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walls during a siege? Or anything like that?”
    Seamus’ face darkened. Katie instinctively leaned back, away
from the rage and disgust she saw in his eyes.
    “I was cursed by a whore pretending to be a lady.”

Chapter Three
     
    “Cursed?” Katie asked. Chills broke out across her skin. Was
he for real?
    Based on all her experiences with the odd and the unusual it
was hard for her to dispute what he said, but the idea of someone being cursed
was horrifying.
    Seamus nodded curtly. “Aye, cursed.”
    “So you were killed when the, er, when you were cursed?”
    “I wasn’t killed.” At her wide-eyed stare he added, “I’m not
dead.”
    “But…”
    He shook his head, continuing to deny what she insisted was
the truth.
    “I can see you though,” she insisted.
    He crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re one of the few
who can.”
    “Yeah, but I see ghosts. You know, people who have died but
their spirits haven’t gone over to the other side? How is it that I can see you
if you aren’t dead?”
    “You see people who are still alive too.” He shrugged.
“Maybe it’s because I’m both. Or neither.” He stood suddenly and raked his hand
through his hair. “I’m not sure what I am. I haven’t known for a great many
years.” His voice trailed off as he added, “Somewhere along the way I gave up
trying to figure it out.”
    Katie’s heart ached for him. It must be horrible living a
half-life and not being able to interact with people the way he used to. She
pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “What
happened when you were… Well, when this curse went into effect?”
    Her question jarred Seamus from his thoughts. He walked over
to the window closest to the fireplace and looked out. “I was born in the year
of our Lord, 1703.”
    Katie couldn’t contain her gasp of surprise.
    “When I was fourteen I apprenticed with a well-known
woodcarver in a neighboring town. After I served out my apprenticeship I
returned to Kilmorny to be near my family.
    “My younger brother had died the previous year and my father
was in poor health. Once I saw how much my mother needed me, I set out to find
work. Lord Thomas Chichester held Tullamore back then and was working on one of
the many expansions to the castle. I made an agreement with him for a few small
carvings and once he saw my work, he decided to hire me exclusively for the
work in the new section of the castle.”
    Katie shifted on the couch but Seamus didn’t turn away from
the window. She guessed it was hard for him to dredge up those memories.
    “I spent a lot of time at Tullamore. Along with dozens of
other local men who had been hired to work there. Unfortunately having that
many able-bodied men behind the castle walls drew the attention of the Lord’s
much-younger and over-pampered wife Etain.
    “Etain was a beautiful woman. It was far too easy for her to
catch the eye of the men around her. And almost every man she lured to her bed
went, whether they were married or not.”
    Seamus finally turned and looked at Katie. “Until me.”
    “You told her no?” she asked.
    Seamus nodded.
    “And she didn’t like it,” Katie guessed.
    “No, she didn’t.” Seamus paced the width of the room. “At
first she thought I was just trying to do right by his Lordship, but after
repeatedly refusing her, she became angry.
    “She tried telling me his Lordship would never know. Then
she tried to make me feel sorry for her. More than once she hinted at how
lonely it was living in the castle with nothing but servants because her
husband was too busy doing things for the king or settling disputes between
peasants.”
    At Katie’s snort of disbelief, Seamus grinned. “She truly
had a gift for weaving a sad story.”
    “I’m sure she did.” Katie let her contempt show in each
word.
    “When she realized I wasn’t falling for her story, she
resorted to trickery. She followed me around, waiting for opportunities to
corner me.