Masque Read Online Free PDF Page B

more
comfortable, but it didn’t help. He glanced at the threesome on the stage
before striding through the door into the Blue Room. Far enough from Rena’s
room now, he dematerialized and floated straight up to the roof.
    Stepping into the cool night air helped, a little. He leaned
against an embrasure and studied the moon. A few more days and the ghosts would
have more solidity to them along with their voices. This was the hardest time
of the month when he had no one to converse with. Convincing a man or a couple
to complete the Pleasure Rooms of the Masque would have been easier, but
bringing Rena through the gantlet of sexual experiences would be much more
pleasurable for him now that he had the need again.
    If he was correct, her completion of the rooms would mean
the spirits’ release. Since ghosts were essential to Rena’s plans, she would
never allow that to happen. A nagging piece of conscience told him to tell her
and let her decide, but he couldn’t risk it. They had waited over a hundred and
fifty years to be released from their purgatory and Rena was the closest they
had ever been. She simply had to do it.
    Somehow, he would make it happen. He owed them that.

Chapter Three
     
    Rena leaned with her back against one of the dining room
windows and stared hard at her friend. “Val. I’m not going to let you tell me
it can’t be done.”
    “It can’t be done.”
    She ground her teeth and stalked back to the table. Putting
both hands on the dark wooden surface, she scowled. “I said, don’t tell me
that.”
    Valerie sat back in her chair and clasped her hands. “Look,
I know how important this is, but unless we can find a way to drill through
this stone that will take less time, there is no way you will be able to open
until next year.”
    “My finances won’t make it until next year. I have to get
this place up and running by fall and I’d still be missing the entire summer
tourist season.” She dropped her head in defeat, a familiar sensation.
    Valerie placed her hand on hers. “I know, kid. I’m doing the
best I can.”
    “Can I help?”
    Rena turned at the sound of Synn’s deep voice, loving the
way it reverberated through her like a well-played bass cello, chasing away her
inadequate reality. He stood leaning against the doorway of the dining room in
a pair of tight, muscle-defining tan leggings and a loose white shirt. Very
casual and very sexy.
    At her inspection of his person, he returned the favor and
she wished she’d left her hair down instead of in the clip she’d thrown it in.
Her jeans and baggy sweatshirt didn’t exactly say “sexy” either.
    Synn strode toward them to peer over Valerie’s shoulder at
her list of tasks. “What is it that is causing you trouble?”
    Valerie glanced at him, and Rena had to smack down a little
green envy bug at the attention he paid her best friend. She should be
grateful. Valerie could be doing a dozen other jobs right now instead of
helping her with this bed-and-breakfast project.
    Valerie circled two items on her list and pointed with her
pen. “These are our major projects, updating the running water and adding
electricity. The last, the electricity, is huge. We have to drill conduits into
these walls for every inch of line we need to feed, and that will take a lot of
time. From the size of this place, I’d say there are literally miles of
conduits we will need.”
    Synn stepped back and looked at the walls. Without a word,
he strode over to a brass candlestick set upon a built-in shelf and pulled it
down. The wall moved.
    She and Valerie scrambled to see inside.
    Synn swept his arm toward the opening. “Will this help?”
    Grabbing her flashlight off the table, Valerie walked
through. Rena followed.
    “We’ve got a freaking racetrack back here, Rena. Look at
this!”
    She did look. It was a narrow hallway built between two
walls, yet in the distance she could see a small window where light spilled
onto the floor. She stepped back and