The Ghost of Christmas Present (6 page)

"Dance with me through the next one to
make sure I've got it down pat, okay?"

They both waited with one ear cocked
toward a speaker, their bodies poised for the music to
start.

Instead of a fast song, though, the
strains of a sultry, moving love song swirled around the
room.

They looked at each other and smiled,
then the mirth left Jared's eyes and he peered into her soul again
as the song spoke of a love that could never be.

"Will you dance with me?" he asked, his
voice low and husky.

Hot tingles ripped through Alane and
her heart pounded harder at his simple, knee-weakening
request.

He raised his hands as if he could
actually hold her for the dance.

Hesitantly, her heart climbing in her
chest, she stepped up to him, mingled her hand with his, and curved
her arm around his vaporous waist.

She felt the warmth again, tingling in
her fingers and arm where she touched him, and the melting
sensation traveled through her body like it was part of her
blood.

As they swayed, as she burned from
within, she gazed into Jared's eyes, Eyes that reflected need,
pain. Love. An aching throb started in her chest, growing with each
passing moment as she returned his look, yearning to feel his arms
around her, to be able to press her head against his chest. A knot
of misery formed in her throat at the thought that she could never
feel the warmth of his lips on hers. Never taste the sweetness of
his kiss.

How she wished she could touch him, for
his sake, not for hers. To wrap her arms around his neck, to caress
his cheek, to trace her fingers across his lips. His thick, dark
hair, falling in shiny layers begged for her fingers to sift
through it, to smooth it back at his temples.

How had this happened? How could she
find herself drawn to someone who’d been dead for two centuries?
Misery mingled with want, denial warred with acceptance as her head
spun and she wondered if there could possibly be a more hopeless
situation.

She held his gaze as the song
continued, so perfectly meant for them that the words brought tears
to her eyes. She squeezed her eyes closed, to ward off more tears
and to escape from the tortured look on Jared's face. The knot grew
in her throat and she struggled to swallow around it. A hot,
wrenching coil spun in her chest.

As the song drew to an end she opened
her eyes and looked up at Jared.

He slowly dipped his head, and for a
moment a heavenly warmth passed across her lips.

"God help me, Alane," he moaned as the
warmth traveled along her neck, "but I've fallen in love with
you."

Joy and agony exploded in her at his
words, staggering her and nearly bringing her to her
knees.

"God help us both, then," she
whispered, "God help us both." 

CHAPTER FIVE

Jared drew in his breath and tried to
calm the raging need to touch her.

He had to touch her. Just once more.
Once, while she looked at him with those dark, soulful eyes, so
giving, so loving.

Giving in to his need, he focused his
energy, then brought his hands up to gently cradle her face. She
gasped at his touch, then her eyes lit with a joy that came from
the center of her soul. She nuzzled his hands as he slowly found
the softness of her mouth with his.

He absorbed the feel of her, the
essence that was Alane, and his mind swam at all she meant to him.
He indulged in the drug of her kiss, the wonder at never having
felt such euphoria. Then as his strength drained from him,
weakening him, reminding him of who and what he was, an empty,
gnawing ache curled in the pit of his stomach at what he would
never have.

Before the encroaching blackness could
engulf him, he released her and stumbled to the couch.

"Jared!" Alane ran to his side and fell
to her knees. "Jared, what's wrong? I can barely see you!" She
grabbed at him with frustrated cries, but her hands touched nothing
but air. "This isn't funny! Stop it!"

He raised his head and looked at her,
the pain in her eyes tearing at his heart.

"I'll...I'll be all right," he
struggled to say. "I just...need rest."

Alane didn't try to stop the tears. For
one brief, exquisite moment, when he'd touched her, when his lips
set off fireworks in her blood, she'd thought she owned the world.
Then reality came crashing back, more painful than
before.

He leaned back against the couch and
dragged his legs onto the cushions. She reached to help him, then
couldn't quiet the frustrated sob at her vain attempts.

He raised a weak, barely visible hand
to her.

"Don't...worry."

She watched as he seemed to lose
consciousness.

"Jared!" she yelled, then screamed his
name again when he didn't answer.

"Okay, stay calm," she told herself.
She sank back onto her heels and stared at the face already
precious to her heart.

Just a hint of his form was visible on
the couch. Just a hint of his existence.

Is that how much he'd given up to touch
her? Is that all that was left of him on this earth?

She knew now what he'd meant about
using his energy. About ceasing to exist. The thought terrified her
and she swore she'd forbid him to touch her like that ever again.
Nothing was worth the price of his existence. She refused to be the
one he would give up his existence for.

She knelt by his side, cursing her
helplessness. Her mind raced for ways to help him, but all she
could think of were mortal comforts. She couldn't get him a pillow
or drape a blanket over him. She couldn't even hold his
hand.

The fire died in the grate and the
candles guttered in their holders, and still she stayed by his
side. Sometime during the night she woke to find her head cradled
in her arms, resting on the couch cushions. Every joint in her body
ached and she finally struggled to her feet and dropped into the
recliner. Moonlight fell across his body on the couch, but he
looked no stronger than he had hours earlier.

She sat there and stared at
him until her eyes burned. She
willed
him to get better. And as she
sat vigil she faced the truth that she'd fallen in love with a dead
man. After knowing Jared, every other man she'd ever known,
including David, especially David, paled in comparison. Jared would
forever be the standard to which she measured other men, and she
knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that none would ever come
close.

********

Sometime before noon his eyes finally
opened and he stared heavenward for a moment before turning his
gaze straight to her, as if he'd known she was there all
along.

He just looked at her, with such a love
and sadness in his eyes it brought burning tears to her
own.

"Thank you for staying with me," he
said quietly, his voice stronger than before. "I knew you were
here. I don't sleep, you know, but I'd lost the strength to
speak."

Alane didn't trust her voice so she
just smiled and shook her head to tell him it was nothing. When
she'd swallowed back the tears, she knelt by his side, aching to be
able to take his hand in hers.

"You're never to do something like that
again, do you understand?"

"Do what?" he asked with a weak,
innocent grin.

She couldn't even punch him in the
arm.

"Touch me, smart-alec. You're never to
take a chance like that again."

He lifted his hand and drew it along
her cheek.

"It was worth it."

"No, it wasn't. You nearly faded
completely away! I was scared to death!"

He dropped his hand to mingle with hers
and all traces of a smile left his face.

"If I had awakened in Hell this
morning, it still would have been worth it. I kissed an angel last
night, and I learned the joy of what it is to love and to be loved.
If I cease to exist this minute, I will go a happy man."

"And you'll leave me to mourn you for
the rest of my life. Promise me you won't take that chance again."
When he didn't answer she nearly screamed for wanting to shake him.
"Promise me!"

When he still didn't answer, she got to
her feet and glared down at him, hands on her hips. She had to know
he'd be safe.

"Promise, or I'll leave right now and
never come back. I won't stay here and jeopardize your
existence."

He struggled to sit up, then swung his
feet to the floor and sighed.

"I promise never to touch you again,
unless you ask. How's that?"

A hollow victory, she thought. But at
least it would keep him safe. She nodded.

"Now. Is there anything I can do to
help you get your strength back?"

"A cup of coffee and a twenty ounce
steak would do wonders."

She picked up a throw pillow and hurled
it at his head. He actually tried to dodge it, but it sailed
through his chest and bounced off the back of the couch.

"I'm serious, Casper. I'm new at this.
What do sick ghosts do to get well?"

He laughed weakly and shook his
head.

"Nothing. I should be back to normal by
this evening. See?" He displayed his arms, more visible now, like a
little boy in show and tell. "I'm getting better
already."

She eyed him, not quite certain he was
telling her the truth, but what else could she do?

"Okay. You just stay there and get your
strength back and I'm going to get some breakfast. Then I've got a
surprise for you."

His eyes lit up and he sat up
straighter.

"A surprise? I love surprises! What is
it?"

She turned and gave him a
long-suffering look.

"I'm not telling. And if you don't
behave yourself, I'm not going to." Good grief, her mother's voice
had just come out of her mouth. She needed to go dunk her head in
ice water. “And don’t you dare try reading my mind!”

*******

Jared paced in front of the window,
through the wall and onto the front porch. Back and forth. Back and
forth. Every time a flash of headlights swept across the
snow-covered road below, he zapped himself to the edge of his land
and waited to see if the car would turn up their road.

Where the devil was she? She'd taken
the Jeep hours ago, with a mysterious smile and a light in her
eyes, refusing to offer even a hint to her activities.

He hated surprises.

Finally! Twin beams of light sweeping
onto their road. He whisked himself to his boundary, and the moment
her Jeep crossed his land he melted into the car.

"What took you so long?"

Alane jerked with a gasp, and the car
went fishtailing across the road. Once she steered her way out of
the problem, she stopped, fell back against the seat and held her
heart.

"Criminy! Would you stop
that?"

He barely even heard her as he scanned
the interior of the car, taking in nothing but a grocery bag and
art supplies.

"Sorry. What's the surprise? What took
you so long?"

She stared at him, her straight face
given away by the smile in her eyes.

"The surprise is a great
big,
loud
, cow bell
to wear around your neck. And have you ever tried to make good time
on mountain roads after a blizzard?"

She put the car in gear and continued
up the road to the driveway. Jared stared at her as she
drove.

She wasn't serious about a cow bell,
was she?

Before he could ponder that question
she climbed out of the car and grabbed the bags from the backseat.
He followed her into the cabin while she dropped them on a table,
then he followed her back out again.

"You aren't serious about the cow bell,
are you? Because surely you realize I can't..."

He forgot what he was saying as she
went to the back of the car and yanked on a rope dangling from the
top.

"A Christmas tree!"

Alane pulled a small, lush, magnificent
fir from the top of the car, then expertly grabbed the trunk and
headed back to the house.

"You got this for me, didn't you? This
is the surprise! I know it is because you don't do real trees. This
is wonderful! You couldn't have picked a better gift."

He passed through the wall and
chattered at her from the other side of the screendoor. With a
grimacing smile, she struggled at the door but couldn't let go of
the tree to grab the knob.

He reached out his hand, focusing to
push open the door for her.

"Don't even think about it," she
ordered from the porch. "I can get it."

With a healthy kick to the bottom, the
door slammed hard against the frame and bounced open a little. She
hooked the toe of her boot in the opening, flicked it wider, then
pushed it all the way back with her foot. Seconds later she'd
squeezed through the doorway and stood the tree in the corner. With
a satisfied nod, she dusted off her hands and smiled up at
him.