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Spirit of the Knight by Debbie Peterson
Published by The Wild Rose Press Inc on March 25, 2014
Pages: 299
Format: eBook
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She fell deeply in love with him in the early days of her childhood. And in return, she captured his heart the moment he first cast his gaze upon her…
Renowned artist, Mariah Jennings hired to paint a thirteenth-century Scottish castle, gets the shock of her life when she encounters the handsome knight who has dominated a lifetime of portraits and sketchbooks.
But Sir Cailen Braithnoch is no ordinary ghost, nor did he suffer an ordinary death. Magic of the blackest kind cast a pall over the knights centuries ago. As the ghost and his lady seek to unravel the paradox surrounding his death, black arts, otherworldly forces, and a jealous rival conspire against them.
Will those forces tear them apart, or is their love destined to last throughout the ages?
Today, Debbie Peterson is visiting Brooke Blogs with a fun guest post. Read on for Debbie’s ghost story. Thanks so much for stopping by, Debbie!
Ghost stories…Everyone has heard at least one. They are often told and retold during slumber parties and around late-night camp fires where spooky sounds and darkness prevails. Though fun to hear, most of us take them with a grain of salt. At least we take them with a grain of salt until we see an honest-to-goodness-can’t-find-another-reasonable-explanation ghost for ourselves.
Now because I am an author of paranormal romance, and most all of my books have at least one ghost lurking about (and most of them are my heroes,) I am often asked if I have seen a ghost myself.
The answer to that question, dear readers, is yes. Yes, I have. Skeptics will scoff, of course. They always do. Perhaps I merely hallucinated, they say, or perhaps something I ate didn’t agree with me. Surely, the nighttime shadows that creep in through windows made you “think” you saw a ghost. Oh, come on, Deb! Are you on meds? Alcohol? Drugs, perhaps? I know! You write about ghosts and therefore, your vivid imagination simply conjured one. Mystery solved.
Well, to set everyone’s mind at ease…I don’t indulge in drugs or alcohol (no, never) and I’ve yet to have a doctor prescribe anything more than an occasional antibiotic. I’ve only seen one very surprised ghost at night, and truly I don’t believe shadows could have explained his presence. For those wondering if I conjured the others while writing? Not even close. I saw my first ghost at the tender age of fourteen—in the broad light of day– and since I know you’re all dying (pardon) to hear the sordid details, I’ll get right to it.
But first, let me tell you that my parents assured me from the earliest days of my youth that ghosts simply didn’t exist. I believed them. At least I did until the day we helped move my grandparents from the home they built into another, that for over a century had stood on its foundation. Trust me, on that particular day, encountering a ghost didn’t even occur to me. I thought the two-story farmhouse simply charming.
Anyway, we had several trucks filled with boxes and furniture that needed unloading. Several friendly neighbors had come to help with the task and as you can imagine, I didn’t know or recognize any of them. After all, I lived in another state altogether. About an hour or so had lapsed when I picked up a box bound for the upstairs. Good. I had yet to see the upper floor and relished the opportunity. I climbed the winding staircase and noticed that other boxes were stacked in the room off to the right. As I headed in that direction, I saw a man standing just inside the doorway. He looked like an old farmer, dressed in bib
overalls, with a red-and-black plaid shirt worn underneath. His boots were just as old and worn as his faded, gray hat. The lenses of his eye-glasses were round and I noted a bit of sun-glare reflecting off of them. I assumed he was one of the helpful neighbors and due to his age, took on the task of directing traffic. I met his gaze head-on, gave him a friendly smile, and said:
“Where do you want me to put this box?”
A long lengthy silence followed. Very. Lengthy. I began to feel quite uncomfortable standing there holding that box. I didn’t know quite what to do. The minute I thought perhaps he didn’t hear the question, and thought I’d repeat it, the man simply disappeared. Yup! Right in front of my face…gone…just like that. With my heart beating wildly, I jetted down the steps and made all haste outside. I poked through the boxes looking for those labeled kitchen and made them my priority throughout the remainder of the day.
You want to know the interesting thing about that ghost? I couldn’t see through him. He looked just as solid as any other living soul. Though we visited my grandparents on several different occasions over the years, I never saw him again. However, he made his presence known by pacing back-and-forth upstairs. We would hear the creepy sounds of his slow, even boot-steps traipsing across the floors. All of us…five kids…two parents…and even they had to finally admit a ghost resided there…
So, tell me, have any of you ever seen a ghost?
Spirit of the Knight by Debbie Peterson is a magnificent read! I was thoroughly entertained with the characters in this story. Mariah and Cailen were wonderful and I really liked them both right from the start. This was such a fun story and I loved delving into it. There was mystery, romance, ghosts, knights…everything that makes a story awesome. I would love to read more of Mariah and Cailen. I’ll definitely be seeking out more from Debbie Peterson.
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