Scent Of Roses Part 10

She glanced in that direction, but the youth farm was too far away to see. "Maria called to tell me he was coming. I was afraid if he left he'd get caught."

"Sam's closing his eyes to this for the moment. But I've got to get Raul back before Sam's patience wears out. Let's go see if he's in there."

Elizabeth didn't move. "There's no need for you to trouble yourself. If he's there, I can bring him out to the farm."

"Sorry. This is my problem as much as yours. Let's go."

He didn't give her time to argue, just started up the steps of the little front porch and she fell in beside him. She wanted him to leave, to tell him he didn't need to interrupt his evening with Lisa, but like it or not, he had a point. Raul was missing from Teen Vision and that made it Zach's problem as well as her own.

He firmly rapped on the door and a few seconds later, Maria pulled it open. Her eyes widened when she saw a man she didn't know standing next to Elizabeth.

"It's all right," Elizabeth said. "This is Zachary Harcourt. He's come to take Raul back to the farm."

Maria looked around, uncertain if she should admit her brother was inside.

"Raul isn't in trouble," Zach told her. "Not yet. That's why I'm hereto make sure he gets back before he is."

Maria opened the door and stepped out of their way. "He is here."

Zach waited for Elizabeth to go in ahead of him and as soon as she walked into the living room, she spotted Raul on the sofa. He shot to his feet the moment he saw them, and Elizabeth recognized the belligerent look on his face. She had seen it before and seeing it now did not bode well for Raul.

"My sister is frightened. I am not leaving her alone in this house."

Zach spoke before she had the chance. "If you don't go back with me tonight, Raul, they'll return you to juvenile detention. You can't protect your sister while you're locked up in there."

The boy's black eyes darted from Zach to Elizabeth and she could read the turmoil there. "I have to stay. She is my sister and she is afraid."

"You cannot stay!" Maria practically shouted. "This is the chance you have been waiting for. You must go back before it is too late!"

Raul just shook his head.

Elizabeth glanced between the two siblings, focused her attention on the brother. "It's all right, Raul. I'll stay with Maria." As the words spilled out, it occurred to her that perhaps it was a good idea. When nothing happened in the house tonight, maybe the girl would concede the possibility that her ghost might not exist and return to her sessions with Dr. James. "If it's all right with Maria."

"You do not need to stay," Maria said. "I am fine here by myself."

"Your brother is afraid you'll be frightened. If I'm here, you won't be."

Maria swallowed, glanced nervously toward the open bedroom door. "I called my friend, Isabel, but she was expecting company tonight. I shouldn't have told Raul."

"It isn't a problem for me to stay, Maria. Really."

Raul stared at her and all his bravado deflated like a pinp.r.i.c.ked balloon. "You would stay?"

"I think it's a good idea, don't you?" She managed a smile. "Maybe I'll see Maria's ghost."

Maria looked up at her and hope sparked in her jet-black eyes. "Si, maybe you will see her. Then you will not think I am crazy."

"I don't think you're crazy and neither does Dr. James." She caught herself before she launched into another fruitless discussion about anxiety. "But if I happen to see your ghost, of course it would make a difference."

Maria turned to Zach. "Do you believe in ghosts?"

The edge of his mouth faintly curved. "I suppose I would if I saw one."

Very diplomatic, Elizabeth thought with a trace of humor. Maybe he really did have the finesse it took to make a good lawyer.

"Maybe Ms. Conners will see one tonight," Maria said.

His mouth curved even more. Such a s.e.xy mouth. Something warm and completely unwanted slid into the pit of her stomach.

"Perhaps she will." Zach looked over at Raul. "I think it's time for us to go."

The boy hung his head and nodded.

"Go get in the car. I'll be right there."

"I am sorry for the trouble I caused."

"It's all right. You were trying to take care of your family. I can understand that. We just need to work things out so that you won't have to do it again." Raul headed for the door, and Zach cast a meaningful glance at Elizabeth. "Can I speak to you for a moment?"

She would rather he just left, but he had work to do just as she did. By the time she joined him on the porch, Raul was sitting in the pa.s.senger side of the Jeep. Zach reached over and closed the front door behind her. His arm brushed hers, and a little tremor of awareness went through her.

"You need to get Maria to tell her husband what's going on. Once he understands what's happening, they can work it out so she's not alone."

"I've tried. She won't do it. He's not exactly the understanding type, if you know what I mean. He's ten years older, one of those macho types. Maria doesn't think he'll believe her and it'll only make him mad at her."

"Then you're going to have to do it. It isn't fair to Raul to carry this burden by himself. At any rate, I don't know what other choice you haveaside from staying over every time her husband goes out of town."

"Fortunately, that doesn't happen very often. But you're right. He ought to be told." She turned, trying to think of a way to approach Miguel, and felt Zach's hand on her arm, turning her to face him.

"About this afternoon I was wrong. I should have been more honest. I apologize for what happened."

Her mouth tightened. She drew her arm away, trying to ignore the heat of his fingers that remained. "Doesn't matter. Like you said, it was only lunch."

"Yeah, only lunch."

She started to turn away, but Zach's deep voice stopped her.

"It's over with Lisa. I'm not going to see her anymore."

"Why not?"

"Let's just say she's not my type."

She took hold of the doork.n.o.b.

"I just wanted you to know," Zach said.

Elizabeth turned the k.n.o.b and pushed open the door. "Well, now I know." She walked inside and closed the door.

Zach drove Raul back to Teen Vision.

"Thanks, Zach." Raul cracked open his door as Zach turned off the engine in the parking lot. "I really appreciate what you did for me tonight."

"Sam did it, not me. But I'll tell you, Raul, those breaks come few and far between. Don't expect another one."

He nodded. "Do you think you might talk to your brother about the house?"

That was a joke. Like talking to Carson would do an ounce of good. "Let's just see how Ms. Conners does in the house tonight. Maybe she can help Maria figure out what's going on." If anything really was, which he sincerely doubted.

Still, with the crazy stuff that happened in the world today, anything seemed possible.

"I like Ms. Conners."

A memory of her standing next to him on the porch sent a ripple of heat into his groin. It was crazy. Every time he saw her, his attraction to her grew. "So do I."

Unfortunately, she's never been too keen on me.

"I hope she sees the ghost."

Zach grinned. "So do I." He could imagine the look on Liz Conner's face if there actually was a ghost.

"You'd better get going," he said. "Sam is already worried enough." Which was true, though Zach had phoned as soon as they'd gotten in the car to tell Sam he was bringing Raul back to the farm.

Raul nodded and climbed out of the car. "See you tomorrow."

"I'll be here." Zach restarted the engine. "I'll expect to see you, hammer in hand."

Raul smiled for the first time that night. Then his smile slowly faded and Zach figured his earlier concern for his sister had returned.

Maybe Liz's being there would help. Zach hoped so.

Though he didn't think it likely she would see Maria's ghost.

"I'll sleep in here on the couch," Elizabeth said to Maria, who, now that Elizabeth had agreed to stay, worried that the accommodations wouldn't be good enough. Earlier, Maria had insisted on fixing her something to eat, which was fine by Elizabeth, who discovered she was ravenously hungry. She hadn't finished her meal with Zach at The Ranch House and been too busy to get anything since.

After a delicious dinner of leftover chile verde, homemade tortillas and Spanish riceand an agreement that from now on Maria should call her Elizabeththey retired to the living room to settle in for the night.

"You could take the bed," Maria said, "but I do not have an extra pair of clean sheets."

"The couch is fine. It actually looks pretty comfortable."

Maria studied the brown, overstuffed sofa and bit her lip. "There are two bedrooms but the other one is empty. We are saving to buy a crib for the baby, but we don't have enough money yet. I have a very nice quilt that belonged to my mother. I will put it over the sofa. And you can borrow one of my nightgowns."

Elizabeth changed out of the khaki pants and sleeveless yellow blouse she'd been wearing when Maria had phoned, into the ankle-length pink nylon nightgown the younger woman loaned her. They were about the same height so the length wasn't a problem, and it wasn't so sheer her modesty was at stake.

"It is too tight for me right now," Maria said a bit shyly. "But soon I will be able to wear it again."

"I know you must be excited with the baby so close."

"Si. I cannot wait to have a child of my own. That is why I am so afraid. The ghost she said they will kill my baby if I stay."

Elizabeth walked over and lightly touched Maria's shoulder. The young woman had also changed into a nightgown, her feet bare beneath the hem, which fluttered in the current of air coming from the room air conditioner in the window. There was only one unit in the house. Even with the machine running full-blast, the house was on the warm side of comfortable.

Certainly it couldn't account for the awful chill Maria had mentioned.

"You mustn't worry, Maria. Everything's going to be fine." They sat down on the sofa together and Maria used the TV tuner to flip through the few channels they received on the little thirteen-inch TV sitting on a table against the wall.

"Not much on," Elizabeth said. "It's getting late, anyway. Why don't we just go to bed?"

Maria yawned and nodded. "That is a good idea." She turned toward the bedroom and started walking but her steps slowed as she approached the open door.

Sensing the young woman's nervousness, Elizabeth walked up beside her and peered into the room. "I've got an idea. There's a comfortable-looking chair in the corner. I'm not really sleepy yet. Why don't I sit in here for a while, until you fall asleep? Maybe I'll see the ghost."

Not much chance of that, but her presence would probably put the girl at ease enough to sleep.

"Oh, si, that is a very good idea. Perhaps she will come. You are sure you would not mind?"

"Not at all."

Maria yawned again as she slid between the sheets. In the thin stream of moonlight slanting in through the window, Elizabeth noticed how exhausted the young woman looked. The shadows beneath her eyes seemed even more p.r.o.nounced, the hollows in her cheeks sunken a little deeper. Maria closed her eyes and it didn't take long until she was deeply asleep.

Sitting in the chair, Elizabeth waited a while, not wanting to wake her, feeling a little bit groggy herself. She rested her head against the upholstered back and didn't realize she had fallen asleep until an odd sound penetrated her conscious.

It was an eerie sort of creaking, probably just the house settling a little, she figured. It came a second time, more distinctly than before, and her heart kicked up. Footsteps on the floor in the living room! Her pulse increased another notch. Someone was in the house!

The door leading into the living room stood open. Easing out of her chair, she crept silently in that direction, wis.h.i.+ng she had some sort of weapon. She flattened herself against the wall, then eased forward until she could peer into the other room. There was no lamp on, but enough light seeped in through the break in the curtains to see that no one was there.

Her heart was clattering, slamming against her ribs. Maybe whoever it was had gone into the kitchen or other bedroom. She thought of waking Maria, but she was beginning to think she had only imagined the sound. Still, she needed to know for sure.

As quietly as possible, she checked the little bathroom next to the bedroom, then made her way into the living room, crossed to the second bedroom, and opened the door. Again, the room appeared empty. She checked the closet. Nothing. Then she went into the kitchen.

The back door was locked. The front door as well. There wasn't a soul in the house. No one but her and Maria. She breathed a sigh of relief. It was only her imagination.

Amazing what the power of suggestion could do!

Feeling like a fool, she decided it was time she actually went to bed and started toward the sofa in the living room. She had taken only a couple of steps when the wind began to howl, the oddest sort of low, pain-filled moaning she had ever heard. It seeped beneath the door, seemed to slither over the windowsill. Goose b.u.mps rose on her skin and a chill slid down her spine.

Taking a breath to slow her heartbeat, determined not to make a fool of herself again, she walked over to the window and pulled back the curtains. The night was dark, just a sliver of moon, and not a leaf on the chinaberry tree in the yard was moving. Not a branch, not a flower in the beds beside the front porch.

She opened the front door and looked out. The hot, dry night air crept into the living room, but there wasn't a hint of breeze to propel it.

Elizabeth closed the door with an unsteady hand and turned the lock, securing the place once more. The moaning had stopped. But the eerie feeling it left in the house remained. The air conditioner hummed quietly in the living room window. She turned back toward the bedroom, walked the short distance to the door.

Maria was still asleep, lying on her back in the middle of the bed, the plain white sheet drawn up beneath her chin. It was comfortable where Elizabeth stood, but the minute she stepped through the door of the bedroom, she felt a chill so cold, so viciously freezing, her breath caught in her lungs. She gasped, began to breathe faster, trying to get enough air. She moistened her lips, which were freezing cold and rapidly turning numb.