The Haunted (Sleeping with Monsters Book 1) by Cassie Alexander Read Free Book Online

for herbs and vegetables – not to
mention all the topiary and trees.”
    “Oh,
yes, of course.”
    “I
thought you might enjoy getting out of the house some today, too,” Arthur said
with a smile. “I’ll let them know you’re on your way.”
    “Thank
you.”
     
    She
felt a little over dressed to be seeing gardeners. Still, if they were same as
Arthur, from the home’s original number, she might be meeting the elderly.
    She
followed Arthur out the back door and around the first line of shrubs,
lawnmowers droning in the background. “Mr. Gale, may I present Mrs. Vance,”
Arthur said, with a bow, before dismissing himself.
    And
while she’d dressed this morning to tease the ghost in particular, at seeing
Mr. Gale, she was very glad she had.
    He
was muscular and tan, broad shouldered, with a wide chin. She would have never
imagined she’d find a man like him in the middle of nowhere like here.
    “Please,
call me Daphne.”
    “I’m
Jason,” he said, offering his hand out. She took it, and it was strong and
warm.
    “So
-- you’re the gardener?” she said, unsure where to start.
    “No,
I’m the landscape professional,” he corrected her. Daphne looked down, feeling
chastised, until she heard him laugh – and looked up to see his grin. “Really,
I’m the ‘you’re-paying-me-enough-to-be-whatever-you-want.’”
    She
snorted softly and hoped she stopped herself from smirking in time.
    “Let
me show you around,” he said, and started to walk. She trotted to catch up.
    “We
come out here a lot, depending on the season -- it’s a grand estate, there’s a
lot to do to keep it as is. If you want changes though, all you have to do is
tell me.”
    “I
don’t know what I want yet, honestly. I’ve been so busy inside the house I
haven’t had a chance to look around.”
    “That
what I’d thought. But it’s planting season -- the family that was here before
you had a garden out back that they chose to tend on their own. It’s gone a
little wild now, but if you have a green thumb you can touch it up. Or we can
do it for you.”
    “I’m
sure you all have quite enough to do with all the lawn and the trees.”
    His
smile was warm. “We can always do more, if you just let us know.”
    He
said it like it was an invitation. Daphne swallowed, feeling as if a lead weight
had dropped into her hips, and all the things should could ask him for help
with leapt to mind. She shook her head -- she would have never considered
anything with anyone else ever before -- had one night with the ghost changed
her mind?
    “Were
you thinking of bringing horses in?” he asked, as she wrestled with her
imagination.
    “No,
why?”
    “I
thought that might have been why you bought the place. There’s a pasture out
back. If you were I was going to reseed it for them.”
    She’d
ridden before, back before her mother’s illness and Richard. “I might – is
there a stable?”
    “Sure
-- just behind that copse of trees.” He pointed along the path they walked. “It
needs some maintenance – it’s just as old as the house is, and the prior owners
let it go at the end. My men can do that too, if you want – just give me about
six weeks notice, before you go bringing in a horse.”
    “Will
do.”
    They
reached a clearing where the din of the lawnmowers lessened, halfway to the
stable. She was walking just to walk now, and he seemed content to walk with
her.
    “Do
you know any of the history of this place?”
    “Only
what I’ve heard in town – and what the old owners told me. I know it’s old, and
people in town say it’s haunted.”
    “By
who?”
    He
shrugged broad shoulders. “Russians? Gypsies? When I was little, people would
tell stories about the place. But honestly, you’re so far back from the road,
most people in town don’t remember it at all.”
    “Russians?
Really?”
    “The
old owners didn’t think that was right, either.”
    “Why’d
they leave?”
    He
made a pained face, as if holding truth