Ghost of a Chance by Katie MacAlister Read Free Book Online Page B

suddenly too tired to move.
    Spider ignored Pixie, who clutched her cape
around herself as she hurried past him to the guest room I’d given
over to her.
    “I thought it would be best, given our
agreement. Or perhaps you’ve changed your mind about that?” he
asked, pulling me into an embrace. He rubbed his hips against me
and murmured suggestive words as he nibbled a spot on my neck.
“Could it be you realize what you’ll be missing by giving me
up?”
    The headache that had been drugged into
submission pulsed to life again. I put both hands on Spider’s chest
and pushed him back, idly wondering if the nausea that accompanied
the migraine was entirely due to the pain or if my husband wasn’t
the cause of at least some of it. In fact, lately, the headaches
seemed to increase intensity, too, whenever he was around. “Stop
it, Spider. Despite your wishes, I will be quite happy on my own.
This may come as a shock to you, but you’re not irresistible
anymore.”
    “Just because you don’t get wet at the sight
of me doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of women who do.” He laughed
as he slapped me on the behind before reentering the house. “Who’s
the prime bit in black?”
    I dug my knuckles into the pressure points
between my eyebrows, praying the migraine didn’t flare up into its
full glory. After a few seconds, the pain faded enough for me to
make my way into the house. “I told you I was taking in a girl from
the children’s home. Her name is Pixie, and she is just fifteen,
hardly old enough to be considered a ‘prime bit.’ ”
    “You’d be surprised,” he said, waggling his
eyebrows at me. “If I’d known you meant such a sweet young thing
when you said ‘girl,’ I wouldn’t have been so quick to leave.”
    “That’s not even remotely amusing,” I
snapped, slamming down my things onto the hall table.
    Spider disappeared into the bedroom. I
leaned against the door frame, watching as he emptied the contents
of a dresser into a large duffel bag. “I went out to the Walsh
house today.”
    “It’s a mess, isn’t it? But it’s going to
make us a lot of money. A few fixes here and there, a bit of
polish, and it’ll do.”
    The pain and nausea were back. I slid along
the wall to a chair that sat a few feet from the door. “The owner
isn’t very pleased, you know.”
    “Owner?” He looked up from arranging socks.
“The previous one, you mean?”
    “Yes. He didn’t know the house was in danger
of being foreclosed upon.”
    Spider shrugged. “His loss, not mine. He
should have paid closer attention to his affairs.”
    “He swore you wouldn’t take the house from
him, Spider. He sounded like he meant it.” My sense of fair play
demanded that I warn Spider of Adam’s intention. Fat lot of good
that did me. Spider just laughed it off.
    “He’s all bark and no bite. Don’t you worry
your pretty little head about old Spider. I can take care of
myself.”
    I flinched when he tried to pat my cheek. My
head throbbed so horribly for a few seconds I seriously thought I
was going to pass out. When the feeling lessened, I followed Spider
out to the living room, where he had packed up various trophies and
awards from his sporting days. I collapsed onto the couch, using my
knuckles to hit every pressure point on my head that I could
recall. “Did you somehow steal the house from him?”
    “ ‘Steal’ is such a very nasty word,” Spider
said, pausing before our wedding picture. He shook his head and
passed on, moving behind the entertainment center to begin
unplugging the stereo equipment. “For six months I’ve made him very
attractive offers on the house—offers that far exceeded what the
antique junk pile is worth. He refused to negotiate.”
    The feeling of dread returned to my belly. I
had a suspicion I didn’t want to hear what Spider was going to say
next.
    “Did he tell you that he’d been late with or
missed several house payments? The bank has the right to foreclose
after so