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“Stop a moment,” said Daniel, flopping onto the ground. “I’m thirsty.”
She sat down beside him. He wiped the back of his hand across his cheek and left a streak of dirt. She knew her face was similarly filthy but she didn’t care. She never had to care what she looked like with Daniel.
She’d tried to explain as much to her mother but the duchess hadn’t understood.
You’re his betrothed. Do you want him to remember his bride as a young harridan with soil under her nails and scrapes on her knees? Now do sit up properly, fold your hands, and kindly refrain from using the vulgar tongue. We are not Bow-bell cockneys.
India knew her future groom couldn’t care less if she sat properly and used correct speech. His knees had matching scrapes and he was the one who’d taught her the naughty words. He was twelve, which made him only one year older, but he liked to think he was far more experienced and worldly.
He handed her the water flask and she gulped the cool stream water.
“This is only the beginning, Indy,” Daniel said dreamily. He rolled onto his side to face her. “After I return from my schooling we’ll be married and then we will travel the world and become famous archaeologists.”
She nodded enthusiastically. “Where will we travel to first?”
“Athens, to see the Parthenon!”
“And then we’ll journey to Egypt and search for the long-lost tomb of Antony and Cleopatra.”
They lay back in the grass, the crowns of their heads nearly touching, staring up at the sky. There were so many possibilities written in those purple-tinged clouds.
“We’ll make astounding discoveries,” Daniel said, with great confidence and conviction. He flipped one of the Roman coins across his knuckles so it appeared to walk across the back of his hand.
He was far more dedicated to learning coin and card tricks than Latin verbs. Sometimes he pulled cards from the bodices of her gowns and coins from her ears. She pretended to be annoyed but secretly she loved it.
Secretly, she lovedhim. Even when he was annoying. Even when he made fun of her studiousness and called her a stick-in-the-mud.
She wasn’t one of those girls who cried when he tugged on her plaits, or screamed if he opened his cupped palms to reveal a wriggling centipede.
He’d never told her in words but she could tell that he loved her. More than anyone else in the world loved her. And loved her forher. He liked her adventurousness and the way she could best him at just about anything. Well, maybe he didn’t love that part. But he never belittled her for wanting to become an archaeologist.
And she was hopelessly devoted to him.
Not that she’d ever tell him as much.
His head was swollen to grandiose proportions already. Everyone doted on him, especially his beautiful, sweet-tempered mother. India’s mother was beautiful as well, but she was cold through and through, like a coin buried too deep to reach.
Daniel stacked the coins into a tower. “Let’s keep these just between us,” he said casually, but she heard a hint of hesitation in his voice.
“What do you mean? We must give them to the British Museum. We’ll have our names in the papers.”
“Must we give them to the museum? We could... keep them... only for a little while.”
He cupped her hand with his and poured several coins into her palm. “Feel that, Indy. Copper and silver. Doesn’t it feel right? It’s an omen from the Roman gods. It means that all of our dreams will come true.”
Did he dream of their future together as he lay in bed at night, just as India did?
He closed her fingers around the coins. “This is our treasure. If anything happened to our families or our fortunes, we could sell these and it would be enough to finance our first adventure.”
She pulled her hand from his grasp and tumbled the stack of coins into a messy pile. “Don’t be silly. We can’t own these. They’re a piece of history. They have stories to tell.”
“We found them.”
“We can’t own history. The coins belong in a museum for everyone to admire and study.”
Her earnestness was met with a mischievous smile. “Let’s keep them just for a few days. What’s the harm? It will be our little secret.”
Our little secret.
