Мишель Роуэн - Hot Spell

A glance at her bangle-style watch told her it was a few minutes after eleven o’clock. Perfect timing, actually. Since the ghosts were free to roam the house between eleven and twelve, there would be no need to exert herself in summoning them.

No, I’ve exerted quite enough energy tonight, she thought, pushing away the immediate blast of desire at the memory of what had happened between her and Jacob outside the bar. She’d really been far gone to have sex with him somewhere anybody could have walked by and seen them in flagrante delicto.

She chewed her bottom lip. Why did that sound so exciting to her?

“You coming?” Jacob called to her.

Considering she didn’t even accept Amanda’s strange abilities, her mother definitely would never approve of somebody like Jacob. Even if she and Jacob were a regular couple, her mother would hate him. He was way too opinionated and too unpredictable.

She got out of the car and Jacob handed her a duffel bag with the candles and salt inside. He used the key provided by Ms. Davis to open the front door, and flicked on a light in the hallway.

“Déjà vu,” Jacob said, glancing around at the familiar surroundings.

“Hard to believe it was only four days ago we were here last.”

“A lot has happened.”

“To say the least.”

His lips curled into a wry smile. “Don’t worry. It’s almost over.”

Before she could say anything in reply to that—although she had no idea what—he said, “I’m going to find the bathroom. I didn’t drink any booze at O’Grady’s, but I did knock back about three sodas.”

“Too much information. Go.”

He grinned and took off down the hall.

Amanda tried to compose herself, put everything out of her mind except the task at hand. She spent a minute or two moving through the hall and admiring the crown molding, the original flooring, the hand-stitched area rugs. The history of the place oozed out of every crevice and she could picture Catherine living here when she was alive, throwing dinner parties and entertaining her wealthy husband’s friends and business associates.

She felt the sadness there, too, of a woman who was in an unhappy marriage and more than likely trapped financially. Women a hundred years ago rarely walked out on their husbands simply because of a loveless relationship.

Women were much more practical back then. In a way she admired their fortitude. In another way, she saw the despair of not having many other choices.

Except, perhaps, having a passionate affair with a handsome servant.

“Hello again.”

Amanda jumped and turned around slowly to see that Catherine stood behind her. The spirit glowed in the otherwise dark room with an inner light. At first glance she looked alive, unless you looked closely to see she was slightly transparent.

“Hello,” Amanda replied.

“You’ve returned?”

Amanda nodded. “We have.”

“We? Is your handsome gentleman with you again?”

“He is. And where is yours?”

“I don’t know where Nathan is right now.” Catherine suddenly became wary. “Why is it that you’ve returned here?”

“A couple of reasons.”

“The last I saw of you, you were in the room upstairs with the clock as it struck midnight.”

“You remember correctly.”

“Did anything…happen? Between you and your gentleman?”

“You could say that.”

“You felt an overwhelming passion for him?”

“In a manner of speaking.” Amanda swallowed hard. Discussing her sex life with a dead woman wasn’t exactly how she’d expected to spend this evening.

Catherine frowned. “I have seen others in the presence of the clock at the midnight hour, but very few have succumbed to its magic. I wonder why that is?”

This grabbed Amanda’s attention immediately. “There were others?”

“Yes. Only one other couple that I can remember were swept away by the enchantment. Others simply left and were not moved in the slightest. At those times I believed that it no longer worked, that my aunt’s spell had worn off. But you and your gentleman—”

“It hasn’t worn off yet,” Amanda finished. “That’s one of the reasons we’re back. We need to destroy the clock to break the spell.”

Conflicting emotions washed over Catherine’s face. “I wonder if that will free me from my deep and unnatural need for Nathan.”

“So you really, truly don’t believe you’re in love with him,” Amanda said.

“I am a practical woman,” Catherine said. “I married not for love, but for a solid place in society. Obviously, emotion plays little part in how I lived my life. What I felt…what I feel …for Nathan goes beyond any fantasy I ever had about what love is. How could that possibly be real?”

Amanda’s chest tightened. Was she looking in a mirror? This woman sounded exactly like her—denying the possibility that what she felt deep in her heart was the real thing. Instead of making her feel a true kinship with Catherine, it only served to make her angry. She could tell the other night when Catherine and Nathan looked at each other that what they felt was real. Catherine’s insistence that it wasn’t was more than a little annoying.

Nathan believed it was love, but Catherine refused to accept it as anything but the result of a magic spell.

Interesting .

“Is there another reason that you’re here again?” Catherine asked. “Other than the destruction of my aunt’s clock?”

Amanda nodded slowly. “The new owner of the house is concerned about your continued presence here. She is uncomfortable owning a haunted house.”

“Unpleasant shrewish woman?” Catherine asked. “Red hair? Changed the linens in the upstairs bedrooms?”

“That’s the one.”

“You can let her know that we will strive to make our existence here as quiet as possible.”

“You gave her a firm push out of the house a couple of times. Kind of freaked her out.”

Catherine gave her a genuine smile that showed off her beauty. “Perhaps.”

Amanda wasn’t smiling. “I’m afraid that keeping a low profile isn’t an option. And since your curse traps you here, you can’t leave of your own free will.” She swallowed. “I’m going to have to exorcise you.”

She wondered if she’d have to explain what that meant to Catherine, but the ghost’s eyes widened with obvious knowledge and she began to shake her head.

“No,” Catherine said in a choked voice. “Please. You can’t.”

“I have no choice.”

“I know what will happen. We’ll be gone. We won’t be able to be together.” She let out a shaky gasp. “I can’t be away from him. It’s bad enough that I can’t touch him, but I can’t lose him completely!”

Before Amanda was able to say anything else, Catherine came at her quickly and pushed her—the anger and panic she felt at the threat of being exorcised enough to give her physical and tangible strength. Amanda fell over on her ankle and hit her head on the carved-wood armrest of the antique sofa, which knocked her out cold.

However, instead of the blackness of unconsciousness, she saw something else entirely.

CHAPTER 14

Amanda was upstairs in the bedroom where she and Jacob had found the clock. It was different this time. Catherine was also in the room. But instead of being mostly transparent, the girl was solid. And she looked upset.

Who was the woman with her? Darker blond hair than Catherine’s, older, but still beautiful. There was wisdom in her eyes.

It was her aunt, Amanda suddenly knew without any doubt. Rose Embry. The witch.

Was she dreaming this?

“Catherine—” Concern twisted in Rose’s voice. “You don’t have to marry him if you don’t want to.”