Jayne Castle: Ghost Hunter

Welcome back to my other World: Harmony.

Two hundred years ago a vast energy Curtain opened in the vicinity of Earth, making interstellar travel practical for the first time. In typical human fashion, thousands of eager colonists packed up their stuff and lost no time heading out to create new homes and new societies on the unexplored worlds. Harmony was one of those worlds.

The colonists brought with them all the comforts of home-sophisticated technology, centuries of art and literature, and the latest fashions. Trade through the Curtain made it possible to stay in touch with families back on Earth and also to keep the computers and high-tech gadgets working. Things went swell for awhile.

And then one day, without warning, the Curtain closed, disappearing as mysteriously as it had opened. Cut off from Earth, no longer able to obtain the tools and materials needed to keep their machines functioning, and with no hope of rescue, the stranded colonists were abruptly thrown back to a far more primitive existence. Forget the latest Earth fashions, just staying alive suddenly became a major problem.

But on Harmony folks did one of the things humans do best: they survived. It wasn't easy, but the descendents of the first generation of colonists have fought their way back from the brink to a level of civilization roughly equivalent to the early twenty-first century on Earth.

But here on Harmony, things are a little different. You've got those dangerously sexy ghost hunters. Exotic nightclubs that cater to a clientele that likes to get buzzed on the psychic energy left in the weird alien ruins. And a most unusual kind of pet.

Still, some problems never change. Take Elly St. Clair, for example. She thought she'd ended her engagement to a Guild boss named Cooper Boone. But Cooper has other ideas…

If, like me, you sometimes relish your romantic-suspense with a paranormal twist, Harmony is the place for you.

Love,

Jayne

HARMONY

Two Hundred Years after the Closing of the Curtain…

"PLEASE, WAIT, MISS ST. CLAIR." THE SMALL, NEAT MAN behind the reception desk leaped to his feet. "You simply cannot burst in on Mr. Boone like this."

"Watch me, Melvin." Elly kept moving.

She crossed the vast expanse of the reception area with quick strides, her tailored pumps making no sound on the thick carpet. Her goal was the massive, elaborately inlaid spectrum-wood door that guarded the inner sanctum of the executive offices of the Aurora Springs Guild.

Melvin flapped his manicured hands.

"Mr. Boone is in a meeting," he gasped. He bustled around the desk and hurried toward her. "He gave strict orders that he was not to be disturbed."

"Don't worry, Melvin, Mr. Boone will see me."

Elly reached the imposing door three steps ahead of Melvin. She grasped the oversized steel-and-amber knob with both hands.

"Mr. Boone is involved in Guild business, Miss St. Clair," Melvin yelped.

"Mr. Boone is always involved in Guild business, Melvin." She gave him an icy smile and shoved the heavy door inward. "But luckily for both of us, I have just discovered that, as far as he is concerned, I am Guild business. So you see, there's really no problem here, is there?"

"Miss St. Clair, please-"

She nipped smartly into the inner office, whirled, and slammed the door shut in Melvin's appalled face. There was a sharp snick when she rezzed the lock.

She swung around to face the two people who occupied the executive suite of the Aurora Springs Guild.

The man behind the massive green quartz desk regarded her calmly through a pair of black wire-and-amber-framed glasses. The serious, studious looking spectacles did nothing to veil the impact of his eerily compelling blue eyes. They also failed utterly to soften the implacable, unyielding lines of his fiercely etched features. His hand-tailored black silk dress shirt, trousers, and black amber-trimmed bolo tie underscored the invisible aura of power that he wore like a cloak.

Just in case anyone missed the point, he wore the traditional emblem of his office, a heavy black ring set with a large amber stone engraved with the Guild's seal.

Cooper Boone was the best argument against the quaint, old-fashioned, badly retrograde tradition of arranged Covenant Marriages that she had ever met, Elly thought. And to think she had been on the brink of becoming his wife. A shiver whispered down her spine.

In fairness, there were a couple of valid reasons why she had allowed herself to become engaged to him, she reflected sadly. Reason number one was that she had fallen head over heels in love with Cooper.

Reason number two, the one that had proved to be her biggest mistake, was that she thought he had fallen in love with her.

She knew the truth now.

"Good afternoon, Elly," Cooper said quietly. "I wasn't expecting you."

Translated, that probably meant, What the hell do you think you're doing barging into my office? But Cooper was far too controlled to allow his irritation to show.

With the aid of twenty-twenty hindsight she could see that Cooper's seemingly unlimited powers of self-control had been a major warning sign. But in the few weeks that they had actively dated, she had told herself that it was an admirable characteristic.

"I happened to be in the neighborhood," she said, giving him what she hoped was a smile as dazzling as sunlight on snow and just as chilly. "Thought I'd drop in."

He raised his dark brows a quarter of an inch and very gently narrowed his mesmerizing eyes.

Okay , she thought, taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, he now knows I'm furious. And he's a little surprised. Wow. Fancy that.

She ought to be experiencing a little glow of vengeful satisfaction, she thought. It wasn't easy to catch Cooper Boone off guard. He was a master strategist, always one step ahead of everyone else around him.

He had certainly been one step ahead of her for the past couple of months.

She had actually convinced herself that his formal, traditional courtship had been a sign of respect for her and her family. Here in Aurora Springs a lot of things in the Guild were still done the old-fashioned way, including high-ranking Guild Covenant Marriages.

Cooper was watching her intently now. She could almost hear him mentally calculating, assessing and strategizing, deciding on the best way to deal with her and control the situation. Because that's what he does , she reflected. He deals with people and takes charge of situations.

The reason he could do that so well was because he had complete mastery of his own emotions. That's his real talent , she thought, and it has nothing to do with his impressive parapsych profile.

The second man in the room frowned in paternal disapproval. "Cooper and I are a little busy at the moment, my dear. Did I forget a lunch date?"

"No, Dad, you didn't forget anything," she said quietly. "Don't worry, this won't take long."

Her father was several years older than Cooper and a couple of inches shorter. He wore his mane of silver hair in the traditional Guild style, tied back at the nape of his neck with a black leather cord. Her three brothers wore their hair in the same manner.

One of the things that she had liked about Cooper Boone right from the start was that he cut his hair in a short, decidedly non-Guild style.