Sam Lonergan had expected to find a ghost at the lake. He hadnât expected a naked woman.
Given a choice, he much preferred this view. He knew he should look away, but he didnât. Instead he focused his gaze on the long, lean woman slicing through the dark, moonlit water.
Even in the pale wash of moonlight her skin glowed tan and smooth. The water she displaced slipped behind her with hardly a splash. Her arms made long strokes through the water, carrying her from one edge of the small lake and back again to the other. A part of him saw her as a trespasser on holy groundâbut another part of him was grateful she was here.
While he watched her, he told himself he shouldnât have come. This lake, this ranch, held too many memories. Too many images that crowded his mind and made remembering an exercise in pain.
Abruptly he squeezed his eyes shut, took a deep breath and slowly released it before opening his eyes again. Sheâd stopped swimming and was now treading water, watching him watch her.
âSeen enough?â she asked.
âDepends,â he told her. âYou have anything else to show me?â
Her mouth worked as if she were biting down on words she wouldnât allow herself to say.
âWho are you?â she finally demanded, her voice more angry than worried.
âI could ask you the same thing,â he pointed out.
âThis is private property.â
âSure is,â he agreed, hitching one hip higher than the other and folding his arms over his chest. âSo I have to wonder what youâre doing on it.â
âI live here,â she replied, swinging a long, wet fall of dark brown hair back from her face.
Water droplets arced around her head and dropped to the lake like raindrops. It took a minute or two, but her words hit home.
âYou live here? This is the Lonergan ranch.â
A ranch that had been in his family for generations. Since the early days of the gold rush, when Samâs great-great-whatever had decided that the real fortune to be found in California was the landânot rocky cold streams where the occasional nugget was discovered.
That Lonergan had settled here, raising horses and a family. A family that now consisted of one old man, one ghost and three Lonergan cousins: Sam, Cooper and Jake.
His grandfather, Jeremiah Lonergan, had lived alone for the last twenty years. Ever since his wife, Samâs grandmother, had died. Now, if a naked woman was to be believed, he had a roommate.
âThatâs right,â she said, warming to her subject. âAnd the owner of this ranch is very protective of me. And vicious.â
Sam wanted to laugh. His grandfather was maybe the most gentle-hearted man Sam had ever known. But to hear this woman tell it, Jeremiah was a mad dog.
âWell, heâs not here right now, is he?â
âNo.â
âSo since itâs just the two of us and weâre getting so friendly⦠mind telling me if you go skinny-dipping often?â he asked instead.
âYou spy on naked women often?â
âWhenever I get the chance.â
She scowled at him and pushed one hand through her wet hair. She dipped a little lower in the water, and he figured her legs were getting tired of the constant kicking to keep afloat.
âYou donât sound ashamed of yourself.â
He gave her a lazy smile that didnât go anywhere near his eyes. âLady, if I didnât watch a naked woman when given the opportunity, thatâd be something to be ashamed of.â
âYour mother must be so proud.â
He chuckled. Probably not, but the old man would have been.
She glanced around her and he knew what she was looking at. Emptiness. Except for the oak trees standing like solitary guardians around the ring of the lake, they were alone. The ranch was a good mile east of here, and the highway ten miles south.
âLook,â she said and dipped again, the water lapping at the tops of her breasts. âYouâve had your peep show, but itâs cold and Iâm tired. Iâd like to get out now.â
âWhoâs stopping you?â
Her eyes went wide and dark. âHello? Iâm not getting out of this water with you watching me.â
Something like guilt nibbled at the edges of a conscience that was already too noisy. But he ignored it. Yes, he should look away, but would a starving man turn down a steak just because it was stolen?
âYou could turn your back,â she said a moment later.