“Do we have to?”
“I think it’s best. Unless you’d rather discuss theincidentin the pool first.”
He gritted his teeth, grew a pair, and dove in. It’d be better if he drove the direction of that track himself. “Given the choice…perhaps that is a better topic. Addressing the—er—incident. In the hot springs.”
“Really?” She seemed surprised—and perhaps even a little bashful about the topic, if the extra pink in her cheeks was any indication. Which he didn’t get at all, becauseshe’dbeen the one to bring it up—twice.
He would never understand women.
“Because I owe you an apology,” he told her. “For—er—taking things to a—er—different level. I realize you were simply, um, exuberant in that moment, and didn’t mean anything by it.” He cleared his throat. “I should have said something before now, but you were busy and I didn’t want…to disturb…”
Teddy’s expression had his voice trailing off. It was a combination of shock and maybe a little bit of— Well, he didn’t know what it was. He had no idea how to read women. Especially one like Teddy Mack.
“You’re apologizing for kissing me back after I flung myself willy-nilly into your arms and kissedyou?” Her brows had drawn together with little furrows between them.
“Yes. Yes, I am.”
“I’m not certain whether to be insulted or overcome with laughter, Oscar. Did youfeelme fighting you off? Pushing you away?”
Oh my God.His heart dropped and he broke out in a cold sweat. His ears rang. “No!No, I didn’t. Christ, Teddy, I didn’t realize—”
But she was goggling at him as she began to shake with laughter. “No,” she managed to say, wagging her head vehemently as she tried to catch her breath and form words. “No, Oscar, geez,” she said, tears streaming from her eyes, “that’s not what I meant.” She wiped them away, settled herself, then looked him dead in the eye. “I was trying to say: did you feel me pushing you away or fighting you off, because—no, I wasn’t. It was a mutually enjoyable moment,” she said. Her voice had gone schoolteacher prim, and he imagined she’d capitalized the phrase in her mind. “There’s no need to apologize.”
With that prissy tone came a little bit of reserve, too; she eased back in her chair a little and picked up her wine as if it were a barrier.
“I see.” He felt a little faint with relief. A mutually enjoyable moment. He could get on board with that.
“Good.” She set her glass down, folded her hands in front of her, then leaned forward. “Now, Dr. London, why don’t you grow a pair and let’s talk about what happened at the top of the lighthouse.”
He stifled a groan, then picked up his glass. “Fine. You first,” he said, gesturing toward her.
She beamed at him, and his insides went a little mushy. Dammit, Teddy Mack was just so pretty to look at, with her gleaming blue eyes and that thick, cocoa-colored hair—and those soft lips. Her cheeks were flushed pink from the bout of giggles, and he had to keep dragging his eyes up and away from that dark, shadowy vee at the neckline of her dress.
“All right. Let’s talk facts first. The door slams shut—somehow. It didn’t feel windy enough for it to blow closed from being flat against the window behind it. Did it?”
“No. It wasn’t. Nor was what wind there was coming— Wait.” He shook his head and lifted a hand. “Let me try again. The wind was not coming in a direction that could have blown the door closed—according to physics, anyway.”
“Right. So what happened?”
“Freak of nature?”
She narrowed her eyes at him again, the way she did when she was about to spear him with a question or comment. He fought back a grin as she said, “How about a ghost?”
Ugh. Why did she have to say it out loud? He marshaled his efforts. “Why would you think it was a ghost? If such a thing even exists.”
“And what makes you think they don’t?” she purred.
He sighed and had to concede. “I don’t know.”
“Well, now we’re getting somewhere.” Her smile turned feline, matching her tone, and her dimples winked slyly at him. “Seriously, Oscar, what other explanation for the door mysteriously blowing closed—and locking—then mysteriously becoming unlocked right after that horrible screaming sound? Not to mention the freezing air, and that glowing thing—”
“Some sort of alga blown in from the lake—”
But she shook her head and kept talking. “No. It had to be a ghost—or some sort of supernatural event.”
“Are you talking about ghosts, Teddy Mack? I thought you stuck to spies and saving the world. Ghosts aremything.”
Teddy was already up and out of her seat to greet a tall, good-looking man whom Oscar deduced was Ethan Murphy. The newcomer was accompanied by an attractive woman who was elegant in a Jackie Kennedy sort of way—even her hair was similarly short and dark, and she wore a slim lavender dress that looked summery and cool.
