Like hell. Ew.
He was always looking at me. Getting too close. Making those offhand comments that made my skin crawl. But I'd never called him out. How could I? He was my boss. The man who'd funded this expedition. He was the reason I'd been able to come here.
But ever since we'd set up my tent next to the site office at the dig site, he'd been acting weird.
Oh, God! Did he think I'd share the bed inside the bus with him?
I wanted to vomit.
Could that be why he'd been such a pain in the ass?
But still, that didn't explain his reaction when I'd uncovered the prehistoric fossils. He'd changed. Grown possessive. Paranoid. Acting as if the discovery belonged to him and him alone. He hadn't wanted to share the credit. He'd wanted to steal it from me just like that bastard Marcus had four years ago.
Not getting the permit to be here probably hadn't been the only thing Doug had lied about. There was more going on with him.
My mind drifted back to yesterday. I'd been outside the bus, working up the courage to go inside to grab some lunch, when the satellite phone rang. Doug had kept his voice low, but the metal walls had carried sound better than he'd realized. He'd been begging someone for more time, and I'd assumed it was about our dig site funding. But then his tone had shifted to sharp and fierce. "Don't you touch her. I told you to stay away from her."
My stomach had dropped. Who was her?
Was he telling someone to stay away from me?
When I'd finally gone inside, his hands had been shaking as he stubbed out a cigarette in an overflowing ashtray. I'd asked if everything was okay, and he'd nearly bitten my head off and told me to mind my own damn business. Then he immediately apologized and said it was just family stuff, his ex-wife causing problems. Yet as I'd walked out, I caught him checking out my ass again.
Which he did all the bloody time.
The only thing that seemed to interest him was my ass, and if I caught him ogling me one more time, I was going to introduce his nose to my fist.
Mitch stood with his arms folded, biceps flexed, eyes sharp. If he was worried about Doug, he didn't show it.
Or maybe he just didn't give a shit.
Either way, neither of them was backing down, and I sure as hell didn't need that bullshit.
"All right," I said, keeping my voice firm enough to snap their attention to me. "We're wet, exhausted, and stuck in a cave until that storm blows over." Another wave of brown water crashed along the ravine below. "But we have a problem. That water's still rising."
Doug snorted and glared at Mitch. "That's not our only problem."
I drew a breath and stepped forward, planting myself where I could face them both. "Look, we have no way to prove who is right at the moment, but the truth will come out. If we have a permit, it'll be on record, and Mitch will be wrong. If we don't…" I turned to Doug, holding his gaze. "Then we're in deep shit."
"Of course, I got a permit." He scowled at me with eyes so sharp and oily my skin crawled. "He's a liar."
Ignoring his outburst, I pivoted back to Mitch. "Thank you again for saving me… and for not letting him drown, even though I bet you wish you had."
Doug muttered under his breath.
Mitch gave me another measured nod. He was silent and unreadable. Yet somehow, his steadiness calmed the storm inside me.
He turned a glare at Doug so fierce that Doug stepped back.
Good. Doug deserved it for not saying thank you.
"There's nothing we can do now," I said. "So, let's save the shouting and accusations for when we're not soaking wet and stuck in a cave above a rising river, yeah?"
Neither of them said a word.
Fine. I'd said what needed to be said. What they did with it was up to them.
Shaking my head, I moved to the edge of the cave and leaned against the stone wall. The rain was incredible, spitting from the sky with such force it seemed angry. Every time thunder cracked overhead, I jumped.