Ted was proud to be from Haskell. He loved growing up and making his life in a town where community still meant something. At least, he had until that sense of community caused half the town to show up at the ranch, interested in checking out the fossil. He hated turning people away, but after Laura’s warning, it became increasingly necessary. Too bad it made him the local bad guy. Although, after the paleontology team brought in extra heavy, sensitive equipment to begin the process of removing the fossil from the ground completely, he had an excuse to chase everyone away that made sense, even to the most persistent neighbor.

Which finally meant he could relax again.

“You seem really mellow this morning,” Laura commented as she snuggled up to his side in bed. How he’d convinced her to stay the night was still a mystery.

“Of course I’m mellow,” he replied, twisting to face her. “I’ve got a beautiful, sexy, naked woman in my bed.”

Laura giggled, her cheeks turning pink. He loved that about her, loved the fact that still, after more than a month of dating, she still got bashful about being in bed with him. He made her even more bashful by scooping his hand down her thigh and lifting her knee high over his side. She gasped and shivered as he ground his morning erection against the soft, hot mystery between her legs.

“I’m not really that sexy,” she insisted, breathless, as she wriggled against him. “I mean, there are all those shrapnel scars.”

“I like your scars.” He pulled her closer. “They show how tough you are. I like my women tough.”

“Do you?” Her voice wavered just enough to make him impatient.

“Oh yeah.” He proved it by slanting his mouth over hers.

It was first thing in the morning, and neither of them were minty-fresh and ready to kiss, but he didn’t even care. He loved the feeling of her body against his, the way she went speechless when he teased her with a stroke along the cleft between her legs or by cupping her breast and working her nipple into a taut knot. He loved that she responded to him like every time was the first, even though, at her age, there was no way that could be true. He loved how she tasted. Even thinking about it made him want to flip her to her back so he could kiss his way down her belly to run his tongue over her, circling and sucking until she came.

He drew in a breath, his cock throbbing with the need to be inside of her. There were condoms on the bedside table, but he was enjoying the morning far too much to bring everything to a climax so soon.

“Remind me to thank Howie for giving PSF the day off for his birthday,” he growled, resting his head against the pillow.

Laura laughed. “I’d feel a lot better about it if we weren’t at a crucial stage with the redesigned plasma engine. Angelica mentioned something about getting together at her and Dennis’s place later to do some math, so I might do that.”

Ted chuckled. “Getting together with friends to do math. Ooh, baby, I love the way you talk dirty.”

Laura laughed harder, the vibrations turning Ted on even more. “Stop it.”

“Oh no, I want to hear more of that.” He rolled until he was on top of her, adjusting her legs so that she was wide open to him from the waist down. It took all of his will power to keep his kisses to her breasts…not that there was a problem with that. “Pi equals MC squared and all that.”

“It’s E equals MC squared,” she giggled, then moaned as he caught one of her nipples between his teeth. “And I can’t do higher mathematics in this position.”

“How about this position?”

He rocked back to his knees, then flipped her to her stomach, lifting her hips high. The urge to reach for a condom and see how long he could last inside of her before exploding was massive, but all he did was wrap himself around her, rubbing his cock against her without penetrating.

“Two plus two is eight? Definitely not helping with math,” she panted.

He wished he could cup her breasts and hump away in that position, but he needed his arms to balance. He couldn’t even do that after a few seconds, not with the way she was moving her hips against him, doing her level best to maneuver into a position where he would thrust into her instead of over the wet parts of her. It would be so easy to pretend passion had overridden his good sense, but he wasn’t going to put her at risk by not using a condom.

He had no choice but to call a time out and flop to his back, lifting her to lie on top of him.

“Why did you stop?” she panted, pushing hair out of her face. “I was really, really enjoying that.”

“Any chance you’re on the pill?” he asked, wincing at how unromantic the question was.

Laura blushed, suddenly unable to meet his eyes. “I didn’t even think of that.” She lowered her head as though she’d committed some sort of unforgivable sin.

Ted frowned, pushing back the strand of hair that had fallen into her face, in spite of her efforts to brush it away. He’d noticed that Laura was prone to overreacting to things, but something about the level of, well, it had to be embarrassment, that she was showing wasn’t right.

He opened his mouth to tell her it was okay, but she cut him off with, “I bet the other girlfriends you’ve had were smart enough to get on birth control.”

The uneasy feeling that things weren’t as they seemed intensified. “I guess so.” Actually, he knew so. In every other relationship in his life that had gotten this far, he’d made sure to have a frank discussion about sexual practicalities. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t had the same discussion with Laura, except that he knew the situation was different. This was more than just some temporary fun.

Laura was still and silent for a long time before sucking in a breath and adjusting the way she draped over him. She rested her arms on his chest so that she could look down at him with a look of scientific curiosity. “So how many women have you slept with?”

Ted would have squirmed if she didn’t have him pinned down. He’d never felt so awkward about answering that question before. “How many have you slept with?” He turned the question back on her.

He’d never seen anyone turn as red or as squirrely about a question as Laura did after he asked. Her eyes darted around, not resting on anything, and tension flooded her face. “That’s not important. I’m asking you.”

“And I’m asking you,” he teased. He was suddenly eager to know, and at the same time, dreaded her answer. The thought of any other guy hearing the sounds Laura made when she was aroused or tasting the salt of her skin made him jealous. And he wasn’t the jealous type.

“Answer the question,” she said, eyes narrowed.

If he felt so jealous about her past lovers, then she must be feeling the same thing. He was filled with the need to put her at ease. “Five,” he confessed.

“Five?” her brow went up and her eyes widened, but whether in surprise or panic or disappointment, he couldn’t tell.

“Honestly, most of those were in college or before.” He tried to reassure her. “What my dad called my wild oats phase. None of them were lasting relationships, just a horn-dog away from home for the first time getting excited that college girls were so liberal.”

“But that wasn’t all of them.” Laura’s surprise deflated into a frown.

“No, but they were all in the past, before I met you. I don’t intend to go sleeping with anyone else in the foreseeable future.” He added a grin and stroked his thumb across her cheek, hoping it would set her at ease.

“The foreseeable future?” Her body went so tense that it was like she gained ten pounds in a second.

Something else was going on, something that had her upset. He shifted, rolling her to her side so that he could hold her and stroke a hand down her back. “Okay, what’s this really about?”

Instead of meeting his eyes, she studied her fingers as they played with his chest hair. “It’s just…It wouldn’t bother me, except….” She let out a breath and looked up at him. “I keep having people tell me that they never thought you would date a girl like me.”

He arched a brow, not liking where things were going. “And who were these busybodies who should be keeping their noses out of others’ business instead of having an opinion about who I date?”

Laura’s face flushed deeper, and she went back to studying his chest. “No one important.”

“Laura.” He sounded like his dad back in the days when Casey had gotten in trouble and needed prompting to confess.

Laura let out a breath. “Okay, well, one of them was Ronny Bonneville.”

Ted snorted and rolled his eyes. “Don’t listen to a word that jackass says.” Next time Ted ran into him, he’d throttle the little twerp.

“But he wasn’t the only one.” She took a short, shallow breath and summoned her courage to look up at him. “Everyone seems to think you go for more sophisticated women, and here I am, a nerdy girl who likes digging in the dirt for—”

He put a finger on her lips to silence her. Her self-esteem issues drove him nuts, but he had the feeling folks in town weren’t helping the situation. Not if they were talking about him and sophisticated women. All because he and Sandy had dated for a couple of months three years ago, he was sure.

“I don’t know who you’ve been talking to specifically, but I can guarantee you they’re basing their opinion on one woman I dated years ago. She is local and I am local, so all the old grandmas in town got it in their heads that we were perfect for each other. But we weren’t. End of story.”

“But if you—”

This time, he silenced her with a kiss. It wasn’t a cute, polite kiss either. It was a kiss designed to show her just how much he wanted her and just what he thought of other people’s opinions. It worked too, as far as he could tell. After a few initial seconds of tension, Laura sighed and sagged into him. Her arms circled around him more fully, and she voluntarily threw her leg over his.

“What’s it going to take to get you to see that you’re the only girl I want?” he asked, sliding his hands down to her backside and grinding his erection against her inner thigh. “What do I have to do to convince you that you are exactly the right woman for me in every way, and that every kiss we share wipes away the memories of those wild oats days and more?”

“Maybe intensive psychotherapy?” she giggled, reaching for his backside.

Silly as her answer was, it made him deeply happy. If she was joking about it, she was getting over it. And that was a ridiculous turn-on.

He let go of her and leaned back to reach for the box of condoms on the bedside table. “Nope,” he said, tugging the tail end of a strip out. “Not good enough.”

“Psychotherapy and an intensive program of sedatives?” she suggested, her voice rising in pitch the way it did when she was turned on.

Ted ripped open a condom and broke away from her to roll it on. “No, I think I’ll have to demonstrate my point physically.”

“Oh, my.” He’d pushed back the covers and now knelt in such a way that she got an eyeful of him. “Oh, my,” she repeated, rougher and higher, as she stared at his latex-sheathed cock. It stood up, stiff and ready, and the hungry look in her eyes, the way she licked her lips, filled him with urgency.

“I gotta tell you, Princess, I’m not interested in putting this anywhere but inside of you.” It was possibly the lamest thing he’d ever said, but Laura broke into a fit of giggles all the same.

She managed to squeak out, “Better than therapy,” before he closed in on her. He silenced her giggles with a kiss, his tongue imitating what other parts of him would like to be doing to her as soon as possible. The heat in his groin burned hotter as she responded to him, snaking her arms around his shoulders and running her fingers through his hair. She wriggled her hips against him, trying to take matters into her own hands, but he kept out of her reach.

When he’d kissed them both into a panting frenzy, he shifted back and flipped her the way he’d had her before. He raised her hips high, but this time, after rubbing along her sensitive flesh until she made the desperate sounds that indicated she was close to coming, he gripped her hips and thrust deep into her.

“Oh!” She cried out as he moved to thrust again. His own control was quickly disintegrating, so he nudged her knees farther apart with his and settled over her. Somehow he managed to balance with one hand while sliding the other between her legs to rest against her clit as he thrust.

It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t graceful, but within seconds he was swallowed up in pleasure as he thrust hard and fast. He could barely concentrate on whether his hand was doing what it should for her as his body burned and tensed. Orgasm burst over him like a volcanic eruption, sending a jolt of white-hot pleasure through every part of him. As it subsided, he could feel the squeezing tremors of Laura coming while he was still inside of her. It was so blissfully powerful that when they were both done, they collapsed onto the sheets, hot and spent.

“And there’s more where that came from,” he managed to get out through pants. “In case you didn’t get the message.”

“Yes, please,” she answered with satisfaction that was almost comical, it was so deep.

They shared a laugh as they curled up for a quick nap. Laura might have been on vacation for the day, but he still had a thousand things to do around the ranch. Roscoe would already be up looking after the urgent tasks, and since he knew Laura was there, he’d be lenient about Ted not showing up in the barn bright and early. Still, there were responsibilities that needed taking care of, and after the longest nap he felt right taking—about fifteen minutes—Ted got up to take a shower and face the day.

By the time Laura got up, showered, dressed, and came downstairs as well, Ted was sitting at the kitchen table, downing a mug of coffee with a hastily-made bacon sandwich.

“I made one for you too,” he told Laura, nodding to the place across the table from him where her sandwich sat on a plate.

“Aw, that’s so sweet.” Laura headed to the counter first to pour a mug of coffee.

Roscoe came through the kitchen door at the same time, the day’s mail in his hand. “You making breakfast for everyone now?” he asked, dropping the mail on the table.

“Only for pretty girls,” Ted said, sending Laura a wink as she joined him at the table.

Roscoe smiled and huffed a fond laugh. “Morning, Laura.” The way he smiled at her filled Ted’s heart with joy. His dad had always liked the girls he’d dated, but for whatever reason, Roscoe and Laura had hit it off like none of the others had. And as old-fashioned as his dad was, Ted had only gotten a few disapproving looks for having a girl overnight instead of a full-out lecture. That was beyond significant.

“How are the cows this morning?” Laura asked Roscoe as Ted reached for the mail to see what was there.

“Good,” Roscoe answered, typically short. What wasn’t typical was the way he came to sit at the table by Laura’s side after he’d poured himself some coffee. “A couple got too close to the fence your paleontologist friends set up around the fossil yesterday. Wire scratched the hell…’scuse me, the heck…out of their sides. Doc O’Donnell is coming out from Culpepper to take a look this afternoon.”

Ted shuffled through the mail, grinning way more than he should at the news some of the cattle were injured. Seeing his dad and his girl get along like that canceled out any concerns he might have had over the herd.

Before he could finish that thought, a letter from the bank wiped the grin off his face. Curious, he set the rest of the mail aside and tore open the letter. The mortgage had been paid off in full months ago, and regular bank statements didn’t come on parchment letterhead.

His curiosity turned to unease, and then downright shock as he read the letter.

“Dear Mr. Flint,” it began, referencing Roscoe. “It has come to the attention of The First Bank of Haskell that a fossil of considerable value has recently been located on your property. As the presence of the fossil was first discovered while the property was under the ownership of The First National Bank of Haskell, at the time the property was mortgaged, all rights and ownership of the fossil are, therefore, the sole property of the First National Bank of Haskell. Any sale, lease, or contract concerning the fossil must therefore be executed under the auspices of The First National Bank of Haskell, and all profits will be the sole and exclusive property of The First National Bank of Haskell. Sincerely, Wainright Templeton, CEO, The First National Bank of Haskell.”

Ted stared at the letter. He’d lifted his mug to take a sip of coffee, but lowered it to the table untouched. He read the letter a second time, then a third. Roscoe and Laura had continued their conversation, but drifted into silence.

“What’s the matter?” Laura asked.

“Is that the letter from the bank?” Roscoe asked. “I figured it was something about the mortgage being done.”

“It’s about the mortgage, all right,” Ted told them, his voice strangled.

“What is it?” Laura met his eyes with growing panic.

Ted turned the letter over to his dad and said, “The bank is claiming that they own the fossil.”

“What?” Laura blinked rapidly and shook her head. “Why? That’s ridiculous?”

“They’re claiming that because the fossil was originally discovered when the ranch was mortgaged, it belongs to them.”

“But it wasn’t discovered during the mortgage,” Laura argued as Roscoe read over the letter with a frown. “You paid off the mortgage months before we started digging.”

An uneasy prickle broke out down Ted’s back. “But we knew something was out there for a while,” he answered, hating the conclusions his brain was coming to. “Everyone knew about that first bone. They’ve known about it for years.”

“But that doesn’t mean the fossil was discovered when the bank held the mortgage.” Laura was growing angrier by the second. On any other day, Ted would have found it cute. “As far as the bank was concerned, that was some old cow bone, like you said.”

“Apparently, they think that stumbling across that bone years ago constitutes finding the fossil,” Roscoe grumbled, still staring at the letter.

“But the fossil itself has been there for years, millions of years before any stupid mortgage,” Laura argued on.

“Yeah, but if you use that logic, anyone who has ever owned a property could claim that any fossil dug up belongs to them.” Ted sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.

“That’s ridiculous.” Laura slumped back in her chair, a worried look coming over her face. “Did you first notice that bone when the ranch was mortgaged?”

Ted didn’t answer. The truth of it made him sick. It baffled him. There was no way a bank could claim ownership of something that they didn’t own anymore...or could they?

He slapped his hands on the table and stood. “I’m going into town to talk to Wainright Templesmith,” he said.

“I’m coming with you.” Laura hopped up from the table too. “Who is Wainright Templesmith?”

“The owner of the bank,” Ted explained. “He’s also Sandy and Rita’s dad.”

A strange, panicked look washed over Laura, making her face and neck red. “Oh,” she said, more than a little weak. A second later, she pulled herself together and stood taller. “I’m still coming with you.”

“Thanks.” Ted stepped away from the table, heading toward the hooks that held the keys to the family trucks. “Dad, you coming too?”

Roscoe still sat at the table, reading over the letter. The paper shook a little, but Roscoe’s expression was carefully blank. “No,” he said, looking up at Ted at last. “I need to be here when Doc gets here, and there’s chores that need doing.”

Ted nodded in understanding. “All right. We’ll get to the bottom of this and let you know what’s going on.”

He just hoped that whatever it was, it could be stopped.