Part 60 (2/2)
”Matt,” Penny said, ”there's a cup of strong tea for you right there, end of the table.”
”Thanks,” he said. ”I'll reheat it in a bit I'm going to get a few things out of the caretaker's cottage, so you two can slip on over when you want.”
”Hey, Mr. Stone, I... I don't want to put you to any more trouble,” Roger said.
”I can't sleep in this house!” Jeannie wailed.
”It's no trouble,” he a.s.sured them both.
All he wanted to do right then was get out-he didn't think he could bear to hear another of Penny's speeches on ghosts. He allowed her, on Friday and Sat.u.r.day nights, to give a ”Legends of Melody House” tour, during which she liked to go on and on about various stories involving the house, and how it was rumored to be haunted by different characters, including historical figures.
He had adamantly refused to let her call it a ghost tour. But since she did attract dozens and dozens of paying tourists, people staying as diversely far away as Williamsburg, Richmond, Harpers Ferry, the mountains, and even D.C., he had to allow the endeavor. She served cider, tea, cookies, and pastries in the middle of the tour, and he knew that she was right-they paid a whole lot of bills thanks to those tours. He still didn't like them, or anything that suggested that Melody House was really haunted. However, he tolerated it all, for the sake of the house.
”Go on, Matt-we'll keep them entertained for you,” Clint told him laconically. Matt arched a brow. Clint could be openly lascivious. He had surely enjoyed the spectacle of the bride, wrapped in the antique quilt and nothing more.
”Thanks,” Matt said dryly, and left them all to their arguments on whether there was or wasn't a ghost.
An hour later, he was moved back into his room at the main house, and he and Penny and Roger had packed up the newlyweds, who were now happily settled in the caretaker's cottage. Penny returned to her apartment over the stables.
Matt had barely gotten back to sleep before he heard a ringing sound. He fumbled around to turn off his alarm, but it was the phone instead. One of his officers was on the other end, anxiously urging him to get moving; they had a domestic violence situation threatening to turn explosive.
Matt hurriedly dressed, his thoughts half on the night gone by, and half on the day to come. There it was-the truth again. As his dad had once told him, when he had s.h.i.+vered at the sight of an old cemetery, the dead were the safest people around.
It was the living you had to watch out for.
SINK YOUR TEETH INTO.
VAMPIRE ROMANCES.
FROM SHANNON DRAKE.
Realm of Shadows Deep Midnight When Darkness Falls Beneath a Blood Red Moon
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SHANNON DRAKE is a pseudonym for New York Times bestselling author Heather Graham. She lives in South Florida, where she grew up, with her husband Dennis, five children, and their cats and dogs. After majoring in Fine Arts at the University of South Florida, she performed in dinner theater and bartended until her third son came along, at which time she turned her love of entertainment into a writing career. She enjoys travel, books, music, theater, movies, and everything to do with the water, especially scuba diving. She remains ever grateful to be able to tell stories for a living.
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