Phantom Affair (2 page)

“I have to judge whether you deserve another opportunity for
a real life?”

“That’s it.”

“Well then, let me say it right now. You do.”

“It doesn’t work that way,” he told her gently. “There are
things you don’t know about me yet. You might change your mind when you do.”

“I doubt it. But okay. When do I find out those things?”

“There’s a ceremony we have to go through. One that will
connect us. And… Well, I’m not an angel. I did things I’m not proud of when I
was alive. You may be shocked. I may not be the man you think I am.”

He meant her to take it seriously, so she did. “You’ve done
things so bad I might not be able to forgive you for them?”

“Yes.”

She thought it to his credit that he refused to sugarcoat
the truth, but he’d lived in a different age, a harder, rougher time,
especially if he’d grown up poor. People did ghastly things to each other back
then. If he’d done some of them himself…

“Are you sure you want
me
to be your judge and jury
for this?”

“In all the years of my life and afterlife, you’re the only
one I’ve ever met that I would trust for it. And if this succeeds, we’ll have a
chance for a life together. A more normal life.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“Then I’ll be facing a different sort of judgment and you’ll
be free of me. Free to pursue a normal life with a good, normal man.”

“I’d mourn you. And I might not find anyone like you again.”

“You would,” he said.

“All right,” she sighed. “I’ll do it. Tell me what I have to
do.”

Kelly’s heart clenched in rhythm with the flickering candle
she held. The lambent light offered little help negotiating the uneven stone
steps leading down into guts of the earth. Mostly she had to rely on her
ghostly companion for direction and guidance.

She tested each step, checking for obstacles or areas that
might crumble, before she put her weight on it. So far they’d held but how long
would that last? She couldn’t even imagine how old this passage was. And how
could she have not known it lay below her home all this time? No survey or plat
map she’d seen showed it.

“How far down does this go?” Her words echoed through the
cavern, coming back to mock her. She couldn’t see an end to the curving
staircase. It got lost in the darkness beyond the candle’s limited reach.

“Not much farther now,” Robert assured her.

“Did I forget to mention I’m claustrophobic?” Kelly asked.

“What is that?” Robert asked.

Of course. That word hadn’t been invented at the time he’d
been alive. Hadn’t he heard it used on the television, though, or read it?

“Never mind. Let’s just keep going.”

Despite her caution, her foot turned on a stone. She grabbed
for the wall, scrabbling for an uneven spot she could hang on to. Her heartbeat
ratcheted up from too fast to out of control in the instant before her fingers
latched on to a protruding block and she righted herself. The candle flickered
wildly and almost went out before settling down again. Although he’d told her
she need only bring the one candle, she had a flashlight stuck in her shoulder
bag as well as extra matches, more candles and a butane lighter, just in case.
“Shit,” she swore. “These people ever heard of railings? Building codes? I
can’t believe I’m doing this.”

It took a couple of minutes to get her breathing under
control and let her pulse settle from frantic to fearful.

A warm flow of air caressed her cheek, while the image of
his hand there filled her mind. “I find it hard to believe you are doing this
also,” Robert said. “For me.”

“You are the
only
reason. And I’ve probably lost my
mind.”

“As much as I want this, I don’t want you to do it if you
have any doubts at all.”

“I have all sorts of doubts,” Kelly admitted. “But I also
have one certainty. I need to do this.”

“Let’s go, then,” he said. A warm cushion of air surrounded
her hand holding the candle as she descended. It felt like air, but she saw it
as his big hand surrounding, supporting hers. She drew a deep breath, settled
the bag back on her shoulder and tipped out some extra wax from around the wick
of the candle.

He hadn’t lied about the distance. A minute or two later
they reached the bottom. A short stone-lined passage ended at what appeared to
be a natural cavern. Kelly raised the candle when they got there, but the light
didn’t reach the ceiling or the walls. It did show some kind of pit in the
center of the space, where a pile of wood waited.

“Use the candle to light the fire,” Robert told her.

The wood was neatly arranged on top of a pile of kindling,
dry enough that it caught quickly when she held the candle to it. Soon a
substantial fire blazed in the pit, bright enough to light the chamber. The
space was larger than she imagined, with rough stone walls and few interesting
features other than the pit. No other exits or tunnels led from it.

“Now a drop of blood in the fire.”

Kelly nodded and dug the knife out of her bag. “I’m a bit of
a wimp about this part.”

“It just needs a drop,” he assured her.

Still, she had to steel herself to push the point of the
knife into her arm and keep pressing until a bead of blood appeared. She held
her arm over the fire and let it drip. When the first drop hit the wood, a
tower of flame rose up from the center, sending Kelly stumbling backward, arm
thrown across her face to protect her eyes.

A single, booming note thundered around the cavern. Kelly
pressed her eyes closed and hugged her elbows in close to her ears. As the
sound died down, she opened her eyes to look.

On the far side of the fire, five figures now stood, three
men, two women. All were tall and slender and solid, though a smoky haze seemed
to surround them, washing out the color of their hair, skin and clothes to
grayish white. The five of them stared from her to Robert and back. Robert
glided over to talk quietly to them, but Kelly couldn’t hear what was said.
When he finished speaking, the newcomers spoke among themselves for a moment.
Robert backed away.

The tallest man stepped forward. “We understand you wish to
stand in judgment of Robert and attempt to bring him back into your world?” His
voice boomed and echoed around the cavern.

Kelly drew a deep, steadying breath. “I do.”

“This is not a thing to be attempted lightly. The chances of
succeeding are small and there is some danger to yourself.”

“I understand that. Robert has explained it. He’s tried to
dissuade me from trying it too.”

“To his credit,” the man answered, “but it does not change
the facts. Why do you wish to try this?”

“Because I love Robert,” she answered. “But more than that.
His life was marked by a series of misfortunes and injustices that gave him no
chance to live as the good man he was at heart. Then it was cut short in the
most glaring injustice of all. I have a chance to set that right. To give him
an opportunity for the life he should have had.”

“You have only his word for the events of his life.”

Kelly shook her head. “I’m not a complete fool. I did some
research and found what historical records there are. Incomplete and vague as
some were, they did confirm most of what he’s told me.”

“In this test you’ll have a more firsthand view of the
truth,” the tall man said. “You understand that in this trial, you are the sole
judge and jury? By Robert’s own choice you’re so designated. But that in no way
obliges you to accept the responsibility. And it is a grave one. You alone are
given to know the truth of events in his past and what is in his heart. You
alone will then judge whether it’s fit that he be given another chance at life
and whether it’s safe to turn him loose in your world. This is not a choice to
be made lightly.”

“I understand. And I accept the responsibility.”

She glanced over at Robert, meeting the gaze of his light
eyes. Curls of fear twisted her stomach, but it wasn’t physical fear for
herself this time. Suppose he’d lied to her and Robert had committed the murder
for which he’d been hanged? Or others? Just because he’d been lynched by an
angry mob didn’t guarantee his innocence. If this trial went as she’d been
told, she would soon know. And the truth could prove harder to bear than not
knowing.

He knew her well enough to understand that she wouldn’t
trust him in her world if she thought him dangerous to it. He had denied having
committed the crime he was hanged for, yet he’d admitted he was no innocent
either.

All five members of the group watched her intently. The
spokesman in particular stared at her so hard she felt as though he tried to
read her mind. Maybe he did. Again she heard odd lilting sounds that might have
been them speaking to each other. After a moment, their leader spoke to her.
“So be it.” He looked at Robert, then at her. “You understand that once his
body is returned, he will not remember who you are until after you’ve made your
judgment?”

“I understand,” Kelly agreed. And she realized that how
Robert reacted to her when he was in body again but with no memory of her would
be part of how she judged him.

“And the test for the two of you is that you hold on to him,
embrace him for as long as it takes to consummate a union between the two of
you. Once you have reached consummation you will know all. Then you accept or
reject him. Should you push him away or deny him within ten minutes after
consummation, the trial is over, a negative verdict rendered.”

“I understand that also.”

The man nodded. “Let it begin, then.” He swept his arm up,
palm facing toward them, and around in a circle. The haze that surrounded the
five strangers expanded until it filled the room for a moment and Kelly was
reminded of walking through a blizzard, but without the cold and wind.

Then it cleared and she found herself alone in the room with
another stranger, a man who bore some resemblance to her beloved Robert. She’d
seen his basic shape clearly enough on occasion that she expected a tall man
with broad shoulders who was otherwise lean for his height.

Everything else about him shocked her, from the unkempt
blond hair pulled roughly back from his face and tied with a leather thong to
the bare feet and dirty, shapeless, colorless trousers that were his only bit
of clothing. Blond stubble didn’t hide the strong jaw and sensual mouth she
loved. The narrowed eyes revealed only slices of icy blue irises.

Most shocking of all were the scars. Because he was
half-turned away, she saw the lash marks that seamed his back, but worse was
the deep red line that snaked across his throat and up below his ear. Somehow
the ghostly Robert had made sure those marks didn’t show.

When she gasped, he swiveled toward her. His eyes widened
and he took a step backward. “’Oo be ye?”

At least that’s what she thought he said. The words were
English but so mangled by his accent she could barely understand them. It
shocked her almost as much as his appearance. His three hundred years or so of
eavesdropping on Americans and even sometimes conversing with them had reduced
the ghostly Robert’s accent to a bare hint of British inflection in a few of
the vowels. But other than the face, very little about this man resembled the
Robert she’d grown to love.

“I’m Kelly. I won’t hurt you.”

He eyed her warily. “Kell-ey?” He glanced around and
frowned. “Where be we? I be dead, no? They hanged me.” He reached up and felt
the mark on his neck. “This be hell?”

“No. I’ll explain in a bit. I’m here to help you.”

“’Ow?”

“I’ll explain. Come here.”

Instead he backed up a step. She advanced on him. He halted,
straightened, folded his arms across his chest and stared at her with icy hard
eyes. She refused to be intimidated, but when she reached out a hand to touch
his face, she did it slowly so as not to alarm him into further retreat. The
skin of his cheek above the beard stubble felt a little rough, but warm and
soft.

His eyes widened at her gentle touch. He trapped her fingers
against his face with one of his big, rough hands. Narrow scars showed at his
wrists too, probably from ropes that bound him, while lighter marks covered
most of his arms and fingers. His hand closed around hers and lifted it gently
away from his face, then held it in front of him so he could study it.

“Ye be one of them tavern ladies?”

She wasn’t sure what “tavern ladies” were, but she could
take a guess. “No. I’m just Kelly.” When he freed her hand, she raised it and
laid it against the side of his face. The wary expression didn’t change but he
didn’t pull away either.

He started when she laid her other hand on the other cheek,
but gasped and tried to pull back again as she leaned forward to kiss him. Once
her lips touched his though, he stopped struggling. For a moment, he did
nothing else, letting her explore the surface of his mouth. But when she pushed
her tongue against his lips, he seemed to catch fire.

After a quick, sobbing breath, he opened, letting her enter
the warm depths of his mouth, and his arms went around her, pulling her body
into his. His cock filled and pressed into her belly. He drew his mouth away to
press a line of kisses along her throat and up to her ear. “I know not what
this be, but I’ll not be denying ye,” he said.

“It’s for your benefit.”

“I do be in heaven then. Praises be.”

“No. Though I’m not exactly sure where this is, in truth.”
Kelly put her hands on his shoulders, mindful of the scars on his back, but if
they bothered him, he showed no sign of it.

“Ye wish this?” he asked, sounding puzzled that she would.

“Yes.”

“Then it shall be.” He tugged at her blouse, impatient with
the tightly fitting buttons. He twirled one and watched it slip through the
slit. A twitch of his lips didn’t quite make it to a smile as he stared at the
slice of skin that showed. The rest of the buttons were undone rapidly and he
all but tore the blouse from her shoulders. “What manner of garment be this?”
he asked, sliding a finger under the strap of her bra and tugging on it.

“Whoa, slow down.” She put a hand over his when he appeared
ready to tear the elastic away. “This isn’t a race.”

He looked puzzled.

“I mean, we have no need for haste.”

“Ah.” A real grin flashed across his face and disappeared as
quickly as it came. “But I doubt me I can contain myself o’erlong. My need is
great.” A worried frown showed. “Unless this be hell and I be condemned to the
torment of desiring with no release?”

“This isn’t hell. And I won’t condemn you to torment unless
you prove deserving of it.”

Again a small grin flashed and disappeared, almost as if he
were afraid to allow himself any amusement. “I’ll try to be worthy.”

Kelly glanced around the chamber, trying to decide where to
lie down and seeing for the first time the bed almost directly behind her.
She’d been so focused on her companion she hadn’t noticed anything else until
then. Thoughtful of whomever those guys were to supply a comfortable
accommodation for their activities.

It was quite a spectacular bed too, a king-sized affair with
four posts, railings across the tops of the posts and drapes hung from the
railings, pushed back to the corners. Nice to provide for their privacy, though
why it was necessary in a chamber hidden underground for more years than she
could imagine was a mystery. Still, it also featured a number of pillows and
sumptuous-looking covers.