She couldn’t help it, Abby laughed, straight-out, nothing hidden, nothing buried, nothing held back, both hands clutching his shoulders and her body shaking with hilarity.
When she’d controlled her mirth she saw he was looking at her with a partially startled expression, the rest held a warmth so intense, it was breathtaking.
His hand went out of her hair and both arms wrapped tight around her as he shoved his face in her neck and he said something enormously strange.
“I’ve got you.”
“Pardon?” she asked.
His head came up, his mouth touched hers and he murmured, “Nothing.” His eyes scanned her face and his fingers came up, trailing her hairline, tucking the fall of hair behind her ear. “Go back to bed, darling, I’ll see you tonight.”
Then, after another touch of his lips against hers, he was gone.
When she’d called him that afternoon to tell him she had dinner plans with Honor and Fenella, she’d given him the excuse she and Jenny cooked up as to why he wasn’t invited.
Although Cash seemed not to have any reservations about discussing Abby’s menstrual cycle, she and Jenny were betting on the fact he wouldn’t feel the same about his cousin.
So, Abby had told him Fenella was having “female problems”.
This surprisingly worked.
Cash, sounding distracted, said only, “All right, love. Call me when you leave the castle so I’ll know when to expect you safely home.”
He didn’t seem curious to know why Abby all-of-a-sudden would be Fenella’s Female Problems Confidante and he didn’t seem angry she wouldn’t be home for dinner.
So now there she was on her way to the castle and perhaps her catastrophic end and she was thinking she didn’t want the last thing she said to Cash to be a lie.
Therefore, when she pulled into the pub where she was meeting Angus and Cassandra to get instructions before going to the castle, she yanked out her phone and dialled Cash.
He answered on the second ring.
“Everything all right?” he asked as greeting.
“Yes. Why?” Abby queried in return.
“Shouldn’t you be on your way to Penmort?”
“I am. I pulled over to call you.” There she was, lying again (kind of).
“You pulled over to call me,” he repeated.
“Yes,” she replied.
Silence.
“Cash?” she called.
“Yes?” he answered.
“You were silent,” she told him. “I thought maybe we were disconnected.”
“I’m here,” he said.
More silence.
“Cash!” she snapped into the silence.
“Abby,” he returned.
“You were silent again,” she informed him and heard his chuckle, so she asked, “What’s funny?”
“Darling, you called me.”
She felt like an idiot. “Oh. Right.”
“Did you have something to say?” he enquired.
She bit the side of her lip then admitted, “Not really.”
This time she heard his roar of laughter.
When he’d stopped laughing, he asked, “Were you biting your lip?”
“Pardon?”
“Biting your lip,” he repeated.
“Yes, why?” she answered.
“No reason,” he said, the warmth of his voice coming at her in delicious waves over the phone. “Listen, love, I’m in a meeting.”
Abby felt the blood drain from her face and definitely knew she was an idiot.
“You are?” she breathed.
“Yes, I have to go.”
“I’m an idiot,” she muttered.
“You’re exquisite,” he returned softly and Abby felt her world pitch crazily as she listened to him say, “I’ll see you later tonight.”
Then he disconnected.
The minute she slid her phone shut a sharp rap came on the window and she jumped.
She turned to the side and saw Angus’s red-cheeked face peering in at her.
“Lassie! No time for love banter, we’ve got things to do,” he boomed before he stepped back and opened her door.
Abby unbuckled her seatbelt and got out to see Cassandra approaching and Angus was again in full Scottish gear.
She looked at Angus and asked with disbelief, “You hunt ghosts in a kilt?”
“I always wear a kilt,” he informed her.
“Why?”
“I’m Scottish!” he bellowed.
“Oh… kay,” she said slowly, not wanting to get him wound up. He had serious business to attend to that night, he needed to stay focused.
Cassandra got close, gave Abby a cheek touch, stepped back and Angus began talking.
“Wee Honor and Fenella have been smart,” Angus said. “They’ve been well away from the castle anytime they talk or call someone about the ghosty she-bitch. Vivianna can be anywhere, hear anything and you won’t see her. You go into the castle, you don’t talk about her or why you’re there. Everything’s normal. Aye?”
“Aye,” Abby repeated and he grinned.
Cassandra came forward and held something out to Abby. Abby took it and saw it was a glass amulet surrounded with ornate silver filigree and filled with powder and what looked like flower petals, suspended from a thin, leather thong.
“Wear that,” Cassandra instructed, “protection. It should keep her from you. But if it doesn’t and Angus doesn’t get to you in time and you’re in danger, take it off and throw it to the ground. Smash it with your heel. You’ll see a purple mist form. The mist should shroud you enough to get away.”
Angus butted in, “And you run away. She attacks, and I’m not there within seconds, she gets through the protection charm, you smash it and you go.”
Abby gulped then she nodded.
Cassandra continued. “You head out of the castle and off the grounds. She can’t leave the grounds. Go into town. Keep your mobile in your back pocket at all times. You call me or Angus when you hit town and we’ll come and get you. Don’t go anywhere near the castle unless one of us has come to get you.”
“What about Honor and Fenella?” Abby asked.
Cassandra shook her head but Angus spoke. “They’ll be safe. Me and this wee lassie,” he jerked a thumb at Cassandra, “been doing some research about our spirit-bitch-from-hell. She made one mistake.”
Finally, Abby thought with some relief, Vivianna made a mistake.
Cassandra took up the thread. “She empowered herself with the ability to murder. Ghosts, most of the time, can’t harm people in a physical way. They can make noise. They can often move things but only after a good deal of practice. This is mostly done to be annoying or frightening but sometimes they’ll move something so it will be in someone’s way, trip them up, say to fall down the stairs.” Cassandra paused and when Abby nodded, she continued. “They can also appear and drive people towards danger or scare them to death. But Vivianna can actually touch the mortal flesh of her victims. She’s been able to do so since the beginning. That’s rare.”