Excavated by Noelle Adams Read Free Book Online Page B

of
the high-pitched howling.
    He’d
heard it many times before, although it only happened when the wind was blowing
in a particular direction.
    They’d
started walking again—Philip following from a distance—when Lucy glanced back
and saw him.
    “Philip,”
she said, gesturing toward him, “Make yourself useful. What is that mournful
sound?”
    “The
ghosts of lost warriors, bemoaning the loss of their lives and their home.”
    Lucy
completely ignored his sarcasm. “I assume it’s from the wind, but I can’t find
what’s causing it.”
    She
looked so genuinely interested and excited—even without the prospect of a
paranormal cause—that Philip nodded toward the barrow. “It is the wind. It’s
over there.”
    “Show
me.” She gestured toward Sawyer to keep filming as she started walking in the
direction Philip had indicated.
    He
put his hand on her back as they walked. He told himself it was just to get her
going in the right direction, but he felt a weird possessive urge as he did so.
    He
dropped his hand when he recognized it.
    They
walked to the east entrance of the barrow. It was dark inside, so Lucy took a
flashlight from Dana and shined it into the darkness of the tomb.
    “We
don’t have to go too far in,” Philip told her.
    She
sucked in an indignant breath at the implications. “I’m not scared. You have no
idea how many ancient tombs I've entered.”
    To
prove her point, she started to walk in, but she missed a step as the ground
descended slightly.
    Philip
reached out instinctively to stabilize her, and he tried to ignore the fact
that one his hands ended up on her very fine ass.
    Only
a few steps in, he showed her the narrow opening between the stones where the
wind whistled when it blew in a particular direction.
    She
was fascinated by it, and she made sure Sawyer filmed it from various
perspectives.
    Then
she did a short segment where she explained with a vivid smile how this might
explain a lot of the legends of haunting that had built up around the site.
    Despite
himself, Philip was impressed. Not just with how charming and articulate she
was, but also with how she wasn't trying to make something supernatural out of
a very natural occurrence.
    It
wasn't what he’d expected from her show.
    She
thanked him afterwards in a tone that made it clear he was dismissed.
    It
was late, and he really should get a couple of hours of sleep—since he had to
get up early the following day—so he didn't object to her obvious attempt to
get rid of him.
    He
only stopped when he heard her say, as he was walking away, “Sawyer, just make
sure we edit out the part where he was groping my ass.”
    ***
    Several hours later, Lucy
returned to the trailer, pleased with a good night of filming.
    She
was exhausted, but she’d have a chance to sleep some this morning before
Michael McPherson arrived in the afternoon for an on-camera interview on Orkney
lore.
    She
let out a long breath, starting to relax, as she walked into her bedroom.
Arthur ran in too and immediately curled up on his blanket, evidently exhausted
from the long day.
    Lucy
jerked to a stop with a choked sound of surprise when she saw someone was
already in the room.
    It
was Philip, she recognized immediately. His golden-brown head was unmistakable,
even though his back was to her, kneeling down on the floor looking in one of
the built-in drawers under the bed.
    His
back was very fine—with broad shoulders and smooth lines tapering down to his
waist. She could see it very clearly, since he wasn't wearing a shirt.
    He
stood up abruptly and turned around when he heard her.
    He
had a shirt in his hand.
    “Sorry.
I hadn't taken enough clothes out before you arrived.”
    She
blinked at the sight of his bare chest. As she’d noticed the other night, it
was a gorgeous chest. Masculine, with firm abs and pleasing musculature but
nothing bulky or ungainly.
    “It’s
fine,” she managed to say. “I guess you’re getting up as I’m going to