“C’mon,” One-Eye plucked at the other cowpoke’s sleeve. “Let’s go see if that there redhead and her friend is ready to have some more fun.”
After the wranglers staggered back into the saloon, Lucius allowed a huge sigh of relief and shaky laughter to escape. When he stepped aside to allow Mourning Dove to be on her way, instead, she slid off the horse, threw her arms around him, and kissed him. Since then, he’d never wanted another woman. Until now.
In many ways, Tallulah reminded him of Mourning Dove. Smart, independent, hardworking, and stubborn, the blonde with the wild hair could have been the brunette with the long black braid’s spirit sister. He shivered at the idea of the two of them together. Without a doubt, they’d gang up on him and have him wrapped around their little fingers. Tallulah, with her modern ways was as foreign to him as Mourning Dove had been in the beginning. But he learned about the Crow Nation and more.
Over the century, he had been a fly on the wall, watching and listening to every human that found his or her way to the hotel. He’d learned a lot about drugs from watching the teenagers who’d smoked what he thought was tobacco at first. After seeing how they behaved, he realized they weren’t smoking peace pipes. The workmen carried boxes of music that blasted eight hours a day, a lot of wailing about pickup trucks, bad times, whiskey, and broken hearts.
The big black things with screaming heads, those TVs, they scared him. Not because he thought they were supernatural. No, they frightened him because they spoke about wars, bombs, and hate. Even Will would shake his head and say, “Why don’t we ever hear any good news?” At those times, Lucius was grateful to be sentenced to the hotel, a haven of safety, away from the violence on the other side of the porch railings. He could learn about Tallulah’s world too, he just hoped it wasn’t what he saw on those screens.
Where in blue blazes had that dang woman gotten to, anyway? She planned to go for lunch and come back, these days that meant an afternoon trip at best. She’d been gone close to the entire day. Out alone on the roads, she could get lost. Never make it back. After a century of contributing both sides of every conversation, if something happened to Tallulah, what would he do? Who would he talk to? Just as the sun hit the horizon and extinguished itself, frantic barking erupted from inside the hotel.
Something was wrong with Franny!
In two shakes of a tail feather, he materialized in Tallulah’s room.
Hysterical yapping came from behind the closed bathroom door, and Will Wellington, that swindler, rummaged in the nightstand.
Lucius yelled and grabbed the man’s shoulders, “What are you doing in here, you scoundrel?”
Will paused for a moment, shook his head, and slammed the drawer shut. He swore a blue streak and shoved his hand under the mattress, running it the length of the bed. Failing to find anything, he cast wild looks around the room. He strode to the dresser, yanked out a drawer, and patted the underwear stacked neatly within. Slamming that shut, he pulled Tallulah’s suitcase off the shelf and searched the outside and inside pockets. Will yanked the bathroom door open.
Panting, tongue lolling, Franny bolted out of the space and barreled into Lucius’ feet. Yipping with joy, she pawed at his legs until he reached down and rubbed her soft ears.
“There, there, it’s okay, little girl, I won’t let him hurt you.”
He glanced up and saw Will’s gaze riveted on the little pug. A moment later, he tossed the suitcase back up on the shelf and fled the room, slamming the door behind him.
Lucius slid down to the floor, welcomed Franny onto his lap, and patted her until she began to snore.
Where was Tallulah?
****
“Lucius Stewart appeared in my room the first night I arrived at the hotel.”
Tallulah sipped a cup of coffee and tapped the table. The crowd of horrified onlookers at the site had dissipated, thank God, leaving her alone with Emma and her own embarrassment. Still shaking, Tallulah asked Emma to go back to the trading post with her to give her a chance to recover from her vision. She’d never experienced one quite like that before and didn’t feel up to driving back to Billings yet.
Emma waved a waitress over for a refill on both coffees. “Was he angry?”
“Oh, no. Shocked I could see him, though. In fact, totally amazed might describe his reaction better. He asked me all sorts of thoughtful questions, like he’d been dying to talk to someone—anyone—for an eternity. Which, I guess is true.” She took a sip of the brew. “He hates Will Wellington, keeps calling him a thief.”
“So, he’s not just like a moving picture, where you can see him but he isn’t aware of you?”
“He’s highly aware of and interacts with me. Although there were times this morning I wanted a little less interaction.” She laughed. “He danced around the kitchen talking to me while I interviewed Will. I could see him—oh, and Franny sees him. But Will doesn’t.”
A thoughtful look crossed Emma’s face. “Do you think he’s attractive?”
“Will? Yuck. No.” Tallulah shuddered.
“I meant Lucius.”
A warm flush crept up her neck. “If he were a living, breathing guy, seriously, what’s not to like? Tall, dark, those shoulders, and jeez, those eyes, well a girl can get lost in them. He has a wicked sense of humor, dimples that make me think he’s teasing me all the time, and a voice that makes my legs weak…” The spectacular Big Sky sunset made her wish she was sitting on the Hotel LaBelle porch, sipping wine, and laughing with that very man—ghost, whatever he was.
Emma gave her a hard stare.
Embarrassed, Tallulah gave a little laugh. “Wow. I don’t sound desperate much, do I?” She put her hands over her face. “I have the hots for a dead man. Lord, I must be crazy.”
“You’re Choctaw, you say?” Emma drew a circle in the coffee drippings on the table. “How much?”
“Oh, I’m guessing a quarter, at least. My grandmother raised me after my parents died in a car crash.”
“And she was a Medicine Woman?”
Tallulah nodded, remembering her grandmother and her powerful personality. A tiny dynamo, Grandmother never let her get away with anything, despite the fact that her granddaughter towered over her by fifth grade.
“What about your mother? Did she have visions too?”
Tallulah nodded, and hot tears spilled down her cheeks. “This trip has triggered all sorts of visions—you saw what happened today.” She lowered her voice. “I’m afraid I’m turning into my mother.”
“Why? What happened?” Emma leaned in. “Tell me everything.”
“After she had me, she began to have visions. My grandmother told her it was okay, part of her heritage. And not to tell anyone outside the family.” Tallulah lifted the cup with a trembling hand. “One day, when she was at the grocery store one town over, she saw a man attack a woman with a knife. She screamed for help. The police came—and took my mother to the psychiatric hospital.”
Emma frowned. “There was no attack?”
“Not at that point in time. She saw an incident that had occurred ten years before, a cashier was attacked and murdered by her ex-husband. The police and the manager knew the story, but my mother wasn’t familiar with the store. She had no idea.”
Emma blew out a long breath. “Let me guess, they thought she was hallucinating.”
Tallulah nodded. “The doctors sent her home on enough medications to fell a horse. I was still a baby, so I don’t recall anything. My grandmother said she was like a zombie, shuffling around in a daze. Then one day, she snapped out of it and was her old self.”
“Good news?”
“Yes and no. She threw her medications out—and was fine for a while.”
The waitress came by and placed the check on the table.
“Until?”
“My father and mother went on a trip together. He thought it would be good for her to get out of town, just the two of them. He took her to Longhorn Mountain.”
Emma’s e
yes widened. “What was he thinking? That’s one of the most sacred sites in Oklahoma. Even now, people go there for spirit quests and to pray.”
“My grandmother said he was a nice German man from a Lutheran farm family and didn’t believe in ghosts or spirits.” Tallulah shook her head. “I think he may have been like a parent trying to prove to a child there’s no boogeyman under the bed. Except in this case, there was. My grandmother thinks she had a vision while they were driving—they were going around a bend and the car went off the road.”
The waitress returned and said, “Ladies, sorry to do this, but we’re closing now.”
“We overstayed our welcome.” Tallulah placed a ten on the table. “Keep the change.”
A few moments later, Emma and Tallulah stood outside in the parking lot shivering in the suddenly cool air.
Emma yanked open the door to her pickup. “What plans do you have for tomorrow?”
“Having a come-to-Tallulah talk with Will first thing in the morning.”
“I’d like you to meet some people tomorrow. Can you do that?”
“Well, technically, I’m on Will’s clock. He’s paying for my time.”
Emma snorted. “He’s behind paying everyone else. What makes you think he’s going to pay your bill?”
“Now that you put it that way…”
“Dinner at five, my place.” She scribbled an address and phone number on a scrap of paper. “Some of my family members are in from out of town. I’d like you to meet them.”
As Tallulah waved goodbye to Emma, she wondered what she should wear. She’d go through her closet, see what looked presentable. Maybe Lucius could help her pick something out.
Oh my God. I’m thinking about asking a ghost for fashion advice. I must be losing my mind.
Chapter Five
When Tallulah’s car appeared, a wave of relief rolled through Lucius. He must have paced ten miles on the wraparound porch while waiting for her. She stepped in front of her car, backlit by the headlights.
Damn, she has a fine figure.
In his mind, he couldn’t help comparing Tallulah’s curves to those women who showed up last spring. When the snowmelt ran off the mountains, two boxy vehicles had turned up and disgorged a small army of skinny females and a few men with bulky equipment. Giggling and chattering about a “shoot” for Veronica and her secrets while Will drooled over their credit cards, they registered and filled all twenty rooms of the hotel, even the barely livable ones.
Early the next morning, Lucius watched in astonishment as the models, clad only in one or two tiny swatches of cloth, waded into the shallow river while the photographer kept hollering, “Try to look like you’re having fun!” The water had to be freezing and those gals may as well have been naked. They all looked like they needed a good meal, or three.
Tallulah on the other hand, not only relished her food, but wore it well, with curves in all the right places. These new fashions showed off her voluptuous shape. Denim had never looked that good in his time.
“Will, is that you?” Her husky voice carried across the summer breeze just as the headlights went out.
Lucius snorted. “I can’t believe you mistook me for that weasel. He took off hours ago like the Devil was chasing him.”
Stepping onto the dimly lit porch, Tallulah favored him with a great big grin.
Was that his heart thumping like a drum during a sun dance?
He could go for a year on that smile, maybe longer. Even in this light he could see her eyes sparkle. She seemed happy to see him.
Or was he just fooling himself?
“Ah, the very man I wanted to talk to—right after I get Franny and take her out for a walk. She must think I abandoned her.”
Heart leading his hand, he touched her arm as she went to pass by.
She stopped, turned, and stared. “Lucius. Your hand.”
He stared at his tingling fingers and dropped his hand. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”
“No, that’s not what I meant.” She shook her head. “I felt you. Really felt your touch. How is that possible?”
He touched his chin. “Lord have mercy, Tallulah, I can feel my face.”
She placed her fingertips on his cheek as gently as if she was catching a butterfly. A century of longing to be seen and touched shuddered and shimmied through him. He turned his face and kissed her palm, allowing himself the pleasure of lingering, basking in her warmth and the amazement that he felt her, really felt her.
She gasped. “Oh my God, what’s happening?”
He placed her hand on his chest. “I don’t know, but my heart’s bucking like a bronco, and I can’t stop thinking about—”
Headlights bounced up and down the dirt road and a horn honked.
Lucius peered into the darkness. “What the heck?”
“Must be Will. I’m going inside, getting Franny. We’ll talk later.”
“I gotta tell you something about that lizard—”
“Later,” she yelled over her shoulder.
Ear glued to his itty-bitty phone, Will stomped up the stairs and walked within inches of Lucius. Curious, he followed the swindler who raced behind the registration desk and into his office.
What flew up his nose?
Lucius slid behind the counter and watched from the door.
Will jerked books from the shelves, flipped through the pages, and threw them to the floor one after another. Next he ransacked the desk, the very one where Lucius had spent many a happy hour. Drawers flew open under his frantic fingers with curses Lucius didn’t know were legal in Montana.
“C’mon, c’mon, I know yer here somewhere,” Will slurred. “Yer holding out on me, I know it. The gold’s gotta be somewhere. Stewart was loaded.”
Lucius suppressed a groan. The drunken idiot thought he was on a treasure hunt. There was no gold hidden here. Lucas took every penny he had to the bank to pay off the loan on the hotel. With all the construction, if there had been a dime left, Will would have found it by now. After all this time, why was he acting like a lunatic now?
Will walked across the room, and the floor creaked.
“That’s it!” Will raced out of the office and ran right through Lucius.
Doubled over, Lucius dry heaved and white-knuckled the doorjamb.
What’s happening to me?
He glanced up in time to see Tallulah trot past the desk, Franny at the lead in a whirl of panting, barking, and snorting. The screen door slammed behind the pug and her owner. Will stomped back into the office, a crowbar in his hand.
Lucius stepped aside, taking care to stay out of his way.
Will knelt down, flipped the area rug back, and began to pry at a board.
“You son of a gun, you’re destroying the place!”
Deaf to Lucius’ warning, Will ripped at the hardwood and pulled a chunk back. Cuss words poured out of his mouth.
He had to warn Tallulah. The man was drunk and crazy. Lucius blinked. When he opened his eyes, he was in her room. Dammit. Wrong place. He focused on the porch—
****
“Franny, slow down, I’m going to break an ankle in a rabbit burrow.” Tallulah pulled back on the leash, nearly lifting the harness-wearing pug in the air. “You won’t catch anything out here tonight except a chill.”
Panting and snuffling, the little dog scrutinized each blade of grass, searching for exactly the right spot to do her duty. At last she found the perfect place.
“About time, Princess Franny.” Tallulah rubbed her sweater-clad arm, regretting leaving her heavier jacket in the room. She’d been in such a rush to get her dog outdoors, she hadn’t even had a moment to reflect on the strange occurrence with Lucius. Strange wasn’t the right word. Disturbing? Unsettling? Exciting? Thrilling? Arousing?
Tonight’s turn of events had been more than a little odd. First of all, he was ghost, a spirit, a vision. Not tangible. But now, the memory of touching him, the softness of his kiss in her palm, set off waves of pl
easure in her core. She shook her head.
This was nuts. No sane woman would be having fantasies of a ghost next to her on that big four poster, running his fingers through her hair, pressing his lips against hers, and tracing her face with his fingertips. But, oh, the prospect of loving him all over was one she couldn’t stop thinking about. One touch, one tender kiss told her he’d be a gentle lover.
She shook her head. In some ways she wasn’t that different from Lucius. She lived on her own, rarely went out socially, and had all her food delivered to avoid crowds. Come to think of it, she might be more of a hermit than he was. He welcomed company. Her? Not so much—until this trip. And now the only company she longed for was his. Geez. She really did need to get out more.
“Tallulah!”
Lucius’ voice broke through her hormone-laced thoughts.
He stood on the walk in front of the porch steps, frantically waving his arms. “Get back here, now. It’s important.”
Franny yelped in surprise as Tallulah lifted her and began running toward the hotel. What was he doing that far away from the building? How was that possible? Her left foot snagged on something, and she put her hands out to break her fall. The pug flew out of her arms.
“Franny!” She scrabbled to her feet, only to fall down again in pain-induced vertigo. “Franny,” she sobbed. “Oh, my baby, I’m so sorry. Where are you?” She crawled forward on her hands and knees, crying tears of pain and fear, searching for her best friend, her companion, her little dog.
Halfway across the dirt driveway, a pair of boots came into her line of vision.
“Oh, Will, I’m hurt, and I can’t find my dog. Can you help me, please?”
“Ya know, I’m beginning to get a little annoyed that you keep mistaking me for that horse thief.”
She rolled over on her back and looked up at the most beautiful sight in the world.
Lucius Stewart held her panting pug in his arms, and she didn’t look the least bit harmed for the fall. He squatted next to her and placed Franny on the ground. “See if you can get up on your good foot and lean on me.”
Gingerly at first, then with more pressure, she wrapped her left fingers over his shoulder and hopped on her right foot across the driveway to the stairs. With one hand on Lucius and the other on the railing, she was able to make her way up the steps, the huffing and puffing pug hopping up behind her. She opened the screen door and limped inside, Lucius with her.
The Haunting of Hotel LaBelle Page 5