Read Online Spirit [New Crescent 2] (BookStrand Publishing Romance) by Mary Lou George - Free Book Online Page B

any indication of how?”
    Guilty, she said, “No, I was so unprepared I didn’t think to ask. Damn it! How stupid of me!”
    He smiled and tried to reassure her, “Don’t berate yourself. Conversations with dead people can rattle a person.”
    “I just want to get this show on the road. The suspense is killing me. It gives me the creeps to know that the Big Bad is in the library, not so far away.”
    He nodded, “Who can blame you? Rest assured, if it takes to wandering in the night it’ll come for me first. I’m going to bed down on one of those couches in the living room tonight. I’ll be closer. I don’t suppose you’d take pity on a fella and offer to share that big bed upstairs?”
    Uncharacteristically lost for words, Regina stood and walked away from him. It was her only defense.

Chapter 8
     
    Work on Bennett House sped along despite a number of minor accidents and the odd disagreement. Reggie had made great strides decorating the upper levels of the house. She’d decided that the main level had to wait a little longer because they still hadn’t found a way to safely confront the entity in the library. Living in the same house as Chase had turned out to be much easier than she’d thought. For the most part they stayed out of each other’s way. He slept downstairs; she slept upstairs. Once the sun went down, Reggie saw very little of him.
    “He’s the anti-vampire.” She rolled her eyes at her own lame attempt at humor. She was walking through the garden hoping to catch a glimpse of Constance. Lately, Reggie had been singularly unsuccessful in her attempt to contact her. With virtually no direction, Reggie didn’t know what to do. Every day, she walked in the gardens trying to spy something that might indicate Constance was still lurking about.
    “Vampire? Who is?” Blushing, she turned to see the contractor, Duncan Taggert, smiling at her.
    She laughed. “You don’t want to know.”
    He shrugged. “Probably not. I just came back here to tell you that the paint you ordered has arrived. Did you want to check it before signing the invoice?”
    Reggie walked with him to the front of the house where she double checked the paint delivery. She’d always liked Duncan. She’d even dated him a few times, but he was more taken with her than she was with him, so they’d settled for friendship. It was nice to be in his undemanding company. There was no tension between them, and Reggie was able to relax. He was a great contractor. It was amusing to see his reactions to her more creative ideas, but in the end, they’d both been happy with the results of their collaboration. She signed the invoice and handed it to Duncan.
    “How’s Tom?” she asked, referring to one of his men who’d cut himself the day before.
    Duncan smiled. “He’s going to be fine. The emergency room was packed, but in the end, I think he kinda liked the pain killers the doctor gave him after stitching him up. He’ll be back in no time.”
    They walked together through the house and noted the progress made in each room.
    “Duncan, have you had more accidents on this job than on others? I know Chase has had problems with his crew. It seems that just about every day someone either gets hurt or starts a fight.”
    He nodded and paused with her in the doorway to the master bedroom, “Yeah, there have been some pretty near misses too. I’ve done big jobs like this before where I’ve had twice as many men and had half the problems. I’m glad it won’t be too much longer before we’ll be done. I’m starting to run out of men.”
    She nodded. Leaning against the doorjamb, she rested her hands on the framing behind her. Duncan looked down at her with a smile that told her he was still interested if she was, but she’d have to make the first move. She didn’t.
    “You’ve had some materials stolen, too. I haven’t heard anything since I’ve been spending nights here. Have the thefts stopped?”
    He hesitated a second before