By:
Lynn Crandall
Released
Dec 16th,
2013
The
presence of a ghost in her life doesn't alarm Lacy Aegar, in fact it
makes her happy. Two and a half years ago when her dead husband
Nicholas reappeared in her life as a full-bodied spirit, she
questioned her sanity. But with Nicholas' explanation that there are
things about life that are not as she's always believed, she settled
into a pleasant routine of working with her sister at their private
investigation business and enjoying home life with her now
10-year-old son – with Nicholas never very far away.
Lacey's
complacency and sense of stability is sent topsy-turvy when she runs
into Jackson Carter, the son of powerful and influential business
tycoon, William Carter. Typical of the Carter reputation, Jackson's
slick new private investigating business is siphoning off clients
from the Aegar sisters' business, creating financial difficulty. It's
a recurring nightmare for Lacey, who has already seen damage done by
the Carter family, and when she encounters Jackson, she wants nothing
to do with him.
But
things are not what they seem when it comes to Jackson Carter,
either. Unbeknownst to Lacey and her sister, Jackson is fighting a
battle to preserve his business, too, and his integrity. For him,
it's a fight for his soul, and he enlists Lacey's help because of her
unique investigative skills and open heart. When she uncovers a mole
in his business, she also discovers that one of his clients' drug
trials has been given the green light to go to the next phase based
on falsified data. As they work together to save both their
businesses, Jackson and Lacey not only face death, they must come to
grips with their feelings about love and life.
Buy
Links
B&N:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/always-and-forever-love-lynn-crandall/1117506755?ean=9781440574733
Link
to Follow Tour:
http://tastybooktours.blogspot.com/2014/01/now-booking-tasty-virtual-tour-for.html
Author
Info
Lynn
Crandall lives in the Midwest and writes in the company of her two
cats. She has been a reader and a writer all her life. Her background
is in journalism, but whether writing a magazine or newspaper story
or creating a romance, she loves the power stories hold to transport,
inspire, and uplift. In her romances, she focuses on vulnerable,
embraceable characters who don't back down. She hopes that readers
discover, over and over, stories of ordinary people who face ordinary
life challenges and are transformed by extraordinary love.
Author
Links
@lynncrandall246
Excerpt
Walking
into the master bath, Lacey stopped short. “Geez! Now, that’s a
bathtub,” she exclaimed. Her voice echoed slightly against the
marble tile walls and gray slate floor. Jason waited patiently at the
doorway while her gaze moved from one opulent element to another. A
large white and gold marble whirlpool tub, deep enough to disappear
in, was framed on three sides by frosted glass windows and a small
garden of palms and feathery ferns. On another wall stood a shower
stall sporting a gold rain-head showerhead and etched glass doors.
“Hi,
Uncle Jake.”
Jason’s
greeting jolted Lacey out of her skin. Retreat was impossible. She
turned to face the square shoulders, tall frame, and solid jaw of a
dark-haired man. “Uncle Jake, I presume?” She wasn’t doing
anything wrong, so why did she feel her as though Brad Pitt had just
caught her picking her nose?
“I
know who I am. Who are you and what are you doing in my bathroom?”
The man’s voice was clipped velvet. His arm circled Jason
protectively.
She
stuck out her hand. “I’m Lacey Aegar. And as for what I’m doing
here…”
“I
hired her, Uncle Jake. She’s going to find Snickers.”
She
looked from Jason’s cherubic face and up into the glistening brown
eyes of his uncle and felt her composure melt into the cold slate
beneath her feet. “Umm…I’m a private investigator. And your
nephew has asked me to…”
“I
think you’ve seen enough, Ms. Private Investigator or gossip
columnist or whoever you are.” The man grabbed Lacey’s elbow and
began to usher her briskly out of the room.
“But
Uncle Jake—”
“If
you’ll just hold on a minute I can explain.” Lacey’s face
burned at the man’s insinuation. With Jason at his heels, the man
swept Lacey down the stairs and was heading toward the front door,
where she spread out her hands and planted them against the hard
wood. "Stop,” she demanded, whirling around to face him
head-on. “I’m not leaving until I finish what I came here for,
and that’s to help Jason find his dog.”
Noting
that the receptionist’s desk was empty, Lacey glanced at the wall
clock and casually wondered why Michelle wasn’t at her desk by
10:30 a.m. But the thought was quickly forgotten when sounds of
anguish spilled out from behind the door of the private office she
shared with Sterling.
“I
can’t believe it!” Sterling fumed.
“Can’t
believe what?” Lacey walked to her desk and tossed her purse in a
nearby chair, slightly alarmed by her sister’s dismay.
“Oh,
when it rains it pours, I guess.” Sterling’s sleek, chestnut hair
fell over her face as she leaned her head on her hands.
“If
it weren’t for bad luck we’d have no luck at all?”
“We’re
between a rock and a hard place,” Sterling came back with from
under her hair.
“Well,
what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” It was a common game
for the sisters, something to test their edge and sometimes to
relieve stress. But Lacey knew this time something was serious.
“Wanna tell me what’s up?”
Sterling
lifted her head but didn’t meet Lacey’s eyes. “I just got off
the phone with my husband. Ben said the word from the higher-ups is
keep the overtime down.”
“I
see. Well, that will give you more time together. He’s been working
an awful lot of hours lately. Homicide work can be very taxing. It’ll
be good for him to have more time with you and the family.”
Sterling
sighed, shifting back into her seat, before turning a sad face to
her. “Always looking on the bright side, aren’t you, sis. Well,
there’s more. The city is negotiating with the police union, but so
far it looks like the cost of health insurance is going to go way
up.”
“Oh,
more out-of-pocket expenses.” Lacey knew that Sterling and Ben
wouldn’t scrimp on health care for one-year-old Joshua—the
namesake of Sterling and Lacey’s father—but with the agency’s
dwindling income, the couple had already tightened their belt. “A
few more macaroni-and-cheese dinners?” she offered halfheartedly.
Then
Sterling delivered the final blow. “Lacey, this building’s being
sold and the new owners are announcing a raise in the rent.” She
grabbed the rental agreement papers from her desk and shook them in
the air. “It’s the curse, all over again.”
Lacey
knew exactly what her sister was talking about. It was something they
jokingly attributed life’s challenges to—the Aegar Curse. It had
been haunting them since their father’s death when they were young
girls. In moments of lightheartedness or when no other explanations
made sense of things, they joked that the curse was handed down from
their mother’s side. A great-great-great-grandfather spit on
somebody’s grave and— voila! The Aegar curse was born and now
signified the sisters’ only inheritance from their maternal side.
She
knew that neither one seriously believed in a family curse. Their
father had been a cop and it was a criminal who took his life. When
their mother had become clinically depressed, it was the loss of her
husband that was to blame, not a curse. And when Lacey’s husband
was killed by the same crime family that stole their father’s life,
it was a perverted mind that pulled the trigger. Still, in the
deepest parts of her heart, sad questions remained, stabbing her like
hot steel and wondering, why?
“I
don’t know what to do, sis.” Sterling shook her head and slumped
into the couch that stood against the far wall of the office. “I
love what we do. I love this office. I love this couch, the file
cabinet. But we’ve lost too many clients to Carter, Inc. He’s
like a vacuum sweeper, sucking up all the work. He’s the shiny new
thing in town so he’s attractive, but it’s not fair. We’ve
worked hard for what we’ve built and we are good at what we do.”
“Hello?”
Lacey’s heart leapt into her throat as speak-of-the-devil Jackson
Carter poked his head through their office door.
“Can
I help you?” Sterling stood and walked toward the man.
“I
didn’t see anyone at the front desk and I heard someone was looking
for a vacuum sweeper.” Jackson’s eyes sparkled mischievously.
Lacey
blinked hard. Words stuck in her mouth. This ubiquitous devil was
starting to make a habit of taking her off guard. Deliberately, she
turned to her sister. “Sterling, this is Jackson Carter. Mr.
Carter, this is my sister and partner, Sterling.”
“Aka,
vacuum sweeper.” Jackson stepped forward, his eyes a little too
merry, and offered his hand.
As
Sterling, looking more than a little awkward, stuck out her hand to
the wise guy and acknowledged the introduction, Lacey heard the outer
door open and close. Why didn’t I hear that a minute ago? A little
warning would have been nice? Where are those keen PI skills when I
need them?
I'm not sure. I do sometimes feel it could be possible.
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by! Human life is complex, who knows what's possible. :)
DeleteThank you for having me on your blog today!
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting...and I definitely believe that we have spirits among us, I know I am protected by "something", if it's my Guardian Angel...awesome!!
ReplyDeleteI do, while it's not something I try to do - I sometimes get goose bumps or feel a coolness in the room when something is happening
ReplyDeleteWow! It's amazing that you notice. Is it scary?
Delete