Free Ghost Hunter by Jayne Castle Page B

short-term status of a Marriage of Convenience to that of a permanent Covenant Marriage.
    Families encouraged their offspring to experiment with MCs while they were young and more at risk of being swept away by the glittering lures of romance, passion, and plain, old-fashioned lust.
    Covenant Marriages were supposed to be carefully thought out business and social arrangements reserved for those who were more mature and ready to settle down.
    Guys like him, Cooper thought. He’d had it all so carefully planned.
    â€œWell, don’t blame yourself too much.” She patted his shoulder in much the same way that she had just patted Rose. “After all, I accepted your proposal. I thought I knew what I was doing, too. And Guild tradition is a powerful force. Guess we both had a narrow escape.”
    â€œGuess so.” Conjugal relations was the last subject he wanted to think about just now. But he couldn’t seem to move on. “You ever tried an MC?”
    â€œWho? Me? Nope. Left at the next corner.”
    â€œWhy not?” he asked, unable to stop himself.
    â€œLet’s just say that an MC is easier said than done in a small town where everyone knows that you’re the daughter of one of the members of the Guild Council. I always had to worry about the real motives of the men who showed an interest in any sort of arrangement with me, short- or long-term.”
    â€œMen like Palmer Frazier, do you mean?”
    â€œI think we’d better avoid the topic of Palmer Frazier.” She paused. “What about you? Ever been in an MC?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œWhy not? Too busy working your way up through the Guild?”
    He moved one hand slightly on the wheel. “That was one of the reasons.”
    â€œAre there any others?”
    â€œNone that I’m prepared to discuss tonight.”
    â€œOh.” She sounded chagrined. “I don’t have the right to ask those sorts of personal questions, do I? Turn right.”
    He followed directions obediently. There was no reason to mention that he already knew how to get to Ruin Lane because he had cruised past St. Clair’s Herbal Emporium earlier today, immediately after he had arrived in town.
    As was the case with all of the other major city-states, Cadence had grown rapidly, pushing out into the surrounding countryside. Predictably, the Old Quarters had been treated with benign neglect. Over the years many of the neighborhoods near the great walls had became home to the down-and-out and those who lived on the margins of society, as well as a varied selection of nightclubs, bars, and taverns.
    But due to their close proximity to the ancient alien metropolises, the Old Quarters all possessed one strong, vibrant, economic underpinning that kept them from sliding into complete decay: a lively trade in alien antiquities, both real and fake.
    Interspersed with the cheap apartment houses, dives, and forlorn storefronts here in the cramped streets of Cadence’s colonial neighborhoods, Cooper saw small shops purporting to offer relics from the Dead City and the Early Colonial era.
    When he had made quiet inquiries a few months back to assure himself that Elly was not living in a dangerous neighborhood, he had been told that her shop was in one of the newer, recently gentrified sections of the Old Quarter. Today when he had driven slowly down Ruin Lane, he hadbeen relieved to find out that his information had been solid.
    True, the area wasn’t as neat and tidy as the street where she had lived back in Aurora Springs, but he didn’t see conventions of drug dealers, cop cars, and prostitutes on the corners, either.
    â€œThere’s Bertha’s shop,” Elly stated. “Go around the corner. We’ll park in the alley.”
    â€œI seem to be spending a lot of time in alleys tonight.”
    â€œThey’re considered a scenic attraction here in the Old Quarter. Very atmospheric.”
    He eased the Spectrum