hasn’t been as simple. Store owners have problems staying in business here. There’s been talk of strange, unexplained things happening—whispers, strange sounds, disappearing inventory.”
Rosa’s hand went to her mouth. “It is haunted.” She stepped closer to the gargantuan stuffed bear in the display window. “We must go in.”
Dwayne’s eyes bulged. Janson briefly wondered if tour guides had permission to enter any of these sites, though he guessed bringing huge groups into these uninhabited buildings was a huge liability. Still, the thought of bumping up against Mollie through shadowy hallways while she made up scary stories was tempting. Before he could consider what strings to pull, a loud group of partiers walked through the tour. “Watch out for ghosts,” a slaphappy brunette slurred.
Her friends laughed behind her. Her boyfriend looked less drunk and slightly more embarrassed, but when he saw Mollie, he broke into a grin. “No, no, watch out for Mollie Sawyer!”
She twisted around like an out-of-control firecracker. “Hey, I’m doing a tour here. Keep it down, Roy!”
“Wait, wait, wait, the New Orleans Hotel is haunted. You wanna hear?” Roy jokingly tried to add his story to the tour. “One night, I looked into a mirror and saw something spooky. And you know what it was?”
“Your face?” Mollie asked. More uproarious laughter followed. Janson loved watching the little spitfire in action, especially when he wasn’t on the receiving end. Instead of thinking up a retort, Janson could study the fire rush up Mollie’s freckled cheeks. What was it about redheads?
“You are hopelessly outclassed, Roy.” A cute little zombie hunter joined the newcomers from behind with a bright smile. “Mollie will eat you up and spit you out.”
Mollie’s face softened. “Oh, hi, Viola.”
Viola treated her to a friendly wink. She definitely belonged to a video game with that sleek zombie hunter costume. Her auburn hair swung over her shoulders. “I’ve got your back, girl.” Her interested eyes went to the stuffed bear shop. “You showing them the Embalmer’s building?”
“Yeah, I love this place.”
“Me too.” Viola’s expression turned dreamy. “I’d love to get my hands on it to restore it to what it used to be.”
“Yours are the only hands I’d trust to do that,” Mollie said. Her gaze swerved to Janson and she bit her lip as if suddenly realizing her tour group hadn’t just disappeared. “Viola is the Leonardo da Vinci of restoration around here. She makes Eureka Springs beautiful.”
Roy teased Viola with a wink. “Yeah, she does.” His girlfriend’s shoulders rose with indignation.
Viola quickly tried to diffuse the situation. “Real beautiful—you should see that oversized spider in my front yard.”
Roy’s girlfriend glared and she dragged him away to the sanctuary of the New Orleans Hotel. Janson had a feeling that she had nothing to worry about. No way would Mollie’s classy friend give that knuckle dragger the time of day. Mollie’s brilliant smile lit up her face. “You think she’s afraid of spiders?”
Viola let out a light laugh. Wisely not answering, she left to join her friends. Mollie threw her hands against her hips and put more space between her and the rowdiness at the hotel, retracing their steps to another lamppost down the street. Janson had to hurry to keep up, though he didn’t mind half as much as he expected. He had a feeling he’d follow this clever little minx anywhere. His heart took a nose dive the moment this little fantasy connected with his conscience.
No, he was here with Rosa, sweet Rosa, and he was doing a lousy job of making her forget that player who’d broken her heart last month. From what he could see, Rosa had weaned herself to only two angry texts to her ex a day. The time to explore what “could’ve been between them” was now. He’d do everything in his power to fight the hot-blooded, romantic tendencies he’d inherited from his mother and leave Mollie alone. He’d only get burnt by this molten hot temptation.
Mollie ran her fingers through that fire of hair and he steadied himself.
CHAPTER FIVE
Mollie glanced over at the assembled group, doing her best to ignore Janson’s brooding expression. What was his problem anyway? He had a date and two bodyguards; she had a town who loved to tease her. He’d won.
She tried to forget all that by getting lost in her story. “You’re standing on the very road where a notorious gang of bank robbers led by the Price brothers rode into town in their Model T and ran into this building here, the First National