Black Rose (In the Garden 2)

He came over, crouched in front of her. "I'd like to help you light the match. "

She laid a hand on his cheek. "I wasn't brushing you off. I was thinking of you, of finding you and seeing if you'd spend the evening with me. Right before I walked into that nasty little waking nightmare. "

"Coincidentally, I've been thinking of you, and wondering if you'd spend the evening with me. Do you want to get out of the house for a few hours?"

"I don't. I really don't. "

"Then we'll stay in. "

"I'd like to ask you for something. "

"Ask. "

"There's a big, splashy affair coming up at the club. Formal dinner dance, the annual spring one. David was going to escort me. Even with what's happening with us, I'd planned to stick to that because I didn't like the idea of the talk and gossip that'll start if I was to show up with you. But screw that. I'd like you to go with me. "

"Formal, as in tux?"

"I'm afraid so. "

"I can manage it. We're all right, you and me?"

"We really seem to be, don't we?"

"You want to take a rest now?"

"No, I don't. " Content, she leaned forward to kiss both of his cheeks. "What I want is a long, hot bath. And I'd really like some company in the tub. "

"That's a hell of an invitation. " He got to his feet, drew her to hers. "Accepted. It may just be the perfect venue to tell you about my recent visit with Clarise Harper. "

"Cousin Rissy? This I have to hear. "

IT FELT LOVELY, it felt decadent, and exactly perfect to soak in a bubble bath in the deep old tub, with her back resting against Mitch's chest.

Not even the end of the workday, and here she was having a sexy bath, with a man, music, and candles.

"Clarise gets meaner and leaner every blessed year," Roz commented. "I swear if she ever dies - because I'm not sure she'll agree to that eventuality - they won't even need a coffin. They'll just crack her in two like a twig and have done with it. "

"I could tell she holds you in the same high regard. "

"She despises me for many reasons, but the main is that I have this house, and she doesn't. "

"I'd say that's high on the list. "

"She's lying when she says she never saw or felt Amelia. I heard my grandmother talk about it. Clarise's memory is convenient and to suit herself. She doesn't tolerate any nonsense, you see, and ghosts fall into that category. "

"She said 'balderdash. ' "

Letting her head fall back, Roz laughed herself breathless. "Oh, she would. I can just hear it. Well, she can balderdash all she likes, but she's lying. And I know damn well she should have letters, maybe even journals, quite a number of photographs. There were things she took from the house when my father died. She'll deny it, but I know she helped herself here and there. We had one of our famous set-tos when I caught her taking a pair of candlesticks from the parlor, while my daddy was still being waked. Vicious old badger. "

"I don't imagine she walked out with them. "

"Not that time, anyway. I didn't care about the damn candlesticks - ugly things - but my daddy wasn't even in theground . Still burns my ass. She claimed she'd given them to my father - which she certainly had not - and that she wanted them for sentimental reasons. Which was a load of stinking horseshit, as there isn't a sentimental cell in her dried-up body. "

He rubbed his cheek over her hair as if to soothe, but she felt his body shaking with laughter.

"Oh, go ahead and let it out. I know how I sound. "

"I love how you sound, but back to the subject. She might have taken other things, things you didn't see her with. "