Read Online Beloved by Antoinette Stockenberg - Free Book Online Page A

between Bing ' s house and mine? "
    McKenzie looked up from his cranberry-stuffed bass, warned her away from the topic with a level look, and returned to his food. " Nope. I don ' t. "
    Bing laughed rather self-consciously and explained. " Mac ' s property is what realtors call ' landlocked ' ; it doesn ' t front on the road. He drives over my land — which used to be owned by relations of his — to get to his own. It ' s not all that unusual with these old plats. Have you traipsed over to his place yet, by the way? Wonderful property. Spectacular views, good acreage — and you can ' t have a quieter neighbor than one with a tree farm. "
    " Oh, I see, " Jane said, thwarted in her effort to make McKenzie talk. " What you mean is Mr. McKenzie has an easement over your property. "
    Phillip interrupted. " No, Mac has something better: Bing ' s word as a gentleman, " he said blandly.
    Mr. Crate chimed in with a gracious, " Hear, hear. "
    Bing colored and changed the subject, leaving at least one puzzle solved. McKenzie is here because he has to be, Jane realized. He has to stay on friendly terms with his neighbors. Judging from the black look on his face, that took an effort.
    Cissy had been uncharacteristically quiet for the last little while. Now, like a child too long ignored, she became restless. " What I want to know, " she said in a fretful voice, " is who actually carries out the curse when a rose is cursed? Is it some kind of ghost? A ghost in the garden? "
    " Cissy, really, " her brother said. " It ' s not as though we can look it up. "
    " Is it the ghost of the one in the grave? " she persisted, ignoring her brother ' s hal f hearted attempt to shut her up. " Or is it God? Or the devil? Or even Nature, some kind of vindictive Nature? "
    She was deadly earnest, and Jane found that endearing. " Yes, and what about that curse of the Mummy ' s Tomb, now that we ' re at it? " she threw in impishly. " Who ' s responsible for that one? "
    " You laugh, Jane, " said Mrs. Crate. " But some say Nantucket has more ghosts per square mile than anywhere else in America . There are whole books written on the subject. "
    " You ' re not serious, " Jane said, grinning. But she was scanning people ' s faces, aware that everyone at the table — except Cissy, of course — seemed to know something that she did not. It was hard to pin down: a veiled look of reserve; a sense that some subjects were better left alone.
    " Perhaps it ' s because we have so many old houses, " Dorothy volunteered nervously. " So many people have passed through them over the centuries. "
    " I suppose that ' s true, " Jane answered, changing her tone. " You do get a sense of it when you walk around. Almost since the day I got here I 've felt .. . I don ' t know, a sense of déjà vu ... almost as if long ago someone had once ..."
    She looked around, embarrassed. She had become the absolute focal point of the table; everyone was watching her intently. Her mind flashed back to a moment a couple of hours ago, when she was slipping on a pair of plain gold earrings. Her plan had been to get in and out of the evening without anyone taking much notice of her.
    Her plan had obviously failed.

Chapter 5
     
    Y ou can ' t walk home. "
    " You ' ll freeze to death. "
    " We ' ll drive you. "
    The combined forces of Mrs. Crate and her daughter Dorothy were too much for Jane. Despite the fact that she ' d enjoyed the walk over and was looking forward to a brisk return walk to clear her head after the dinner party, she agreed to let them drop her at her door. Phillip began sorting out guests and coats and scarves in his elegantly paneled entry hall. In the inevitable crush of people, Jane found herself tucked between Bing and McKenzie.
    " Damn, " murmured Bing, holding open her coat for her. " The Crates have no right to take you home. Look, " he said in a low voice. " Will you be home tomorrow afternoon? "
    Jane laughed and said, " Where else? " Then she saw that his blue eyes