Excavated by Noelle Adams Read Free Book Online Page A

to laugh it off for real—the memory of being rejected by Philip.
    She
couldn’t. She didn’t think about it much anymore but, when she did, it still
hurt.
    ***
    Philip should have just
gone to bed, but he didn’t.
    No
matter how uncomfortable the couch in the office of his trailer was, it at least
provided a place to sleep, and he was tired after a couple of long days and
sleepless night.
    But
tonight was the first time Lucy and her crew would be shooting, and he was
naturally curious. He wanted to know how they were going to portray his island
and his dig.
    So
he sat outside his office with his laptop on his lap, as if he was in the habit
of working outside.
    He
did have some work to do. He hadn't checked his email yesterday or today, and
he hated to think how it might be piling up.
    He
might as well clear out his inbox this evening, since he wasn’t going to get
any sleep.
    He
blinked when Lucy came out of the other room of the trailer, dressed in a
ridiculous fur-trimmed skirt suit that cinched at the waist and showed off the
lush curve of her ass. She had on another pair of four-inch heels like she’d
been wearing when she arrived on the island, and her hair was styled around her
face in a tumble of soft waves.
    The
look she slanted him when she noticed him sitting close by, however, was
anything but soft.
    The
camera man, Sawyer, came loping over, and Philip listened as they briefly
discussed where to start—on the east side or the west side of the standing
stones.
    From
what Lucy had told him earlier that day, it would take dozens of hours of
shooting to edit down to her ninety-minute episode.
    He
watched as Lucy walked over toward the ring of Erland’s impressive standing
stones. She walked easily, despite her heels, and she didn't give him a second
glance.
    He
couldn't help but think about what she’d been like before—small and bright and
quicksilver, like a glint of light, transforming any room she walked into with
her wit and glowing smile.
    He'd
wanted that in his life far more than he ever should have.
    He
shook the thoughts away.
    He
was used to controlling himself better than this. The reappearance of one
random woman from his past wasn't going to change that. Not even the way his
body still reacted to the memory of their kiss the night before.
    He
watched from a distance as they set up the shoot and Lucy narrated a segment,
showing off the spooky shadows of the stones in the half-light of the summer
evening. He couldn't hear what she was saying from this distance, but he didn't
need to. He could interpret her gestures and the way she walked slowly from
stone to stone.
    His
fond memories faded to resentment as he watched. This site was rich with
history, these powerful remnants left as silent witnesses to the lives of so
many people who had lived so long ago.
    And
Lucy was turning it into a ghost story.
    After
a while, she stopped doing her narration, and she instead walked with Sawyer
around the stones, pointing out various vantages to film.
    Philip
eventually went back to his email, since there wasn't much to see.
    He
glanced up regularly, though, to see if anything had changed.
    He
actually stood up, more than an hour later, when he looked up to see Lucy
talking and gesturing urgently.
    He
walked slowly toward them, curious about what had so distracted her.
    As
he approached, he heard her say, “There it is again. Did you get it?”
    “What
is it?” Dana asked. “It sounds like someone is wailing. No wonder they think
ancient warriors haunt this site.”
    “Shh,”
Lucy ordered, waving her hand at the others. “Just listen so we can find where
it’s coming from.”
    Philip
was pretty sure he knew the source of the sound that had gotten them so excited—and
it wasn’t a manufactured practical joke like the other night—but he didn’t say
anything as he walked closer, smiling in private amusement when they started to
hurry around the henge, stopping here and there to identify the direction