Spirit of Seduction Read online

  Spirit of Seduction

  By Wynter Daniels

  Copyright 2011 Wynter Daniels

  Smashwords Edition

  Published by Wynter Daniels

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author.

  Discover other titles by Wynter Daniels at Smashwords.com

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  Game of Smoke and Mirrors

  Bride from the Black Lagoon

  Employee Relations

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter One

  Ryan stared at the ceiling, wishing sleep would come. Three nights now he hadn’t so much as nodded off for a few minutes. Dream-like visions of his sister’s friend Emily kept filling his head like a catchy song he couldn’t quite banish from his mind. Sometimes erotic, other times disturbing, he wasn’t sure what to make of her intrusions into his brain. They weren’t exactly on friendly terms.

  He’d only seen her once in the past couple years, at Becky’s funeral last month. He didn’t think she’d seemed angry anymore at the disparaging comments he’d made when Becky had told him Emily professed to be psychic.

  He saw her face in his mind’s eye, her long dark hair cascading over her shoulders down to her full breasts. She was nude and lovely with skin like silky caramel and bewitching gold eyes too wise for a woman so young.

  He kissed her, tasted exotic spices and all the pleasure she held in store for him. He plunged his fingers into her hair and they all but disappeared into the thick black strands. Her petite body fit perfectly against his, as if destiny had joined them.

  He shook his head to banish the image. God, he was so tired. Sitting up, he buried his face in his hands. He couldn’t stop thinking about her and the hot sex they had in his fantasy. But he couldn’t control the horror at the end of it. Worst part was the gnawing feeling that the vision was more than a reaction to how long it had been since he’d made love to a woman. It felt like some sort of premonition.

  He’d never believed in ghosts or any other paranormal nonsense as Becky and her friends had. He and Becky had argued about it for months before her death. Although lately he was beginning to wonder if maybe they weren’t crazy after all. Maybe they’d tapped into something, another realm. Because he definitely felt an unearthly presence around him.

  Hell, maybe he was going nuts. The shock of Becky’s murder four weeks ago had shaken him to his very foundation. Who wouldn’t go off the deep end for a while after having someone they loved ripped away under such horrifying circumstances? Not knowing who’d killed her had been eating at his soul every moment since the day of her death. After their parents’ death, he’d taken on the role of Becky’s protector, whether she’d known it or not. Left with no other family, they were all each other had. And he’d let her down when she’d needed him most.

  He peeled back the sweat-damp sheet, set his feet on the wood floor then switched on the bedside lamp. Eerie moon shadows danced beyond the window but it wasn’t anything outside that concerned him. This wasn’t the first time he’d felt a haunting presence in the room, hovering near him. The air felt thick, rank and damp. He got up to open the window but stopped dead.

  What the hell?

  A woman all in white stood on the edge of the woods. There was something familiar about her. He quietly eased open the window to get a better look. She stared right at him and his knees went weak.

  Becky?

  He fisted his hands and dug his fingernails painfully into his skin to confirm he was truly awake.

  The spirit seemed to float next to the black oak tree. “Heed your vision.” She was too far away for him to have heard her voice yet he did all the same.

  “Becky!” He stumbled backward until he crashed into the bed.

  The apparition was gone as suddenly as it had appeared. Gulping for air, he grasped the footboard, sure he must still be dreaming.

  “Becky…wait!” He lunged toward the window but she was gone before he could ask who’d killed her. Scrubbing a hand over his face, he wondered if he’d lost his mind.

  Could someone be playing a cruel joke on him? Who would do such a thing? And how would anyone know about the visions he’d been having? He hadn’t told a soul for fear he’d be committed.

  He yanked on jeans then shoved his .45 into his waistband and headed downstairs. Armed with flashlight, he searched his property, calling her name but he found nothing.

  I didn’t imagine her.

  This might have been the first time he’d actually seen her since she’d passed away, but deep inside, he’d sensed her presence for weeks now. He’d shrugged it off as part of his frustration over not knowing who’d murdered her. He wasn’t ready to admit he’d seen a ghost but he was positive some unknown force was at work.

  Had his mental images of Emily been a dire prediction for her or had it just ? Maybe she was really in danger. Desperate as he was to learn the identity of Becky’s killer, the more urgent issue was to warn Emily she might not be safe.

  For some reason he’d clipped the article in the paper that she’d helped the police over in Raleigh with a murder investigation last year. His rational mind told him nothing paranormal was real but he couldn’t deny what he’d just witnessed with his own eyes. Like it or not, he had to look into it.

  His sister deserved justice and her friend needed to know she could be in trouble.

  * * * * *

  Emily got up from her nail table and strode to the front desk to check on her next client, the last of the day. She glanced at the appointment book and blinked at the name written there. Her mouth went dry. Could it really be…

  Stay calm.

  She swung around to search the waiting area for him and tried to school the fear from her expression when her gaze landed on Ryan Barnes, still as devastatingly handsome as ever.

  Questions raced through her mind in a millisecond. What did he want? How did he find her? Did he know how badly she’d crushed on him years ago? Why had she left the house without putting on any makeup that morning? Why did she still find him so damn attractive even after he’d humiliated her in front of all his sister’s friends?

  “Hey,” he said from a seat by the window. He closed the distance between them and pulled her into a stiff hug.

  She shut her eyes a moment, attempting to banish her body’s response to him—the heat at every point of contact, the almost dizzy feeling in her head and the pounding of her heart.

  For God’s sake, he’s just a guy, a guy who hadn’t treated very well. She didn’t have a lot of male clients but it wasn’t as if she never saw any men.

  “It’s been forever,” she said, trying to keep her tone light. “Well, I guess we saw each other at the funeral but…” She tamped down the sadness at the memory of her friend’s death. “How are you?”

  Why are you here?

/>   He was so tall, well over six feet with the same sandy brown hair and crystal blue eyes as Becky. He looked a few months past due for a haircut and the stubble on his cheeks told her he hadn’t shaved for a couple days. His face wasn’t perfect, far from it, but she still found him way too handsome. He had an inch-long scar over his left eye and his nose looked like it had been broken at least once. Hadn’t Becky told her he’d had a few injuries from the martial arts tournaments he’d competed in?

  Pressed to his hard body, she drew in a breath laced with his scent, like a pine forest. She quickly extricated herself, given that they were in the middle of the salon.

  “I’m okay. What about you?” He skimmed his gaze over her, lingered at her breasts.

  Red hot awareness rushed through her. She closed her arms over her chest and steadied herself. She sensed tension in his face based on the lines fanning out from his pale eyes and the taut set of his mouth. “I’m fine, great. So you really want a manicure, huh? I never figured you for the type.”

  Definitely not the type. She guessed his hands were rough as his boots, as well-used as the jeans he wore. What would those hands feel like on her skin? The thought sent a shiver of excitement rolling over her skin.

  Ridiculous.

  “I’d be happy to put you in with one of the other nail techs if you prefer.” She hoped he’d refuse her offer.

  He shook his head. “I want you.”

  Clearly he was only referring to his manicure but his simple declaration stirred wickedly erotic thoughts. Why she was attracted to a man she disliked, a man who obviously couldn’t stand her, was a mystery to her yet she couldn’t pretend the attraction didn’t exist. She recalled their interaction two years ago at a birthday celebration for Becky. He’d actually called her a shyster to her face, in front of the thirty-odd party guests.

  “I need to talk to you,” he added.

  She clenched her jaw and forced herself to concentrate on the here and now. “Why didn’t you just call me? Why go to the trouble to make a manicure appointment?”

  His sheepish shrug fanned the flames of her attraction. “I didn’t think you’d agree to speak to me after…you know, what I’d said to you.”

  “I spoke to you at Becky’s funeral and as far as I can remember, I didn’t bite your head off, did I?”

  “Yeah, but that was a funeral. You’re not that cruel, are you?” He gave her a wink and an unwanted jolt of heat coursed through her.

  His teasing dissipated some of the tension and she managed to smile. “C’mon back.”

  He shrugged out of a faded leather jacket and hung it over the hook near the door, giving her a view of the vee from his broad shoulders to his narrow waist. She had to admit he had a certain muscular, rugged appeal. And his kind of muscle was built through hard physical labor rather than in a gym. If she remembered correctly, he restored old houses himself then flipped them, did all the upgrades and repairs himself. She pictured him shirtless, sawing a two-by four, as she’d seen him once working on something at Becky’s house, his well-developed biceps and triceps flexing with each stroke. Her face flushed and the room grew warmer, but she forced herself to squash the memory.

  He walked with her to her nail table, looking totally out of place in the pink and white salon in his jeans and the t-shirt that hugged every sinewy inch of his chiseled upper body. “I wanted to talk to you and a phone call wouldn’t cut it.”

  She swallowed hard and curled her fingers over the edge of the table. “Is this about Becky? Did they find out who did it?”

  The furrow in his brow deepened as he sat across from her. “No, but it is about her. You know I’ve never been a believer in all that supernatural junk like you…and Becky.”

  She stiffened at his characterization and felt a headache start behind her eyes. Her gift had only brought her fear and grief.

  “But something happened last night to change my mind about all that.” He glanced side to side then lowered his voice. “I saw her, or her ghost, I guess. Scared the shit out of me. She disappeared so fast I couldn’t ask her anything like why she was there, or…”

  “Or who killed her.” A chill crawled up her spine.

  One of the owners of the salon walked past, helping an elderly client to the door. Emily picked up a nail file and started working on Ryan’s nails. Last thing she needed was for her boss to find out about her psychic powers. That part of her life was over. She waited until the woman was out of earshot before speaking. “I’m not sure what you want from me, Ryan, but—”

  He gripped her wrist to stop her from filing his nails. “You helped the police with a murder case a while back. If I hadn’t seen Becky or her ghost or whatever that was with my own eyes I’d have never believed it, but she needs something from me and I don’t know who else I can turn to.”

  She slipped her arm out of his grasp. “I don’t do that anymore.” Terrifying memories flashed through her brain but she banished them in an instant.

  One of the other nail techs caught her eye. “Everything okay, Emily?”

  “Fine.” She leveled a warning stare at Ryan. “I can’t have this conversation here. No one knows that I’m…what I used to do.” She’d left New Orleans to get away from her mother and the fortunetelling business she ran. But she’d been drawn back into the only life she’d known and gravitated to the psychic community in Raleigh. Until a killer frightened her into denying her own powers.

  He shrugged. “Then let’s get out of here.”

  “I have more appointments.” The lie left a sour taste in her mouth. In truth, the notion of spending more time excited her more than she cared to admit—even if he did dislike her—but being this close to him, touching him, made her yearn for the opportunity to convince him to give her a chance.

  He rocked his chair back on its hind legs and narrowed his eyes. “That’s funny because I specifically asked for your last appointment. And when I got here there were no names written in the slots after mine.”

  Damn it.

  She worried her bottom lip between her teeth, eying him. “The last thing I’m going to do is get involved with another murder case. I’m through with that.”

  He leaned toward her. “I know we got off on the wrong foot but Becky always said you were good people, the sort of woman who’d go to bat for your friends no matter what. She needs your help now and so do I. Was she wrong about you?”

  Her stomach knotted. “Ryan, I don’t think—”

  “There’s something else. I keep having…daydreams about you. Someone…hurts you in them.”

  That gave her pause. Why would she have appeared in his visions? “Maybe you just feel guilty for being so mean to me at Becky’s birthday party two years ago.“

  He frowned. “Yeah, I do. Sorry about that. I might have had a few beers that night. You didn’t deserve what I said.”

  The long awaited apology eased some of her apprehension, but it didn’t change the fact he’d believed she was faking her gifts like some sort of con artist.

  “I think the visions might be…” He scooted closer. “…I don’t know, prophetic?”

  “Not necessarily. You shouldn’t worry about it. I’m not. It’s probably nothing.”

  He shook his head. “Emily, you’re a part of this whether you like it or not.” He tore at a hangnail.

  Automatically, she grabbed his finger and used her nipper to vanquish the dead skin.

  He pulled his hand back. “Becky’s ghost said something. She told me to heed my visions.”

  Her heart lodged in her throat. “Those were her exact words?”

  He nodded grimly.

  Becky was obviously reaching out to her from the other side. She’d been a dear friend but did she want to put her life on the line again?

  When the Raleigh police had asked her to help them with a missing persons case last year, she hadn’t hesitated. But when the killer learned her identity after a newspaper reporter leaked the story of her involvement, her life had taken a dec
idedly terrifying turn. The notion that something like that could happen again was too frightening to even consider. Much as she’d loved Becky, she wanted no part of whatever Ryan was asking of her.

  “I can’t help you, Ryan, I’m sorry.”

  “You have to.” His voice was too loud in the small salon.

  She refused to be outed as a psychic at her place of business. She liked it too much here, the anonymity and the normalcy. “There’s a coffee shop down the street where we can talk.”

  Relief shone in his eyes. “Let’s go.”

  She nodded stoically then said her goodbyes to the rest of the staff.

  They walked in silence toward the coffee shop for several minutes, each step heightening the turmoil brewing inside her. The last time she’d channeled a murder victim’s spirit, she’d put her life in jeopardy. The police detective had assured her he’d keep her identity secret but he’d failed, big time. That had been the beginning of the month-long terror campaign the murderer had waged against her. She forced the memories from her mind.

  Finally, Ryan spoke. “Why are you so reluctant to help me? I thought you cared about my sister.”

  She bristled at the condescension in his tone. “I’ve tried to stay away from anything to do with the psychic arts. I had a bad experience on that case you mentioned.” Her headache flared.

  He set a hand on her back. “I’m sorry.”

  She didn’t want the contact to feel so good. The only thing worse than being attracted to a man who thought she was a fake was knowing he didn’t feel the same way.

  Stepping away from his touch, she gave him a half nod. “You said I was in your vision. Tell me about that.”

  His lips flattened to a thin line. “A man dragged you off. I heard you scream and I knew he’d…”

  “Killed me?” Her voice broke on the last word.