Wordlessly, Hammond lifted his arm, extended a single finger, and poked the housekeeper in the shoulder. Mrs. Burns stared at him. “Yes, Mr. Hammond?” “Solid corporeal form,” he muttered. “Interesting.”

have good news and bad news.” “Let’s have the bad first, please.” “The bad news is, I’ll never, so long as I live, wipe the past two minutes from my memory.” He scratched the back of his head. “The good news is, tonight we’re in the clear.”

Hell, even Chase and I would be . . .” He looked to his friend for the word. “Disappointed?” Chase suggested. “Let’s go with inconvenienced,” Ashbury replied. Chase nodded. “Someone has to eat the sandwiches.” “Thank you both for this touching moment.”

“We can have a picnic.” He frowned. “What, on the ground?” “That’s what a picnic is, usually,” she teased.

“You sigh like a fool, blush like a beet. Your eyes are the worst of it. They turn into these . . . these pools. Glassy blue pools with man-eating sharks beneath the surface.” “I hope you’re not planning a career in poetry.”

“She’d settle more if I covered her cage,” his beautiful intruder said. “I don’t suppose you have a towel?” He glanced at the linen slung about his hips. “How badly do you want it?”

“I tell you, she’s unnatural. I don’t know if she’s a ghost, a witch, a demon, or something worse. But that woman is of the Devil.” “Ahem.” Startled, both Gabe and Hammond wheeled around. There stood Mrs. Burns. Even Gabe had to admit, these sudden appearances were growing unsettling. Hammond raised his fingers in the shape of a cross. “I rebuke th

In fact, Penny had formed a simple plan to cope with this situation. Thank the man for his help . . . Calmly make her retreat . . . And then never, ever leave her house again.

“I’m listening to exactly one person in this room,” Gabriel said evenly. “It isn’t you. The lady can speak for herself.”