Hosts to Ghosts Box Set

by Lynne Connolly

  He drove inside her at the same time as he took her mouth in a hard, demanding kiss. She came to him instantly, lifting her arms to wrap them around his back and pull him close. He lifted up, thrust hard until she closed her eyes, the awareness of his body in hers, linked as close as two people could be. Lifting her hand, she threaded her fingers through his hair. Heat radiated off his body, warmed and loved her, and she lifted her hands to trace the muscles of his chest, raking her fingernails gently over his nipples, making him cry out in sweet pleasure.

  “Jordan, I love you. I’ll always love you,” she whispered, echoing his words to her the night before.

  His smile was her reward, deep and warming. “Open yourself to me, ma belle,” he murmured, his voice pure temptation, “Open your mind as well as your body. Let me in.”

  She trusted him. In this house where she had to guard herself at all times, she trusted him enough to open completely. She felt a barrier around them both, one he erected. Inside, she existed with him, merged with him as she’d never merged with anyone.

  Karey had always been aware of her telepathic talent, a kind of sensitivity that had aided her in many investigations, but she had never heard words in her mind before Jordan had spoken to her.

  Jordan murmured to her, bathed her in warmth and let her feel what he was feeling, taking her joy as his own, giving her his. All the time he moved inside her with deep, rhythmic thrusts, touching her most sensitive spot, grazing the opening to her womb.

  He accepted her escalating senses, taking her in, and then she became aware of the beginning of his orgasm. It began low down, then rose. She knew exactly when he released control, but the barrier still surrounded them, still held firm. Even in the throes of ecstasy, his first thought was for her safety in this place that was so dangerous to her.

  He spurted deep inside her, just as she convulsed, milking him of everything he had, laughing in sheer joy.

  He fell to one side of her, his cock still inside her, his heavy breathing telling her he’d fallen instantly asleep. She smiled, moving to slip one arm around his back. He hadn’t changed completely, then. He’d done this during their short courtship and marriage. So she wasn’t surprised when he opened his eyes again inside three minutes.

  He smiled at her, his heart in his eyes, nothing held back. “So you’ll stay with me?”

  “This soon? You want your answer now?” She wasn’t completely serious. She couldn’t stop smiling when she saw him like this, totally open to her.

  “Not if you have to think everything over. I wouldn’t blame you after what I’ve done.” Karey saw the hurt in his eyes, but neither said anything. He’d released her mind when he’d fallen asleep, and he hadn’t returned. Karey knew he could monitor her, and discover her whereabouts because of the blood he’d taken.

  “Do you want me to tell you now?”

  He shook his head, his wayward hair spiked up. He shoved it back. “Wait until you have a real choice, ma chaton. When you’re not in danger.”

  “I can say one thing now. I said it before but I don’t know if you heard me. I forgive you for Didiane.”

  His smile told her that had concerned him more than he cared to admit. “Thank you, love.”

  “How will you protect me from her?”

  “I won’t kill her. There are other ways of protecting you.”

  Karey breathed out in relief. She didn’t want to be responsible for anyone’s death, even Didiane’s, and even more she didn’t want the shadow of a death hanging over what she had with Jordan. But she still worried about it. She didn’t want to be protected from any decision that might have to be made. They would do it together, or not at all. “You said she wanted me dead.”

  “She will always want you dead, mon amour, but she loves her own life more. We can make her survival dependent on yours.”

  She didn’t care how they did it, so long as the threat hanging over her was cleared. “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life on guard.”

  He smoothed the curve of her waist, lingering there. “You won’t. I might have to ask someone to help. Maybe the Sorcerer. But we can link your lives, and do it in law, too, so that if you die, so does she. Didiane cares about herself more than anything else.”

  He leaned forward and kissed her, gently withdrawing his cock at the same time. “I have to go. The car needs gas. I’ll be an hour, maybe less, if I can manage it. You should be safe until nightfall now. If I don’t get back here in time, I’ll call you. You mustn’t spend another night here. I’ll book a suite at a hotel. That way, you won’t have to share a room with me if you don’t want to.”

  “I want to, Jordan darling.”

  He lifted his hand and stroked her cheek. “Thank you for that. I won’t let you down, love.”

  “I know you won’t.”

  He got up and found his jeans, pausing to drag them on. “I’ll go now. I want to get you out of here as soon as possible. I’m only going for gas, so I shouldn’t be long. Can you pack in half an hour?”

  She smiled. “More or less.”

  Taken by a wicked impulse, she smoothed her hands over her body and gave him a sinuous slide, laughing when he groaned.

  “Woman!”

  He growled, and she laughed in sheer delight. She would stay with him. How could she walk away now?

  * * * * *

  Karey took a shower and dreamed of her future, one entirely in her hands. He didn’t want her to tell him if she wanted him forever until after the house was cleansed, but she knew now. How could she want anything else?

  Her interview with Captain Armstrong went without incident. He asked questions he expected the answers to, as if he’d already made up his mind. The serial killer had murdered poor Thalia, and since neither Jordan nor she had been around during the first murders, they didn’t do it.

  When she told him she’d be leaving the house, he merely requested that he kept him appraised of her movements, and not to leave the country without informing him first. He became more incisive when he asked her about Jordan, and Karey found herself defending him. “You were married to Jordan Arcenaux, right?”

  “I still am.”

  “You don’t mind him bringing his woman here?”

  That was harsh. “He followed her because he thought she wanted to cause trouble with me.”

  He glanced up from the paper on the desk in front of him. “Really? She told me she came to hunt for the necklace, nothing else. And to be with her lover.”

  He watched her reaction carefully. “She came for the necklace, sure, but Jordan isn’t her lover.” Not now, she mentally added.

  “I had a brief interview with Arcenaux before he left. He said he was taking you away.” The man couldn’t have waited until Jordan came back? Karey felt annoyed on behalf of her husband. “It seems Mademoiselle Merchand has not achieved her objective of causing trouble.”

  “Jordan still feels he needs to help me. He thinks I’m in danger here.”

  “Why?” He barked the question, the first time he’d shown particular interest since the interview started.

  “From the presences here.”

  This time the captain lost his stern look completely and rocked with laughter, leaning back against the chair. “A murder in the grounds and you’re scared of some ghost?”

  Karey allowed him to enjoy his laugh. She knew better than to try to protest or convert him. Cynics were rarely persuaded by words alone, in her experience. He would need to suffer what she’d undergone recently before he believed any of it, and she wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Not even Didiane. She barely stopped herself smiling when she realized the captain would have a fit if she told him about the vampires.

  Armstrong dug in his pocket and pulled out a large white handkerchief to mop his face and brow. This being October, the heat was moderate, but he was a big man, and although he’d slung his coat on the back of his chair, he must feel the heat more than most. “I’m sorry, but folks around here are obsessed with the paranorm
al. The club that poor young woman visited was supposed to be for vampires, and we have voodoo shops in every street.” The mention of Thalia sobered him fast, as it should. “A young life wasted. Whoever killed her drained her of nearly all her blood, but the knife killed her, not some deadly bite.” Karey didn’t about that, but she said nothing. “It was probably some poor sap who imagined he was some kind of monster.” He sighed heavily. “We have a few of those, too.”

  “I’m sorry. Our company tries to use scientific methods to back up our findings, so I do understand.”

  He stared at her, then flashed a tight grin. “You probably do. Anything on those tapes?”

  Her mind went back to sitting next to Jordan, skimming the recordings. Just like old times. “Nothing, I’m afraid.” She jerked her head to indicate the personal computer tower in the corner of the room. “I set the cameras and sound recorders around the house, with some more sophisticated devices in hotspots. Nothing on any of them.”

  The captain grimaced. “Thank you for saving me the time. I’ll take the copies away and send them to the lab, but it’s a long shot. The girl was left near to the gates, so unless the killer came from the house, there won’t be anything. It effectively rules out some people though, doesn’t it?”

  She supposed it did.

  * * * * *

  Time to dismantle the equipment. It hadn’t done any good and it was too expensive to abandon. As Karey was crossing the hall, she heard her name called. Turning, she saw Bernard.

  His expression was serious, not at all the affable man she’d met when she first came here. “Arcenaux says you’re leaving.”

  She suppressed her start of shock. Of course he’d be here, but did he realize that she knew he’d drugged her? She’d have to call his bluff and find out. “Yes, that’s right.”

  “Are you feeling better today?” He smiled, but she could see it was forced, because of the deep creases at the corners. Tense. “You didn’t drink too much last night, but seemed very pale.”

  Ah, so that was how he wanted to play it. “I wasn’t too well. Not the drink, you’re right, but I’ve been working too hard recently and sleeping too little. Jordan saw me to my room and left me there.”

  “He overreacted somewhat, didn’t he?”

  She forced herself to join in with his conspiratorial smile. “He does that.” She shrugged. “I don’t take much notice. But thank you for last night.”

  He bowed his head. “You’re welcome. Perhaps we can do it again sometime.”

  “That would be nice.” Not a snowball’s chance in hell. “I need to get back to Hosts to Ghosts.” And away from this place.

  “Will you come back?”

  “I hope so.” She didn’t want to arouse his suspicions. “When I’ve dealt with a few other matters.”

  “So who manages this place when you’re gone? Auguste doesn’t want to come back until the ghosts have gone, so who’s left?”

  She’d have to contact Auguste as soon as she could, but she had only one course of action left right now. Perhaps if he thought he’d gotten his way, he’d relax and leave her alone. He didn’t know she’d realized he’d drugged her. He could imagine that they were still friends. “You’re left. I can come in every day to supervise the redecoration if you need me, but I imagine you can do that better than I can.”

  He didn’t want her to go. Karey saw the regret in his dark eyes. “You shouldn’t go with Arcenaux. He isn’t safe.”

  The nerve of the man! “I never said I wanted safe.”

  “You know what he is, Karey. He’ll hurt you.”

  “What are you talking about?” He couldn’t know Jordan’s true nature, surely.

  “He left you for Didiane. He’ll leave you again. You must know that.”

  Karey had seen right into Jordan’s mind, his heart, and found the truth waiting there for her. “He won’t, but in any case, the reason is to keep me safe. You saw what happened the other night, Bernard. Jordan thinks I’m on the right wavelength for the presences here to attack.”

  Bernard’s eyes gleamed now. It looked like avarice to Karey, and she wondered what he wanted. Her, perhaps, but this seemed more impersonal. Had Jordan’s early lessons in telepathy made her more sensitive somehow?

  A cry from the front door made them both spin around and head quickly back the way they had come. A female cry for help, urgent and commanding.

  Just inside the front door, casting a heavy shadow into the hall, Sarah held a long, bloody body in her arms.

  It couldn’t be true, Karey thought, she couldn’t be seeing this. Nothing was real in this place. This couldn’t be real either. Or could it?

  For the broken body cradled in Sarah’s arms, his long legs dangling nearly to the floor was Jordan Arcenaux.

  Chapter Eleven

  Bernard was the first to recover from the shock that had kept everyone rigid for nearly a full minute. He strode forward and peered into Jordan’s face. “Is he dead?” He sounded calm, curious.

  Sarah sent him a glare of sheer hate. “No. His car crashed. I found him at the end of the drive. Where’s his room?”

  Karey forced herself out of her total shock. “This way.” Two things penetrated her mind. Jordan was hurt, but he wasn’t dead.

  She led the way, taking the stairs two at a time, Sarah close behind her. By the time she reached Jordan’s room her brain had begun to work again. Sarah, tall, willowy Sarah, carried Jordan. All six feet four inches of him.

  Sarah laid Jordan on the bed, oblivious to the mess he made. Blood pumped out of fresh wounds, his legs lay at unnatural angles and at least one arm was broken. His hair was clotted with his blood and his battered face was streaked with it. She couldn’t assess his wounds, but they were bad. Real bad.

  In the face of such terrible injuries she didn’t know what to do, where to start. “What happened?”

  “Car accident. We need to staunch the blood.” Sarah flung open the bathroom door, returning with a heap of towels. She threw one to Karey. “Get busy.”

  Karey did as Sarah told her. One wound on his thigh looked deeper than the others, the blood brighter, so she wadded the towel and pressed it on the wound, hard. Sarah tore a towel down the center and fashioned a tourniquet for his other leg. “Have you called an ambulance?”

  Sarah waved the notion aside impatiently. “They can’t do anything. We have to keep him alive until nightfall, then he’ll begin to heal on his own. Vampires heal incredibly fast. But he could still die if we don’t stop this flow of blood.”

  “God!” Tears sprang to Karey’s eyes. She let them pour down her face, unheeded. She had better things to do with her hands. Her brain caught up with events, and grief washed over her in a flood. Watching the towel under her fingers fill with his precious blood was like watching his life drain away.

  “I’ve sent for some friends. He needs blood, Karey. They’ll be here soon, and you must leave.”

  “No!” Shockingly the word came from between Jordan’s split and torn lips. His eyes flickered open, his gaze relentlessly on Karey’s face. “Don’t go.”

  “I’ll stay.” She didn’t think she could bear to leave him now.

  “Listen, both of you.” Sarah’s was the only unemotional voice in the room. Jordan and Karey stared at each other, taking their last of each other, perhaps.

  “Are you listening?”

  “Yes,” they said, but didn’t look away from each other.

  “There’s a doctor on the way, one of ours. He’ll set the bones so they don’t heal crooked. He can administer a regular transfusion, too. I’ve sent for some friends, other vampires and they’ll arrive as soon after dark as they can. They’ll donate blood.”

  “What about a hospital?”

  “No ambulance, Karey, no hospital. If he makes it that long, he’ll start to heal so quickly they’ll call him a miracle and insist on keeping him. But with these people coming, if they know you know Jordan’s secret, they’ll condemn you.”

  �
��Karey!” That cry of anguish from Jordan told her more than volumes. He wanted her, he needed her. She felt his mind in hers, a weak presence. She held on to it, used all the small powers she had to keep on.

  “Keep me in your heart. I won’t let go.” It must have cost him so much to say that.

  She blinked back her tears. “Hold on, Jordan.”

  A knock came on the door and she glanced at Sarah who nodded. “It’s the doctor.” She went to the door and opened it, but Karey returned her attention to her husband, keeping steady pressure on the wound.

  A tall man with a goatee beard, carrying a couple of cool bags came in and came straight over to the bed. He nodded at Karey. “I’m Charteris. Are you giving blood?”

  “Yes.” A thought occurred to her. “I’m A positive.”

  “All vampires have universal blood. They can take anything.” The doctor worked busily, setting up a stand with hooks that had telescoped into something the size of a walking stick. Karey was wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt, and he glanced at her, nodded. “I want to get some saline into him first.”

  Karey had never seen anyone set a drip up so fast. The man was brutal, jabbing the cannula into Jordan’s arm, and sliding the drip tube in with a rapidity that made her blink. Then he turned to the wound Karey was compressing, grabbing a ready-threaded needle from his bag and a towel in the other. After mopping the blood, he grabbed each end of the artery and sutured it roughly. “As long as we stop the blood loss, he should be fine,” he said. He moved to the next, and in fifteen minutes, he had the major cuts stitched, or glued, tacked together, stopping the blood. He glanced at Karey, bared his teeth. “I learned my trade in the trenches in World War One,” he said. “I’ve always preferred field work.”

  She felt a harsh probe in her mind, but she knew who it was and she allowed it. Charteris paused, stared. “You’re mortal.”

  “She’s his wife,” Sarah said. “She’s agreed to bear his sigil, but events caught up with us.”