A little earlier, she had heard him return, heard him speaking softly to Shade as he walked down the hallway past her room. She thought of going to him, to talk to him about the pages he had left for her.
She hesitated.
She asked herself if she believed what she had just read.
Yes, she thought, I do.
And yet, none of this fit into her experience. She told herself sternly to consider the possibility that he was crazy, convinced of his delusions, but right out of his head-or that this was a hoax. She knew she had to be on guard against con men-that had been drilled into her own head from childhood on.
Okay, if this was a hoax, the pages she had just read could have been written yesterday, faked to look aged. But that phrase, “written yesterday,” took her thoughts to the previous day.
No, they couldn’t have been written yesterday. Not while he was lying on a dirt road in the desert, dying. Not with all that had occurred yesterday and today.
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
She had seen him revive after the accident. She had seen him heal-twice, now-from serious wounds. She had watched him use his gift with the dying.
He wasn’t crazy. It wasn’t a hoax. Strange, but not a hoax.
She admitted to herself that given the degree of attraction she felt to him, she might not be able to think about him objectively.
She got up again and put on a light robe. She would check on Brad, she decided.
She was crossing the room, headed toward the door to the hallway, when the ghosts appeared. She drew in a sharp breath and put a hand to her throat, but managed not to yelp.
Tyler’s story made her think of them a little differently now, she realized. He didn’t see ghosts, so why did she? She studied each of their faces, trying to read their expressions.
Not disapproving this time, she noticed. Her aunt and uncle looked worried, her parents-serene.
She could not recall a time, during the years her mother lived, when she had ever seen her look like this. Even the childhood photos she had seen of her mother, years before marriage, had not captured this quality. “You’re beautiful, Mom,” Amanda said.
Nothing in her mother’s expression changed-or did it? Something in her eyes. Didn’t they lighten just a little?
Then it occurred to her that they were standing between her and the door.
“Is this a message of some sort?” she asked.
They said nothing. Made no gesture.
She waited.
They drifted toward her.
They had been near her many times over the years, but she had never seen them close distance in this way. She felt frightened, and realized that although they often startled her, they had never before scared her.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked, hearing the tremor in her voice. “I’m just going to see Brad!”
Her mother seemed to shake her head, just slightly. They came closer still, and she began to feel cold.
Closer yet, and now the air was icy. She shivered. “Don’t!” she whispered.
She turned in blind panic, knocking over a vase that crashed to the floor behind her. She ran to the French doors leading to the deck and wrenched them open. Crossing the deck in quick strides, she gripped the railing and took great gulps of air. The night was cooler now, but still warmer than she had felt in her room.
“Amanda?”
She turned to see Tyler, who must have been standing there all along. Shade was next to him, looking at her with his head cocked to one side.
“Are you all right?” Tyler asked, moving toward her. “I heard something crash-are you all right?” Somewhere inside the house, an intercom tone rang. He ignored it.
“I broke something,” she said, trembling. “A big vase.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said, coming closer still, almost touching her now.
His cell phone rang.
“Answer it,” she said, thinking that if someone was dying, she was not going to be the one who kept that person from speaking his last thoughts.
“It’s Alex,” he said, puzzled. He answered. “Hello, Alex, what is it?”
He looked at Amanda with a slight smile as he said, “Everything’s fine. I’m afraid I knocked over a vase… Yes, I appreciate your vigilance. Everything all right otherwise?…Good, I’m glad the two of you are watching over Brad… Yes… Good night, then.”
He put the phone away.
“Thanks for covering for me,” she said, “but if she’s with Ron, he’ll know who’s breaking things.”
“It’s none of Ron’s business, is it? Besides, I don’t think he’ll tell on you. It doesn’t matter.”
“You keep saying that, but you don’t even know which vase I broke. I think it was an antique.”
“Were you hurt?”
“No.”
“Then everything that was of value to me in that room remains unscathed.”
She smiled.
“What happened?” he said quietly. “What frightened you? Was it what I gave you to read? If so-”
“No, no! I’m glad you gave that to me. Thank you for trusting me.”
“I believe I’m the one who should thank you.”
He was looking down at her, and she could not mistake what she saw in his eyes. She held her breath, certain that in another moment he would touch her, perhaps even kiss her.
He did reach for her, then dropped his hand. She allowed herself to breathe again, and wondered if she should make the first move. She was distracted as Shade came rushing toward them. Amanda froze, but the dog continued past them.
“Becoming more like me after all, are you, Tyler?” a voice said, startling them both.
Tyler turned, keeping her sheltered behind him.
“I believe that’s the worst insult you’ve given me, Colby,” Tyler said.
Colby laughed.
“Colby?” Amanda said, stepping out from behind Tyler. What was he doing here?
“We meet again,” Colby said, eyeing her up and down. “Although if I’d known how delightful you look in a nightgown…”
Tyler took a step forward. “It’s been a long while, Colby, but if you think the outcome might be different this time-”
Colby raised a hand to his jaw in rueful reminiscence, shook his head, and laughed again. “Temper, temper, Captain Hawthorne. Just for that, I don’t think I’ll tell you what I’ve learned.”
“Get out,” Tyler said. “You’re a damned liar, so I don’t care to hear your stories.”
“Damned, certainly,” he agreed. “But aren’t you, as well?”
“Shade,” Tyler said.
“Now, now,” Colby said. “You know Shade will protect you if I truly try to harm you, but he has no interest in me otherwise. Really, Tyler, I hesitate to question your manners, but I do wonder if living in America has been good for you.”
“Get out,” Tyler said. “Must I say it a third time?”
Colby looked at Amanda, then back at Tyler. He smiled. “Miss Clarke doesn’t seem to feel so strongly. In fact, she looks curious about me.”
She was indeed, but she wasn’t going to do anything to help Colby upset Tyler. She stayed quiet.
Colby gave a little bow. “You know, as curious as I am about her in return, I think I will leave-but you might want to keep Miss Clarke with you, Tyler. Otherwise I may come back to renew my acquaintance with her.”
He walked around the corner of the deck.
“Is he gone?” she whispered to Tyler.
“Yes,” he said, still staring after him, as was Shade.
“How did he get in here, past your security?”
“A knack of his,” he said absently. Then in a tight voice, “How did you meet him?”
“At Rebecca’s party.”
“Rebecca’s party?” He frowned. “I didn’t see him there.”
“I think he left before…before we did.”
He turned back to her and seemed to come out of whatever dark thoughts were on his mind. “I apologize for the fright that must have given you. Are you all right?”