The Ghosts of Rue Dumaine
by Alexandrea Weis
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Ready to get her life back on track after ending a painful marriage,
Danica Giles returns to the Creole cottage where she grew up in the New Orleans
French Quarter. Danica is anxious to rekindle her friendship with a former
resident from her old neighborhood, the seductive Gaston Deslonde. But Gaston
isn’t exactly a normal guy. The charming man has been dead for over a hundred
and fifty years, and the childish crush Danica once had on her ghostly
playmate quickly turns into something much deeper. When a handsome new man
enters Danica’s life, Gaston vows to do whatever he can to hold on to her.
Danica soon discovers that the most forbidden of all desires cannot be
satisfied without paying a grave price. Love can blur the lines between life
and death when you are living among The Ghosts of Rue Dumaine.
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Excerpt:
Danica leaned against the doorframe and reflected on the various stages
of childhood and adolescence she had gone through while occupying this room.
The rainbow-painted walls her mother had painstakingly decorated for her had
been replaced with posters of boy bands and television heartthrobs until her
mother had died. After the funeral, Danica had come home and removed all the
posters in a fit of rage, wanting to be surrounded once more by her mother’s
rainbows. The last year she had spent in this room, she had felt comforted by
those rainbows, as if her mother’s love had been forever sealed beneath the
paintbrush strokes on her walls.
"I missed this old place," she whispered.
A sudden rush of cold air moving down the hallway caused Danica to turn
away from the bedroom door and peer into the darkness behind her. She took a
few steps further down the hall until the aroma of cigar smoke mixed with a
hint of brandy wafted in the air around her. Danica remembered that smell. It
had always filled her bedroom whenever the dark man would appear.
"Is it you?" she softly called into the hallway. "It’s
me, Danica. I’ve come back. Just like I said I would."
Danica walked briskly past the entrance to the master bath to the final
door at the end of the hall. Without hesitation, she pushed the cypress door
open and walked inside the master bedroom. The light from the large picture
window overlooking the courtyard shone into the room, accentuating the deep
burgundy color of the carpet beneath her feet. She stepped into the center of
the room and observed the ceiling fan above. Danica waited, straining with
every breath to hear the slightest stirring.
"Welcome home," a man’s wispy voice resonated around her.
A hopeful smile curled the edges of Danica’s heart-shaped mouth.
"Thank you, Gaston. It’s good to be home."
A few minutes later, Danica returned to the living room, where she found
Pat scrolling through messages on her cell phone.
"Let’s sign the papers," Danica happily announced. "I
want to get moved in as soon as possible."
Pat gave her a wary going-over with her brown eyes. "You positive
about this, Danica? I need to make sure you’re aware that other tenants have
had problems—"
"It’s fine, Pat. I know you said the place is haunted and people
have had some bad experiences, but this…." Danica waved to the room around
her. "Just feels right."
Pat gave a skeptical shrug. "I have the papers ready back at the
office. The rent is eight hundred and fifty a month. Mr. Caruso wanted me to
charge you the same rate he charged your father. He insisted I make this as
appealing to you as possible. You must have made quite an impression on the old
man when you were a kid. He never cuts anyone a deal."
"Please tell Mr. Caruso I appreciate it."
Pat replaced her cell phone in her front jacket pocket. "Let’s turn
off all of these lights and head back to the office."
Suddenly, from the shuttered window beside them, three loud knocks
reverberated across the room.
Pat grabbed at her chest. "Jesus! What in the hell was that?"
Danica smirked as she watched the color drain from Pat’s perfectly
made-up face. "Just someone outside on the street banging on the
wall…happened a lot when I was a kid. Drunk tourists would often bang on the
shutters at all hours."
Pat regained her composure. "Of course, you’re right. I didn’t
think of that."
Danica motioned to the pocket doors leading to the kitchen. "Let’s
get you out of here, Pat, before you have a heart attack."
"Gladly," Pat offered and rushed to the doors. "I never
liked this place. I just hope you know what you’re doing, Danica."
"I know," Danica asserted with a grin. "I’ve always
known."
Author Bio:
Alexandrea
Weis is an advanced practice registered nurse who was born and raised in New
Orleans. Her first novel, To My Senses, introduced readers to the
world of Nicci Beauvoir and garnered numerous awards and rave
reviews. Her popular second Nicci Beauvoir novel, Recovery, won the
Gold Medal for best romantic suspense from The Reader’s Favorite Book Awards
2011, and was named best Romantic Suspense novel by the Spring 2011 NABE
Pinnacle Book Awards. Her fourth novel, Broken Wings, won best
Contemporary Romance by the NABE Pinnacle Book Awards in 2012, was a Silver
Medal winner in the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards for Romance, as
well as a finalist in the USA Book Awards for Romance in 2012, and a finalist
in the Reader’s Favorite Book Awards for Contemporary Romance for 2012. Diary
of a One-Night Stand, was released in August 2012 and was named a
Paranormal Romance Guild’s Best Reviewed of 2012. Her last novel, Acadian
Waltz was a Readers’ Favorite Book Awards finalist for Best Contemporary
Romance and Best Southern Fiction. A permitted wildlife rehabber with the
Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries, Weis rescues orphaned and injured wildlife.
She lives with her husband and pets in New Orleans.
Author Links
Author Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Alexandrea-Weis/e/B0028OJO6C/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1345901735&sr=1-2-ent
Twitter: https://twitter.com/alexandreaweis
My website: http://www.alexandreaweis.com/index.html
Blogspot:
http://alexandreaweiscom.blogspot.com/
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