Allegra Fairweather_ Paranormal Investigator - Janni Nell [63]
“Come up to my room and we’ll see if the kilt fits.”
Casper didn’t hesitate. Obviously my ploy about liking Douglas had fooled him. Good. We sneaked upstairs like two naughty school kids.
I didn’t expect Casper to get undressed in front of me so I wasn’t disappointed when he went into the bathroom and closed the door.
When he came out, fully dressed right down to the black brogues, I couldn’t resist giving a low wolf whistle.
The shirt was buttoned only halfway up his chest, revealing a sprinkling of golden curls across his pecs. The kilt, which sat neatly on his waist, was accessorized with the silver-buckled belt that emphasized the slimness of his hips.
“Very fetching,” I murmured. “Or as Dad would’ve said, bloody beauty, mate.”
Casper didn’t thank me for the compliment. He didn’t even blush and hang his head. He focused on the one thing I wished he had overlooked—my reference to Dad.
“You miss your father very much, don’t you?” he asked.
I shrugged. “I hardly ever think about him.”
Casper raised an eyebrow. His expression told me more clearly than words that he knew I was lying.
I tried to salvage the situation by admitting, “Of course I think of him sometimes. But what’s the point? He’s probably dead.” I didn’t like to think of Dad being dead, but it was better than thinking he had abandoned Mom and me.
Casper wasn’t cruel. If he’d been able to read my thoughts he would never have said, “Your father isn’t dead.”
I stared at him in disbelief. My chest constricted. Somehow I managed to ask, “How do you know that?”
“I looked it up.” He made it sound so easy.
“Where? In some kind of heavenly register?”
“Something like that.”
“And you’re allowed to tell me this?”
“The Powers-That-Be haven’t said not to.”
So Dad had abandoned us. Oh bugger. I told myself I wouldn’t say that any more. I wouldn’t use any of Dad’s expressions ever again. Then I had another thought. If Dad was alive, he was still legally married to Mom. That made her a bigamist. It got worse and worse.
“What’s up?” asked Casper. “Aren’t you pleased your father’s alive?”
How could a two-thousand-year-old man be so naïve?
But I didn’t want Casper to know how much his information had hurt me, so I smiled. “I’m glad Dad’s alive but I’m not going to think about him right now. Just like he doesn’t think about me.” Even I could hear the edge in my voice.
“How do you know he doesn’t thi—?”
“I’m not going to talk about him anymore, Casper.”
He said easily, like a psychologist to a stubborn patient, “Okay.”
I managed to breathe again. Shoving Dad out of my mind, I focused on Casper’s outfit. “Turn around so I can see you properly.”
He did as I asked. The kilt flared out, revealing a fine set of masculine thighs. It didn’t rise quite high enough to reveal what he was wearing underneath, which was probably just as well considering I hadn’t purchased any underwear.
I smiled.
So did Casper. “This reminds me of the clothes I used to wear when I was alive,” he said. “It’s very comfortable.”
I drew my feet up and sat cross-legged on the double bed. “Tell me about when you were alive.”
He folded his arms defensively across his chest and said shyly, “There’s too much to tell.”
“Just tell me about one thing.”
“Okay,” he said agreeably. “You choose. Do you want to hear about the battles I fought, or the people in my family, or what life was like in my village?”
I decided against asking about his wartime experiences. I had no wish to hear a detailed description of Casper’s sins. Perhaps I should ask about his family. Not his mother who had been killed by soldiers, but his sister or his father.
On second thought, I had once asked Casper about his father and I had no wish to hear again of the man who had sacrificed his life for his son’s. The contrast to my own paternal experience was too painful.
I remembered something I had long wanted to ask Casper and had never dared. This was the perfect opportunity.
I took