THE WAKEFIELD DISTURBANCE
Author: Susanne Marie Knight
Genre: Paranormal Romantic
Suspense
Price:
$4.99
Buy Link:
Available electronically at:
Blurb:
A
Gift... Or A Curse?
Lara Wakefield receives
messages from the dead. Her latest “client” is a murdered young girl who wants
to be put to rest. The girl’s killer, however, objects. Can Lara find the
girl’s body without becoming the next victim?
Money
Or Love?
Private investigator Stuart
Manning wants nothing to do with supernatural phenomena. A retainer of $50,000
overcomes his reluctance. Lara’s innate ability, integrity, and beauty cause
him to have second thoughts about psychics, while deadly occurrences cause him
to believe the little girl’s murderer is still hanging around. How can Stuart
protect Lara when the killer is always one step ahead?
Scene Set-Up:
Laura Wakefield awakens in
a strange hotel room with a strange man in bed with her and a wedding ring on
her finger. She struggles to regain her memory.
Excerpt:
Lara groaned. It was
official; this was the worst headache she’d ever suffered because of her gift.
In all the years she’d served as messenger girl to the dead, she never, ever
felt as totally wiped as she did this very minute.
Exhaling her frustration, she lay limply on what she
assumed was a bed. She didn’t even have energy to open her eyes, plus her
memory had holes large enough to walk through. Where was this bed located?
Where was she? Why did her head feel two sizes too large?
Flitting images teased her. She saw herself in a
mirror; a drugged out zombie peered back at her. She recalled taking a moon
walk to a truck. The taste of a sandwich laced with spicy mustard stung her
mouth. More walking, and more eating but where to and what kind of food eluded
her. The cold chill of floor tile had iced her bare feet, and she felt the pull
of a shirt over her head with some trouble sticking her arms through the large
armholes.
A masculine fragrance drifted over to her, too. The
rugged face of the man she’d met yesterday--was it just yesterday?--popped into
her mind. In all these memories, Stuart Manning had helped her. She heard his
deep voice. He’d told her that she wanted to accompany him.
Why couldn’t she remember?
Lara lifted her bent arms up then out, brushing the
back of her left hand against her forehead. The hard surface of a ring hit her
left temple.
Whoa. Her eyelids flew open and in the dark, she
stared at her ring finger. A slim gold band encircled it--a band signifying
marriage.
She immediately sat up. There was no way she could
forget getting married. No way at all. She glanced to her right and her stomach
dropped. On the pillow next to her was Stuart Manning’s head, then came his
neck, his broad shoulders, and part of his well-defined chest, generously
delineated with hair. The bed sheets hid whether he was completely naked.
“Omigosh!” She stuffed her fist into her mouth. That
he still slept was a blessing. That she so wantonly slept next to him was a
catastrophe.
But was it so wanton if they were married?
This can't be. This just can't be! Not wanting to wake him, Lara slipped from the bed.
As she'd remembered, she wore an oversized tee shirt--his, most likely. When
she patted herself down, she cringed. She had nothing on underneath.
Oh, God. How could this get any worse?
Her imagination supplied several answers. Well,
you could’ve gotten pregnant, could’ve contracted a social disease, he could be
a mass murderer--
Stop it!
Useless conjecture didn't help this situation. She had to pull herself together
and try to remember. Thankfully, her head wasn't quite so fuzzy as before so
she took stock of her surroundings as best as she could in the dark. One bed,
two night tables, dresser, table and chairs equaled standard hotel/motel room
fare.
She cautiously made her way to the window and peeked
out from behind the heavy drapes. Early morning’s murky haze bathed a crowded
row of vehicles parked near the building. A partial view of a neon sign near
the road proclaimed “Bismarck” and “No Vacancy.”
Dropping the drapery, she leaned against the wall.
Her legs didn’t want to support her anymore. North Dakota? How could she
suddenly wake up in North Dakota?
Or, the more important question, how could she
suddenly wake up married?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hope you enjoy!
Susanne Marie Knight
Read outside the
box: award-winning Romance Writing With A Twist
0 comments:
Post a Comment