USA Today Bestselling Author Lauren Smith is an Oklahoma attorney by day, author by night who pens adventurous and edgy romance stories by the light of her smart phone flashlight app. She’s won multiple awards in several romance subgenres including: New England Reader’s Choice Awards, Greater Detroit BookSeller’s Best Awards, and a Semi-Finalist award for the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Award. She was a 2018 RITA ® Finalist in the Romance Writers of America Contest. To connect with Lauren, visit her at www.laurensmithbooks.com

Haunted, schmaunted. 
Bastian, infamous playboy and the current Earl of Weymouth doesn’t believe his English castle is haunted. So what if a few windows and lightbulbs shatter? That happens. OK, bleeding portraits are hard to explain…  But he is not going to be deterred. Not even by Jane, a seductive-as-sin grad student who has assigned herself the task of ghost hunting at Stormclyffe Hall. All Bastian wants is to restore his ancestral home, not be distracted by her curvy hips, bedroom eyes and gorgeous smile—
 
Fine, maybe he does want to get naked with Ms. GhostBuster, but that’s only because she practically follows him around, nosing into his daily life. And yes, because she looks so damnably sexy, however, he refuses to give into lust.  No matter how much she tempts him.
But when the ghosts up the ante and try to kill them, Bastian realizes he will have to keep Jane close. Very, very close. Purely to protect her, of course.
 
At least that’s what he tells himself. All bets—and some clothes—are off, as he shows her what a real earl is made of.


The Shadows of Stormclyffe Hall

Bastian jerked awake, gasping for breath. His mind reeled with what he'd just seen. Had it been real? A witch named Cordelia Huntington had murdered Isabelle and Richard? Could he believe what he'd seen? Or had it been merely fevered imaginings?


Head pounding, he glanced around the drawing room. Jane was sprawled facedown a few feet away.


She stirred and groaned. "Bastian, I had the strangest dream" She looked around, confused. "Why are we on the floor?"


"Jane, did you see?" He struggled to find the words.


"Richard and Cordelia? Yes, front-row seat and everything." She sat up and shoved her hair back from her face, her lips drawn tight in a grim line. After a moment, her lips softened, parted, and she drew a slow breath before continuing. "Honestly, I'm so scared I want to run for the nearest door, but"


"But?" he echoed. Odd how he hoped this one little word meant she wouldn't leave him.


Chapter 32