Page 46 of Cameron

“I have a plane to catch,” she said.

The woman’s brows drew together in a frown. “A plane? I have no idea what that is. Though I do know the family owns one of those flying birds. Is that what you’re referring to?”

“Yes,” Samantha said, wondering why she was talking to this dead person.

“Does Cameron know?”

Part of her wanted to lie, but that was what her brother had done and she was not going to be like him.

“No, he’s sleeping,” she said.

“You know he loves you?” the woman said. “Don’t leave.”

Why was she discussing her romantic life with a ghost? And no, he didn’t love her. “He has a funny way of showing it.”

The woman sighed. “That boy is too focused on making his business a success. Why the Burnett men all believe they have to be successful, I have no idea. They have plenty of money. They should focus on getting married and having a family.”

“Good luck with that,” Sam said.

“Just give him a chance,” the great-grandmother said, looking wistful. “He’s a good man.”

The full force of what she was losing seemed to smack her in the chest. “He should have told me and maybe we could’ve worked through the loss of my family ranch. But he didn’t.”

The grandmother nodded.

Samantha shook her head as if to clear her mind. “I can’t believe I’m arguing with a ghost. Good-bye, Eugenia.”

Yanking open the door, she walked outside into the dark. Quickly she climbed into the car and started the engine.

As she pulled out past the guard gate, a swell of heartache engulfed her. Why had she come here? Just to make herself vulnerable to his hurts again?

The stubborn part of her had hoped he would make a deal with her on the property, but instead, he had told her he would allow her and her mother to continue living there until her mother passed.

“No,” she said, slamming her fist on the steering wheel. Just no. He might own the property, but she wasn’t going to be there to help him run it.

Right now, she didn’t know where she and her mother would go, but Cameron would be on his own. She couldn’t look at him without knowing how much he’d hurt her.

CHAPTER 18

Cameron woke to the overpowering scent of lavender. As his eyes came open, his arm reached out to the side of the bed where he hoped Sam would be.

“She’s gone, sleepyhead,” his great-great-great-great-grandmother said.

“When?” he asked, glancing around the room. His grandmother sat in a chair by the old trunk his mother had used.

“Before dawn,” she said.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“I tried, but you were tired,” she said.

Last night after they made love, he’d spent several hours just watching Sam sleep and thinking about how he could help her. How he could show her that he didn’t want her land, but he did want her.

Finally in the wee hours this morning, he’d made the decision. This afternoon he was going to arrange a meeting with his lawyers. He’d hoped she would be here to help with the decision-making progress, but now she was gone.

“Did she leave me a note anything?”

“Nope, she hightailed it out of here as fast as she could,” the ghost told him.

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