Free Digging Deep (Xcite Romance) by Kay Jaybee

with him, Harrison could barely breathe out his words. ‘What sort of things do you want us to do together?’ He gazed at his companion in avid awe.
    ‘Apart from the fact that I intend to discover exactly how good it feels to have your dick inside me, you are not going to find out how far my fantasies about you stretch until we’ve found Muscle Boy and Miss Infection, and cleared this nonsense up once and for all. Are you sure there’s nothing else I should know before we find them?’
    Marvelling at the fact that Beth had been fantasising about him as much as he’d been dreaming about her, and wishing his brain wasn’t so focused on his dick, Harrison braced himself. He knew he had to tell her about the final flourish to Candida’s garden phone call. If he didn’t, and she found out later, he’d lose Beth before he’d ever really got her, and that was a risk he didn’t want to take.
    ‘I’ve agonised over whether I should have told you this after I heard Candida’s call. I didn’t because I genuinely believed the last bit of her conversation was stupid gossip; an extra twist of nastiness to embellish her tale to whoever was on the end of the call. But, having seen how Muscle Boy behaves around you, and having got to know you better, I realise that I’ve got everything backwards. It wasn’t the part about you having an affair with Ryan that I should have focused on – that was pure jealousy, I’m afraid. It was the other bit of her conversation.’
    Beth suddenly felt as if she’d come down with a dose of 24-hour flu ‘What other bit?’
    ‘Promise you’ll hear me out before you go completely nuts?’
    ‘No.’
    Sharply blowing out a lungful of sticky air, Harrison began to explain. ‘Ryan has a bet on with someone back in the UK.’
    Beth hardly wanted to ask. ‘What kind of bet?’
    ‘That he’ll have sex with you before the dig’s over.’
    She felt herself blanch. ‘I guess that explains a lot.’
    Placing a finger gently over her lips, Harrison nodded. ‘That’s why he’s been so attentive. The fact he hasn’t been giving you room to breathe is nothing to do with his guilt over breaking of the mosaic. He did that deliberately so he could suck up to you. It wasn’t an accident.’
    The last remaining blood in Beth’s face drained away. She felt faint, and for the first time in ages it was nothing to do with the scalding temperatures. ‘I’ve been feeling like the whore of Babylon, and all this has been about is some juvenile bet!’ Although she kept hold of his hand, her words could have cut ice as she demanded, ‘You didn’t think I should’ve been informed of this last night?’
    ‘Sorry, doll. I almost told you, but I didn’t want to make things worse than they were. If it helps, I honestly haven’t heard any rumours about it amongst the kids.’
    Unaware that she was clasping Harrison’s hand so hard her nails were beginning to cut into his flesh, she mentally processed the implications of Candida’s phone call and Ryan’s bet. ‘And what do you propose we do to sort this out?’
    Harrison, not wanting to let go of her, even to escape the increasingly painful grip of her fingernails, clocked Beth’s determined expression. It was time for action. ‘First, we have to find them. Then you must find out if Candida has told Ryan what she’s up to and why.’
    ‘And how the hell do I do that?’
    Harrison grimaced. ‘You’ll have to make Ryan think he has won his bet. You’ll have to seduce him, and get the information out of him in the process.’
    ‘You have got to be kidding.’
    ‘And I –’ Harrison drew himself up to his full height, his jaw set, his face grim ‘– will have to do the same with Miss Infection, because I’m willing to make a bet of my own. Whoever Candida is reporting to is the same person that Ryan is gambling with.’
    ‘You think Linda’s behind this mess, don’t you?’
    ‘Doll, this has got Linda’s signature all over