Page 33 of Gift for My Ghost

He was as handsome as ever, his brown eyes warm and his mouth curved in a gentle smile, but he was more solid than he had ever been before. She touched his face, relishing the scrape of his evening stubble beneath her fingers.

“And I’m all yours,” he promised. “Forever, if you’ll have me.”

“Of course I’ll have you.” She threw her arms around him, clinging to him desperately, so wonderfully warm and alive. “I love you.”

He kissed the top of her head, then tilted her face up to his.

“I love you too. Forever.”

He kissed her then, a sweet kiss, full of love and promise. She sighed happily as she let herself sink into the kiss, but then she felt his cock jerk against her leg and she laughed as she pulled back.

“That part of you is working too?”

“It most definitely is.”

“In that case,” she said, her hand stroking his chest. “I suggest we go upstairs and celebrate.”

He laughed and carried her away.

“I can seewhy you enjoy this, Flora.” Gladys sighed happily, moving away from the window as the two lovers left the room. “That was quite satisfying.”

“I do have a knack for it,” Flora said modestly. “Not that everyone listens to me.”

“Don’t you start that again,” she snapped. “That ship has sailed, wrecked, and sunk to the bottom of the sea.”

“So? They even managed to retrieve pieces of the Titanic.”

“No,” she repeated, and quickly changed the subject. “I am rather disappointed they managed to banish that nasty spirit without any help from us. I was looking forward to cleaning house.”

“That’s the power of love.”

She groaned and took Flora’s arm. “Come on. Let’s go celebrate.”

“You go on ahead. I have something I have to do.”

“You’re not starting in on another poor couple already, are you?”

Flora gave her a look of limpid innocence.

“Would I do that?”

“Yes.”

Her friend laughed. “Fair, but in this case, it’s more of an… investigation. Jessica said something that reminded me of someone I haven’t heard about in years. Which is rather odd when you think about it.”

“Considering you like to know everything about everybody, it is.”

“Exactly. So I thought I’d take a little look. I’ll come over to yours later—unless you have company.”

“I won’t,” she said firmly, but Flora was already gone.

She sighed and started back towards her house. This late at night, most of the houses were dark, but Jack o’lanterns still glowed on the occasional porch step and a few lights were still on. The wind sent leaves scurrying down the street and she shivered. Normally she enjoyed Fairhaven Falls at night, but tonight she just felt… alone. Damn Flora and her insistence on digging up the past.

I made the right decision, she told herself, but as clouds scudded across the moon and another flurry of leaves skittered down the empty street, it was harder than usual to believe.

Nonsense.She squared her shoulders and marched off down the street, never noticing the tall figure watching her from the shadows.

EPILOGUE

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