Page 30 of A Ghost of a Chance

She spoke with her usual boldness. “I understand you must complete this self-appointed mission, but I want you to know that I’ll be here when you return.”

“Miss Potter....”

“I’m no longer Kitty?”

“Miss Potter,” he emphasized. “It was never my intention to give you false hope.”

She held up her hand as if making a vow. “No hope received, Rafe. Just stay warm, be well, and return when you’ve finished your rambles.”

She smoothed the ends of the scarf down on his chest. Her touch startled him. No other woman had touched him in a long time. It felt strange and foreign. She looked up with a smile. Something vulnerable entered her lively eyes. As if catching herself, she stepped back.

As kindly as he could, he said, “You deserve the very best of men. I’m not certain I will ever make a fitting husband for anyone.”

She affected a careless pose. “What makes you think I want you for a husband, Rafe? You’d probably put frogs in my teacup and pepper in my scones. Now, off with you. I shall wave as you ride away.”

Kitty had always put on a brave face, even when afraid or disappointed. As an adult, she did it more subtly.

Rafe swung up onto the saddle and urged Solo to a canter. At the gatehouse, he glanced back. She was, indeed, waving.

At a distance, she looked less like Benjamin and more like the girl she had been all those years ago. But more womanly, now.

He waved to her and resumed his quest to visit and aid all his former troopers if he could, and perhaps one day find a measure of peace.

Chapter Eight

Osanne barely refrained from running into Rafe’s arms. He leaned against the stone monument marking her grave, arms folded, stance relaxed, as if he lounged at the back wall of his own home. A lantern hanging on a nearby tree branch illuminated his handsome features. His slow, spreading smile filled her with light. All the world seemed dark and lonesome outside the circle of his lamp and the soft affection in his smile.

How was it possible that he had come for her yet again?

“Rafe,” she whispered.

“Unless I’m mistaken, you are pleased to see me.” A knowing smile and an arrogant tilt to his head accompanied his words.

She made a point of looking unaffected. “Indeed, ‘tisn’t every day someone knows I exist and will converse with me.”

His smug smile spread. “That’s not the only reason, is it?”

How could she refuse him? She looked down and said quietly. “No.” If she had a mortal body, she would have blushed.

“Do you always float upward when you’re surprised?”

“I suppose I do.” She moved downward and positioned her feet to appear as if she stood on solid ground.

He reached out to her, but clenched his fist as if reminding himself she had no corporeal form. Instead, he gestured toward Madding Hollow. “Shall we?”

As they neared the festivities, it seemed eerily calm this eve despite the villager’s usual revelry.

“What is amiss?” Rafe asked.

“The Larkin boys. They’re gone.”

Had they found an eternal rest as the clergyman claimed, or had they been reduced to nothingness?

“That’s a relief,” Rafe said. “Now we have no fears about them setting the inn on fire or hurting someone.”

Still troubled, she nodded slowly. He was right, of course. But for them to have just vanished like that....

“You don’t seem relieved,” Rafe said.