“What if that kind of marriage is all I’m capable of? This is the first time in my life I’ve ever had a relationship with someone who wants something real from me. Not money or power. Not connections or my family name. Belle doesn’t want a teammate. Belle doesn’t care that I can take care of her financially. I sure as hell don’t think Belle is going to want the same kind of childhood I had for our kids.”

Eric ached for his friend, but he had to be utterly honest. “None of us wants that, man. What Belle requires from you is simple. She wants love and honesty. She wants to love you back and won’t accept anything less than your all. But here’s the thing: she’ll give you everything she has in return. Always. She won’t ever leave us. She won’t cheat or stab us in the back. She would never whore herself for money or fame or anything the rest of the world can give her. Belle will love you for you. She’ll do it whether or not you’re brave enough to try. Just because you walk away, doesn’t mean Belle will love you less.”

“The sharing thing could make us all outcasts,” Kellan countered.

Eric was done with that argument. “I don’t give a shit what others think. We’ll make a great family. There will always be people who don’t understand. I won’t live my life by their standards. I want to live my life so fully that I have no regrets at the end. If you leave now, do you honestly think you’ll never regret it.”

“And if I fail? What if I’m only really built for the type of one-sided relationship my parents had?” Lines of worry creased Kellan’s face as he spoke, the heavy weight of his fears apparent.

“How many close friendships does your father have?” He had to get Kellan to see he wasn’t his dad. It was the only way they had a shot at moving past this problem. Kellan wasn’t his father any more than any of them were the sum of their parents.

Kellan suddenly found his glass infinitely fascinating. “None. My father believed in allies and he would be loyal until he no longer needed them. Then he would walk away and never look back.”

Rather like Kellan had done after law school. He’d found the woman he thought would be a perfect mate and he’d left Eric and Tate in the dust. He hadn’t even invited them to his wedding. They had been the best of friends in college until Kellan had found a new life.

He would have been alone from that point on if Eric hadn’t reached out to him after the divorce because Tate had found the article about it online. Tate hadn’t called because he’d assumed that if Kellan needed him, Kellan would say something. Eric had known better, so he’d been the one to reach out. The two of them had worked together to help Kellan in his time of need.

Friendship was a delicate balance. Today proved it all over again.

“Is that what you’re planning on doing? Walking away and never looking back?” Eric knew the answer, but Kellan needed to figure it out for himself. Then what?

After a long pause, Kellan turned his way. “I might not be able to live the kind of life Belle needs, but I can’t just walk away. Whatever you need, all you have to do is call me. I’ll stop whatever I’m doing. If I’m somewhere else, I’ll come to you. I will never let you down. I’m done with that.”

Because they were family. “Come home with me. If we’re all committed, we’ll work it out. Just give it some time.”

Kellan finally nodded. “All right.”


* * * *


Belle answered the door, eager to get the evening’s meeting over with. The contractors had come and gone, and nothing had been settled. No one had tripped the cameras, so they still didn’t have any evidence. Belle found the not knowing so frustrating, especially when all she wanted to do was bask in the glow of her new future, glimmering just over the horizon.

Of course, that future would be dimmer if she couldn’t have all of her men.

Eric had left a while back. Perhaps he would find Kellan and bring him home. Then they could talk everything out. Or maybe she would just make love to the man until he couldn’t walk. She could completely exhaust him so he couldn’t run. That would be one way to keep him close.

“Annabelle Wright?” The woman was younger than she’d seemed on the phone. Somehow, Belle had thought she would be more like her mother’s age. The face that stared back was perhaps a year or two older than her own. She was dressed in a business suit and carried a briefcase. Her blonde hair was in a careful bun.

All in all, not what she’d thought a medium would look like.

“Yes. Won’t you please come in?” The faster she got this started, the quicker she could set the scene for Kellan. Seduction might be the best way to go. She’d been honest with him about what she wanted. He knew the score. She could see if an enormous amount of really filthy sex would help him see that she could be his kind of woman. Now that she knew exactly what she wanted, she found herself eager to start making a home with her men.

The medium stepped through, her nose wrinkling delicately. “I’m Helena Rhodes. So you’ve been having issues with the house. I’m really not surprised. It’s a bit infamous. Rumor is, there’ve been several suicides here, and some people who owned the house afterward complained of disturbances and unexplained activity.”

Belle was fairly certain some of her issues were entirely human, but she couldn’t ignore the feelings she got in the house. There was no way the shadow that had passed through her the night before had been human. There was definitely a presence or two in the house. Hopefully between the nanny cam Tate had set up to catch whoever was trying to scare her away and Helena, she could finally get some help on the ghost front. “Yes, we’ve had several incidents. There are cold spots all over the house and I can hear whispering at night when I sleep in the master bedroom. It always stops the minute I get out of bed. Did Tate explain what happened last night?”

Helena looked around the foyer, one brow elegantly arched. “I was told you were visited by an entity. It doesn’t surprise me. I can feel it from here. There’s a lot of darkness in this house. Do you know the full history of the house?”

Belle nodded as the medium walked into the hallway. “I’ve done some research. I know two young women supposedly killed themselves here. Two sisters.”

Helena turned back, her eyes slightly narrowed. “Supposedly? You think you know something different?”

“I think they were murdered by their father.” She’d seen it over and over again in her dreams. She’d even read some reporter’s theories on the incidents. Her grandmother had also written about the house being haunted in her journals. She had never had the place cleansed because she’d attempted to communicate with the entities. Her grandmother had believed that all the women in her family had a touch of psychic power and owed it to the world to help the dead to move on.

Of course, her grandmother had also said that the ghosts of this house were terrifically stubborn.

Belle really hoped the medium knew what she was doing.

Sir scampered into the room, giving a little yip at her feet.

Helena stared down, then lifted her nose in the air. “No one mentioned an animal.”

Belle frowned. Apparently, Helena wasn’t a dog person. “He’s actually been really helpful since we moved in. I’m pretty sure he knows when the entities are around. I think there are a couple of ghosts here. One is really nasty and likes to hang around the library. Sir won’t go in there. He just stands outside the door growling sometimes. Sir here seems to like the one who drifts around. That one he follows around most of the day. It concerned me at first, but he’s happy enough. There’s a place upstairs he doesn’t like, right in front of the master bedroom. He’ll bark at it from time to time. I think it might be the spot where the girls were murdered. They were found hanging from the third floor staircase.”

“Well, he’s a dog. I think I should be the one to decide how many entities and what they’re like. I’m the one with experience.” With a sigh, she set her case down and pulled out her cell phone. She flicked her hand across the screen, either texting someone or writing an e-mail. “I have an associate coming with the rest of my equipment. I wanted to get a feel for the place before I set up. Is everyone gone? I was told you live with several men.”

Belle was starting to think she should handle this herself since the medium seemed awfully judgmental for someone who talked to the dead. “It’s just me, Tate, and Sir tonight. The others are out for the evening.”

Tate chose that moment to step out of the kitchen. He smiled and looped an arm around her shoulders. “Hey, are you the one who’s going to de-ghost us? Because we could use it. I just got that blast of cold air thing. It’s freaky. It’s unseasonably hot. I shouldn’t be scrambling for a sweater. Also, I’m pretty sure one of the ghosts keeps patting my ass. That weirds me out a little, but I do understand it. I really work on these glutes.”

The medium stared at them, looking just shy of annoyed. “You should have told me there were extra people here. I explained that I need the house cleared. This is going to work best if there are no disruptions.”

Tate seemed utterly unfazed by the woman’s obvious irritation. He simply smiled. “This is as cleared as we get. Trust me, this is quiet for us. It’s usually a madhouse. I’m surprised we don’t scare off the ghosts. I turned all the ringers off on our phones so we shouldn’t have a ton of noise.”

Helena was texting again, her fingers moving in an almost angry fashion.

The hair on the back of Belle’s neck started to stand up. Something was off about the medium. She seemed stiff, and there was something about the way her eyes darted around that made Belle wary. Helena kept looking from her phone to the door as though she couldn’t wait for her assistant to show up.

Perhaps the house was overwhelming her?

“Can I get you a drink? Anything while we wait?” She had to give the woman the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes the house seemed oppressive to her, and she wasn’t even psychic.

Helena’s jaw tightened. “No. Perhaps Tate here could take the dog for a walk. It really would be better if we were alone. I sense this spirit doesn’t appreciate the presence of males. Yes. Please take the dog out the back and give us an hour or so.”

Tate’s hold tightened and he looked down at Belle. “Is she serious? I mean I know they cleared the place out in Ghostbusters but that was because they were worried about crossing the streams. I don’t think we’re worried about that here. I’d rather stay with you.”

Sometimes it was hard to keep up with Tate’s pop culture references, but he was on par now.

“I’d like you to stay as well. Sometimes, the house scares me,” she lied.

Something told her not to separate from Tate. Besides, Helena seemed to have it wrong. The ghost hadn’t been bothering the men. Every instinct she had told her the malevolent spirit had a problem with women.

“Then I’m not going anywhere. The ghost will just have to deal,” Tate pronounced. He turned to Helena with a shrug. “And so will you. I understand if you can’t work under those circumstances. We can find someone else.”

Helena held up a hand. “No. I’ll work around it.”

There was a brisk knock on the door, and Tate walked toward it, his hand outstretched.

“That’s my assistant,” the medium explained quickly. “Let him in. Just tell him to set up, starting in the bedroom.”

“But the library is the worst room,” Belle began. Something chilly ran through her, causing her to shiver. Something was wrong. So wrong. Her heart started to race—and it was all centered around that door. Instinct flared inside her. “Tate, don’t open that door!”

But he’d already had the knob turned. Belle watched in horror as a man’s silhouette loomed in the doorway.

“Oh, crap. Not you again. What do you want?” Tate groused.

Her grandmother’s lawyer stepped up, leveling a gun at Tate’s chest. “I want to get this piece of shit job done.”

There was a tiny ping.

Tate turned to her, his eyes wide. He pointed toward the back of the house. “Belle, run.”

There was an odd capsule-like dart sticking from his chest. Tate took a single step in her direction before his face went slack, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. Tate went down hard, his big body sliding to the floor.

What the hell was going on? Belle screamed as the man pointed the gun her way.

Chapter Nineteen