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

“Where did this come from?” I asked as I dried myself. “The trunk?”


Hank stopped his own drying and looked at me seriously. “No. The trunk is just for—special stuff.”


“Oh,” I said. “Then—where?” I indicated the towel.


“The closet in my bedroom,” he said. “Didn’t you notice it?”


When we had dried ourselves and were standing, towels wrapped around our waists, before the fire, he said, “All of the stuff in the trunk—is from Henry.”


Hank’s face went a little red. “Yeah. I took it—from his room.”


I nodded and, reaching out took his hand and squeezed it. In return he looked at me gratefully and gave me a sad, slightly apologetic smile.


We didn’t dress, but sat together in the arm chair. I looked around the room.


“It’s a smallcottage,” I said, reflectively.


“Right. But, before you. Was there a caretaker before you?”


Chapter 24