Framed and Hung (9 page)

‘Yeah, but — ’

A buzzing noise interrupted Zoe. It came from the side wall. She angled her head, trying to track the sound.

‘Flippin’ hell,’ Jake whispered again. He still held Zoe by the shoulders, and as one they turned to face the side wall.

The full-length mirror blazed with light as if lit from within. A flash of blue-white and the illumination dimmed. The silvered surface rippled, like a stone had been thrown into a pond. As if something tried to escape. Well, maybe not escape, but it certainly attracted attention. And Zoe guessed that that was what it was trying to do when an image, besides hers and Jake’s, appeared in the mirror.

The picture was a wash of sepia. From his top hat right down to the bottom of his formal dress trousers. The high collar of his shirt framed a face that was instantly recognisable. An old-fashioned banker if ever she’d seen one.

Shrugging out of Jake’s hold, Zoe stepped closer and peered at the glass. Behind her reflection, the ‘person’, for want of a better word, copied her movement. When the face was level with hers, the right eye closed in a wink and the lips pursed as if blowing a kiss.

She jumped back, eyebrows raised in astonishment. ‘Whoa. I think our ghost is a little raunchy. You know who this is, don’t you?’

Jake’s mouth dropped open. ‘Shit, it looks like…’

His voice trailed off as if he couldn’t believe what he’d seen. He slid his hand over the mirror, but nothing happened beyond his own reflection doing the same thing. The figure just stood there grinning at them.

A gurgle of laughter caught Zoe by surprise. ‘Nothing like being haunted by your own great, great — how many greats is it? — grandfather.’

She dropped into a little curtsy, holding out an imaginary skirt. ‘Pleased to meet you, Grandpa.’

The figure frowned and waved a finger at her.

‘Oh, you don’t like being called grandpa? How about Joshua then?’

He smiled and bowed to her. Then, eyes twinkling, he reached out and made a pinching movement with his fingers.

Zoe burst out laughing, tears of mirth filling her eyes. When she’d finally caught her breath, she wiped her face and grinned at the ghost. ‘You dirty old reprobate. You’re the one going around pinching all the female staff on the butt. I’m glad you’re trapped in that mirror for the moment. The last thing I need is a bruise on my ass.’

Joshua wrapped his arms about his stomach, bending forwards as if caught up in a paroxysm of laughter, not that Zoe could hear a sound.

‘This is totally bizarre,’ Jake muttered from behind her. ‘You’re standing here talking to my
dead
grandfather.’

Ignoring the chuckles coming from Zoe, Jake turned to the mirror. ‘Okay,
Grandpa
, what is it that you want? There must be some reason you’re still hanging around here after all this time.’

Joshua waved his hand around as if indicating the room…or maybe the whole inn. Then he tapped violently at his chest.

‘Ahh, I think he’s telling you this is all his. The inn, I mean,’ Zoe cut in.

Joshua smiled at Zoe. Then he indicated Jake and dropped
him
a wink. His hands reached out and he inscribed the shape of a woman in front of him before pointing again to Jake and then to Zoe.

Zoe tried to make out what the ghost meant, but it was darned difficult. She shook her head and shrugged. ‘I think we might get further if we treat this like a game of charades. Joshua, this concerns Jake, right?’

The old guy nodded, waved one hand at her and the other at Jake, bringing his palms together in front of his stomach.

She frowned. ‘So it’s for both of us?’

He indicated them both again and formed a circle with thumb and index finger of one hand. Using the index finger of the other, he pumped it in and out of the circle he’d made, angling his head towards Jake and grinning.

Jake spluttered.

Zoe’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. ‘Oh my God. He’s… Is he saying what I think he is?’

‘Why, you old fox.’ Jake burst out laughing. ‘He’s telling me to f — ’

‘Yeah, yeah,’ Zoe interrupted. ‘I remember that sign from when I was at school.’

Before she could say anything more, Joshua stopped with the obscene gesture and cradled his hands in front of him and rocked them back and forth. As if he held a baby. Then he tapped at his wedding ring again.

‘Oooh no, not this girl. I don’t do marriage any longer. Quite happy to screw the brains off your grandson, but you can forget the gold band.’

Joshua shrugged and made the rude gesture again, locking his gaze on Jake. And all his grandson could do was stand there convulsed with laughter.

‘Lord, a man after my own heart,’ Jake wheezed through his chuckles.

Zoe gritted her teeth and glared at both of them. ‘Enough already. Old man, you can forget it. Your grandson is way too controlling for me. And — ’

‘Ahh, that just might be a pot and kettle comment again,’ Jake interrupted.

She turned to him, reaching out and grabbing his earlobe. ‘
Out
. I might have wanted to jump your bones before, but now you can wait until I decide if you’re worth the effort.’

Amid unrestrained guffaws from Jake, she marched him to the door by the ear.

‘Oww, not too hard,’ he protested, latching onto the fingers clamped around his lobe. ‘I’ve already got
hard
, don’t need any more.’

As she backed him out of the room, she couldn’t help but glance down at the front of his trousers. Oh yeah, definitely something hard tenting the fabric. For an instant, she wanted to reverse her decision to make him wait. She shook her head.
Anticipation, Zoe, anticipation.

Using his ear to manoeuvre his head down to hers, she gave him a hard kiss. She dragged the tip of her tongue across his lips as she let him go. ‘I’ll see
you
in the morning. And now I’m going to deal with that pervert of a ghost.’

She slammed the door and marched back to the mirror. Joshua hovered there, obviously still laughing. She slammed her hand on the glass before pointing at the door. ‘Out of my room.
Now
. Go haunt somewhere else.’

Joshua clasped his hands in front of him and hung his head, although Zoe didn’t miss the twinkle in his eyes before he averted them. Her mouth twitched and she desperately wanted to chuckle, but no way was she going to encourage him.

When he didn’t disappear, she grabbed the quilt off the bed. ‘I’m about to cover that mirror up if you don’t go. Then you’ll be trapped in there all night.’

She wasn’t certain how ghosts operated, but it sounded good. And it was enough to get a response from Joshua. The surface of the mirror wavered and his image shrunk until it disappeared. Zoe wondered where he’d gone. She sure didn’t want him hovering over her while she slept. Then the door opened and, after a couple of seconds, closed with a quiet snick.

The mirror was empty. She threw the cover back on the bed then walked around the room and into the bathroom. No sign of any cold spots. No sign that she wasn’t alone. Releasing a deep sigh, she turned out the light and climbed into bed. The only problem was, she couldn’t relax. Tension tightened the muscles in her stomach. Skittered through her veins, followed by a wave of heat, until she thought she’d combust.

She trailed one hand down her body and eased it between her thighs. Without thought, her hips jerked in reaction to the brush of her fingers against the flimsy material of her panties.

With a groan, she rolled onto her stomach and ground her hips into the bed. Then, after a frustrated sigh, she punched the pillow with a clenched fist. ‘Aaaahhh, damn you, Jake. This is so not going to work.’

She rolled out of bed and hauled off her top before heading for the bathroom. ‘Ooh, I am so not into cold showers. This is all your fault, Jake.’

Ever honest, at least with herself, she snorted as she stripped off her panties and turned the shower on. ‘Yeah, alright. So I’m a horny bitch. I’m so darn hungry for the man and I sent him away. What am I? A Class-A idiot?’

Chapter Six

Zoe gave up on sleeping, crawled from the bed and hit the shower…again! So whose stupid plan was it to make Jake — and her! — wait until
she
was ready? Well, she was bloody well ready now.

Tension tightened her gut. Her body hummed with unrelieved sexual frustration and her mind was in total turmoil.

Her hands shook as she soaped them up and ran them across her chest. Her nipples peaked, supersensitive to the slightest touch. If she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine it was Jake’s hands sliding from her breasts down the centre of her body. Probing gently at the apex of her thighs…

Zoe groaned, biting off the sound before it gained volume. She sagged against the wall of the shower, legs threatening to give way as sensation zapped from her core to her breasts. God help her, much more of this and she’d turn into one of those needy, dependent women she detested. This was so not her.

‘Ah, crap, girl, get over yourself,’ she muttered, jumping from the shower and grabbing a towel. Clamping down on the thoughts cluttering up her mind, she dried off and donned another pair of shorts with a bright tank top.

Okay, her best course of action was to go get some work done. Maybe that would drain off some of the energy curling in her stomach. Decision made, she raided the kitchen for an apple and headed off to finish laying the cutlery in the Garden Room. Get that done and she could start taking the photos the heritage committee needed.

Collecting her camera, she headed for the Garden Room. She’d just unlocked the door and had taken the first step when she stopped. Closing the door again, she frowned.

Hmmm, it could really do with a fresh coat of paint. Maybe she’d deal with that before she finished the tables. That would give time for the enamel paint to get to the tacky stage. Plus the sun would be higher on the horizon. She wanted soft lighting for the photos for the heritage committee, but not this dim.

Dumping the camera just inside the door, she headed back to the old stables and grabbed a can of paint and a fresh brush. After scraping off the loose flakes, she set about giving the door a pristine, blinding-white covering.

The entire time she worked, she couldn’t help but berate herself over her handling of Jake. Damn it, she really was an idiot. What was wrong with her that she had to have the upper hand at all times?

Okay, so there was no doubt that her past marriage had put some serious crimps in her psyche, but this was ridiculous. Being in control was all very well and good, but not if it left a girl feeling this frustrated.

The job finished, she threw the brush onto a piece of newspaper she’d laid down and thumped the lid on the paint can, mumbling the whole time about what a freakin’ fool she was.

‘Another job done,’ she muttered as she let herself into the Garden Room. Leaving the camera where it was, she headed towards the tables. What she saw there made her halt, jaw sagging and eyes wide open. ‘What the freak — ’

The main bridal table hadn’t been touched, but not so the rest of them. The cutlery she’d carefully counted out to arrange this morning had been collected up and placed in a mixed heap on the sideboard.

As far as the crockery went, someone had stacked all the plates, regardless of size, in precariously leaning towers in the centre of the tables. The wine glasses were on their sides in front of each setting, Rachel’s beautifully folded napkins stuffed inside.

Zoe shook her head. ‘Who the effing hell did this? After all that work last night.’

Surely Jake hadn’t…
‘No, he was with me. Well, until he went to his own room after our little visit from his so-many-greats grandpa. I can’t believe he came back and did this.’

‘Maybe he’s a little pissed because you’re holding out after flashing him the green-light signal.’

Zoe yelped and spun towards the door. ‘Flamin’ hell, Rach, you scared the living daylights out of me.’ Hand on chest, Zoe took a deep breath and blew it out with a gusty wheeze. ‘Don’t do that, girl. Next time, let me know you’re there.’

‘Um, I thought I did.’ Rachel grinned. Then the grin disappeared as she stared around the room. ‘Anyway, forget about me. What about this?’

Zoe’s mouth tightened into a taut line. ‘I found it like this when I came in just now. What asshole would do something so darn mean-spirited? We worked our butts off last night getting this ready for the photos.’

Rachel grabbed a stack of plates and started to set them around the first table, righting the wine glasses as she went. ‘Um, are you sure Jake didn’t do it? I mean, you’re screwing with his head right now. Look at what happened to your bed. You made it and someone had definitely been sleeping on it.’

‘No, I don’t believe it was Jake.’ She shook her head. ‘No, he’s not that juvenile.’

Rachel shrugged. ‘Men play funny games when they think with their cocks.’

A splutter of laughter caught Zoe unawares. ‘I can’t believe you said that.’

‘Well, there’s no doubt he’s being led around by his — ’ She stopped when Zoe held up a finger. ‘Just saying… Anyway, why are you so certain Jake didn’t do this in a fit of sexually frustrated pique?’

Grabbing the cutlery, Zoe quickly sorted out enough for each table. ‘We had dinner together and then he was with me in my room for some time after — ’

Rachel punched a fist into the air above her. ‘Hah, you finally put the guy out of his misery. No more frustrated Jake.’

‘No, I didn’t.
We
didn’t.’

She slammed another collection of cutlery on the next table. ‘I wish to God we had, because then
I
wouldn’t be feeling so damn frustrated,’ she mumbled half under her breath as she sorted the knives from the forks.

‘Hah, I told you this wanting to always be in control would backfire on you one day.’ Rachel burst out laughing. ‘Oh, how the mighty have fallen. So, you ready to let go a little now, my friend? Hmm?’

‘None of your business,
friend
,’ Zoe quipped, struggling for another topic to divert Rachel. ‘Forget me. What are
you
doing here so early? Thought I told you to have the morning off seeing we worked late last night.’