Ghost Hunter Read Free Page A

gossip.”
    â€œWell, there is gossip, Mr. Guild Boss.”
    â€œIt doesn’t involve you,” he said quietly.
    â€œI have another news bulletin for you. Everyone is saying that I was the reason the duel was fought.”
    He frowned. “Who said that?”
    â€œ Everyone. Aren’t you listening? My colleagues in the Department of Botany stared and whispered when I walked through the faculty lounge. You should have heard the giggling when I went into the women’s restroom.”
    There was a short, heavily weighted silence at that news. The discussion was going downhill fast, and her heart was breaking into smaller and smaller pieces. She only had one last, frail hope to cling to.
    â€œElly,” John said, placating. “You’re the daughter of a Guild family. You know how important our traditions are.”
    â€œFor heaven’s sake, Dad, I’ve got nothing against a few institutional traditions. But we’re talking about a full-blown duel. ” She flicked a glance at Cooper. “In case neither one of you has heard, that sort of thing is considered archaic, primitive, uncivilized, and way over the top by modern, educated, sophisticated people such as my colleagues.”
    â€œYour father’s right; the gossip will die down,” Cooper promised.
    â€œThat remark only goes to show how out of touch you both are with mainstream society.” She started to pace. “It’s all very well for you not to worry, but let me tell you a few facts of academic life. This may come as a stunning shock, but it turns out that figuring at the center of a stupid, mega-macho duel between a couple of hunters—one of whom happens to be a Guild boss—is not the kind of thing that will help me get promoted to assistant professor.”
    â€œCalm down,” Cooper said, his voice gentling.
    â€œCalm down?” She stopped and swung around to face him again. “If you don’t care about the risk you took withyour own life or your parapsych profile, how about considering the damage that you did to my career?”
    Cooper’s mouth thinned. “What occurred was Guild business. It will not affect your career. I give you my word on that.”
    She resumed pacing. The only other alternative was to pick up a few of the smaller alien artifacts that decorated the chamber and start hurling them around the room. That would be undignified.
    â€œGuild business,” she repeated coldly. “You know, somehow I just knew you were going to say that.”
    â€œThe incident will not affect your career at the college.”
    â€œPay attention, Mr. Guild Boss. Members of the faculty have been dismissed from Aurora Springs College for less than this.”
    John’s snowy brows bunched. “No one is going to fire you because of this.”
    â€œDon’t bet on it, Dad.” She stalked past the full-length portrait of her several times great-grandfather, John Sander St. Clair, the first chief of the Aurora Springs Guild. “The Academic Council has a very strict Code of Conduct. Article One, Section a, Paragraph 1a, forbids every member of the staff from, and I quote, ‘engaging in any type of behavior that might embarrass the college or reflect badly upon this institution. Such behavior shall be grounds for a formal reprimand, or, in the most serious cases, dismissal.’ ”
    For the first time, Cooper showed an expression other than cool patience. It wasn’t much of a show of emotion, to be sure, only a slight increase in the intensity of his unusual blue eyes, but she had been around him enough in the past two months to sense that he was starting to get irritated.
    â€œYour father is right,” he said very evenly. “There’s no way the Academic Council can blame you for an incident that involved only the Guild Council.”
    She came to a halt in front of another large portrait of aformer Aurora Springs Guild boss.