Free Seduction of Souls by Patricia Gauthier Page A

going to look into Nathaniel more, maybe pin down where he settled?”
    “Absolutely, although we’re not even sure he lived long enough to make it all the way out west.  First I’ll have to research the most popular routes out west then go back and check all the major cities records.  It’s a huge task if it’s done properly.”
    “How long do you think it’ll take?”
    “Humm, probably a few days to a week.  Maybe even longer.  Depends on how many sites I have to go to and how many wild goose chases I end up taking.”
    “Are you going to start now?”
    “Tomorrow.  I’m going up to bed.  When is Jarrod due back to take over for you?”
    “Midnight.  Thanks again for giving me a room here at the house.  Now that Bryn and Tim are doing the horizontal tango, I’ll have to find myself a new place to crash when I’m in town.”
    “What do you mean?  I thought you and Tim were longtime roommates.”
    “We are, but I travel a lot.  Tim and Jarred don’t always work every case.  Sometimes it’s just a simple house cleansing that’s needed, so I just do a job like that myself.  Only cases like this one, with a high level of activity, need all this technical equipment.”
    “How do you feel about Bryn and Tim dating?”
    “Oh jeez, here we go with all this girly, touchy-feely stuff.  Do women have to beat everything to death?”
    “Sorry to point this out to you, but I am a woman.  A woman who’s just trying to have a conversation with a…how do I put this?  Cave man.”  She let out a large sigh while she moved out the door.  Pretty sad that I have to point out that I’m a woman .  Apparently the attraction I was feeling is one sided.  Good to know before I make a total fool of myself.
    Once she had put on her sleep tank , she crawled between the covers, hoping sleep would come quickly.  Knowing she would have a long, tiring day at the computer tomorrow she would need all the rest she could get.  As she thought about the best plan for her research she fell asleep.
    Next thing she knew she was on her knees in the corner of her room, screaming filling her ears.  Ryker was shaking her roughly and calling her name.  Her face was wet from tears she had no memory of shedding.
     
    “RayeAnn, wake up right now.  Come on, stand up.  It’s just a dream.  Here, let me help you up.”  Gently now he took her arm and pulled her to her feet.  When she winced in pain he eased her onto the bed to check her over for any injuries.  “Where are you hurt?”
    “My back, oh God, it’s on fire.”  She whimpered.
    W ithout thinking twice he pulled her shirt up.  “Shit.  What the hell did you do to yourself?  You’ve got bloody slashes across your back.”
    “I didn’t do anything to myself.  Last thing I remember was thinking about how to approach my research tomorrow.  How did they get there?”
    “My guess would be that someone put them there.  Someone who isn’t thrilled with the information we got today from your aunt.  Wild guess would be Charity’s father, Gideon Meriwether.  As far as we know he’s the only one that kept them apart in life, maybe he’s carried that grudge over to the other side with him.”
    “But why pull this now?  We’ve been working on this for a while, why didn’t he just do this from the beginning?”
    “Because now we have far more information, and he feels threatened.  Which tells me we might be getting close to an answer.  Something he doesn’t want us to find out maybe.  This isn’t unusual when dealing with angry or violent spirits.”
    “Perhaps you could have shared that nugget of wisdom with me before he scratched the hell out of my back.”
     
    He watched her struggle to get her trembling body under control.  Understandably she was upset, teetering on the brink of hysterical , judging from the force of her shudders.  His heart melted at the sight of her, vulnerable, scared and hurt, yet keeping it together enough to try and