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I tried to hide my disappointment and focus on the positive. There was a ring that could help me somehow, along with the notes my father had written down. The ring and the notes had to be here somewhere. I just had to find them, and hopefully, the notes would tell me about the other object he’d mentioned.
When I finished in the laundry room, I headed to the kitchen and took the cinnamon rolls and fruit over to the sideboard. Several of the researchers had already gathered in the dining room. David walked in just as I was finishing up, and his friend called out to him, “David! We missed you last night.”
“I decided to call it an early night.”
“I knocked on your door when we got back around dark, and you didn’t answer.”
“I walked downtown to get dinner. Poor Richard’s has great sandwiches.”
“Are you feeling all right? You look tired.”
David gave a halfhearted laugh. “You know how it is when you sleep in a bed that’s not your own.”
Or in this case sitting up on a sofa. We’d slept there together. After drinking copiously.
Feeling reassured that they had everything they needed, I went into the kitchen to clean up. I was halfway done with the dishes when David appeared in the doorway of the butler’s pantry. “Can I come in?”
“Of course.”
He moved toward me, concern in his eyes. “This morning has been…awkward, and I feel rude for ignoring you in there.”
I put the pot I was scrubbing under the water to rinse. “It’s probably better that you do. You’ll make them all suspicious if they know you spent the night with me.”
“In more ways than one,” he conceded. “Steven would consider it greatly out of character.”
My eyes widened as I realized what he was hinting at. “Oh, you’re gay.” I shook my head, feeling like a fool. “With all those girls after you at your college, I just thought—”
“What? No!” Horror filled his eyes. “No, I’m not gay.” He frowned. “Not that there’s anything wrong with being gay, but I can assure you that I’m not.”
My faced flushed. “Oh.”
“Me sleeping with a woman I just met would be completely out of character. I know we didn’tsleeptogether.” His face turned bright red. “But they don’t know that. It’s probably best to keep it quiet.”
“Okay.”
He rubbed his temple, closing his eyes. “Bollocks. Now it sounds like I’d be ashamed if they thought I’d slept with you.” His eyes flew open. “Which I wouldn’t be. You are a very attractive woman, Ellie, and I would love nothing more than to…” His voice trailed off and he took a step backward, pointing over his shoulder toward the door. “I think I should stop talking now. Perhaps I should just go.”
I grinned; my hands deep in the soapy water. David blushed furiously, which made him look more attractive than ever. I found it hard to believe someone as good looking as he was could feel anything less than confident.
He put a folded piece of paper on the counter. “This is my cell phone number, in case you need me for anything today.”
“Thanks.”
“Can I have yours? In case I need you?”
I laughed. “Is this a bad pickup line? It’s pretty obvious you don’t need them, so I can see that you’ve gotten a bit rusty.”
“No. God, no.” The red on his cheeks deepened. “I just figured if I found anything at the site…”
I grabbed a towel and dried off my hands. “I’m teasing. You just look so cute blushing like that, it was hard to resist.”
He grimaced. “So does that mean you’re giving me your number?”
I rattled off the number, and he plugged it into his phone.
When he had it entered, he slipped the phone into his pocket. “I mean it. Call me if you need me, Ellie.”
“You haven’t made a decision yet.”
