The Pirate Ghost Page 10

  Tess had to concentrate on her driving with extra care, for her heart was suddenly beating so hard that it seemed to shake the car.

  “No, then you would have been at the mercy of the killer caught in the act,” he said. “I couldn’t have helped you, Tess.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me before? Gabriel, I should have known! Just because I’m a woman, that doesn’t mean I need protection from the truth!”

  “That had nothing at all to do with it, lass,” he insisted. “There just wasn’t the time. But also I didn’t want you to have to lie to them when they asked their questions. As it is, you’re innocent on all counts.”

  “Then the man at my door...”

  “Was probably on his way to do away with you,” Gabriel finished for her. “It was only the best of luck that allowed me to be there to stop him.”

  “Oh, dear God,” she sighed.

  “Don’t you worry now, because forewarned is forearmed. No one will harm you while I’m about.”

  But Tess knew that his assurance wouldn’t stop her worrying and her mind was swirling in a fog of anxiety and confusion as she continued driving home. Why would anyone want to kill either her or Darrell? There was no sense to it, but it seemed clear that someone was planning to do exactly that.

  Every car that passed on the street suddenly seemed suspicious to Tess. Every person who glanced her way as she drove seemed to have a killer’s eyes. There was no way of knowing who or why—she only knew that someone wanted to kill her!

  Her only defense was her knowledge and a man whose protection amounted to little more than a whisper in her ear!

  Chapter Ten

  They were driving into the outskirts of town, crossing through a retail area near her neighborhood, when a large K mart sign in the distance gave her an idea.

  “I know what we’ll do now. I don’t suppose you know your measurements, do you?”

  “No, I’m no tailor.”

  “Well, then, I’ll guess. The least I can do is to get you something to wear so you don’t have to squeeze into my ratty old sweatpants anymore.”

  An hour later, she parked the car in front of her house and hurried up the steps with several bags of masculine apparel in her arms. It had felt good to have something to do that could take her mind off the murder and her ordeal with the police. And it felt good to be doing something for a man who appreciated her efforts.

  Gabriel was well pleased with the clothing and eager to dress himself in a manner that would please Tess. He enjoyed the pleasure she took in picking out a wardrobe for him. In fact, he found that he enjoyed just about anything she enjoyed simply because of the pleasure she found in it.

  Outfitting the pirate proved to be more of a task than merely buying clothing and putting it on him. Just as with the apple and her rented furniture, Gabriel was unable to touch any of what she bought, and they were at a loss until Tess realized that she would have to wear the clothes first. So, Tess went about straightening up the house wearing a man’s T-shirt and jeans that dragged loosely on the floor when she walked. She was even wearing the white cotton briefs beneath the trousers, while Gabriel continued wearing her black sweats.

  The maneuver was successful, however, and he was soon dressed and seated on a kitchen chair.

  “You are the connection I have to this earth, that much is certain,” Gabriel said, watching her eat. “I’m here for you, Tess Miller. And you for me.”

  “Why?” she asked.

  “Why not?” he replied. “I can touch only what you have touched. And I can touch you.” He moved his hand up, the bare forearm passing through the table where they sat, and placed his hand on her cheek. “You’re warm,” he said. “The only warmth I can feel is your warmth. Your skin has the texture of the finest silk, and that much I can feel. I feel no other warmth, and nothing else has much texture. But you feel complete beneath my hand. I feel a connection to you, Teresa. Don’t you feel at least a little of the same?”

  “Yes,” she admitted. “I just don’t know why.”

  “You ask why far too often,” he said. “A person can grow old waiting to find out the why of things.”

  “I thought you were an hallucination at first,” she said. “I was afraid I was losing my mind. Now I don’t know what to think, though I’ll admit I like the idea of our connection. If you were a real man—I mean, a living man—I’d gladly accept it at face value. But it seems forced this way. I mean, you don’t really have any choice, do you? I’m your one and only connection to the world.”

  With his hand still firmly on her cheek, Tess felt herself wishing she could just forget logic and go along with the events taking place without looking for reasons. What had happened to her that day proved how insecure and unpredictable life was, but she still couldn’t help asking questions.

  “I have a choice,” he said, bringing his other hand up to caress her cheek. “I made it years ago, you see, and I think you are very much the same person I chose back then. Camille was much like you. Neither of you would accept a gift without seeing the bill of sale, so to speak. Yet you share her capacity to enjoy life. Some people, you know, can never find it in themselves to have a bit of fun. Others have nothing but. You and my dear wife fall between the two. You have sense enough to come in out of a storm, but spirit enough to enjoy it, as well.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that if I were to travel the world over, I’d not find anyone more suited to my own temperament than yourself. I mean that I’m glad to be here with you and that I will stay willingly to do what I can to help you and comfort you for as long as the Fates allow me to do so.”

  “Gabriel, I — ”

  The telephone rang, cutting off Tess’s ill-formed thoughts. She rose from the table to answer the phone. She’d hardly said hello before a breathless voice broke in.

  “Tess! My God! How are you?” It was Betty Crown, barely able to contain her excitement. “I saw it on the TV news of all places! They arrested you? Are they insane?”

  “I was on the news?” Tess groaned.

  “You certainly were! Hey, babe, you don’t knock off the hottest young real-estate tycoon in town and not get some press! And they said you were released, too. Can they do that? It’s a murder charge, isn’t it?”

  “Well, I didn’t do it,” Tess said.

  “So they’re dropping the charges?”

  “Not exactly, but they don’t have enough evidence to hold me.”

  “What are you supposed to do now?”

  “My lawyer says to try going on with my life as usual and hope they find someone else to pin it all on.”

  As she spoke to her friend, Tess watched Gabriel stand and walk to the living room. She wished she could tell Betty about him, but she wasn’t eager to open herself up to the teasing she’d get. Who would believe she was on a first-name basis with a ghost?

  “What happened at work this afternoon?” she asked. “I imagine Bentsen was a bit annoyed.”

  “More than a bit,” Betty said. “And I don’t suppose the evening news helped his disposition any. It could be a frosty morning. Are you coming in?”

  “I don’t have much choice, Betty. It’s my job.”

  “Well, it’ll be interesting, anyway.”

  “All I need is another interesting day. I’d better get off the phone now and go to bed,” Tess told her friend. “I’m exhausted.”

  “You must be beat. Try to get a good night’s rest. See you tomorrow, hon.”

  “’Bye.”

  Tess hung up the phone, feeling as though a special moment between her and Gabriel had been lost. Whatever it was they had been in the mood to say to each other wasn’t going to be said now. But she hoped there would soon be another time.

  “What did the man look like?” she asked Gabriel when she joined him in the living room.

  “The moonlight was behind him, so my vision of the fellow was obscured. Fair-haired, I think. Yes, I can say that much.”

  “How tall
was... Oh, this is foolish,” she said. “Even if you could describe him perfectly, I’m sure I wouldn’t know who he is, and we could never find him anyway.”

  “We shall have to, though, won’t we?”

  “Why would anyone want to kill both Darrell and me?”

  “What about the man’s business? I understand that the cad was well-off. He must have ruffled a few feathers in order to gain his wealth.”

  “He inherited it,” she said absently. “Wait, you know he didn’t exactly play by the rules. He signed several pieces of property over to me while we were married. Later, as I began to doubt his character, I started to assume that was to keep his name off the deeds.”

  “To conceal ownership when it came to selling it again, no doubt,” Gabriel said. “He was earning his money twice in one way or another. Maybe there’s someone out there who wasn’t too happy with that.”

  “That’s possibie,” she admitted. “And since I was the fool who signed the papers, I might well be singled out for that reason.”

  “Yes, lass, it’s a possibility.” Gabriel seemed less certain now, though. “Your husband was a jealous type, wasn’t he?”

  “Oh, yes.”

  “Well, then, maybe he was killed by accident.”

  “What?”

  “I’m thinking now that he was skulking about in your yard because he thought you had a man in here with you.”

  “That’s what I thought, too. Oh, no, I see what you mean.” Tess stood and walked to the kitchen window and looked out over the dark yard. Momentarily cold, she shivered, thinking of the crime that had been committed there last night. “How would anyone trying to kill Darrell know he was in my yard?” she questioned, turning back toward Gabriel. “Even if someone were following him, why kill him here and drag him away?”

  “If the culprit was after the both of you, he’d surely have done you both in and let it go at that.”

  “Nobody was trying to kill Darrell. No, I’m sure he was only sneaking through the yard trying to keep an eye on me! Yes, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time!”

  “I could accept that,” Gabriel said. “But that means, you realize, that the killer is after you alone.”

  “Yes,” she said glumly. “Now there’s even less motive. I haven’t done anything to anybody.”

  “Maybe you have something somebody wants. It could be that they weren’t here to kill you but to rob you.”

  “Look around, Gabriel. I don’t have anything of value.”

  “Well, one man’s meat is another man’s poison, dear. Just because you don’t think something is valuable, doesn’t mean that it isn’t.”

  “Right,” she said. “Actually, assuming that the killer was really here after me—for whatever reason — should make it easier to figure out who it is, shouldn’t it? I mean, I must have done something to set him off and done it fairly recently.”

  “You couldn’t have done anything,” Gabriel said. “Not you”

  “But I must have, otherwise there’d be no reason for him to be after me.”

  “Perhaps it was something...” Gabriel appeared thoughtful. “Have you done anything out of the ordinary lately? Gone anywhere new of late?”

  “No. The only unusual thing I’ve done was to take a walk on the beach last Saturday night,” she admitted. “That’s hardly something to kill someone over.”

  “I should think not.” Then he smiled. “Not just a walk, Tess. You were diving for pearls quite far from the oyster bed, as I recall. And did you not sleep on the beach?”

  “Yes, the dumbest thing I ever did. I’d rather forget that evening every happened.”

  “Not I,” he countered. “It was the night I met you, lass, and I’ll never want to forget that.”

  “Well, I guess I don’t want to forget all of it,” she admitted. “At least not your part of it.”

  “Fate it was that took you there.” He came to her and took both her hands in his and smiled at her warmly. “The same fate that has me lingering beside you.”

  “I only wish you were lingering a bit more substantially. Oh, Gabriel, if I had a man like you...” But she left the rest of her thought unspoken, feeling foolish having revealed as much as she had. She didn’t mean to sound as though she felt he didn’t exist, but in a way, he didn’t.

  “You’ve got me, of course,” Gabriel said. “Though that does you no good, I’m sure. Tess, if my mission on this earth is to search the world over for a man who would treat you as you should be treated, I will do it gladly. Just ask me to begin looking.”

  “You’re too good to be believed,” she said, looking up into his kind eyes. “Why can’t you be real?”

  “I’m as real as you want to believe,” he whispered. “You make me feel as whole as I ever was.”

  Gabriel brought his face down to hers still holding both of her hands in his, but then he hesitated, nearly frowning. Tess completed his movement, lifting her face to bring her lips into contact with his and give consent to the kiss. Gabriel released her hands, building that first shy kiss into another as he threw his arms around her and held her closely.

  He lifted her, turning as they kissed, their lips suddenly at the center of the universe. Tess’s body felt airy, as though she’d joined Gabriel’s spectral realm in their contact. She felt as though she could fly and glide among the clouds fueled by the pirate’s passion.

  The touch of his strong hands sliding over her back and down across the denim covering her bottom sent a shiver through her as she’d never felt before. No man’s hands had ever excited her as he did now, even though the fabric of her blouse and jeans were between them. No man’s kiss had done this, ever, and she didn’t want it to end. No, to remain like this would be more than she dared ask of life, and to die at this moment would be a perfect conclusion.

  Whatever the doubts and fears in her life might be, now that she was in his arms, they seemed inconsequential. Here was a man who’d waited for centuries to hold her. He was here for her; she knew that. He had waited to love her; she longed to love him. They were perfect together.

  The perfection was in their kiss.

  When she opened her eyes slightly, Tess saw to her surprise that she had indeed been lifted up by his kiss. Her feet were at least six inches off the floor.

  “I’m flying,” she sighed against his lips. “You make me fly.” Kissing him again, touching his broad, muscular back and clutching the fabric of his T-shirt in her eager fists, she wanted to soar even higher. “Lift me,” she breathed. “Take me higher.”

  He said nothing, but leaned back and slipped a hand between them. He grasped her blouse and slid the top button free like a breeze, then the next and the next—until he was able to slide his lips down over the skin of her chest and kiss a pattern across her bra.

  The night that had been approaching beyond the clouded sky descended while she was in his embrace, the last of the day’s light slipping away, leaving them in the shadows.

  “Come with me,” Tess said breathlessly. “My room.” And then her feet were on the floor again, leaving her to wonder if they’d really been drifting at all. “Wait,” she continued, laughing. “Give me a second.” She kissed Gabriel and hurried to her bedroom, eager to find a certain negligee, one she hadn’t expected ever to wear again.

  She should have known something was wrong because the bedroom window was open, but she noticed only a slight freshening of the air in the rain-scented breeze that entered the room. Only when she reached for the switch of her bedside lamp did she realize that she wasn’t alone.

  She smelled wine on his breath before he touched her. She turned—only to be thrown on her stomach on the bed. Her assailant pressed her face into the comforter to muffle any cry she might make.

  Tess kicked and twisted against his hand, not thinking to cry out but only to escape the hand that held her and worked to twist one arm behind her back. And then something sharp nicked her wrist, and she did cry out.

  “Gabriel!”


  A clatter of movement greeted her call, a short yelp of pain and the pressure was off her back. Another yelp, followed by an inarticulate shout of alarm and confusion.

  Tess rolled over and bounded to her feet just as Gabriel threw himself at a darkly clad man wearing a Halloween mask. The pirate’s hands and arms were bare, so he had nothing to grasp or fight with, but his body was securely wrapped in its earthly wardrobe. He used himself like a battering ram against the intruder, slamming him against the wall and then against the frame of the window through which he’d entered.

  The masked man’s elbow shattered a pane of glass in the upper portion of the window as Gabriel struck him again, and then he twisted and dived through the window, hit the ground with a groan and ran away from the house.

  “Are you all right?” Gabriel moved swiftly to her side and took her in his arms. “Did he harm you?”

  “He cut my wrist, I think.” Tess turned on the bedside lamp and leaned down, holding her forearm to the light.

  A trickle of blood seeped from a thin cut on her wrist. It wasn’t deep, for she hadn’t allowed him a chance to do better, but it looked like a cut from a scalpel or razor blade.

  “Does it hurt?”

  “It stings a bit,” she said, looking on the floor to see if he’d dropped his weapon. Yes, there it was, and she stooped to pick up a single-edged razor blade. “Look at that!” she said, holding it up for Gabriel to see. “A razor blade!”

  “Not a very good choice of weapon for a sneak attack,” he observed.

  “No, it’s a perfect choice,” Tess said. She didn’t know the reason, but the method of this attack was clear. “He wanted to make it look like I took my own life! He was going to slash my wrists! Everyone would think I’d felt so guilty about killing Darrell that I couldn’t bear to go on living. He wanted to turn me into a suicide!”

  Only Gabriel’s quick intervention had stopped the plan from working. Next time, she might not be as lucky.

  Chapter Eleven

  “You don’t really expect me to believe this story, do you?”