Saturday, December 21, 2019

A Widow’s Walk: Romantic Suspense in Maine


Which will she choose—her old love or her new love? 




Catherine Killean is a woman on a mission. When her new husband disappears, leaving a suicide note, she is determined to find out why. She follows his tracks first to the North Woods of Maine, then to Florida, and back again to Maine. Along the way, she meets the tall, dark, gruff Holden Taggart, a Maine guide.

In her doubt and loneliness she is drawn to Holden, leaving her confused and adrift. What will happen when her questions about Jonathan are finally answered? Will old loyalty or new love triumph?

A Widow’s Walk opens in northern Maine, on the banks of Moosehead Lake. Most of the area was timber land and towns catered to the men who worked in lumber camps. Like Gold Rush towns in the West, many delights awaited them—including brothels. In this scene, the hotel in which the travelers are staying has restored the original boudoirs with red velvet upholstery and inviting beds. In this scene Catherine, staying in the Madam’s room, has an unwelcome visitor.



Excerpt (PG): The thief

“I’m sorry about…the kiss. I won’t trouble you again.” He turned and strode down the corridor.
Catherine undressed slowly and got into bed. She gazed at the ceiling, not sure where to even begin to decipher her feelings. Holden’s scent remained on her skin, filling her senses. Ignoring her conscience, she closed her eyes and rose to meet the fantasy. Suddenly, Jonathan’s picture intruded and the heat dissipated. What is happening to me? These feelings aren’t real. It’s ridiculous. I barely know the man. He has a lifestyle totally foreign to me. He’s rough, coarse, ill-mannered. But, she had to admit, extremely desirable. There’s something else, though. It’s not just a physical attraction. No, it was a spark of male force different from anything she had ever felt before, certainly not from the diminutive Jonathan, who would have appeared so effeminate next to Holden. She considered this new perspective. I used to think of Jonathan as fawnlike. He was a delicate, vulnerable animal, to be protected and shielded from the wicked things in the world. Could he instead have just been a weakling?
It took a long time to fall asleep, and when she did, she dreamed, not of Jonathan, but of a great black bear who appeared out of the cold darkness. It enveloped her in its huge paws and led her gently into a cave. There the bear, which smelled oddly of lemon, began to embrace her. She felt herself falling onto something furry, opening her body to take the bear deep inside her, calling in her sleep, “I want you, you, you…” She awoke with a snap.
Someone was indeed in her room. She tried to make him out in the gloom. Shorter than Holden, and stockier. She caught a whiff of lemon, this time real. “Who’s there?” In her fright she could only manage a shrill squeak. The intruder let out an oath and, before she could reach for the lamp, ran out, slamming the door behind him. Catherine flipped the switch with trembling fingers. There on her bureau lay her jewelry case, its contents scattered on the floor. As she knelt to gather them up, the door opened. Harley stood there.
“I brought it back,” she said quietly. She crossed to the bureau, laid a diamond brooch on it, and left without another word.

I Heart Book Publishing, June 6, 2016
Ebook: words; Print: 227 p.
Contemporary romantic suspense, M/F, 2 flames


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