All for You Read Free

of a random hanger, but the way he was hanging on to it as though his continued existence depended on it led her to believe the selection was a deliberate one.
    “You do realize that’s the de Piaget crest,” she said, on the off chance he didn’t.
    The ghost looked at what he’d recently stopped shaking, then looked back at her. He blinked in surprise that wasn’t at all innocent. “Why, lass, I believe it is.”
    “Why did you pick that one?” she demanded.
    He shifted nervously. “Weel, ye see, lass, with ye being as yet unwed …” He peered at her from under bushy red eyebrows. “Do ye see?”
    Peaches felt her mouth fall open. “Are you
matchmaking
?” she asked in astonishment.
    “Shhh,” he hissed frantically, doffing his cap and clutching it with his free hand. “What would the other shades think if they knew?”
    “They would think I was the most sensible mortal they’d ever encountered because I’d told you I wouldn’t be interested inanyone from that family if he were the last eligible bachelor on the planet.”
    The ghost blinked. “Are ye meaning young Stephen de Piaget?”
    “That’s the one,” she said grimly. “I have no doubt that women all over the island are sighing in relief that he doesn’t have a twin.”
    “To vex them with his handsomeness?” the ghost ventured.
    Peaches suppressed a snort. “It isn’t exactly his handsomeness he would be vexing them with, but maybe we should just not speculate on what that certain something might be.”
    The ghost wore a perplexed frown and his mouth worked silently, as if he repeated her words to attempt to unravel their meaning. Peaches would have given him a hand by enumerating for him the future Earl of Artane’s numerous flaws, but she was interrupted by the sound of the door opening behind her. She turned and found her sister standing just inside the door, looking hesitant.
    At least she wasn’t looking terrified. Peaches glanced over her shoulder and saw the reason why. The ghost had disappeared, no doubt to spare his proprietress any undue distress. Peaches was happy to see him go, especially if it meant she didn’t have to discuss the last de Piaget bachelor again. She walked over to her sister and realized with a start that Tess’s face had a rather green tinge to it. Peaches reached out and put her hand on her sister’s arm.
    “What’s wrong?” she asked in surprise. “Did something happen to you?”
    Tess took a deep breath. “Unfortunately—but no, not to me or John.”
    Peaches frowned. She had just seen a ghost in a kilt. How much worse could it get than that? “I’m sure it can’t be all that bad,” she said easily.
    “Oh, it could,” Tess said. She took a deep breath. “I have a confession to make.”
    Peaches smiled. “What terrible thing did you do?”
    Tess sat down on the trunk. She didn’t seem to notice she had sat down on that rather thick stack of faxes. “It’s a long story with an interesting ending.”
    “I can hardly wait to hear it.”
    “Well, it starts with you forgetting your cell phone when you went to France.”
    Peaches shrugged. “I left it behind on purpose.” She had left her phone behind because when one was having a time-out from life, it was best to do it unplugged. Tess had had the holiday rental office’s number for emergencies, which had seemed like more than enough accessibility.
    Tess shifted uncomfortably. “Well, I didn’t think your phone should go unanswered.” She paused. “So I answered it.”
    Peaches resisted the urge to scratch her head. She knew her sister was gearing up to tell her something she obviously considered important, but she couldn’t for the life of her figure out what that something might be. She didn’t have a boyfriend to dump, or a landlord to appease, or rational clients to deal with. All she had was a collection of loonies who had apparently decided to jettison her
en masse
via the aforementioned faxes. None of that explained what