Title: Hearts Unloched
Author: Claire Gem
Blurb:
A psychic interior designer reluctantly agrees to renovate a sexy investor’s abandoned hotel on Loch Sheldrake, a lake rumored to have once been the mob’s body dumping ground.
Interior designer Kate Bardach loves her single girl’s lifestyle, living in Manhattan and spending weekends at her lake house. She’s passionate about her career, too–reinventing old buildings. But there are some projects she can’t take on because of the spirits trapped inside. Kate is psychic–she sees dead people.
Marco Lareci is one of Wall Street’s most successful–and sexy–investment brokers who’s achieved all of his life’s goals. Except for finding his soulmate. His latest project, an abandoned resort on Loch Sheldrake, needs a savvy designer to transform the crumbling complex into a boutique hotel. When Marco meets Kate, he can’t believe his luck. She’s the perfect match for his business and his heart.
Marco’s body excites Kate even more than does his renovation project. But he wants more than a casual relationship, and she’s not willing to give up her freedom. Plus, the haunting at Marco’s resort, a bonafide poltergeist, affects her on an intensely personal level. Kate’s aunt disappeared from the place fifty years ago.
Excerpt:
The bottom of her right foot began to throb now that the shock was wearing off, and her toes were sticky against the hardwood with her own blood.
She hobbled to the bathroom, flicked on the light, and sat on the closed commode to observe the damage. A shard of the broken ceramic cup had sliced neatly into the very tender center of her arch. Not a very big cut, but deep and jagged. Wielding cotton balls and peroxide, she dabbed at the wound, wincing at the sting of the disinfectant. Pressing down on the area didn’t seem to indicate any sharp fragments left inside. She cleaned it up, squeezed some antibiotic ointment on several cotton pads, and secured them snugly around her foot with bandage tape.
It took her another twenty minutes to clean up the trail of blood splotches she’d left on her way to the bathroom, as well as to gather the broken shards of ceramic from around her chair. Before she even began, though, she closed the blinds over the patio doors.
Not a good idea to indulge in any more stargazing tonight.
Kate had almost settled back to normal as she washed her hands in her kitchen sink, though was still pondering the bizarre light show she’d witnessed. She’d heard of ball lightning, but without an inciting storm? Perhaps there had been storm clouds beyond the mountains on the north side of the lake.
Sure, that would explain it. The receding edge of the weather system they’d been enduring all day.
She dried the few dishes she’d used for dinner and put them away. From her kitchen window, she could see the glimmer of the security lights edging the Redman’s parking lot flickering through the trees. Peaceful, serene, normal. Kate shook her head and chuckled to herself. Perhaps she’d imagined this whole crazy episode tonight. Dozed off in her chair and dreamed it all up, then woke with a start when she upset her mug.
Fatigue and stress can play funny tricks on the mind, and she’d been struggling with her fair share lately. Sighing, she poured herself of glass of milk and reached to flick off the light over the sink.
Maybe I’ll start the Patterson book after all. Prop myself up in bed and–
Kate’s heart seized as a hand smacked against the window pane, inches from her face, with a loud, wet splat. A scream tore from her throat and she staggered back, watching in horror as desperate fingers clawed, nails squealing on the glass as they struggled to gain purchase before disappearing beneath the lower edge of the frame.
Purchase Link:
Author Links:
Thanks for hosting, Kate! The Kindle version of Hearts Unloched is on sale now for $2.99 on Amazon. And coming soon in Audiobook from Audible.
Thank you for being a guest, Claire!