Free Barefoot in Pearls (Barefoot Bay Brides Book 3) by Roxanne St. Claire Page B

you mean you thought I was the one?” His voice was barely audible over the fshhht of wet sheetrock being ripped.
    “Forget it. Just help me.”
    “We’re taking down every wall tonight?”
    “Who knows what we’ll find?” she demanded, yanking off another sheet to reveal…
    “Nothing,” he said. “Except, who knows with you? Maybe there are invisible treasures.”
    She thwacked another piece of wet wall, making a hole. “Shut up.” She stabbed her hand in, then pulled it out with a hiss when she must have scraped herself. Instantly, he put his hand over hers.
    “Come on, don’t do this now.”
    “I have to. You could plow the whole thing down by tomorrow.”
    “I won’t take it down tomorrow, and if there’s anything worth keeping, I’ll give it to you, not the owner.”
    Undeterred, she stuck her hand in the partial hole she’d made and started pulling. “I don’t believe you. And I don’t trust you.”
    The admission pinched way more than it should have.
    After a few more pulls, she got the sheet off and tossed it to the side, looking down. “Ew. A dead mouse.”
    Which, of course, didn’t slow her down. “Look, you have my word, my promise, my oath on whatever it is you want me to swear on.”
    “What matters to you?”
    “Excuse me?”
    She glanced over her shoulder, her eyes wicked and sparking with intent. “Swear on something that matters to you. Whatever is the foundation of your belief system.”
    Like he thought: nuts. “I don’t…” Have a belief system . No holy book, no ultimate power, no faith in…anything. He’d seen far too many horrific things to believe there was much good in the world. “Can’t you just take my word for it?” he asked.
    “No.” She started on the next panel, turning away from him. “I don’t trust you.”
    The statement hurt even more the second time. “You don’t even know me.”
    She tried to punch a hole, hammering the side of her hand hard enough to shake the wall, but not break it.
    “Ouch,” she muttered.
    “Let me do it.” He eased her to the side and tapped the wall. “There’s a stud there. You’re lucky you didn’t break your hand.” He kept knocking on the wall, but it was as hard as concrete. “We’ll need a jackhammer for this one, so forget it.”
    She shook her head. “I’m not going to forget it, and I’m not going to let you demolish this house and desecrate precious pieces of huge historical and archaeological significance.”
    “Demo isn’t scheduled until next week. I promise you, I will personally rip out every wall and stud and make sure there are no more crates full of…” He hesitated long enough for her to turn away.
    “Don’t make any remark that you’re going to regret.”
    He put his hands on her shoulders, as gently as possible. “I see that you are a very determined and driven woman who doesn’t stop when she wants something.”
    She angled her head, giving him a humorless death stare.
    “So I am giving you my word of honor that I will not allow this building to be demolished until I— you and I—have, in broad daylight, examined every single nook, cranny, hole, and hiding place in here and made sure that whatever the former owner was secretly stockpiling is taken out and protected.”
    Her expression softened, but not entirely. “What about the hill?”
    Shit. The hill. “I told you, I’ll look at the paperwork, and if there’s anything at all that can delay the lot prep and grading until we do some preliminary excavation—”
    “Not preliminary. And a certified archaeologist has to be there.”
    That would take a month. “Whatever it takes. But let’s do it right and not here in the middle of the night by flashlight.”
    She didn’t move, hopefully considering his promises and not…conjuring up a spell to put on him.
    “We don’t want to miss anything in the dark,” he added, trying to seal his deal.
    A scratching sound at their feet made her inch toward the door. Thanks,