At first, he’d thought he was seeing a small snake driven into the cave by the forest fire outside. In fact, he was surprised wild creatures hadn’t yet joined them to escape the heat and the flames. But when he’d taken a second look, he’d realized the dark line was too motionless to be an animal.

“It’s gotta be where they hid the treasure.” Ivy dug alongside him eagerly.

“Seems like it.”

Someone had hidden treasure there, no doubt about it. But who? Why? And more importantly, how did Hance know about it? The questions nagged him as they had ever since he’d left town. But now the need for answers grew more demanding.

The stone head of the snake pointed toward the center of the cave, right where they were digging. How had he overlooked the clue?

He knew exactly how. Because he’d been too enamored with Ivy, too caught up in admiring her, too occupied with battling his attraction to her. She was a huge distraction. And if he wasn’t more careful, he’d miss something bigger the next time and possibly put her in terrible danger.

He unsheathed his knife from inside his boot and wedged it down into the crack. Using the hard steel blade, he leveraged the stone upward. It didn’t move far, but it was enough that they could get their hands underneath and lift.

As they hauled at it, he wanted to warn Ivy not to get her hopes up. Whoever had buried a treasure here had more than likely come back for it. But seeing the brightness of her eyes and the anticipation on her face, he couldn’t make himself speak words of caution. She’d find out and be disappointed soon enough.

Besides, now that she’d figured out the nature of his work in South Park, he could tell her the truth about Steele’s land. He’d have to keep up his public pretense of wanting to buy it, but at least she would know she didn’t have anything to worry about.

“I can’t believe this.” She dragged on her end of the stone, inching it upward.

The opening widened until they could see a dark pit underneath like a yawning mouth. As they set the slab aside, he leaned forward at the same time she did in order to peer into the hole. Their faces were close enough that he could feel her breath against his cheek.

He went to the brink of heaven and back every time he kissed her. Even now, he wasn’t sure how he’d been able to stop, why he wasn’t still kissing her. Because that’s all he wanted to do.