And that her father had been able to speak with the dead, too.

He’d never told her, never mentioned it.

But then, she’d never had that ability until the day she’d been saved by a long-dead pirate. She supposed her father wouldn’t have said anything to her for the same reason she never said anything to anyone else. “Is everything all right?” she asked Adam.

He nodded. “I love dogs. Great to meet fellows who might otherwise want to chew me to pieces.”

She smiled. When the canine siblings came out, they seemed ready to accept Adam Harrison. Monty had trained them not to jump, but they raced out to gather around Katie and then to sniff at the newcomer.

“He’s good!” Monty told the dogs.

Adam leaned down to pet all three, who then began to vie for his attention.

“Okay, guys... I’ll leave the gate open, Monty. They can come and go as they like,” Katie said.

“Sounds good. They’ll have the run of both yards,” her boss said, heading to Sarah and the carriage, ready to take care of both.

Katie led Adam Harrison through the gate at the side of the stables to her little house. Giving the dogs her yard for extra room to roam in wasn’t much of a deal. While Monty’s place sat on four acres, her little house had about a tenth of that room. She loved it, though. She had found it the day she had applied for a job with Monty. And with the trust fund her parents had left her and the promise of a job to pay the mortgage, she’d been set. Monty had been thrilled she’d purchased the house. She didn’t mind looking out for things when he had to be away.

It wasn’t in any way a grand Victorian, but it had been built during the mid-1800s and offered lots of charm. A wraparound porch with wooden railings surrounded the house. Downstairs she had what had been a small parlor and music room to one side of the narrow entry hall, and another small parlor, then connected dining room and kitchen to the other side. Upstairs, there were three small bedrooms.

It was more than she needed. She didn’t have family or friends come to stay. She had cut off all ties with friends in Florida when she left. Jeremy, her closest living relation, was here.

He had his own house, a place that was a grand Victorian, in the Garden District. But Katie had gone to high school and college in New Orleans and did have plenty of friends here. While they had their own homes, Katie liked to host game nights, and she kept the one downstairs parlor as a kid-safe zone for those who now had toddlers, and it was babyproofed so they couldn’t get into anything harmful.