The Last Victim (45 page)

To put a period to the subject, she opened the door and slid out into the night.

Tony shut off the engine and got out, too. They walked up the flagstone path together. Close. Their bodies brushing.

It was a beautiful summer’s night. All kinds of stars twinkling in the sky. The moon as white and round as a golf ball. Cicadas whirring. Fireflies twinkling. Nary a neighbor in sight.

If she’d been in the mood for romance, the perfect candidate had his hand curled around her elbow. Charlie looked up at him, at his good-guy smile and dark good looks, and realized that she wasn’t. Not tonight.

Maybe not for a while.

“You sure you won’t change your mind and come to work for us?” Tony asked as they climbed the steps to her small front porch. Charlie already had her keys in her hand. She shook her head as she unlocked the door, then turned to smile at him.

“I’m sure,” she said.

“At least there’s an upside to it,” he said philosophically.

When Charlie looked a question at him, he bent his head and kissed her.

Charlie kissed him back. It was, she considered, a kiss with possibilities. Warm and sweet, with a nice level of heat. Maybe one day it would even be right.

“You could ask me in,” he suggested when he lifted his head. Charlie was already shaking hers at him when a sound caught her attention.

Someone’s TV was playing, very loud. Eyes widening, she realized that it was her TV, the one in her living room.

“Did you leave your TV on?” Tony frowned in the direction of the sound.

Charlie had already recognized the channel: ESPN.

“It’s on a timer,” she lied. Her pulse began to pick up pace. She looked at Tony, smiling at him because she really liked him a lot, even though her insides were curling into anticipatory knots and her heart was starting to flutter with hope. “I’ve got to go in now. Call me if you need something.”

“I will,” he said. “Good-night.”

Charlie was already moving away from him, letting herself into her house, which hadn’t had anybody in it for days, where her TV was blaring angrily.

Just like it might be if, for example, a pissy ghost who had learned to work the remote had just watched her kiss another man.

“See you,” she said to Tony.

Heart hammering, smiling like an idiot, Charlie shut the door on him. Then she turned and walked into the dark.

Want to know what happens next to Dr. Charlotte Stone and the infuriatingly seductive ghost Michael Garland? Look for the next book in the series—coming soon wherever books are sold!

This book is dedicated to Dr. Randal S. Weber.
The words
thank you
are way too small to express my profound gratitude.
You not only saved Peter’s life, you gave it back to him.

I also want to thank
Dr. Patrick Garvey, Dr. David Rosenthal,
Dr. Merrill Kies, and the entire staff at
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.
These wonderful people make miracles every day.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

No author works in a vacuum, and I certainly don’t. Without my husband, Doug, and sons, Peter, Christopher, and Jack, I’d have far fewer things to write about, believe me. Love you guys!

I also want to thank my wonderful editor, Linda Marrow, and the entire staff at Ballantine Books for all your help and support.

BOOKS BY KAREN ROBARDS

Sleepwalker
Justice
Shattered
Shameless
Pursuit
Guilty
Obsession
Vanished
Superstition
Bait
Beachcomber
Whispers at Midnight
Irresistible
To Trust a Stranger
Scandalous
Paradise County
Ghost Moon
The Midnight Hour
The Senator’s Wife
Heartbreaker
Hunter’s Moon
Walking after Midnight
Maggy’s Child
One Summer
Nobody’s Angel
This Side of Heaven
Tiger’s Eye
Dark of the Moon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

K
AREN
R
OBARDS
is the
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author of forty books and one novella. The mother of three boys, she lives in her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.