Excerpt
Propping the book open upside down, she took a sip of brandy and glanced outside. Pale moonlight filtered across the front lawn, turning the flaming autumn trees to stark shades of grey.
"I know you're around here somewhere," she said aloud, firmly. "So you might as well show yourself." Her lips quirked. "I'm not supposing I can outwait you, but I warn you, I can be quite stubborn."
She sensed him, saw him suddenly reflected in the window a breath before he spoke.
"Very well," Jordan said, and she heard the amusement in his voice. "You win."
She turned. He stood in the middle of the sitting room, hands in his pockets, one eyebrow cocked. The single light from the table lamp next to her gently brushed his dark hair.
"Thank you," Rachael said, uncurling from the window seat and standing. "Would you like a drink?"
His smile deepened. "Please."
She went to the crystal decanter and poured a shot of brandy into a glass. The liquid swirled, molten, fiery. She handed him the glass, and he dropped gracefully into the armchair. She resumed her perch on the window seat and toasted him silently. He returned the gesture and drank, closing his eyes as he swallowed, obviously enjoying the feel of the brandy sliding down.
"How do you do that?" Rachael asked.
His eyes opened. "Do what?"
"Drink. Hold the glass. Sit in the chair." Touch me, her mind added, and she fought back a rush of desire. "It may have been a product of my delirium last night, but I'd swear you didn't move the bed when you sat on it. And you must've just come into the room through a wall, unless you've been here since I came back from dinner."
"Ah, that." He regarded the glass, looked back up at her. "What do you suppose I am, Rachael?"
It wasn't the first time he'd said her name, but previously she'd been feverish, vague. Now, she reveled in the way his voice caressed the syllables.
"Assuming you're not a delusional fantasy of mine, all the facts so far seem to indicate you're a ghost," she said.
"And that doesn't frighten you?"
The question surprised her: It really hadn't occurred to her to be frightened. She was pragmatic about psychic phenomena, but she'd always been cautious about it, as well.
She considered his query. No, what she felt about Jordan was far from fear, she thought, as her body tingled with memory.
"No," she said quickly, to catch her thoughts. "You've startled me, but you haven't given me any reason to fear you. Should I be frightened?"
