She’d been working for a good long time; she had no idea how many hours had passed, but her arms were getting tired and her eyes irritated from the dust that continued to be disturbed. She spent an inordinate amount of energy on the built-in sideboard china cabinet on onewall.
“There has to be a secret panel here somewhere. This is where it would be!” she said,determined.
Suddenly, there was a loud noise from upstairs. Pounding and shouting andfootsteps.
Leslie bolted to her feet, her legs protesting from being cramped in a squatting position for so long, and staggered to the bottom of the steps just in time to hear her name beingbellowed.
“I’m down here!” she called back, recognizing Declan’svoice.
Worried by the urgency in his tones, she began to run up the spiral stairs just as he appeared at the top ofthem.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, as he demanded, “What the hell are you doing downthere?”
Taken aback by his tone, she paused, collected herself—clearly he was upset about something—and replied very calmly, “Working.”
He was out of breath and came bounding down the stairs. “You scared the hell out of me,Leslie.”
“What? How? What are you talkingabout?”
“I’ve been trying to reach you for the last hour and a half! Why don’t you have your phone with you?And why isn’t the door to your house locked?” His eyes, which had been a little wild when she first saw him, were narrowed in anger. “You’ve already had one break-in. You should take more care! Anyone could just walkin!”
“Apparently they did,” she said quite frostily with a nod in hisdirection.
“Aw, damn.” He took her by the arms, glared down at her, then hugged her close, dropping his chin onto the top of her head. “I’m sorry, Leslie. I’m sorry for yelling, but I was really worried about you. Considering…everything.”
“Everything?” Leslie pulled away to look at him. He was—good grief, he was trembling. “Is there something else wrong,Declan?”
“Besides the fact that your house has been broken intoandthat you have an active ghost that tends to be a little…violent and loud sometimes? Isn’t that enough? Besides the fact that…well, hell, today was—it was—damn nearperfect.”
She couldn’t hold back a smile, and her cheek moved against his warm shirt. “It really was. I’m still humming along verynicely.”
He pulled away to look down at her. “I am sorry for yelling, but you really should lock your door. And…try and keep your phone with you. What if something happened down here and you were injured…you’d have no way to call for help and no one would find you.” He shook hishead.
She smiled up at him. “Want to go upstairs and makeup?”
“Sure.” His grin was wide and his eyes lost their frustration and glinted with pleasure. “If you’re done downhere.”
“I’m done for now, but I’d like to show you something later, when you have time. In that cabinet over there. If it’s the hiding place for Red Eye Sal’s jewels, that seems to be the best option. Maybe you’ll see something Idon’t.”
“Ofcourse.”
She led the way up the spiral steps. “I take it Stephanie is otherwiseoccupied?”
“Oh, right, yes. That was why I was texting you in the first place. She apparently was so traumatized by what happened today, she needed to go hang out with her friends. I told her she had to be home by nine-thirty, but fortunately for me…I don’t have a curfew.” He snagged her by the arm at the top of the stairs and maneuvered her close for a kiss. “Lock your door from now on, okay?” he said when he pulledback.
“I will,” she replied. “I normally do, youknow.”
He sighed as she took him by the hand and they walked back toward the kitchen and her private suite. “I guess it’s just as well you didn’t lock it tonight, because otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to get in—and you wouldn’t have heard me pounding on thedoor.”
“What would you havedone?”
“Broken in, ofcourse.”
She raised her brows. “Really.”
“Your car was here and you weren’t answering the phone. It was seven-thirty at night, your lights were on, and your house had been broken intoandyou have a very vehement ghost.Yes,I would have brokenin.”
“Well, when you put it that way…” They’d reached the L-shaped sectional, and though he paused as they went by, she tugged him along with her. “Thought you’d want to see my bedroom,scout.”
