Get a Clue

'Hey, did you stay up late last night?'

Dante's expression closed. 'Why?'

'I heard something, around midnight. Just wondering if you heard it, too.'

Dante slowly shook his head. 'Didn't hear a thing.' With that, he turned and vanished.

Cooper stood there watching, thinking… but I never told you what I heard.

***

The lack of electricity wasn't nearly as disconcerting in the light of day-even though that light of day was so muted as to be nearly inconsequential. Cooper passed the foyer and stopped short. A huge mountain of snow stood in front of the open door.

Then the mountain began to move, turning into the outline of a man as he shook the snow off like a great big dog.

Powdery white flakes flew through the foyer, landing on every surface, including Cooper. That wasn't what sucked the air from Cooper's lungs, though; the shocking wind whipping through the open door did that.

'Bloody hell.' Patrick looked around at the mess he'd just made. 'Lariana will be killing me for this.' Undeterred by the prospect, he stomped his feet, and more snow fell off him. He wore some sort of head-to-toe snowsuit, which still had snow stuck to every inch, his ever-present tool belt rattling as he stomped. 'Sticky shit,' he said conversationally in his Scottish brogue.

Cooper shivered. It had to be close to zero degrees. 'Any luck with anything out there?'

Patrick shook his shaggy head regretfully as he shut the door, closing out the unbelievably bitter cold. 'The generator is a no-go. The thing needs to be replaced. We actually have one on order but this storm came early. Didn't expect to be needing it so soon.' With a rather absent smile, he walked past Cooper.

'Patrick?'

Lifting a hand to remove his beanie, which left his red hair standing up on end, the fix-it guy glanced back.

'Did you hear anything odd last night around midnight?'

'Not a thing, mate. But this place is haunted.'

'Haunted?'

'By Edward's ghost.' He said this utterly without a flicker of emotion one way or the other.

'I'm sorry about Edward, Patrick.'

'Don't be.'

'He was your uncle.'

'He was a sorry excuse for a man.' Then he turned on his heel and clinked off.

Cooper walked to the doorway and thunked his head on the wall.

'Is that like snapping your heels together three times and saying 'There's no place like home, there's no place like home?''

Cooper lifted his head. Shelly stood there, watching him with a curious smile. Wearing whitewashed jeans rolled up to the top of her Ugg boots and a forest-green sweater with a small apron over the top of it, she looked like a melodious, euphoric little thing.

'There are whole days where I feel like bashing my head against a wall, too,' she confided, and reached up to give him a little pat on the shoulder. 'But not on an empty stomach.'

'You look happy.'

'I like it when there's guests here.'

How about when there's a dead body? 'I hope we're going to dig out today. You up for lending a hand?'

'Sure.' She pushed up her sweater and flexed her arms. 'I work out. You don't think it's easy lifting huge pots full of stew or chili, do you? I'm a snow-shoveling machine.'

He felt her biceps and found rock-hard strength. 'You are pretty solid.'

Solid enough to have moved a dead body?

'Come into the dining room and get some food,' she said.

Having burned every spare calorie worshipping Breanne's body all night long, his belly twitched hopefully.

'Oh! Breanne said to give you this.' Shelly reached into her apron and pulled out a small piece of paper, folded in some complicated way that took him a minute to open. Meet me in the theater room. B.

'A love note?' Shelly asked.

He stuck the paper in his pocket. 'Not quite. Where's the theater room?'

'Down the hall, right past the library, then left.' She looked up into his face, suddenly serious. 'She's a real sweetheart-you know that, right? Because she's been hurt, being stood up at the altar like that, I don't want to see anything else happen to her, especially out here where she feels alone and so vulnerable.'

'Nothing's going to happen to her.'

'You slept with her last night.' She cringed. 'I know, none of my business. Just… just be good to her.'

And with that demand, she left him alone.

Cooper sighed-good thing so many people were worried about him-and left to find the theater room. Turns out he couldn't miss it with the two rows of luxurious red velvet seating, the huge screen, and last but definitely not least, the elaborate system on the right that rivaled any theater he'd ever been to.

But the room, however swank and sophisticated, was empty.

'Breanne?' His tennis shoes sank into the plush carpeting as he came to a halt just in front of a large sliding door on his right. The door slid open and a hand shot out, fisting on the front of his shirt, yanking him inside.

He smelled her just as the door slid shut again, that sexy combination of shampoo and woman, and because it was Breanne, he let her accost him. 'All you had to do was ask,' he murmured, lowering his mouth as he slid his arms around her.

'Mmm,' she said at the kiss, and then again as she touched her tongue to his.

Oh, yeah. Now this was the way to start a day. Pressing her back against something-he couldn't see a damn thing-he dove into the kiss as a few things fell down over the top of them. Probably DVDs. He didn't know, didn't care, as long as he had this woman and her body against his.

After they were both breathless, she pulled back, and at a small click, light surrounded them from the small lantern she'd turned on. They were in a closet, surrounded by shelves filled with DVDs, videos, and various electronic games. On the floor littered around their feet were the movies they'd knocked down.

And in front of him, gorgeously disheveled, stood Breanne, her mouth still wet from his.

She stared at his mouth as well, looking more than a little… flummoxed.

He knew the feeling, as he was currently bowled over himself, with the wanting of her; a wanting he was coming slowly to realize couldn't be sated by lust or even common sense.

She wore her own jeans today, and that pink, fuzzy sweater he'd first seen her in. It crisscrossed over her breasts and had a tie just beneath them. He itched to yank on it and unravel her.

'You came to me,' she said, as if surprised.

He'd have thought they'd gotten past that, but if she needed reassurance, he could give it to her. His hands went to her hips and he brought her back against him, lowering his head, nuzzling her throat. 'Soon as I got the note. I was hoping we'd still be in bed, but you vanished on me.'

When he touched his tongue to her skin, she shivered. but