Authors: Sandra Cox
My scalp tingled as if he’d reached out to touch me, but the sensation was so short-lived I wasn’t sure I hadn’t imagined it.
“I know,” he said in a low voice. “I knew you sensed me the moment I popped out of the tube. I saw it on your face. Why, I don’t know, when no one else has. But I must say I’m very glad.”
I raised my head and stared into intense, stormy eyes. His scent enveloped me. His nearness cooled my skin and scorched my heart.
“Maybe we should forget about finding Anna and William. I’m not sure I want you to leave.” My eyes widened and I tensed. The last couple of times I’d linked those names together someone or something hadn’t appreciated it. I looked wildly around. Nothing happened. Maybe whatever was out there thought I was backing off.
Nothing moved in the garage, the silence absolute. “Do you think it’s gone?” A shiver rolled down my spine. I couldn’t believe Liam’s mere presence had made me forget there might be another entity with us. I cringed at the thought. What was I, a ghost magnet?
He closed his eyes and lifted his head. He stayed that way for several moments, then opened them. “The atmosphere doesn’t feel as heavy.”
“You’re right.” The knowledge surprised me.
“You said you didn’t want me to leave.” He stared at me. Those full firm lips parted. For one brief moment, it looked like he would forget his own advice about not touching me. Then my cell phone blasted, and in a blink of an eye, he’d returned to the door between the kitchen and garage…after opening the car door for me, of course.
I dug into my purse, held up my phone, and checked caller ID. I groaned.
Clayton.
“It’s after midnight. What do you want?” I said by way of greeting.
“I’m sorry, darling, did I wake you?” He sounded solicitous and slightly drunk. The noise in the background and the slur of his words clued me to the latter.
“I’m still waiting for an answer. What do you want?”
“We really haven’t had an opportunity to talk since I came back from Europe. I thought maybe I’d come over.”
“You’re wasted. Go home and sleep it off.” I punched the phone off and shut it down for good measure.
“You shouldn’t be wasting your time on that one. He’s slick on the outside but shallow.”
“You’ve barely seen him.” I stuck the phone back in my purse. My ghost hovered a few inches off the floor, his arms crossed, a frown marring his perfect features. I slid out of the car, and we walked into the kitchen.
He leaned against the wall and watched me grab a soda. “I know the type. You deserve better.”
“I appreciate your concern, but there’s no need for it. I’m not interested in Clayton.”
“Are you interested in me?” A second ago, he’d stood across the room. Now he stood beside me, passionate inquiry on his face.
“And if I were?” I fought back the heat that tried to flood my face. I normally didn’t put myself out there when it came to dealing with the opposite sex, but everything about this relationship was different, surreal.
The silence stretched, broken only by the hum of the refrigerator. “Caitlin. Nothing can come of this. You’re alive and I’m…” He looked down at himself and shook his head. “Let’s just say we don’t dwell on the same plane. You need a man, not a ghost.”
My throat clogged. I swallowed down the lump in it. “But what if I want a ghost?” I whispered.
The hum of the refrigerator stopped. The atmosphere grew strained. “Then look me up when you die. But for now you need to find someone to grow old with.”
My head jerked back as if I’d been slapped. I guess that’s what I got for coming on to a ghost. What was I thinking? Well that answer was pretty simple. I wasn’t. My hormones were. They’d been seriously hopping ever since Mr. Liam O’Reilly’s appearance.
Up until the moment Liam had entered my life, I’d had no interest in having a sexual relationship. Now, I knew the old cliché about never having met the right man—or ghost in this instance—had the ring of truth to it. My longing for Liam was intense and painful.
I took a slug of soda and made a serious effort to compose myself. Pride came to my rescue. The ghost didn’t need to know I had a bad case of lust for him and that his response of finding someone to grow old with had hurt.
He obviously didn’t feel the same about me. Well so be it. I pulled myself together. “I’ll do that. Though by that time, I can’t guarantee I won’t have changed my mind.” I kept my voice light. “Want to go sit by the pool?”
A look of profound sadness crossed his handsome features. A moment later, the look of unhappiness disappeared as if it’d never been. “Sure. I like your pool. Do you want to put on one of the tiny outfits you swim in?” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“Uh, no.” I bit my lips and swallowed the laugh bubbling in my throat. Human or ghost, boys will be boys. He might not want to linger as a ghost while I grew old and gray, but he certainly didn’t mind looking at me now.
“Well that’s too bad.”
I ignored that and headed to the pool. I lay back on the lounge, kicked off my shoes, and wiggled my toes. A wispy gray cloud drifted across the sky and for a moment hid the moon. My silent companion had his hands behind his head and appeared lost in thought.
“A penny for them.”
“My thoughts?” He turned his head and looked at me.
I couldn’t decide which view was better: his profile that showed the high cheekbones, hawk-like nose, and the outline of bone and sinew, or the front with those stormy eyes and tantalizing lips. Oh yeah, had to be the front. I wet my suddenly dry throat.
“I’m thinking we need to move forward with our plan.”
“Our plan?” Absently, I outlined one of the magnolia imprints on the puffy cushions with my finger, the material coarse against my digit. The silence stretched. The intensity of his gaze drew mine. Realization dawned. “Oh, to find—”
My soda left my fingers, arced into the air, and tipped into my lap. The next moment the can sat on the table. The cold wet liquid had me sitting straight up. “Urg.” I jumped up and wiped at my slacks.
Liam raised a finger to his lips.
“Did you do that?”
He continued to watch me.
It took me a moment. “Oh.” I sat back down. I had been about to say William and Anna. “For a gentleman ghost, that was most unmannerly.” I thrust out my lip. “Being drenched in soda from the waist down is extremely uncomfortable.” I grabbed a towel draped across the glass table and dabbed at my slacks, then threw it down and plucked the sticky material away from my legs.
“I’m truly sorry.” He looked contrite. “But I’m afraid the alternative might have been worse.”
My nerves, already raw, quivered and jumped. “Do you think it’s dangerous?”
“It certainly has the potential.” Features grim, he wrinkled his brow in a worried frown.
“Great.” I flopped back in my seat, picked up my empty can, and set it back down. “Oh, right. Empty.”
“Do you want me to get you another?” His shoulders hunched, he stared at the dark liquid puddled beneath the chair.
I brightened and almost said yes before sanity returned. Just the thought of Marcy seeing a can float out of the refrigerator to the pool turned me cold. “Uh no, but thanks anyway. So, do you have any ideas for proceeding with our quest?” Since he wasn’t going to stick around to watch me grow old, we might as well try to reunite the lovers.
“As a matter of fact, I do. How would you like to take a trip to Ruby Falls?”
My mouth dropped. “What? Why?” The light came on. My discomfort forgotten, I snapped my fingers. “You think we’ll find…” It seemed to be okay to mention Anna’s name as long as it wasn’t in conjunction with William, but why take a chance?
“I’m guessing that’s where she’s headed.” Apparently, Liam was being careful as well. “Never mind. It was just a thought.”
My mind hopped like a frog. “No. No. It’s a good one. But Marcy’s going to Virginia Beach tomorrow, so the Vette won’t be available.” I jabbed at the air with my index finger as inspiration hit. “I’ll call Dad—no, better make that Mom—tomorrow morning to see if I can borrow their car.”
“You don’t have one?” He stretched out his long legs on the lounge chair and crossed them.
“It’s in the shop.”
“It’s broken?”
“Yes.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
He wasn’t going to let this go. I cleared my throat and swallowed my embarrassment. “I had a little accident.”
“Were you hurt?” He swung his legs over the chair and leaned toward me, concerned.
“No, just the car, and since it’s a foreign make, I’m waiting on a part.” I made a dismissive gesture with my hand. “Never mind my car. Like I said, I’ll call Mom tomorrow morning and see if I can borrow hers.”
“You don’t want to ask your father,” my ghost said shrewdly.
“Nothing gets by you, does it?” I laughed, then sobered. “You’re right. Dad’s like a hound dog. He can scent when you’re not telling the truth or even stretching it. Let me tell you, growing up wasn’t always a picnic.”
“Your parents seem very nice, Caitlin.” He toed off his boots. For a moment, his socks floated in the air before dissipating. He wiggled his toes.
Fascinating.
The ghost had long, elegant feet. Would I ever get a view of the rest of his anatomy? The clothes of his era kept him pretty well covered.
“Your parents seem very nice,” he repeated.
“They’re wonderful, but I never got away with anything.”
He chuckled. “At our house, it was my mother.”
“Parents,” I commiserated.
He rose in a quick floating gesture and began to pace around the pool. My breath caught square in my throat as he cut straight across the center of it, the water sparkling beneath his feet.
“That’s amazing,” I breathed. “Even better than floating socks.”
“What?” He stopped his pacing and hovered over the water. “Oh.” When he understood, he moved to my side. “Caitlin, I’m in a damnable situation. I want to help my sister find peace, but I don’t want to put you in danger.”
A prickle of fear iced my spine before I tamped it down, impatient with myself. “I want to help her too.”
He squatted down beside me. “Lass, you need to give some thought to this before you just jump head first into what could be a dangerous situation.”
A light breeze lifted his shiny hair. I reached out to touch it before I realized what I’d started to do. My hand flopped back into my lap. “We don’t know that it will be dangerous.”
“No, we don’t,” he admitted. “But I hadn’t expected the reaction we got to your plan tonight, either.”
“That was a bit of a surprise. Who would want to keep them apart? Or have a vendetta against Wi—your friend.”
The lamppost cast a yellow glow over the pool. Moths swarmed around the light in a crazy dance of death. My mind whirled with them, searching for an answer, while my body sank deeper into the cushions. “You talked about both of them, and there wasn’t a problem until I mentioned—”
“Just don’t say it.”
“Right.” I shifted. My pants were damp and uncomfortable. Even my underwear was wet. “Who did you know that had a crush on Anna?”
He stared at me. “A crush on Anna? Half the male population of Ruby Falls.”
“Well that narrows it down,” I groused.
“I see where you’re going. You’re right, of course.” His eyes narrowed, and he tipped his head, an arrested expression on his features. “Lass, I could kiss you.”
“Promises, promises.” I flapped my hand in a dismissive gesture.
“If I had a bit more form to me, I’d take that as a dare and accept the challenge.”
My breath caught in my throat. My tummy muscles loosened along with my knees. My arms rose of their own accord. His features grew more defined and his scent grew crisp. Sanity returned with a thump. I had to quit flirting with the ghost
.
I stood up and picked at my sticky slacks. A warm breeze plastered the material back against my skin. “Well, since I’m going to have to be up at the crack of dawn to catch Mom, I think I’ll turn in.”
“Good idea. Maybe I’ll just surf the television.” His eyes gleamed, and he rubbed his hands together.
Men and their toys
.
“Keep the sound down.”
“Don’t push the up arrow on the little stick. On the remote,” he corrected himself.
“Very good.” My ghost caught on quickly. As we reached the house, I didn’t even bother with the door. Sure enough, it opened. I was getting way too used to this. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Good night, Caitlin.” He picked up the remote.
“Good night.” I trotted to my room, shucked my clothes, and crawled into bed. Before I could formulate any plans for the next day, I fell asleep.
* * * *
The rich aroma of coffee woke me. Its damp heat tickled my nose. “Thanks, Marce,” I mumbled without opening my eyes.
“You are welcome.”
I jerked upright. The sheet fell to my waist. Liam and the coffee whisked to the other side of the room, his movements so smooth, the coffee didn’t even slosh over the side.
“You fixed coffee for me.” A warm glow tingled somewhere between my heart and my tummy.
“I read the directions.” He averted his face as we talked.
I’d slept in my white lacy cami. Thank goodness my thong was covered. I pulled the sheet up and tucked it around my breasts.
He gave me a quick glance, cleared his throat, and brought the coffee cup and saucer back. No cream. I took a cautious slip. No sugar either. I bit hard on my lips to keep from screwing up my face. “Thank you.” I’d just slip into the kitchen and make it drinkable when Liam’s attention was elsewhere.
“What if Marcy had seen that cup floating into my bedroom?” I shuddered. It didn’t bear thinking about.
“She’s sleeping like the dead.”
I glanced around. My room was still dark. “What time is it?”
“Six o’clock.”
“Six o’clock? As in six in the morning?” The cup and saucer in my hand rattled.
“Didn’t you want to get an early start? I thought about waking you earlier, but you were sleeping so peacefully I hated to bother you.”
“Don’t you ever sleep?”
“I’ve been sleeping for over a hundred years,” he reminded me.