Declan surprised himself with a sudden smile.
Maybe he wouldn’t call.
Maybe he’d take his chances.
Well, now—that was an unexpected train of thought. He scratched his newly shaven chin thoughtfully then figured, what the hell? If he got the chance to see the hot celebrity CEO in a towel—or even her nightshirt—it wouldn’t be the worst way to start the day.
He climbed out of his truck and walked across the parking area, pausing briefly to consider whether he should go to the front door or the kitchen. There was a rustling in the bushes, and he turned to see a huge cat—thirteen, maybe fourteen pounds—prowling out from the tall, brown grass like a miniature lioness.
The cat paused when he saw Declan, then went about his business—which seemed to be exploring around the trash cans. Looking for food, probably—
“Oh, no,” Declan said when he got a better look at the creature. There were missing patches of hair, and his tail was bent. The top third dangled like a forlorn flag, and he was limping.
“You poor thing. What happened to you?” He crouched and called softly, “Here, kitty. Come here, kitty.”
The cat paused its exploration of the tightly closed trash cans to consider his offer. Declan called a few more times and made crooning noises while the feline’s pair of amber eyes watched him mistrustfully. When he made the mistake of inching toward the cat, however, the tabby had enough and bolted away from the trashcans, darting through a hole under the wraparound porch.
“Damn,” he muttered, and made his way over to peer through the broken latticework around the base of the porch. He had his head under the edge and was shining his phone flashlight into the darkness when the kitchen door flew open with a sudden and loud swish.
He jolted upright, banging his head as the cat darted even further into the darkness. Declan eased out from under the porch, the back of his skull throbbing and cobwebs clinging to his hair and shoulders.
“What are you doing?” Leslie van Dorn was dressed in neither a nightshirt nor a towel, and she did not appear pleased to see him. In fact, even though she was in a sweatshirt and—were those boxer shorts?—she looked even less composed than she had the first day he met her, when she was decorated with drywall dust and cobwebs.
“Why are you creeping around my house again?” she demanded before he had a chance to reply. She sounded halfway between suspicious and hysterical.
Definitely not the Leslie van Dorn he’d come to know, however briefly.
Wary, Declan stood, brushing off his jeans. “There was a cat. I was trying to get it to come to me, but it got spooked and ran under the porch. It looks like it’s pretty hurt.”
The tight look on her face eased. “Was it taffy colored? A big one? I saw it last night—it scared the crap out of me when it came dashing out of the woods from nowhere.”
He was about to open his mouth to say something stupid (“A little high-strung, are we?” or “Maybe you scare more easily than I realized”) and thought better of it, especially when he noticed her bare legs beneath blue and green plaid boxers. They were very nice legs. Long and shapely and— “Uh, it’s still under the porch… I don’t suppose you want to try and lure it out? I think it needs a vet.”
She looked at him appraisingly. “So now you’re a cat rescuer too.” Her expression had softened even more, and Declan almost wanted to squirm under her gaze.
“Too?” he asked lightly.
But she didn’t reply; instead, she went back into the house, presumably to get something for which a cat would leave its sanctuary.
Moments later she returned with an open can of tuna and set it on the ground near the trash cans at his suggestion.
“Even if it comes out, we might not be able to catch him,” she said. “At least the first time.”
“Right. Well, it’s up to you if you want to feed a stray. I just wanted him to see a vet. His tail’s half whacked off and he’s got patches missing from his fur…and even though he ran away like a bat outta hell, he seemed to have a limp when he was walking more slowly.”
Leslie’s expression had returned to normal, and she was watching the hole under the porch with a sad expression. “I don’t mind feeding him. I wouldn’t mind having a cat around,” she said, almost to herself. Then she looked up. “Maybe if we go inside he’ll come out.”
Declan was very fine with that idea. Moments later, he was sitting at the big, scarred kitchen table while she made him a cup of coffee. “Is everything all right?” he asked carefully. “You seemed a little…tense when you came outside.”
When she didn’t reply and merely set his coffee down, perhaps with a little louder a thump than necessary, he feared he’d stepped in it. Declan wasn’t certain what was going on with himself, but he knew he didn’t want to piss her off. And not because he was afraid of losing a client…but because he—well, she had great legs and she smelled good…she was smart, and a little funny, and he’d thought about her quite a bit last night after he’d left Shenstone House.
A lot more than he’d thought about petite, bubbly Emily Danube after she’d sat at his kitchen table and had a beer with him last week, in fact.
Leslie still hadn’t spoken by the time she sat down across from him, accompanied by a plate of washed grapes and bite-sized quiches that he recognized from Orbra’s Tea House. (Not that he was in the habit of taking high tea or anything. He suppressed a shudder at the thought of being among all the lace and flowers and delicate china for any length of time, pinky extended while lifting a teacup…)
Declan, for whom the silence was becoming ominous, opened his mouth to speak, but stopped immediately when she looked at him. She had very large, very intense blue eyes and they were framed with thick black lashes. Instead of being angry or suspicious or even irritated, the expression therein was one of hesitation. Confusion. Maybe even a hint of worry.
“Something happened last night,” she said finally. “And after, I—I didn’t get much sleep, so I was a little grumpy when I heard you drive up, and then you didn’t knock, and the next thing I knew, you were climbing under my porch…” The last bit came out more quickly and smoothly than the beginning, and Declan had the distinct impression she’d changed course from what she’d intended to say.
“I can see why you might have wondered what was going on. But I assure you, if I’d had the intention of creeping around your house, I wouldn’t have driven up in broad daylight, parked my car in full view of your kitchen, and then dove under your porch.”
“Right. I know that.” The tense look was leaching back into her face. “I’m sorry I reacted so strongly.”
“What happened last night that made you so tense that you reacted so strongly?” Something prickled at the back of his neck. Had someone tried to break in? Attack her? He forced himself to wait for her to speak, but his fingers curled into a fist beneath the table.
Leslie lifted her mug to drink something that didn’t smell like coffee. It had an unfamiliar cinnamon-y, spicy aroma. She looked away, out the window, into the distance. “You’re going to think I’m crazy.”
Okay, so not an attack or a break-in… “Going to think?” he teased. “That assumes I don’t already.”
He was relieved when she gave a short laugh. “Right. I can only imagine what you think of me.”
“I actually think quite a lot of you,” he said before he realized the words were even forming. Then he froze, his eyes widening as she looked up in surprise. “It’s true,” he added to hide the surprise at his voice’s betrayal. “You’ve accomplished a lot in your life.” Now that just sounded lame. Like he was introducing her at the chamber of commerce or writing her obituary or something. Damn.
“Thanks.” Her cheeks appeared a little pinker than they had been a moment ago.
“So are you going to tell me what’s going to make me think you’re crazy?”
She drew in a deep breath and pulled herself back from where she’d had her arms and elbows on the table as sh
e leaned forward. Settling back in her chair, she looked right at him and said, “I’m pretty sure I saw a ghost last night.”
“All right,” he said after the briefest of pauses. “Tell me what you saw.”
She looked at him with suspicion. “You don’t believe me.”
“You haven’t told me anything yet, so I can’t decide whether I believe you or not.” He put down his coffee. “Are you in the habit of seeing ghosts?”
“No.”
“Have you ever seen one before?”
“No.”
“Do you believe in ghosts?”
“Y-yes…well, maybe…well, probably. Oh, hell, yes, I guess I do.”
He controlled a grin. “Then if you say you saw one last night, I tend to think you did. I have no reason not to believe you.”
The suspicion was still in her eyes, but her shoulders—which had drawn up closer to her ears—eased back down. “I was asleep, and something woke me up at about two o’clock. It was a loud noise, coming from the foyer. Like something had fallen down—down the stairs or from the ceiling to the floor. I got up and went out there to look, and I saw…something…glowing. Standing. At the far end of the balcony, at the top of the stairs. And the room was really cold. Unusually, oddly cold. And I heard music.”
Declan was very careful to keep his expression blank, not to betray any of his thoughts while she spoke. “Go on.”
“I had brought my pepper spray and my phone— Hey, I never thought of that—I wonder what would have happened if I’d sprayed it with pepper spray?” she said, her brows drawing together. “Anyway, I shined my phone’s flashlight toward it. I was still on the ground, just coming out from the hall, and I called out to it—I figured either someone was playing a big joke, or the ghost had finally made its appearance.”
“The ghost?”
“Cherry and Orbra claim the place is haunted, that people have been saying it for years.” She shrugged. “I’ve been living here a month and haven’t seen a sign of anything paranormal—until last night.”
“So what happened after you shouted out at it?”
“It—came at me. Down the stairs, and I heard that same noise that had woken me up—as if it were running or tumbling down the stairs. It was loud, really loud, and there was music too…and then it disappeared. And afterward, everything was quiet, and I smelled a lady’s perfume in the air. It’s not the kind I wear. And…”
“And after that?”
“After that, nothing else happened. Everything was quiet for the rest of the night. But I didn’t sleep much at all.”
“I can understand why.” Declan lifted his coffee to sip, aware that she was watching him without trying to appear anxious.
“You think I’m nuts, don’t you?”
“Not at all. Look, I’ve worked in a lot of old houses like this—on a lot of different locations that have…well, histories. I’ve had my share of strange experiences. Doors slamming when no one’s there. Creaking floors. Unexplained sounds. Even sudden changes in temperature, like you experienced.” He spread his hands. “I have an open mind, and I’m curious.”
Leslie’s eyes suddenly turned very soft and warm. She glanced down at her tea as if to hide the expression. “Thank you for saying that, Declan.”
Well, sure. Anytime, babe if it makes you look at me like that. “Mm…have you had a good look around this morning, since all this happened?”
She shook her head. “I finally fell asleep just before dawn, and I think you woke me when you drove up the driveway. So, no, I haven’t ventured out there yet to see if…to check around.”
“Want to take a look together?”
Leslie nodded. “I’m not really afraid of ghosts. I don’t think. I just—it was such a shock. And then it came at me. As long as it doesn’t hurt anyone…” She shrugged again, but her eyes were still a little wide. “Do you mind waiting while I put some clothes on? Have a mini quiche. Make another cup of coffee, if you like. I’ll be right back.”
“What’re you drinking? It smells good.”
“It’s chai tea with milk and a little maple syrup for sweetener. There are cups for that too, for the little coffee maker. Help yourself.”
Declan did as she suggested, wandering around the kitchen with his milky chai tea (not bad at all). Nice tile work on the backsplash. Some of the accent tiles looked like they were custom made, too, and they didn’t look too modern.
An interesting array of cookbooks—French, vegetarian, wild game, Thai, vegan baking (how was that even possible? didn’t vegans forgo eggs?) and more. There were glass-fronted cabinets with mix-and-match blue and white dishes, and a real fireplace on one wall. He noticed a calendar depicting lush English gardens hanging next to the landline on a small built-in desk with a Mac desktop. He paused when he saw that October 15, next Wednesday, was marked by a small red heart with a “G” written inside it.
Declan suddenly felt grumbly and annoyed. Who the hell was G? What was up with the heart?
“All right.” Leslie swept through the door off the kitchen, and Declan caught a glimpse inside the office beyond. “All ready.”
She had brushed her hair (it was smooth and shiny now) and the scent of minty toothpaste wafted from her. Leslie was now wearing jeans that did great things for her ass, and a light blue “Smitten with the Mitten” t-shirt that displayed the outline of Michigan on it, as well as the shape of her curves beneath it.
Almost as good as a towel, he decided as he followed her down the hall from the kitchen to the foyer.
Then he redirected his thoughts and imagined how she would have crept along the same route last night. How many people—men or women—would have investigated something like that while alone in the house, rather than turning tail and bolting? And how many people would have spent the rest of the night in the house after being confronted by what Leslie had seen—or thought she’d seen?
His estimation of her clicked up another few notches…then clunked back down when he remembered the G-filled heart on her calendar.
Leslie walked boldly into the foyer, turning on the lamps to give as much illumination as possible—which was to say, not as much as there would be once she finished with the new lighting she’d told him about yesterday.
Declan looked around and didn’t see anything obviously amiss. The patch of drywall he’d set back in place to close off the stairway to the speakeasy was still intact, and nothing else seemed to be disturbed. The tarp on which they’d piled some of the debris from the dismantled stair railing was still lying on the floor, shuffled up into a pile in the corner. The broom and dustpan remained from last night as well.
Leslie seemed to agree with his assessment that nothing had been moved, for she made no comment after walking a circle around the entrance hall. She started up the stairway, shining a flashlight on the steps. The beam skimmed back and forth over each stair as she made her way to the top.
“The—uh—ghost was about here,” she said when she got to the far end of the sweep of stairs, on the opposite side of the high-ceilinged room. “I don’t see anything…” She crouched to look more closely as Declan came up to join her.
He wasn’t certain what to look for, and this was the first time he’d been upstairs. The balcony was like one side of an H, bisected by a single hallway that ended in a T-intersection at the back end of the house. He saw several doors that surely led to what would become guest rooms, and one door at the end of the corridor. The floor was hardwood, probably oak, that desperately needed to be sanded, buffed, and stained. In general, the upstairs smelled like fresh plaster and paint instead of old house.
As if reading his mind, Leslie looked up with a wry smile. “Things are moving along slowly but surely up here. I’ll have eight guest rooms in all, five with private baths and two other bathrooms for use. I’ve had all the wiring updated and windows replaced, and the drywall crew is coming tomorrow to finish patching before the paint crew comes on Monday…and that’s just the beginning.” She shook
her head, then flapped a hand. “I don’t see anything out of place up here. There’s no dust because so many of us have been in and out, so it’s hard to tell whether what was here was something corporeal or not.” She turned off her flashlight. “Eventually, these floors will be redone…but for now, I’m concentrating on the guest rooms.”
He automatically offered her a hand and helped lever her to her feet. “Considering what you’ve done in the kitchen, I have no doubt it’s all going to look great. And I can’t believe you’ve got a crew coming on a Saturday. What did you have to do to get them to agree to that?”
She laughed. “It wasn’t that difficult—it’s a big job here, and the contractor is all about keeping me happy.”
So what does it take to keep you happy? Declan was becoming more and more interested in giving it a shot. “Should we check in each of the rooms—just in case?”
“Good idea. Though I’m not sure what I’m looking for.”
“Me either. But we should be thorough.”
It took less than ten minutes to check each of the future guest rooms and bathrooms, and once again, Leslie seemed satisfied that nothing was out of place.
“So…” she said as they descended to the main floor. “If there was anyone here pulling a trick on me, there’s no sign of it. I really think it was a ghost, Declan.”
He looked at her as she paused on the last step. This put her just slightly below his eye level, with those dark blue irises close enough for him to see the flecks of black in them. She was looking at him intently—almost as if she wanted him to believe her—but his thoughts scattered when he realized how close she was standing, how good she smelled—all minty and lush and female—and that it had been quite a long time since he’d kissed a woman. And then there was the memory of that ass in those jeans…
“I…” he began, forcing himself to step back both literally and figuratively. His fingers had gone a little shaky, dammit. “A ghost,” he reminded himself as he moved away from the stairs, ostensibly to check the stability of what was left of the railing. “Well…” He collected his thoughts rapidly. “I guess you’ll have to wait and see if it comes back tonight.” He glanced over as she stepped onto the floor.
The Gems of Vice and Greed (Contemporary Gothic Romance Book 3) Page 10