“I was going to say ‘redundant.’ Of course her aunt was dead if she was haunting the place. You ever hear of a not-dead person haunting a house?” She tasted her wine. Crisp, light, and a little fruity. Just the way she liked it—and the way she felt tonight. It was as if a huge stone yoke had been lifted from her shoulders.
No, the book wasn’t officially done yet, but she hadn’t been exaggerating when she told Oscar she’d have it finished in a couple weeks. Cleaning up and polishing a finished manuscript was an easy process for her.
Oscar was looking at her—from behind glasses he’d obviously put on for reading then menu. And Teddy’s heart gave an extra big thump.
She loved guys with glasses. Especially scholarly-looking ones like the tortoiseshell horn-rimmed specs he was wearing.
That was why Sargent Blue wore reading glasses and was charmingly far-sighted—which also contributed to some of the plot elements in the series. After all, who ever heard of a spy-slash-adventurer who had imperfect eyesight? No one expected Jason Bourne to have to whip out a pair of glasses to read his mobile phone.
“What?” she said, realizing Oscar had been speaking while her hormones went into overdrive over the glasses.
He removed the spectacles (probably a good thing, all things considered) and looked at her closely. “I said, I’ve never heard ofanyonehaunting a house—except in movies or books.”
“So you don’t believe in ghosts.”
“I… Well, I don’t know. I never thought about it.”
Teddy narrowed her eyes at him over the rim of her wine glass. “So I suppose that’s why you haven’t mentioned the elephant in the room.”
“What elephant?”
“Well, there are actuallytwoelephants in our room, if you want to be accurate,” she said primly.
His expression popped into:Oh boy.
She nearly laughed again, because she practically read the words hanging from his mouth—and his lips didn’t even move.
“Right,” he said—aloud this time. “So, did you look at the menu yet? Probably a good idea to do that before the server comes over and interrupts us.”
“Yes, that’s a good idea,” she replied. “Wouldn’t want our secret pachyderm discussion to be interrupted. Nicely done, Dr. London.”
He made a noise that sounded like a snort or a smothered chuckle—or maybe he was choking on fear—but Teddy was already looking at the menu and missed his expression. Still, she was having a grand time teasing him. He was so cute when he had that deer-in-headlights look. And there was also the glasses aspect.
Nonetheless, she was a little nervous bringing up the topic of what had happened at the top of the lighthouse.
Andthat spectacular kiss in the hot spring—that being Elephant Number Two, of course.
But clearly he was nervous as well.
So… She lifted her wine in a small, private toast, and thought:To exposing elephants in the room. Why the hell not?
* * *
Oscar had managed to keep Teddy from veering into conversational topics he preferred to avoid—at least so far—and they were already halfway through their main courses. He found it was fairly easy to send her off on different tangents by asking a question or making a comment about anythingunrelated to ghosts and whatever that other “elephant” was.
Though he had a suspicion he knew what she was talking about.
Hehopedit wasn’t what he thought it was, because the last thing he wanted to do was have a discussion—and, clearly, with Teddy Mack, it would be aDiscussion—about how he’d turned a quick, impulsive “thank you” kiss into a full-fledged, hot-blooded, toe-curling, passionate one.
He lifted his wine to take a larger-than-normal drink and managed to keep from ogling her mouth. Much, anyway.
“So,” he said as the previous topic of conversation (whether she traveled for research for her books) wound down, “I was wondering—”
“Nuh-uh-uh,” she said with a cheeky grin that revealed three tiny dimples at the corner of her mouth. She waggled her fork at him. “You’ve avoided the topic long enough, Dr. London. And quite expertly, too. My turn to steer the conversation.”
“How are your scallops?” he asked, a little desperately.
“They’re gorgeous. Fresh, perfectly cooked, and smooth as silk.” She grinned knowingly at him as she gently moved her nearly empty plate aside. “Nice try, but don’t you think it’s time we actually talked about what happened on top of the lighthouse?”
