"I've heard the stories," Adeline continued, eyes gleaming. "And if you'll recall, I dated that good-looking hunter for a while. The one with the blue eyes and the curly black hair. I can't remember his name."

"Brett." It was hard to keep up with Adeline's ever-changing list of boyfriends, Virginia thought. But Brett had been memorable mostly because he had been a swaggering braggart. Of course, a lot of ghost-hunters were swaggering braggarts.

But not Sam. Whatever else he was, he was not a typical hunter.

She glanced across the room to where her new combination fiance/business partner stood talking with one of the guests. Sam Gage didn't have to do any bragging, she thought wistfully. You knew just by looking at him that he could take care of himself and any ghost that happened along.

She was pretty sure he'd be terrific in bed, too, but she was beginning to think she might never find out the truth of that for herself.

"Oh, yeah, right," Adeline said. "Brett. That was his name. At any rate, he made some very interesting claims and promises. Ghost-hunters are not exactly shy when it comes to telling you about their sexual prowess. But our relationship didn't last long enough for me to run an experiment. Anyhow, I'm curious. I realize it's none of my business—"

"No, it's not."

"But I am your very best friend in the entire world," Adeline reminded her. "If you can't tell me, who can you tell?"

Virginia cleared her throat and decided to be honest. "Sorry, I'm not in a position to answer your question."

Adeline looked dumbfounded. "You're not? But you're going to marry Sam Gage. He's a hunter. This is your engagement party."

"Oddly enough, it looks more like a Halloween party to me."

"Okay, okay, so we decided to give it a theme. All the best parties have themes. I read it in last month's issue of Harmonic Home & Garden."