Read Online Carved in Stone by Kate Douglas - Free Book Online

definitely sensed danger, briefly, uncomfortably, when he’d encountered some of the more intricate carvings. Why hadn’t he recognized it earlier?
    “I really hadn’t thought this through,” he said, thinking it through now as he tried to work out the sense of what had happened, “but if there is some truth to the legend and if we accept our feelings as something more than our overactive imaginations, this could be dangerous.”
    Now, how was he going to phrase this so he didn’t tick her off? Instead of meeting her steady gaze, he chose to stare at the towering cliff after a quick glance over his shoulder and a nonchalant shrug for Alex’s benefit. “After all, the legend is about a curse. The petroglyphs at the top of the cliffs, just below the edge of the plateau where I want to go today, had the strongest effect on me of any of the carvings I found last year. I never really got close to them, but I’m almost certain what I felt in their energy was a warning. I sensed danger.”
    Why were those memories so confusing, almost as if they’d been erased from his mind—and wasn’t that a scary thought? How could he have forgotten that powerful feeling, the inherent danger, the feeling that it was a warning he really had to pay close attention to? Slowly shaking his head, he focused once more on Alex. “I don’t get it. I’m a really curious guy, but for whatever reason last year I talked myself out of going up there. They made me that uneasy.”
    Alex turned away from Nate and shaded her eyes as she gazed in the direction of the cliff. Nate enjoyed a moment admiring the smooth line of her hip and buttock and muscled thigh. She reminded him of a panther, dark and sleek and strong. But she was still a woman.
    Folding his arms across his chest, he escaped into his serious professor voice. “I need to follow through on this, on whatever it was I felt.” He nodded at her pile of equipment. “I think it’s best for you to stay here at camp, at least until I check things out.”
    Crap, that was definitely the wrong thing to say. She whirled and stood, fists clenched, and actually snarled at him.
    “I thought we got past that. You hired me. If you don’t want me on the climb, then fire me. But quit trying to protect me.”
    He held his hands up in surrender, choosing defeat over disagreement. “I’m sorry. You’re right. Don’t hurt me. I apologize.” He grinned, hoping to force Alex to smile in return. “It’s just that old habits die hard.”
    When she just shook her head and laughed, he grabbed one of her bags to help pack the rest of her gear. She swung a teasing right hook at his chin, and he dodged it, laughing. He couldn’t help but think that if they ran into any bad spirits, the ghosts wouldn’t have a chance.

Chapter 5
     
     
    “Hold up, Nate. My pack’s hung up on a branch.”
    Nate slipped his own, smaller pack to the ground and turned to help Alex. The twisted limbs of a scrub oak held her captive, tangled and caught in the nylon straps on her backpack. He easily lifted the pack from her shoulders and pulled the straps free of the limbs while she slid out from under the heavy bag.
    “I thought you said this was a road. A raccoon would have trouble getting through this stuff.” Alex stretched her arms over her head and arched her back. The motion thrust her small breasts against the yellow fabric of her shirt and her nipples made dark shadows through the thin material.
    Nate blinked, at a loss for a quick comeback. He dragged his gaze away from Alex’s chest. “It used to be a road.” His voice sounded thick even to his own ears, but Alex in an almost transparent T-shirt made it hard to concentrate.
    But she was right. It wasn’t much of a road. They’d been following the deeply rutted trail for over an hour, winding steadily upward and around the back side of the mountain through tangles of scrub oak and deer brush. Pine and cedar trees formed a dense green wall on either side of