Page 9 of Wild Scottish Fortune

“Clyde, I swear to God, don’t make me hang up warning signs about you and ruin your fun. You’ve already scared me twice today.” Sophie turned, hands on hips, a scolding note in her voice.

Laughter bubbled inside me as the coo’s shoulders dropped, his eyes going wide and beseeching.

“Don’t give me that look. You know we have aone scare a dayrule. You’ve already violated it.”

Clyde sniffed, hanging his head.

“Aww,” I said, feeling sorry for the big guy, and then pressed my lips together when Sophie shot me a look.

“So you see him?”

“I, um, yes. The big ghost highland coo?”

“Yes, this is Clyde. He’s friendly, except when he scares people within an inch of having a heart attack.” Sophie sighed, turning back to me, her face resigned. “He made Lia pee her pants.”

“He didnot. This sweet guy?” Clyde perked up at my words, sidling over to me, and I grinned at him. “You’re very handsome.”

The coo preened, clearly pleased with my praise.

“Ghosts don’t bother you then?” Sophie gave me a considering look, and once again I felt like I was dancing along the edge of something unknown. I wasn’t sure how much of myself to divulge, but then remembered that Willow from the kilt shop was good friends with Sophie.

Shite.I’d made the mistake of revealing to them that I could sense ghosts. It wasn’t typical for me, but I’d had a really stressful day and hadn’t slept when I’d met with them to go over their project. With my guard down, I’d let it slip that I could sense ghosts. Which also meant that Willow had likely relayed this to Sophie.

It wasn’t a huge secret, I supposed, as some of my crew knew that I had a sense of whether a building was haunted or not. They respected me for it, being able to sense energy, and we hadn’t much talked past the basics of it all. They didn’t care, so long as they could work in peace, and I did my best to make sure whatever project we took on was safe for them.

In all elements, I supposed.

“I wouldn’t say I’m super chuffed about them. Though Clyde seems sweet,” I amended. I had a soft spot for all animals.

Animals were a lot easier to understand than humans.

“But you see them, don’t you?”

“Aye.” No point in lying about it. Not when a huge ghost coo was currently sniffing at Sir Buster’s bum, causing the dog to growl.

“I wonder why that is. Not everyone has the skill.”

“Is it a skill?” That was the first time I’dconsidered the ability to be a skill. Largely since I didn’t have much say in it.

“You tell me. Some would say it is a great ability to have. Communicating with the dead? People pay a lot of money for that.”

“It’s not like that. I don’t summon them to me.” Instantly I realized that I was revealing far more than I had intended.

“Ah.” Sophie turned. “The light’s fading. I’d rather we looked at the building another time. Why don’t I walk you to your car and you can tell me more about it?”

“Not much to tell.” I fell in step beside Sophie. “I don’t choose the interactions. It’s not like I’m a medium. I just can go into a building and see if it is haunted. It’s largely attached to structures. I’ve yet to see a ghost wandering the forest or whatever.”

“So you’re a house witch.”

“What?” I stopped in my tracks, my eyebrows furrowing on my forehead.

“A house witch. I mean, that’s what popped into my head when you said that. But maybe there’s another term.”

“What does a house witch do?”

“I don’t honestly know. But I’d say they can probably see ghosts in houses and get rid of them. Have you removed any unwanted spirits from a house before?”

“I have.” I dug my boot into the gravel by the car as a trickle of anxiety worked through me at the word witch.

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