Chapter Five

Bricks And Mortar

"Everyone deserves to know a complete love, at least once in their lifetime… and beyond," Daniel whispered into Carolyn's hair. "And you will always be mine…"

They were sitting together on the couch beside the fireplace, his arms cradling her back against his chest. They had sat there for some minutes, trying to make sense of it all.

Daniel had explained everything he'd done for the sake of their love. The demonic Mr Turner, the binding contract for his soul, everything…

"As you will always be mine," Carolyn whispered brokenly, in reply to his statement. "Because love lasts longer than time itself. That is why I cannot allow you to keep the pact. Not for me. Never for me. I could not bear the responsibility of it. It would mean losing you forever."

"But I did it for us, so we can be together in this reality," Daniel strove to make her understand. "You said, if I were alive then Gull Cottage would be a palace."

"And I want that more than anything." Carolyn turned within his embrace to look up at him. "I've always wanted that, but not for a price that is too high to pay. I won't allow you to condemn yourself for all eternity. That way, we will never be together. I am prepared to wait… To wait until…"

"I know…" Daniel laid one silencing forefinger over her lips. "But to be able to hold you, to kiss you…" He followed his words with the sensual action, leaving Carolyn breathless and craving more.

Daniel cupped her face between his palms, looking down into her eyes. "I thought you were planning to leave me and go back to Philadelphia with your parents. When I overheard you talking to Martha in the kitchen on Sunday I became desperate. I had to do something to make you stay. To make it right between us. Being alive again was the best outcome I could think of."

"Men…" Carolyn shook her head ruefully. "How could I ever leave you? I love you more than life itself. Even blinded by your outrage, you should have stayed and talked to me."

"I know that now…" Daniel sighed. "But, when you said to Martha that you wanted to talk with Claymore about the end of your lease I could no longer think straight. All I knew was that your parents would be back in two weeks to take you and the children away from me forever and I had to find a way to prevent that from happening."

"I hope you've learned your lesson, Captain, that you should not eavesdrop on a conversation where you glean only half the facts and make up the rest. You almost broke your Gatley barometer with your stormy temper," she chided lovingly. "I don't think the poor thing could have handled many more moods swings. And as for Claymore…"

She took his hands from her cheeks and held them. "What you heard was me discussing my tricky article with Martha because I'd come to an impasse I couldn't get around. I had a deadline I needed to meet and I was desperate. Of course, if you'd been around to help me…"

"I have been a prize fool, haven't I?" He lifted his shoulders.

"No, just a very loveable one who would do anything for me and not count the cost…" Carolyn leaned close to kiss him lingeringly. "Sweet, there is nothing left to saybut this, that love is never lost…" she repeated his Oscar Wilde quote. "Not while we have each other…"

"What are we going to do now?" Daniel asked bleakly.

"You must promise me one thing." Carolyn ran a loving finger across his lips.

"Anything…"

"There are to be no more secrets between us. No more half-truths and confusion. And no more stormy temper tantrums or storming off."

Daniel nodded. "I give you my solemn word of honour."

"Thank you. Now, the children will be home in a few hours. They can't see you like this because it would only confuse them."

"So, as a ghost, I do not frighten them, but as a man?"

"Oh, Daniel, they love you. We all love you. But they cannot know how this happened to you. In their need, they would want to keep you this way and we both know that cannot be. I will not endanger your immortal soul or give that Turner the satisfaction of thinking he's won."

She sat back. "I think it's best if you go up to the wheelhouse and stay there until the children are asleep. Then we will make our plans."

"Very well…" Daniel closed his eyes briefly in deep regret. "I never thought that being alive again could be so difficult. Blasted Turner was right when he said life is wasted on the living. He will want to enforce the contract. He has hunted me for far too long to give up now."

"He will not get the better of us if we are together." Carolyn shook her head, keeping his hands between her own. "You said we have until ten o'clock tomorrow morning when you must return to that beach and tell him he can go back to Hades and take his blasted contract with him. I'm coming with you."

"No, Carolyn, I cannot allow it," Daniel commanded. "It will be too dangerous!"

"More dangerous than losing you forever? You have done this for my sake. How could I not follow you wherever you go?" She raised one of his hands to her lips to kiss his palm. "It would be a different kind of eternity, but we would be together. And that's all that matters."

"Such a fate for you I will not allow!" Daniel tried to reassert his dominance but knowing by the stubborn set of his beloved's chin that he had already lost the argument. He stared at her helplessly, loving the feel of her lips against his skin.

"How will you prevent me? I love you too much to let you go alone…" Carolyn lifted her head to smile up at him. "I didn't ask for your permission. I'm coming."

"Very well…" Daniel shook his head. "If nothing I say will dissuade you." He tried not to allow his sorrow to show. "Turner will not be pleased. He would take great delight in capturing your soul for his collection."

"If you can walk through the fire for me," Carolyn reassured him, closing his fingers over the memory of her kiss. "Then I can help you face a demon who needs to be told the truth. That your eternal soul is not for sale at any price, and never, ever will be again."

She raised her hand to the back of his head, drawing his lips back to hers. It had been a long time since she had kissed a man in anything but friendship. Even Blair Thompson's urgent caresses hadn't moved her to feel anything beyond compassion and regret.

This was entirely different. Alive or dead, Daniel was the most potent, the most unpredictable man and ghost she'd ever met in her life. His nineteenth-century beginnings held an attraction she couldn't deny. She was also well aware his courtly manners and strict care of her feminine virtue would prevent them from consummating their love without the benefit of a marriage license. No matter how much they both might wish for it.

And that piece of significant paper was completely unattainable unless some higher power worked a miracle greater than enabling Daniel to live again. Even as she gloried in the sensual pleasure of having him so close, Carolyn knew their brief human love affair could never have the fairy-tale ending they both desired more than anything.

It made her sad. Fresh tears burned behind her closed lids even as she gloried in their most intimate contact she'd ever had outside of her dreams.

"Turner cannot have you, for you are mine…" Daniel said softly, lifting his mouth from hers to kiss her forehead reverently. "You have always been mine and I would tear the world apart to keep you safe…"

His gaze flicked briefly around the room, probing the corners, before returning to hers. "To keep you by my side…always…"

"I know…" Carolyn breathed, her heart rate gathering pace at the look of naked longing in his eyes. "And you belong to me. Never forget that. Whatever Turner may do, whatever evil tricks he might try, know that I will always love you. No matter what happens now."

An odd sound suddenly rumbled between them. They stared at each other in surprise. The sound came again, a slow grumble of complaint.

Daniel looked down, his eyebrows rising in utter surprise. "I believe I am hungry."

"That we can do something about if we're quick." Carolyn couldn't help smiling at his expression of astonishment. "What do you fancy for your first meal in over one hundred years?"

"I have no idea…" he mused slowly, frowning. "Perhaps, to save time, you'd better surprise me." They both fell into relieved laughter as the rumbling came again, easing the deep, emotional tension in the room.

As they left the bedroom to walk downstairs, hand in hand, Carolyn stopped beside the Gatley. "Look…" she indicated the barometer's dial.

The needle had finally moved off stormy and was now pointing to change. Daniel shook his head at it. "I doubt the poor old thing has a measure for how I am truly feeling right now."

"Come on." Carolyn tugged at his hand. "Let's go and see what we can find in the kitchen before the children and Martha come home."

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Carolyn never thought that sitting at the kitchen table, watching a man eat her cooking, could bring her so much pleasure. She'd prepared a simple Spanish omelette from leftovers she'd found in the fridge. After serving it onto two plates, she and Daniel sat at the table eating their meal in companionable silence.

Daniel sighed as he cleared his plate before finally sitting back, cradling his cup of coffee between his palms. "I don't remember anything ever tasting that good."

"That certainly is a compliment." Carolyn smiled.

Daniel savoured his black coffee. "And this has certainly improved in the last hundred years. Aboard ship, ours was constantly boiled and re-boiled in an old pot over an open fire. If supplies were short the men often made theirs by stirring burnt bread into boiling water." He inhaled the strong aroma.

"I'm glad there are some aspects of the twentieth century you can approve of," Carolyn said, trying to keep the conversation light and off the more weighty subject of endangered souls and demons.

"It does have many advantages." Daniel nodded, his gaze studying the softness of her mouth. "I wish…"

"Tell me," Carolyn urged. "Remember you promised, no more secrets between us."

"If it were possible, I would drag Claymore out here by the scruff of his worthless neck and order him to marry us immediately, while I'm still alive. Then we would, at least, have a single night…"

He sighed with sensual longing, taking her hand across the table. "I would trade my eternal soul for that."

"I wish for that too," Carolyn confided, returning his warm clasp. "More than anything. To be able to lie in your arms and watch the sun rise."

She shook her head with true regret. "But we both know it cannot be. We must remember we cannot be alone in this house, no matter how much we could wish it to be so. It would endanger too much…"

"Yes," he admitted brusquely. "But if we were married, it would solve all your problems with your parents when they returned. There would be no more talk of Philadelphia or that detestable Mitford."

"A wonderful dream, my love, but sadly it's totally impractical. Marrying two Captain Daniel Greggs within a month would be just too fantastic to fool anyone. And in the eyes of the law, you still do not exist. No marriage license would stand up to scrutiny. And you can be sure my parents would scrutinise everything."

"I know they are your parents, Madam, and they love you dearly, but blast them for interfering! We were well content steering a tight ship on a true course toward safe harbour and home."

"They think they're doing what's best for me. Blame Cousin Harriet and her uncontrollable gossiping, if anyone. I wish I could tell them all about you, but they would never believe me, even if you did reveal yourself to them."

Her lips compressed. "They would never understand."

"That is why it's best to keep the world at arm's length," Daniel agreed reluctantly.

"And if Claymore ever found out that you were no longer a ghost and you'd lost all your powers, he would be quick to make all kinds of trouble. If he knew, he would delight in selling the house for demolition out of sheer spite."

"Blast that spineless toad, as well!" Daniel snapped. "Are we to have no peace in our own home?"

"Yelling about it changes nothing," Carolyn reasoned. "We must come up with a plan. Something iron-clad that my parents can't circumvent. Some concrete reason why I cannot return home with them next week, or at any point in the future."

"If only there was such a way…" Daniel's brow creased in deep thought.

The kitchen clock ticked inexorably as they stared at each other in silence. Carolyn was lost for any solution. "Yes, but what?" She sighed helplessly.

"I believe you have it, Madam!" Daniel sat up suddenly, reaching his hand across the table to grasp hers. "Concrete I may not possess, but will bricks and mortar suffice instead?"

"I don't understand…"

"Carolyn, you are going to buy Gull Cottage from Claymore! What could be more perfect?"

"I am?" She blinked at him. "But we both know I don't have that kind of money."

"Ah, but I do." Daniel carried her hand to his lips. "Remember I said if I were alive, Madam, I would give you diamonds and emeralds. I have my secreted hoard of gold doubloons, silver coins and jewels. More than enough to satisfy even Claymore's rapacious appetite. He's been trying to uncover its whereabouts for years."

He looked around the kitchen. "I had intended the treasure to be used to make Gull Cottage into that home for retired seamen. There are sufficient funds to buy this house and also set you up as a monied woman of property and means for the rest of your life. This house will be your palace."

"Oh, Daniel, I couldn't possibly take your money."

He shook his head lovingly at her. "First the lady will not consent to marry me and now she won't take my money, either. What is a ghost to do?" he teased softly. "What earthly use have I for such material things, my dear? Where your need is most urgent and immediate. I will not take no for an answer."

"Very well. But how will you convince Claymore to sell?"

"You leave that ninnyhammer to me. We shall pay him a visit after we have dealt with Turner. Claymore will be only too eager to sell, once I have finished with him. Then we will prepare to be boarded by your parents."

Carolyn glanced at the kitchen clock. "Well, right now, we must prepare to be boarded by Candy and Jonathan." She got up from the table. "Martha will be picking them up from school soon and they can't find you down here."

"Then allow me to assist you, my dear." Daniel got up and began to collect their dishes.

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"Have you seen the Captain yet, Mom?" Jonathan asked worriedly, as he hurried into the kitchen followed by Candy and Martha. "Did he come back at all?"

"He did come back." Carolyn hugged him. "But he's very busy on some rather urgent business. He said we're not to disturb him until he's finished it."

"Blast…" Her son's face fell. "We were just gettin' to the best part of his story. I wanna know what happened next after he almost got caught by that great white shark off the coast of New Zealand and he had to swim for his life."

"I'm sure he'll remember and tell you tomorrow." Carolyn ruffled his hair.

"Yeah, but how come I have to wait that long?" Jonathan's shoulders slumped. "And besides, he promised! And he always keeps his word, no matter what!"

The eyes of the two women met above him. Carolyn shook her head and Martha nodded silently.

"All right, I think milk and cookies will save the day," the housekeeper reassured the boy, directing both children to the table. "And then I know there's homework to be done."

"Awww, do we have to?" Jonathan dragged his feet as he submitted reluctantly. "Blast…"

※※※※※

Carolyn slipped into her bedroom after putting the children to bed and reading them a story. It was nearly nine o'clock by the time she closed the door behind her with a sigh of relief.

The first thing she noticed was an envelope propped up against her pillows, with her name written across the front in the Captain's elegant hand. Curious, she crossed to the bed to pick it up. She turned it over and broke the red wax seal, drawing out a folded note.

She opened it to read the words written within. Cherished memories came flooding back.

'Captain Daniel Gregg humbly requests the company

of Mrs Carolyn Muir in the Wheelhouse at nine

for a leisurely glass of Madeira.'

She glanced at the bedside clock. She gasped, seeing she had barely ten minutes to get changed and hurry along the hall to the wheelhouse door. She would have to tiptoe past the children's bedroom to keep them from hearing her secret rendezvous.

She hurried to her closet to change into the gown she'd last worn for the town's centennial ball. Somehow it seemed appropriate for this most unusual night.

When she was ready she opened the landing door and walked quietly up the wheelhouse stairs. Entering the attic space, she found Daniel waiting for her. His breath caught at the sight of her.

To Carolyn's surprise, he'd set out a tray holding a simple meal of crackers and cheese along with grapes and slices of ripe watermelon. Beside it sat his silver salver holding the decanter of Madeira and two crystal glasses.

"How did you manage all this?" Carolyn marvelled. "Without your…I mean… when you can't…" She floundered into confused silence.

"When you've led a motley crew ashore to forage for supplies beneath the very noses of the enemy, raiding the kitchen was easy. You need to walk like a panther and keep a keen eye for any sentries."

He smiled as he shook his head. "And I waited until Martha had finished the dishes and retired to her room."

He picked up the decanter and filled the two glasses. He handed one to her.

"You look lovely tonight," he observed. "I remember your gown and that night. We waltzed. Or, at least, you and Claymore attempted to do so until I couldn't stand the sight of his bumbling attempts any longer and I took over his body."

"It was a lovely evening." Carolyn smiled as she sipped the liquid in her glass. "You waltzed so beautifully."

"You were the perfect partner. It felt wonderful to hold you in my arms. Well, Claymore's…" Daniel walked to the small attic window behind him. He pushed it open to allow the warm night breeze to flow in. He stood for a moment breathing deeply. "I have missed this…" He sighed. "I am going to miss it…"

"I know…" Carolyn watched him with sympathy.

He turned away to draw their usual red velvet love seat closer beneath the window. He turned to her, holding out one hand. "Would my lady care to be seated?"

"Why, thank you, sir." Carolyn placed her hand within his before sinking down onto the seat next to him.

They clicked their glasses together in a silent toast. Daniel's expression grew thoughtful.

"Turner is not a demon to be easily bested," he warned. "He will do his utmost to make things very difficult for us to void the contract. He has hunted my soul for too long to give it up now. Not when he's almost got his greedy hands on what he most desires."

"Even he has a master to answer to, it seems." Carolyn reminded him. "I don't think he would dare try anything underhanded."

"I adore your optimism." Daniel shook his head.

He reached to take her glass from her hand. He put them aside before drawing her to her feet.

"May I have the honour of this dance?" He smiled softly. "That is if your card is not already filled with eager suitors?"

"Oh, I think it's free…" Carolyn put one hand on his shoulder as he drew her close to him, his hand going to her waist.

But instead of his more formal style she was used to, Daniel continued to bring her closer until she rested against him from hip to breast.

"You've learned a little from Sean Callahan's twentieth-century style?" Carolyn queried softly, as they began to circle the floor slowly.

"The man did have a few qualities I could admire…" Daniel's gaze dropped to her lips. "Certainly, his most excellent taste in women…"

Carolyn sighed as she dropped her head to rest her cheek against his shoulder. They danced slowly, lost in the moment and the music only they could hear.

If this was to be the only night they could spend together, then they were going to make it count by dancing and loving the night away.

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