While traveling in a storm, Glen Harper takes a wrong turn and crashes his car. Unhurt but cold and wet, he decides to get help. Using a distant light as a guide, Glen discovers an uninhabited cottage, where he lights a much needed fire. Glen quickly warms up but soon becomes aware of a presence in the room. Hank Waterford is the caretaker of the estate where Glen found refuge from the storm. They meet when Glen, thinking he’s alone in the cottage, jumps into Hank’s bed. Both men are strongly attracted to each other, but they have to overcome a hurdle Glen never anticipated: the spirit of Henry, the estate owner’s son, who committed suicide after his unrequited love for Hank became too much to bear. Together Glen and Hank must deal with Henry, who haunts the manor house as well as Hank’s cottage. Can they find a solution that will allow Henry’s spirit to finally come to rest? Will he accept Glen and Hank’s relationship, or will he become a malevolent presence in their lives?

The Haunted Caretaker

From that moment on it was half me, or rather me in the passenger seat for the most part, and half Henry, being allowed to “drive.”


I got up, went to the bedroom door, and knocked.


After a silence Hank’s voice came through the door. “Go away!”


“Hank,” I said softly, “it’s me.”


“Go—” And then, another silence, but a curious one.


“Hank!” I called, still softly. “It’s me!”


Still more silence, a long silence. Then, “What?”


“It’s me!” This time I felt Henry truly speaking, even heard the difference in my voice.


The silence beyond the door was longer still this time. Then, barely audible, “No!”


“Henry?” Hank’s voice was anguished. Then a sob. Then, “Do you have to ask?”


Chapter 20