The American Heir(13)

Riggins had been right about those paintings of our ancestors, too,   staring down on us with their eyes appearing to follow us. And then   there were the ghost stories, which weren't confined to the Ghost Tower.   The castle had its own set of spooks. Even if many of them were  reputed  to be my ancestors, I wasn't keen to meet them.

Thankfully, my room had an en suite bathroom. Otherwise I'd be holding   it all night. Risk venturing down the dark halls? Shudder. Dashing to   the bathroom with my eyes closed, like I did at our normal-sized   suburban home as a kid, was the other unappealing option. Not very   dignified, or brave, for a duchess.

Even though my room had been modernized, there was no way to completely   get the draft and dampness out of a castle. A creepy coldness could   present itself at odd times. And you think a modern home creeks and   groans. That's nothing compared to the noises a castle makes. There is a   reason even perfectly normal castles get reputations for being  haunted.

I stretched and got sleepily to my feet. The curtains weren't drawn.   They loomed large, gaping holes to the outside world. If I turned on a   light, I'd be even more in a fishbowl.   





 

The night outside was cloudy and dark. I walked to the windowed alcove   that jutted out from my room. On sunny days it was my favorite spot in   the room. Its floor-to-ceiling windows on all three sides were   beautiful. And obviously a relatively modern addition. If you can call   two hundred years ago modern.

I paused before drawing the heavy drapes, and peered out. It had a view   of the grounds stretching directly before it. There wasn't much to see   on this cloudy night. Thankfully for my heart and imagination, no   shadowy figures or big, sulfurous fire-breathing dogs moved in the maze.   I had Sherlock Holmes to thank for that last fear.

If I stood at the window and looked off to the side, I had a clear view   of the Ghost Tower. Generally, I didn't look that direction after dark.   On purpose. The Ghost Tower still freaked me out. The stories I'd  heard  of it weren't pretty. A castle didn't stand for five hundred  years  without accumulating its share of gruesome history.

Today, for some reason, my gaze flicked past it. My heart stopped. There   was a light, like from a candle, in one of the upper tower rooms. It   flickered for an instant and disappeared.

My heart stood still. I felt myself pale.

"Riggins!" I ran for his room, which adjoined mine. "Riggins!"

His door was unlocked. I rushed in unannounced without even pausing to   think he might be in bed already. If this had been the olden days, I   might have worried about walking in on him with a chambermaid. Wasn't   that what powerful old dukes did, screw innocent maids? Mine wouldn't.   And wasn't. And he wasn't in bed, either.

He was sitting at his desk with his laptop open. He looked up when I   charged in. "What's the matter?" He frowned in concern, taking in my   rumpled dress and wild-eyed expression. "You look like you've seen a   ghost."

"I think I have."

He pushed his chair back, stood, and came to me, pulling me into his   arms, and laughed softly and reassuringly. "Score one for you! Not   everyone is privileged with a visitation. Who did you see? Old Rans? Was   he in your room looking for Helen? How did he look-old or young and in   his prime? I'm hoping in his prime. When I come back to haunt this   place, I sure as hell don't want to do it as an old man."

I rolled my eyes at the absurdity and snuggled into him, loving him for   the way he put my fears at ease. "My great-grandfather isn't on our   approved list of specters."

I shivered and used it as an excuse to burrow even deeper into his   embrace and rest my head on his chest. There was no place I'd rather be   than his arms. I belonged here, with him holding me. He made me feel   safe and content, unafraid. Ready to take on the world. And maybe even   the supernatural if necessary. I allowed myself to linger and breathe in   the scent of him. But just for a moment. We had a ghost to chase.

I pulled back, grabbed his arm, and tugged him toward my room. "It was in the Ghost Tower. Come see. Maybe it will come back."

He reluctantly let himself be dragged to the window in my room. But the Ghost Tower was dark and serene.

Riggins arched a brow. "Was your ghost gruesome? Headless, maybe? Or dripping blood?"

"Don't try to scare me, duke." I pointed, feeling his heat as he stood   behind me and rested his hand protectively on my shoulder. Maybe all   that faking earlier was starting to work. "It was in that window. Just a   flickering light. Are lights male or female?"

"I have no idea." He squinted, looking almost comically as if he was   trying to use the powers of his mind to make it materialize again.   Finally, he sighed. "You probably saw the security guard on his rounds."

I shook my head, adamant. "No. The Ghost Tower is always locked. The   guards check the door on their rounds, but that's it. None of them go in   there at night." I shuddered again. "It would be cruel to make them."

Riggins sighed. "I guess this means I'm going to have to do my husbandly   duty and check out the things that go bump in the night." His tone was   wry.

His turned toward the door.

I grabbed his arm. "No way! In the dark? At midnight? In the Ghost   Tower? Didn't I just say not even the guards go in there? No one goes in   there, duke. No one. And certainly not alone!"
   





 
He shrugged. "A ghost is the least of my worries. What's a ghost going   to do to me? Walk through me? Take a swing at me and smash my jaw with   his airy punch?"

"Scare you to death." I was serious.

He shook his head. "I don't scare easily. Someone has to check it out   and make sure the tower is secure. We don't want any surprise attacks in   the middle of the night."

"I'm coming with you!" I reached for a sweater that was hanging over the back of a chair nearby.

He grabbed me by both arms and looked me in the eyes. "If you think I'm   letting my pregnant wife come with me to examine a strange sighting,   you're crazy. If a ghost scares you to death, he'll be killing my   potential heir, too. The Dead Duke and the public will never let me hear   the end of that. The last thing I need is the Dead Duke tying me to   this damn place and then haunting me the rest of my life. You're staying   here." His voice was firm.

My heart was soft. Was he beginning to want the baby, even just a little? "Riggins-"

"Don't worry. I'll grab a security guy." He gave my arms a squeeze.   "Don't go too-stupid-to-live horror movie heroine on me while I'm gone,   either, and wander off after me unarmed. Stay put."

I bit my lip to keep from laughing. "If I wander off, I'll take a candlestick or grab a sword off the wall for protection."

He stared at me seriously. "No wandering off. Promise?"

I sighed. "Only if you report back. And take your phone with you. Text me if you run into trouble."

He rolled his eyes. "Sure. I'll text before I fall over dead of   fear-induced heart failure." He grinned, released me, and strode for the   door. "Lock your door after me."

I laughed. "Some precaution! Ghosts can walk through doors."

"Not the human kind." He pointed to the lock. "Lock it!"

I saluted and watched him leave, doing as he asked. What was he worried about? I knew what I was worried about-him.





Chapter 7





Riggins

I wasn't a damn ghost hunter. I didn't get a kick out of hanging around   in the dark with ghost-hunting equipment like my friend Lazer did. But I   hauled ass out of Haley's room mostly to escape temptation and my own   traitorous feelings. She was too damned vulnerable and enticing. Too   much like a woman I could love for life, and yet I still didn't entirely   trust her. I needed to get my head on straight.

And then there was the matter of the announcement this afternoon and the   way we'd left the grounds open. I was more concerned about a vagrant   taking up residence in the Ghost Tower than a ghost rattling around.

The castle had a security central command room in the main keep. I went   straight there and talked to the security guard on duty. He routinely   monitored the cameras through the night and was replaced in the morning   by the dayshift guy. Our cameras covered every square inch of the   castle, the immediate castle grounds, the surrounding buildings,   including the Ghost Tower, and gardens.

The guard hadn't seen anyone or anything unusual. But the mention of a   ghost piqued his interest. "I've been here over a year, sir, and never   seen a ghost, or anything paranormal, in the Ghost Tower. Not even an   orb." He looked disappointed. "Some of the other blokes who have been   here longer have seen a thing or two that would curl your hair, though,   sir. Things moving without explanation and such.