Kyle sighed, bored and antsy as he looked around the entrance of the temple. It was far less opulent than he’d anticipated. In fact, while he could see glistening gold and jewels just beyond in the worship areas, this part of the building was simple and plain.

Small wooden benches that looked ancient and worn, as if they’d weathered thousands of storms, lined the outer wall. Altars full of old clay and broken porcelain urns stood across from them. Kyle wondered how the rickety pieces held up under the weight of the items. He absently ran his finger along the edge of one, surprised that not only did he get a splinter but that not a speck of dust came off. One thing was for sure, these guys kept their temple pristinely clean.

He heard Charlotte’s giggle in the distance and sighed. She’d run off somewhere with Billy, the two of them all hot and bothered. It wasn’t exactly respectful of the group or the temple, but Kyle had no interest in trying to police the two of them and their behavior. Before she’d met Billy, Charlotte had made a play for Kyle, and he’d made the mistake of letting her persuade him to help her earn this trip.

She was bad news. She manipulated men to get what she wanted, a trait Kyle was certain she’d learned from her mother, who apparently was on her sixth marriage and hadn’t worked a day in her life. He had yet to figure out how Charlotte had ever even qualified for the archaeological program, much less gotten as far as she had without his help.

The fact that her and Billy had hooked up didn’t really surprise him. When he’d signed on for this trip, Kyle had looked into everyone else coming along, and Billy was a very popular playboy. With Charlotte’s penchant for latching onto anyone who could benefit her and Billy’s female-hopping personality, the two were a match made in hell. And now, even though Kyle wasn’t as buttoned up and straightlaced as Paige and Ethan seemed to be, he had already grown irritated with how easily the other two brushed off the importance of this.

Sure, Kyle had intended to enjoy it like a vacation, but he also wanted to complete his thesis for his graduate degree, so he needed a balance. He wanted to focus on the temple today, learn everything he could, and then go out and party at night. He didn’t approve of Charlotte and Billy running around, using the temple as their sexual playground.

In fact, as he waited impatiently for either those two to reemerge or for Paige and Ethan to come inside, Kyle considered calling the dean. Wouldn’t he love to know that two of the brightest students in the school were an embarrassment, shedding a negative light on the programs and the study abroad? Kyle wasn’t a snitch, but he damn well wasn’t going to lose out on the grant he’d already been promised to start his first dig because those two were too busy studying anatomy to keep up with the important subject matter.

He figured Paige and Ethan would approve of his choice.

A loud thump, and then a crashing noise, caught his attention, and he turned in the direction where Charlotte and Billy had stumbled off, liquor already on their breath at nine o’clock in the morning. He heard Billy let out a violent curse, and he ran his fingers through his hair, gritting his teeth. What the hell had they done? He wasn’t sure he wanted to know, but he had to find out and try to rectify the situation before someone else made that call to the dean.