The Counterfeit Cowgirl (15 page)

“We couldn’t agree more. In fact, we’re all ears,” Aaron said. “What do you suggest?”

“I think I’d better spend the night in the boys’ bedroom tonight. I’d like to get a better feel for this particular ghost before we develop a method to deal with him.”

Deborah gave her a look of intense gratitude. “I hate to ask that of you, but — ”

“Oh, boy,” Pete said. “Felicity can have my bed, Uncle Aaron.”

“Mine,” Joey insisted.

Aaron couldn’t believe his luck. Felicity proposed to spend the night in his house, and he hadn’t needed to say a word to bring it about. Sometimes, fortune smiled on a man, and said man would be wise not to question fortune. He just wished this ghost thing wasn’t the big item on Felicity’s mind tonight. He wanted to be the only item on her mind.

But this was a step in the right direction …

After changing into a loose-fitting black denim skirt and floaty turquoise gauze blouse, Felicity slung her tote bag over her shoulder and locked the front door behind her. No doubt she had flipped into an alternate reality, but she felt constitutionally incapable of letting those two scared little boys live in terror of their ghost any longer.

She ignored the nagging voice in her head that told her she had already exceeded the limits of her ghost-busting knowledge. Children needed peaceful sleep in order to grow. She was an adult. Therefore, she ought to be able to discover the source of the whispering ghost in their bedroom, so the little boys could sleep again.

Until the next manifestation of their “ghost,” that is. So long as they did not understand why their father had vanished from their lives, they would continue finding their own explanations. She had to admire their creativity.

And she was so far gone, she couldn’t wait to spend more time with Aaron. When she heard Aaron carefully trying to explain their ghost to the two little boys, something happened inside her heart. She wasn’t sure what had happened or why, but she suddenly knew Aaron could be trusted.

She marched across the grass in the warm twilight and made her way to the front door of Aaron’s house. On the way, she swatted the little black bugs away from her hair and body.

A grand total of five shampooings had finally rid her hair of the flour and vegetable oil, so she had no intention of allowing any of those black bugs to land anywhere on her. The crust they formed on her truck would be enough trouble to clean.

The two little boys and Aaron’s two retrievers waited at the window for her. The moment she came into view, the front door banged open and all four charged out to greet her.

“Felicity, Mama made up my bed with fresh sheets for you,” Pete said. “Polly says you need to have the room to yourself, but Joey and I don’t want you to be afraid. We can sleep in Joey’s bed. Okay, Felicity?”

Joey echoed these same sentiments while Felicity greeted the dogs. The two children, each holding one of her hands, led her to the door, quivering with excitement and bravado.

“That’s really very thoughtful of you both, not to mention brave, but the two of you are bound to be pretty sleepy if you didn’t sleep last night. Maybe you should sleep in another bedroom, just for tonight.”

“We had naps,” Joey assured her. “We want to help you chase off that mean old ghost, Felicity.”

“We want to see you kill him,” Pete said, with bloodthirsty emphasis.

Great. The boys wanted to know for certain the ghost was gone for good. That probably meant some sort of exorcism ceremony.

“Let’s go in and see what your mom says.” Felicity wondered if the two little boys had spoken to their father yet. “In the meantime, let’s see about getting a bottle of garlic powder. We want to be well-armed if the ghost appears tonight.”

“Oh, boy.” Pete ran toward the kitchen, followed by Joey, presumably to procure a bottle of garlic powder in the kitchen.

She entered with the dogs and shut the front door behind her, grinning. The night promised to be far more interesting than the previous night she had spent sorting through countless mildewed magazines and other assorted trash in search of Becky’s songs. In spite of her efforts, the living room still looked like a junk pile, and she was heartily fed up with the smell of musty paper.

“You’re here. I didn’t hear you knock.” Aaron entered the foyer, frowning. “Pete and Joey have been standing at the window waiting for you for the past twenty minutes. Where did they go?”

“They’re in the kitchen, putting in a request for a bottle of ghost-busting garlic powder,” Felicity noted that he wore black jeans and a black t-shirt that accentuated his broad shoulders and showed his muscular arms. Her heartbeat speeded up accordingly. “It never hurts to be prepared.”

“We couldn’t get their father on the phone,” Aaron said. “He was in meetings all evening. Something’s going on with his commercial real estate business, but Deb claims she doesn’t know a thing about it.” He shrugged and reached out to take her shoulder tote. “Until the boys get a chance to discuss things with Tony, they’ll hold onto this ghost idea.”

“It’s understandable, given that they’re so young. Plus, it’s perfectly obvious that their cousin Jason has been telling them ghost stories. Naturally, they put the two together.” She followed him into a comfortable living room where Deborah sat on the sofa with a book in her hands. “I have to admit, I was impressed with their reasoning in the matter of the ghost trap. I would never have thought of something like that.”

She met his laughing dark blue eyes and knew a moment of breathlessness. The man ought to be declared illegal. Off-limits. Forbidden to appear in public, in order to protect impressionable women such as herself. She reminded herself that she wanted the same kind of love her mother had shared with her father. Just because she found Aaron physically attractive —

“I’ll tell you a secret,” he said. “Neither would I.”

Okay, so she found all of him attractive. He still should be outlawed.

“Oh, Felicity, I’m so sorry about everything,” Deborah said. “Thank you for coming tonight. The boys are so excited, they probably won’t sleep a wink.”

“I’m hoping they’re still tired from last night,” Felicity said. “If we can rid their bedroom of the whispering ghost, I have a feeling most of your troubles will be over.”

“All I can say is I hope that’s true. I just can’t understand where they’ve gotten this idea of a ghost.” Deborah stopped and shook her head. “It just floors me. I’ve talked to them and talked to them, but all they’ll say is that this particular ghost is real.”

Felicity laughed at that. “Children have all kinds of peculiar ideas. I think it begins with something they hear then their imaginations go to work on it. When I was a child, I was absolutely certain there was a fairy queen who lived in my closet. My mother had no idea where I came up with the idea.”

Aaron motioned for her to sit beside Deborah on the sofa and he relaxed on an easy chair across from them. “Where did you come up with it?”

Felicity tried hard not to stare at him. “I saw a picture of a fairy queen in a story book my mother bought for me.” She smiled at Deborah and added, “The fairy queen’s attendants all had wings, like the moths that lived in my closet.”

“And what did your mother do when she finally figured out the connection?” Aaron asked, grinning.

“She went after the cause, which turned out to be an old wool coat at the very back of the closet.” It was no use. Aaron commanded her attention just by his very presence. “Some insect spray took care of any remaining problems.”

“Felicity, look. We’ve got two bottles of garlic powder.” Pete scampered in, followed by Joey, and held out a spice bottle that bore the label, “Garlic Powder.”

Joey clutched another bottle to his small chest, obviously reluctant to let it out of his hands.

Felicity took Pete’s bottle and studied it with approval. “Very good, Pete. This will do nicely. Just in case the ghost gets uppity, you know.”

“Not with Felicity on the job, he won’t,” Aaron said. “I predict a very peaceful night for us all. Don’t think for a minute the ghost doesn’t know Felicity is here, with garlic powder. I’ll be surprised if he makes a single sound tonight.”

“It never hurts to be ready.” Felicity tucked the bottle into her tote, which Aaron had placed on the floor by her feet. “We’re going to set this bottle out on the bedside table, just in case. We want to be prepared for any eventuality.”

“Oh, boy.” Joey clutched his own bottle of garlic powder. “We’ll blast that mean old ghost to smithereens.”

“Boys — ” Deborah began. She stopped gave Felicity deprecating glance. “Never mind. I can see it won’t make a bit of difference.”

Aaron shook his head. “This should be a night to remember.”

“Don’t worry, Uncle Aaron,” Joey said, with great earnestness. “Felicity won’t let the mean old ghost hurt you.”

Aaron stared down into the boy’s earnest face. “Believe me, Joey, I’m counting on that.” He looked at Felicity and smiled his slow, hot smile. “Why don’t the two of you settle down and watch some cartoons on the television while I show Felicity the bedroom and the rest of the house.”

Felicity bit her lip and waited while Aaron countered all the boys’ arguments for accompanying them and sent them shuffling off to the living room. Wasn’t this the sort of situation a sensible woman ought to avoid? Obviously, Aaron wanted to be alone with her, and just as obviously, she ought to avoid being alone with him.

“And now, Miss Clayton, about that tour of the house.” He picked up her tote by the strap and held out his other arm. “In case the ghost proves tougher than we think, you might need to know the layout of the place.”

“So I’ll know where to run and hide?” She rose and took his arm. She would be the first to admit she had left her good sense at home. “Let’s just hope we don’t run into any more traps your nephews might have set and forgot about.”

“If there are any more traps, I don’t know what I’ll do,” Deborah said. “Aaron, maybe I should take them to a counselor.”

“Don’t worry about it yet, Deb,” Aaron said in his soothing, graveled tones. “Felicity may solve the whole problem for us tonight.”

“I’m hoping for a branch scraping on the window or something of the sort.” Felicity dragged her mind back to the ghost problem with difficulty. “If I can find out what it is, then Aaron can fix it or put a stop to it, and half your problem is solved right there.”

Deborah gave her a look of profound gratitude. “I do hope you’re right. I can’t thank you enough for being willing to come over and look into this. The boys have such faith in you.”

Felicity smiled back. “Then let’s all hope the ghost appears tonight, so I can conduct a proper exorcism.”

Aaron escorted her out of the room and down the hall toward the kitchen. “That’s what I like about you, Miss Clayton. You have an intrepid spirit. Nothing scares you, not even a bad old ghost that terrorizes little boys.”

Felicity’s nerves jittered with awareness of the most pleasant sort. All her senses focused upon Aaron, especially when he reached out to open the door to the kitchen. She watched his muscles flex when he opened the door for her and tried to keep her mind on what he was saying.

“Actually, I spook out as much as anyone when I hear strange sounds in the night,” she managed. “Let’s just hope I can identify the cause of the sounds right away. Otherwise, you may see a streak shooting down your hall and out your front door.” She entered the large, well-lit kitchen and reached out to touch one of the granite countertops. “Or maybe I’ll just run in here.” Pointing to a ceramic bowl filled with several garlic pods, she added, “The ghost repellent is already in place.”

“Well, Miss Clayton.” Aaron set her tote on the table and turned her gently to face him. “You seem to have recovered nicely from the incident this afternoon. Are you sure you’re all right?”

She wasn’t fine. She was undergoing a core meltdown. “I’m fine. Just a little bruised on the hip where I landed. I soaked in my bathtub for an hour.”

“Maybe you should let me rub the injured area down with arnica.” His hand dropped to rest on her injured hip, while his other hand flattened on the center of her back and drew her inexorably toward him. “Arnica does wonders for bruises.”

Felicity lost all power of speech. She stared into his navy eyes, scarcely breathing.

“In fact, if you’d like an all-over body massage, you’ll find I’m very skilled at the art,” he said and kissed her.

Felicity melted. The seductive, gravelly voice, combined with his big, all-male body, and that intense dark-blue stare added up to a single knock-out punch that lifted her to nirvana. Once she felt his lips on hers, she was out for the count. He could have undressed her and made love to her on the kitchen table without a single reprimand from her.

A few moments later, he said, breathing hard, “Let’s walk out to the barn. I want to show you how well Joey and Pete cleaned up the flour and oil.”

Breathless herself, she gasped, “I’d love to see it.”

How original, she thought, with what remained of her good sense. She was largely ignorant of such things, but instinctively knew Aaron’s intentions.

Fortunately for what remained of her scruples and good sense, Pete came looking for them.

“Felicity, are you ready to go to bed yet?” the child asked. “We’re supposed to go to sleep now, but Mom says we can stay up until you’re ready. She says that after the day you’ve had, you’ll probably be ready pretty soon.”

She hastily turned out of Aaron’s arms. “Your mom is right, Pete. I’ll be ready for bed as soon as your uncle finishes showing me around the house.”

While Aaron sent Pete back to the living room, the cell phone she had tucked in her skirt pocket trilled, annoying her considerably. She had told Becky about the ghost and her current efforts to eradicate it. Why was Becky calling now, when she was sure to interrupt the sort of scene she wanted to encourage between her daughter and Aaron?

But the caller turned out to be Felicity’s right-hand woman and manager of the Cosmic Cowgirl, Suzi Marlowe, with an unwelcome message.

“That same man called here again,” Suzi shared worriedly. “He’s called about three times so far and wants to know when you’ll be back, where are you, etc., etc. Just thought you ought to know.”