He reached up to help her dismount and her body ignited against his as she slid to the ground. His green eyes smoldered with desire, but they were both mindful of their watchful company. Virginia averted her gaze tactfully, but Owen stared outright.
Zoe stepped back and relinquished the reins of her horse to Colin and watched as the brothers walked the horses to a shady tree and tied them off. Zoe chatted with Virginia about things they had in common, but was aware that under the tree, the brothers were squaring off.
And she didn’t have to guess at the topic of conversation.
* * *
“BRO, WHAT THE HELL are you doing?”
Colin scowled at Owen. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, what happened to Lauren?”
“Last I heard, she was still in New Zealand.”
“The last you heard? Did you break up?”
“No,” Colin admitted.
“Then who’s Zoe?”
“A…friend.”
“Oh, so that babe slept in the guest room last night?”
Colin frowned. “That’s none of your business, Owen.”
“Are you in love with this girl?”
“What? Of course not. We only met a few days ago.” Although it seemed like much longer, he thought. “And she’s going back to America tomorrow.”
“So when the Atlanta deal closes, you plan to keep a girlfriend on each continent?”
“No,” Colin said through gritted teeth. Then he scrubbed his hand over his face. “Benjamin is having second thoughts about the Atlanta deal.”
Owen frowned. “Why?”
“Let’s just say he’d like to see a partnership between me and his sister before he signs the papers for a partnership between his company and mine.”
“All the more reason to stay away from this woman.”
“I won’t be seeing her again,” Colin said. “She’s getting married.”
Owen’s eyes bulged. “You’re risking your relationship with Lauren and maybe the Atlanta deal that you’ve been working on for months for a woman who’s getting married?”
Colin frowned. “Well, when you put it that way.”
“Take my advice, bro. Have fun tonight and tomorrow when this sheila leaves, forget you ever met her.”
Owen walked off, leaving Colin to berate himself for being such an idiot. Maybe all those hits on the soccer field were finally catching up to him. Maybe he had lost his mind. He was risking everything on something fleeting. Lauren and his business were there for the long-term. And Zoe…Well, hadn’t he just given her a wedding present, for God’s sake?
Owen was right, Colin realized. Tonight he’d have fun with Zoe, and tomorrow, he’d do his best to forget he ever met her.
15
THE TENSION BETWEEN COLIN and his brother wasn’t lost on Zoe, but when Colin walked up, he gave her a reassuring wink. “Ready to start fossicking?”
“I have no idea what I’m doing. I’ve never been on this end of the stones I’ve worked with.”
He laughed. “Follow me. It’s simple really. Owen’s going to use the backhoe to pull out a chunk of dirt.” He unlocked the door to the outbuilding, revealing picks, sledgehammers, handheld hammers, shovels and screen-lined trays. “Then we’ll sift through the dirt to find rocks, or nobbies, as we call them. If there’s no color on the outside of the small ones, they get tossed. But we’ll break open the big rocks because they might contain an opal on the inside.” He cocked an eyebrow. “Not too glamorous. You still want to give it a try?”
“Absolutely,” she said, picking up a tray. “Is this where you found the other opals?”
He nodded. “I was riding the four-wheeler one day looking for stray sheep, and I came upon this spot when I stopped to take a rest. I looked down and there was a rock with an opal in it just lying on the ground.”
“Have you thought about having this area excavated?”
“Nah. It’d be a complicated venture to get that kind of equipment on the top of this hill, and chances are, there isn’t enough opal here to make it worthwhile. Opals develop in clay seams, and there’s no clay here like in Lightning Ridge in northwest New South Wales where the best black opals are mined. I’m guessing that whatever opals are here washed down from the ridge over time. It’s just fun to look for them.” He passed her a pair of heavy gloves and clear plastic goggles.
Zoe donned the gear and stood back while Owen operated the backhoe and dug into the rocky earth. Her enthusiasm for the outing had dimmed because she knew that Owen disapproved of her being there with Colin. Mrs. Cannon probably did, too. Were they close to Lauren Rook?
She could tell that despite putting on a congenial face, Colin, too, was unsettled by whatever his brother had said. His body language was stiff and a frown line had settled onto his brow. Mrs. Cannon was friendly, though, as she and Zoe began the dirty job of sifting through the shovels of dirt that the men placed on the screened boxes. Zoe asked her about her childhood and, under a wide-brimmed hat, Mrs. Cannon relayed stories of floating down the Chattahoochee River on inner tubes with friends, and the annual lighting of a giant Christmas tree at Rich’s department store.
“It’s Macy’s now,” Zoe said, “but they still have the tree lighting every year at Thanksgiving at Lenox Square.”
“And do you go with your family?” his mother asked quietly.
Was the woman inquiring into her marital status? Zoe wondered. Had she noticed the tan line on Zoe’s ring finger?
“Yes, my parents and I usually attend together,” she murmured. With Kevin, but she didn’t think she should say so. Which only made her feel worse. “Australia is so different from the States, so different from the South, especially. Did you have trouble adjusting when you first moved here?”
“Oh, sure,” Virginia said. “Back then telephones weren’t even common, so I could only write letters home.” Then she smiled, her eyes twinkling. “But I had my Daniel, and my boys, so I was very happy. What’s the saying? Home is where the heart is.”
Zoe smiled. “What’s your husband like?”
“Look at Colin and you’ll know,” the woman said lightly. “Big and handsome and intelligent, the kind of man that makes a woman forget about her plans.”
Zoe swallowed hard and chose not to respond, instead concentrating on the process of filtering rocks from the dirt and throwing them onto a pile at their feet.
They settled into a routine, the women sorting the larger rocks and the men breaking them open with sledgehammers. Colin seemed to be putting more muscle into the job than necessary. In fact, he and Owen both appeared to be working out their frustrations with each other with every fall of the hammer.
“Boys,” Virginia admonished, “this is supposed to be recreation, not a competition. And look, I think I found something.” She held up a rock the size of a golf ball.
They all gathered around to see. Colin used a bandanna to rub away the dirt, then held it up and smiled. “Good eye, Mom.” From the rock winked a tiny green opal. “I’ll break it open to see how big it is.”
He placed the rock in the bandanna, then used a smaller utility hammer to break it open. When he unfolded the bandanna, he fished out the piece with the opal, then made a rueful noise. “It’s small, but it’s something.” He handed the rock back to his mother with a wink. “But where there’s one, there’s another.”
Sure enough, within the next hour, they discovered three more rocks containing small opals—Zoe herself found two of them. She was flushed and thrilled and knew in that moment that she’d fallen in love with Australia and all of its wonders. Then she glanced at Colin under her lashes and worried that her feelings encompassed this man, as well.
He looked up at that moment and his gaze caught hers, his eyes solemn with some unidentifiable emotion—regret that they’d entered into such a frivolous liaison? She turned away, afraid he would see what she was feeling. It was a good thing she was leaving the country tomorrow. If she stayed any longer, she might be tempted to think she was falling in love with Colin.
As the morning turned into afternoon, everyone began to tire and grow frustrated at the lack of further discoveries. Yet Zoe could see how prospecting could become addictive. Each time she was sure that the next muddy rock she picked up would hold a treasure.
“Owen, dear, I think I’m ready to go back,” Virginia said, pushing to her feet.
“We can all go, Mother,” Colin offered.
“No, you and Zoe stay. Owen and I have intruded on you long enough.” She threw Owen a stern look, then smiled at Zoe and extended her hand. “In case I don’t see you again, young lady, it was nice meeting you. Talking to you has made me homesick for Atlanta.”
“It was nice meeting you, too,” Zoe said, accepting the woman’s hand.
Owen said goodbye, too, tipping his hat. Zoe gave him a friendly smile, understanding that his opposition to her presence probably had more to do with what she represented than with who she was. Colin kissed his mother’s cheek, then traded defiant looks with his brother before they rode away.
“I’m envious of your family,” Zoe murmured. “You all really care about each other.”