Haunted by Heather Graham Page A

and Darcy found herself laughing a lot throughout the meal.
    Matt and Penny didn’t seem to agree on anything, but the affection between them was visible and real. Penny wanted to tell legends. Matt wanted to correct her when her legends became too lurid, romantic, or too anything.
    â€œIt was as if the entire Southern army was taking refuge at Melody House!” Penny said.
    â€œThe entire Southern army!” Matt snorted. “A company at best. Twenty men, Penny.”
    Penny waved a hand in the air. “They were exquisite soldiers,” she said, shaking her head and dismissing Matt’s correction. “They might as well have numbered thousands. They beat back the Yankees—”
    â€œWhat? The entire Northern force?” Matt queried, a sparkling light in his eyes.
    â€œThere were at least one hundred!” Penny said, glaring back at her employer. “The point is, our boys wouldn’t give up, and they saved the day, but their leader, a young captain, was killed. Shot in the heart by a minnie ball that whizzed right through the parlor windows. Now, he is said to be here, still guarding Melody House.”
    Matt leaned low across the table, amusement in his eyes as they met Darcy’s. “And no one seems to have told him that thewar is over, that the South lost. He’s not at all fond of Yankee accents—so they say.”
    â€œThank God, then, that I don’t have one,” Darcy told him sweetly. “All those years watching late-night shows seems to have paid off.”
    â€œBut you trained to be an actress—of course you can get rid of an accent!” Carter applauded her admiringly.
    â€œAn actress, hm,” Matt said.
    â€œI was going to study acting,” she corrected. “I never did. Not in college, anyway.”
    â€œThat’s right. She majored in everything else,” Matt said.
    â€œYou can’t major in ghosts these days, can you?” Clint asked.
    â€œDon’t be silly!” Penny reprimanded.
    Both Carter and Clint shrugged.
    Dessert had been served. An exceptional baked Alaska. Darcy was certain that at any moment, an immaculate butler was going to walk in and suggest that the ladies retire to one room, the gentlemen to another, for brandy and cigars.
    But there was no butler—not tonight, anyway. They had all helped to serve the meal.
    â€œSo?” Penny said excitedly, looking at Darcy expectantly. She had a feeling that she was going to hear the word “so” from Penny a lot.
    â€œSo?” Darcy repeated, smiling.
    â€œDo you see him?”
    â€œWho?”
    â€œOur captain!”
    â€œThe captain who saved Melody House from the marauding Yankees who were going to burn it down,” Matt reminded her dryly.
    Darcy shrugged. “I try just to get accustomed to a house the first few days I’m in it,” she told Penny.
    â€œOh! Of course. Let all the vibrations get through to you,” Penny said, nodding sagely.
    â€œSomething like that,” Darcy agreed.
    â€œSo, are there vibrations?” Matt asked, seemingly polite.
    She stared straight at them. “The place just trembles,” she murmured.
    â€œWith?” he prompted.
    She widened her eyes. “Hostility.”
    Clint burst into laughter. “The living give out vibes, too, huh?”
    Matt stared at Darcy, the flicker of a rueful smile curving his lips. A remarkable transformation came over him. He was almost devastatingly appealing, when he looked so.
    â€œIf I’m giving out hostile vibes, it’s not with intent of malice.”
    From him, Darcy decided, that was the best apology she was going to get.
    â€œSometimes it’s not easy to pinpoint just where vibes might be centered,” she said, surprised to realize that she was smiling as well.
    And that Penny, Clint, and Carter were all staring at them.
    She rose, her movement not as fluid and easy as she would have liked. “It was a