me for my midday meal?” Gerrit asked, wishing he didn’t sound so bloody stiff.

“Will there be enough?” Kathryn asked.

“Yes. Cook always packs plenty,” he assured her.

“Then I would like to join you.” She followed him into the work tent. “This is nice,” she said, glancing around.

“It is functional and convenient,” he said, pouring some water into the basin for her.

While they washed their hands, Jeremy set out their meal of roasted fowl and crusty bread, both still warm.

“I think I will bring my sketchbook when I come back tomorrow,” Kathryn said.

Gerrit finished chewing his mouthful of food and washed it down with some ale before saying, “Are you any good?”

She blinked, and her mouth pulled down at the corners.

Damnation! “I did not mean that to sound rude,” Gerrit admitted. “I was just curious.”

It must have been the correct thing to say because her lips relaxed.

“I am not bad at sketching, but my watercolors are barely adequate. Of course I am not nearly as good as my sister Aurelia, who was a professional illustrator before she married the Earl of Crewe.”