face.
Chapter 3
S elena knew her smile was smug. But just knowing there was a spirit inhabiting the hotel was, wellâ¦. Her smile widened. The feeling was priceless.
âHello, Mr. Cole.â
âYou can call me Wesley, maâam.â
âWesley it is.â
His gaze slowly moved over her. She frowned. Could he see past the bubbles? An uncomfortable heat spread over her as something occurred to her: the older the spirit, the stronger their powers.
Wesley looked like a gunslinger straight from an old west movie. It was probably too much to hope that he might be an actor whoâd died during the shooting of a film and not a gunfight. No, she had a feeling he was a real-lifeâor in this case a real-deadâcowboy, probably from the last century.
So maybe he could see past the bubbles. She grabbed the towel and brought it in front of her. âYou couldâve introduced yourself at a more appropriate time.â She scowled to get her point across. Just because a person died didnât mean their manners were buried with them.
He leaned against the wall. Or at least he had the appearance of leaning against the wall. A spirit didnât actually have substance.
âBut, darlinâ, itâs been a long time since Iâve seen a woman as beautiful as you, and I just couldnât help myself.â His devilish smile said it all. The man was a flirt. When he was alive, heâd probably had a whole string of silly females lusting after him.
It might not be so easy to convince Wesley that he should make himself known to Trent. Ghosts could be quite stubborn sometimes. She wondered what he would want in return. Before she could ask, a soft pink light began to glow in the corner.
Another ghost. Technically, she needed only one. Two of them usually meant trouble when they put their heads together. Not a great situation.
Okay, she could handle two of them. No problem.
But did it have to be while she was taking a bath?
Uh-oh, the pretty pink light of only a moment ago was beginning to shimmer dark red. This one wasnât happy. A deep red glowing light was not a good sign. And it didnât help that the water in the tub had started to cool considerably. Another bad sign.
âAhh, Dixie, canât you just appear like any normal ghost?â Wesley asked, shoving his hat a notch higher on his forehead and frowning at the red light.
The light began to take shape, and a young woman appeared. She wore a flaming red dress trimmed in black ruffles. The hem fell just past her knees. A matching black feather adorned her blond hair.
âUnlike you, I like to make a statement when I arrive. Itâs not like we have a reason to show ourselves these days.â She raised a haughty eyebrow, then turned to Selena. âIâm Dixie Raye. Whyâd you wake us? I was having the most sensuous dream before you and that man arrived.â She sighed loudly. âDo you know how long itâs been since Iâve had sex?â
You and me both, Selena wanted to tell her, but decided to ignore her comment about sex and introduced herself instead. âHello, Dixie. Iâm Selena Jamesââ
âShe didnât wake us up,â Wesley interrupted. âI told you, it was the fella yelling at the top of his lungs. Then that odd-looking woman with the orange hair showed up cursing him. A whole bunch of people came next and started stirring up all the dust.â
âI saw them. You donât have to go into a long, boring explanation.â Dixie frowned. âWhat I want to know is why are we in the bathing room?â
Wesley sighed and shook his head. âBecause sheâs the only one who can hear or see us. And everyone has left except her and the fella.â
Dixie grinned. âHe jumped when I pinched him. Iâd say he felt my presence just fine.â She chuckled at her little prank.
Great, Dixie pinched Trent, but Selena had gotten the blame. Thanks for