Adam's Thorn (37 page)

“I’m okay with us sharing
bodies.”  He leaned a little closer.

Oh God, that sounded like
nirvana.  She stared up at him towering over her, his arms caging her in, his
clean male and soap scent tantalising her senses, his eyes so hot yet calm, but
the desire in them for her unmistakable.  His strength surrounded her, coming
from not only his physical body but his very aura.

“Okay?”

She had to swallow and lick her
lips before she could answer.  “Okay.”

Dropping his head, he kissed her,
not bothering with anything gentle, just sweeping in, taking control, keeping
her frozen in one spot with just his very presence, so strong, so sure, so
confident and efficient.

By the time his mouth left hers,
her lips were swollen, her knees were shaking, his taste was all she could,
well, taste, and she was clutching onto his arms for dear life.

“Okay.”  One smile, one slow wink,
and he pushed away.  “That’s settled.”

He looked so supremely satisfied
that she couldn’t help but add breathlessly, “I come as a package deal,
remember?  Two cats?”

“The cats are welcome to share the
bed, love, but I doubt they’ll sleep on it when we’re making love.  You’re a
screamer.”  With that, he walked out the door.

Barbie giggled, clapped a hand
over her mouth in amused appallment, and turned back to the sink.  Oh God, she
was going to be staying with Adam.  In his house.  In his bed.

Just the thought had her clamping
her thighs together. 
Down girl!

~*~

The house was closed to the
workers for the day so that the fingerprint powder could be cleaned off
everything, and the broken dolls and several other things thrown out.

Adam had an afternoon shift to
work, so he accompanied Barbie back to the house for the morning to help her
clean up the fingerprint powder.  It wasn’t the most pleasant of jobs to do,
downright dirty, in fact, for the powder seemed to get in everywhere.

Barbie was more than glad when
Lori and Matt showed up to help, though she felt guilty.

“Don’t be silly,” was all Lori
murmured before she got the dustpan and broom and headed into the lounge room.

Matt smiled, but Barbie noticed
that he wasn’t far from his fiancée at all times.  He stayed downstairs to
clean, well within hearing distance.

Sweet.

What surprised her even more was
Hallie turning up, the Goth-inspired teenager blowing bubble gum and announcing
to Adam airily that she was there to help clean the ‘spook house’.

Adam regarded her silently while
she grinned and popped a bubble.  With her black t-shirt, black fishnet
stockings, black ankle boots, black hair and heavy black eye makeup, the ‘spook
house’ should have been a perfect setting for her.  What spoiled the effect was
the bright pink fake frangipani in her hair, the glittery Hello Kitty motif on
her black t-shirt, and the bright pink flower earrings.

The girl just did things her own
way.

“So,” she said brightly to Barbie,
“where do I start?”

Adam raised one brow.  “Aunt Betty
know you’re here?”

“Who do you think dropped me off?”

“Satan?”

“Not today.  He was too busy
getting ready for a BBQ.”

“Tell me Aunt Betty’s exact
words.”

“‘Do exactly as Adam tells you.’”

“And your exact words?”

“‘Sure.’”

“And your exact intentions?”

“Run riot, tear off all my clothes,
scare the shi- crap out of the ghosts.”

“Fair enough.”  Adam handed her
some cleaning equipment.  “You can do the verandas.”

“Ooohh.  So I get to see the
graves?”

“You’ll be almost on top of them. 
That should delight your dark little heart.”

She blew him a kiss and almost
bounced out of the kitchen, dodging Adam when he reached out to ruffle her
hair.

Barbie laughed, feeling a lot
better, while Adam just shook his head.

He insisted on taking the top
floor to clean, so Barbie went up there with him.  The first thing he did was
go straight to the girl’s room and start collecting the broken porcelain dolls,
dropping them into a box he carried.

Even though it was daylight, Barbie
was glad to hear Matt and Lori’s voices coming from downstairs, Hallie’s atrocious
singing from outside, and the very real, reassuring presence of Adam working
nearby.

Gladly leaving him to sort out the
broken dolls from the undamaged, she went to the library, ensuring the door was
propped open with no chance of shutting.  After cleaning the powder off
everything, a task that took so long she was cursing under her breath by the
end of it, she started to repack the books in the library.  The ink well and
nibbed pen went back on the writing desk.  A smashed vase covered in powder
went into the bin.

Adam called time an hour before he
was due for work, his open reluctance to leave them in the house without him
evident in the way he hung around until the last minute.

A quick hug and kiss, a whispered
‘Be careful, call me if you need me’ into Barbie’s ear, a ruffle of Hallie’s
hair, a long look exchanged with Matt full of manly understanding, and he left.

Barbie felt his absence keenly,
but she stoically returned to cleaning.  The top floor felt eerily quiet without
him, but Matt did a lot of running up and down the stairs to check on her,
which made her feel a lot better.

By three o’clock, most of the house
was cleaned and they stopped for a break.  Barbie had just plugged the kettle
in when the doorbell rang, Hallie going to answer it and coming back with Mrs
Swanson and Mrs Hubble both carrying platters of cakes and biscuits.

“You poor dear.”  Mrs Hubble gave
Barbie a hug.  “How terrifying for you.  An intruder, no less.”  Tsk-tsking,
she puttered around in a very grandmotherly way, insisting everyone sit down
while she attended to the drinks.

Mrs Swanson took the plastic wrap
off the platters.  Matt’s mouth was practically salivating as he took a chocolate
cupcake and devoured it like a starving man.

“Working so hard.”  Mrs Swanson
patted his shoulder.  “We heard you were up here cleaning the mess, and we
thought the least we could do was bring you some food.”

“Very welcome,” Matt said.  “Thank
you so much, ladies.”

“Oh.”  Mrs Swanson beamed.  “Our
pleasure, Matt.  We must look after our local ambo.” 

Lori looked at him dryly.  Matt
grinned widely, a smear of chocolate cream on his lip which he licked up with
his tongue suggestively when the two older women had their backs turned.  Lori
just continued to look at him wryly while he leered, his expression switching
quickly to all boyish and happy when Mrs Swanson turned back to him.

“When I think of that awful
banging sound we heard upstairs, I can’t help but think how close to the
intruder we were.”  Mrs Hubble placed mugs on the kitchen counter.  “Quite
frightening, as I was telling Percy.”

“He’s gone to the Police Station
to have a talk to Adam,” Mrs Swanson confided as she set out paper napkins. 
“As soon as he heard about what happened, he went.”

“Of course, he’s going on about
ghosts and silly things like that.”  Mrs Hubble threw one hand up in the air. 
“Silly man.  Always did have an overactive imagination.”

“Of course there were always
stories.”  Mrs Swanson placed a little plate in front of every person at the
table, setting a place for herself and Mrs Hubble as well.

“Oh?”  Curious to hear what other
stories, Barbie leaned forward.  “I know Great Aunt Penny heard and saw things
just before her death.”

Mrs Swanson checked that
everything was satisfactory before sitting down.  “Oh, the stories have been
around since the war.  Lights around the graves, knocking in the walls, windows
opening and shutting by themselves.”

Mrs Hubble gave a very unladylike
snort.  “Oddly enough, only ever seen by children who shouldn’t have been out
after dark, Percy with his belief in ghosts, and the odd drunken passer-by.” 
She wagged the spoon in Barbie’s direction.  “You pay no heed to these wild
stories, my dear.  This is just an old house with a sad history.”

“Ghost thinks it might be
haunted,” Barbie commented, more than happy to believe Mrs Hubble’s version
except for what she herself had witnessed.

“That boy.”  With an indulgent
sigh, she shook her head.  “Always chasing ghosts, always looking for the next
haunted house.  When he was little he read nothing but those old horror comics,
and now he writes those ghastly horror books.  He’s a lovely boy, but, well…”

Wondering how Lori was taking this
rather offhanded comment about her future brother-in-law, Barbie glanced at her
to find her smiling, not in the least bit offended.

 “You knew Great Aunt Penny?” Barbie
asked Mrs Swanson.

“Not really, dear.”

“Penny kept to herself.”  Mrs
Hubble held up the packet of tea bags.  “Tea?  Coffee?”

Everyone called out their order.

“All I really know is that she
never married after her fiancée went MIA,” Mrs Swanson said.

“They were engaged?” Barbie
queried.

“Now, Milly,” Mrs Hubble
objected.  “That was never a proven fact.”

“It was known.”  Mrs Swanson
shrugged.  “Broke her heart when he went MIA.  She hardly left the house after
that, stayed on the property, had orders sent in from town unless she had to go
in herself for things.  The woman became a recluse.”

Mrs Hubble started placing the
cups in front of everyone, amazing Barbie with her memory of the different
drink orders.  “It has been said that the third grave really does hold his
body.”

That had Barbie starting.  “What?”

The light of triumph was in Mrs
Hubble’s eyes.  “Oh, you didn’t know that?”

“You never said anything about it
yesterday!”

“Didn’t I?”  Her smile was wide
and very satisfied.

Mrs Swanson rolled her eyes.

Without a word, Lori picked up the
mug of coffee and blew on the surface.  She slanted her gaze sideways at Barbie,
one eyebrow rising slightly.

Hallie took a Tim Tam from the
plate.  “So there’s three bodies at the back door?  Awesome.”

Barbie wasn’t so sure.  “But I
keep hearing that the grave is empty, it’s just a memorial.”

“Well, so they say.”  Mrs Hubble
leaned forward.  “But I’ve heard a whisper that the grave is actually a true
one, with a real body.”

“Be bad if it wasn’t the fiancée
but someone else,” Hallie remarked.

“It’s an empty memorial grave,”
Mrs Swanson stated firmly.  “He went MIA.”

“So maybe the body in there is
from some poor tramp that wandered by and-”

“Empty,”
Mrs Swanson said.

“Ghost would agree with me.” 
Hallie popped the last of the biscuit in her mouth and chewed happily.

“Ghost would agree to anything
creepy,” Mrs Swanson retorted.  “It’s an
empty
grave, a
memorial
.
Nothing more.”

“Apparently,” Mrs Hubble murmured
under her breath, not to be outdone.

For a second Barbie thought the
women might get into an argument, but Mrs Swanson turned the conversation to
furniture and prices, and a half hour passed pleasantly before the two women
took their leave.

Barbie glanced at the clock,
knowing that Ghost would be arriving soon with his cameras.  Matt and Lori were
cleaning up in the kitchen, and Hallie was getting ready to phone her mother to
pick her up when Adam arrived in the patrol car.

“Hey, grommet.”  He gave Hallie’s
hair a tug.  “I’ve come to give you a lift home.”

“Sweet.  Do I get to be handcuffed
and ride in the back?”

“Don’t tempt me.”

Laughing, Hallie started down the
steps. “Thanks for letting me help, Barbie.”

“No, thank
you
for helping
me.
” 
Barbie smiled up at Adam as he stepped in close.  “Why, Officer, are you here
to make an arrest?”

“Just ensuring there’s no illegal
goings-on, Miss.”  He started to reach out for her.

More than conscious of her dusty
clothes, she held him back with one hand on his chest.  “As much as I’d like an
up close and personal body search, it’ll have to wait until I’m clean.”

His eyes gleamed.  “Is that a bribe
I hear, Miss?”

She dimpled up at him.  “I was
thinking more of a promise.”

“Hmmm.”  He raised one brow and
studied her before a small smile played around his lips.  “Acceptable.”

She was still laughing when he
bent down and kissed her, his tongue sweeping in, filling her with his taste,
his scent filtering through her senses.

He only touched her with his
mouth, yet she felt like he’d just done a full-on body assault.  Her ears practically
rang and her knees were weak, so that by the time he lifted his mouth and
grinned down at her, she could only mouth ‘Wow’.

“I’ll see you at home,” he said
huskily.

His car horn beeped.  “Hey!” Hallie
yelled.  “Are you going to be sucking face for long?  ‘Cause I don’t think
that’s in your job description, Adam!”

“She is going to die.”  Straightening,
Adam turned and pointed at his irrepressible cousin.  “Don’t play in the cop
car, you felon.”

“Don’t set a bad example.”

“You’re reminding me why some
animals eat their young.”

“Because they’re jealous?  Threatened?”

“Desperate.”  Adam sighed.  “I
better get the little hooligan home.”  Stepping off the veranda without
bothering to use the steps, he stopped at the bottom to look at Barbie, his
eyes a little hot.  “Remember that promise, baby.  I’m expecting it tonight.”

She winked.  “Sure, Officer. 
Whatever you want.”

“I’ll be remembering that, too.” 
Turning on his heel, he started to stride across the grassy area to the cop
car, only to stop and watch as another car turned down the driveway.  “Who’s
this?”

Barbie recognised the man behind
the wheel.  “Spencer.”