Midnight's Kiss by Donna Grant Read Free Book Online Page A

she doesn’t let anything interfere with it. If you have any ideas of seducing her—”
    “That’s no’ why I’m here,” Arran interrupted him before Pete could continue. “I’m here for the dig, no’ to find a woman.”
    Pete grunted and flipped a few more pages. “Just keep what I said in mind. Ronnie is capable of taking care of herself.”
    “Yet you feel the need to protect her.”
    “Yes. Ronnie is … special,” Pete said. He closed the book and set it beside him as he turned to sit on the side of the cot. Then he rested his forearms on his legs and clasped his hands together. “I like you, Arran, and I saw the way you looked at her before you knew who she was.”
    “She’s a verra beautiful woman. I’m a man who appreciates such beauty.”
    Pete smiled and looked out of the tent. “She has no idea of her attractiveness, which is part of her allure. Men mistake her noninterest as being coy.”
    Arran wasn’t sure why Pete was telling him all this. To warn him off, yes, but there was something else there as well.
    “Do you often help her on her digs?”
    Pete chuckled and looked at him. “No. Ronnie has long since been on her own. She likes having me drop by, but it’s just as a friend not a professor. She’s the one teaching me now.”
    “But you help her,” Arran urged.
    “In a way. I help set up the parties to maintain the donations so she can continue her work. Archeology is an expensive business.”
    Arran nodded. “Which is why Ronnie is friends with Saffron.”
    “Ah, yes, Miss Fletcher who has become Mrs. MacKenna. Saffron’s company has been a supporter, beginning with donations by her father. Even when Saffron seemed to disappear, the money was still sent to Ronnie to continue her digs.”
    “With Saffron’s donations, why do you need more?”
    Pete threw back his head and let out a full-bodied laugh. He ran a hand down his face before he reached beneath his cot to a bag and pulled out a flask. He unscrewed the lid and tilted back the flask for a hearty drink.
    “No thanks,” Arran said when Pete offered him a drink.
    Pete took another drink, then screwed the cap back on. “Saffron’s donations are large, but it doesn’t cover everything. It does allow us not to have to ask for quite so much from others, however.”
    “I see.” And Arran did see. Pete had moved on from the actual digging to keeping Ronnie digging.
    “I think you’ll fit in nicely here.” Pete turned and lay back on the bed. He threw an arm over his eyes and grunted. “If only this damned place would get dark when it was supposed to.”
    “Where will Ronnie go after this dig?”
    Pete shrugged. “This is her third year in Britain, and it looks like she has no intentions of leaving. I keep trying to get her back to Egypt, but she’s determined to remain here. I have no idea what it is about this land that keeps her finding things.”
    “What’s wrong with that?”
    “Nothing.” Pete lifted his arm and looked at Arran a moment. “There is more history in Egypt is all I’m saying.”
    Arran didn’t respond as Pete’s arm once more covered his eyes.
    “The National Trust of Britain is sure happy to have her, though.”
    “Meaning?” Arran asked with a frown.
    “Meaning that she gives all her finds to them.”
    “All?”
    “Oh, she’ll keep something small every now and again, like the necklace she wears.”
    “I thought part of being an archeologist is giving the finds to the government.”
    “It is.”
    But there was something in Pete’s voice that made Arran wary. “I suspect the government demands the finds in exchange for digging on their land.”
    “Yep. It’s the way it’s always been. Archeologists do all the work, and get a little of the praise. Long after the artifacts are placed in a museum, the ones who found them are forgotten.”
    Arran relaxed at his words. He’d thought for a moment that Pete had been motivated by money, but now Arran understood the tone that had