Page 2

Little Desiree was a year or two older than Archie, and Archie was pushing thirty. He said, “Desi wanted to announce her engagement in the middle of a ghost hunt?”

John looked ever-so-slightly pained. “It’s not a ghost hunt, A. It’s a formal ball and ghost walk. You know that.”

John was the only person alive who still called Archie “A.” Once upon a time that had meant a lot. Partly because his mom and dad had called him A. And partly because he had feared “Archie” was pretty much the most uncool name ever. Right there with George and Bertie.

He grinned at John. “Right. But either way…”

“Either way, it was a terrible idea,” John agreed. “But you know Desiree once she gets her heart set on something.”

Archie hadn’t spoken more than ten words in passing to Desi in the last decade, so no, not really. Though if she was anything like what she’d been as a teenager, stubborn didn’t begin to describe her.

“She’ll get over it.”

Maybe that sounded a little callous, judging by the way John’s silver eyebrows shot up.

“Head aching?” he asked kindly.

Yes. His head was thumping. After several weeks, that was starting to feel like business as usual.

Post-concussion syndrome. A fancy name for the after-effects of getting kicked in the head a couple of times.

“Nah, I took something a little while ago.”

John’s blue-gray eyes were troubled. “I do wish you’d let me look you over, my boy. You just got out of the hospital. Brain injuries are no joke.”

Yeah, Archie sure wasn’t laughing. He was smiling, though, trying to reassure John, despite his own worries over the slowness of his recovery. “You never know. Maybe it’ll knock some sense into me.”

John snorted. “If I could believe that was all it took to discourage you from joining the FBI, I’d have knocked you over the head a decade ago.”

Yeeah. Probably funnier before the ringing in his ears had become a constant refrain. But Archie made an obligatory “ha,” sound.

“Even as boy you were self-reliant in the extreme, but you’re not a doctor.”

What did that mean? Self-reliant in the extreme? In what universe was self-reliance a character flaw?

Archie said, “That’s true. But like you said, I’ve been under medical care. I’m on sick leave because a doctor made that determination. That’s why I’m here now.”

He caught John’s expression, heard the echo of his words, and tried to amend that blunt truth. “I mean, not the only reason, obviously. I’d have been back long before now if I could have got the time off.”

Got the time off was a euphemism for If I hadn’t been sixteen months undercover in an extremist paramilitary group. But the fact was, they both knew if he hadn’t been placed on sick leave, he wouldn’t be standing on John’s terrace watching the breeze shake the shadows of roses onto the grass.

“I know that, A.,” John said quickly. “You’re here now and that’s all that matters.”

Probably not, and Archie would have taken back the thoughtless comment if he could have. John was the kindest person he’d ever met. He owed him a lot. Probably more than he knew. Certainly, more than he could possibly repay. The last thing he wanted was to seem ungrateful. Sure, not all his memories of Twinkleton were happy, but his main reason for not returning for so long—had it really been seven years?—was the job.

“I mean it,” Archie insisted. “I appreciate you letting me recuperate here.”

John said with unusual vehemence, “There’s no question of that. This is your home.”

Maybe. None of the various apartments and hotels Archie had lived in over the past several years had felt much like home.

He glanced at his former guardian and saw, to his relief, that John’s attention had shifted to a set of car lights slowly gliding up the drive leading up to the house. It was not his imagination, John did look…strained. Tired? Older. Well, he was older. Pushing seventy.

They were all older.

“That will be Judith.” John glanced at Archie. “Don’t feel you need to spend any longer at the party than you want to.” His chuckle was wry. “I know you and Beau always found the ghost walk rather…amusing.”

There again, John showed his usual diplomacy. He knew perfectly well Archie and Beau had considered the Twinkleton Paranormal Society one big joke.