Chailali's Curse

• Author: Anna Leigh Keaton
• Publisher: Cobblestone Press, LLC
• Year: 2007
• Genre: Paranormal Sensual Romance
• Setting: Moonlight Cove, Oregon

Book Description

After watching over Mike for ten years, learning his anger, fear, and guilt, Chailali's love for him knows no bounds. As a spirit, though, all she hopes for is to help him find the woman who can help heal him.

Brought together by the guiding hand of a matchmaking ghost, Christy and Mike must face their inner demons. In the process they find solace in each other as lust blazes and hearts unite.

But they learn love and passion aren't always enough to see them through the darkness of their pasts. They must find the courage to persevere.

Reviews

• "I loved this book. Absolutely loved it. Michael was so scarred and sad, and like Chailali, I despaired of him ever taking the chance and allowing himself to be loved like he deserved. Christy’s characterization was so realistic I could feel the anxiety she felt at times and I just wanted to hug her. All in all, Chailali’s Curse was a great read with lots of emotion and chemistry. Anna Leigh Keaton should be proud of this one! " -- 5 Angels - Fallen Angel Reviews

• "The love and pain between Mike and Christy is a tangible force. Christy just bursts with emotion, which makes her character so vivid. Her panic attacks as well as her passion would set anyone’s heart racing. Mike makes you want to hold and comfort him. His pain both physically and emotionally comes through perfectly with every word. Ms. Keaton pairs their strengths and weaknesses so well they make a fantastic couple. She takes you on that amazing roller coaster ride of emotion right along with her characters." -- 4 Steaming Cups - Coffee Time Romance

Excerpt

“Come on, sis. You know this is what you need to do.”

Christy Smythe stared at the three-story monstrosity set on a cliff overlooking the rocky shores of Moonlight Cove, Oregon. “I don’t know...”

Beth sighed and shoved her door open. The wind grabbed it and banged it shut once more. Christy took it as a sign she shouldn’t go in.

What a perfect setting for a horror movie. The cedar siding was old and faded to gray, perfectly matching the angry sky overhead. The porch looked as if it might fall off if they stepped onto it.

“Okay, sis,” Beth said with a sigh. “I didn’t want to get this way, but you’ve forced my hand.”

Christy turned toward her sister with a frown. “What are you talking about?”

“You can’t come home with me.”

Christy’s mouth dropped open on a gasp. “You’re kicking me out?”

Beth nodded. “You’re thirty-five years old, and it’s time you...”

Tears burned Christy’s eyes and made her nose itch.

“I love you, Chris, but you’re not going to hide in our house any longer. Roger agrees with me on this.”

Beth’s husband, Roger, had been so sweet when she went to live with them. He’d always been sweet. Treated her like a real little sister. “I can’t believe you’d do this,” she said, her voice little more than a strained whisper. “What if it doesn’t work out here? What if... What if he fires me or something? Then where am I supposed to go? The doctors—”

“The doctors say the next step in your recovery is to get your butt back out in the real world. It’s been almost two years, Christy! It’s time to move on. Get over it.”

Christy flinched. Her sister acted as if she didn’t try to move on. She did.

Beth reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a pill bottle. “These are anxiety pills from Doctor Mackey.”

She opened her mouth to argue about taking drugs, but Beth cut her off.

“I know you don’t like the way they make you feel, but you have to do something. You cannot—will not—be welcome back into our house until you’ve straightened yourself out.” She pressed the pill bottle into Christy’s hand. “I love you, sis. You know that. But Roger and I agree that it’s time for some tough love.”

The pain and betrayal cut Christy to the quick. She stared at her sister, feeling as though she didn’t know the woman anymore. “So you banish me to this little town and thrust me on some poor blind guy. Thanks, sis. Appreciate the help.” She turned and fumbled for the door handle of the car.

“Chris—”

She threw the door open. “It’s fine. Just fine.” Tears blurred her vision as she hauled her overnight bag from the back seat. “I get it.”

Beth climbed out of the car and popped the trunk to remove Christy’s suitcase. The wind tugged at Christy’s hair, whipping it in her face then brushing it back. The clouds were low, steel gray, and the air smelled of rain. This place was nothing like L.A. All she could hear was the wind and the crashing sea beyond the cliff. No car horns. None of the ever-present buzz of the city.

“You’ll like it here,” Beth said as she headed up the steps to the wide, southern-style wraparound porch. “Roger and I had a wonderful vacation up here last summer. It’s so peaceful.”

“Then you stay here,” Christy muttered as she hefted her duffle bag over her shoulder and trudged across the crushed seashell driveway to the house. It was cold and damp and... And damn it, she was terrified to be away from her sister. Why had she agreed to this trip? To this job? How was she going to survive without Beth and Roger? They’d been her rock, her support, for the past eighteen months, and now they were tossing her out in the cold—literally.

Beth pressed the doorbell then opened the door and walked right in as if she owned the place. “Come on. If he’s working, he ignores everything.”

Christy followed Beth into the house. It wasn’t what she’d expected. For an award-winning, bestselling author who made more with one sale of a book than she’d made in her entire life managing restaurants, the place was rather...

“See what I mean,” Beth said as she set the suitcase down and shut the door behind her. “He needs some help around here. Then again, I guess it doesn’t matter what your house looks like if you can’t see it.”

Thick layers of dust coated every surface except for the leather sofa. In the living room area off to one side of the entryway, boxes were stacked practically to the ceiling against one wall.

“His books,” Beth said as she grabbed Christy’s hand and pulled her deeper into the house. “He’s never unpacked them. But come on, you’ll love the kitchen.”

Christy let her sister drag her down a short hall and through a doorway into what had once been a beautiful space. Under the dirt, grime and dust, the counters were marble and the floor Spanish tile. The fridge was stainless steel, and so were the other appliances.

“Isn’t this awesome? Aren’t you going to have fun in here?”

Fun. Cleaning this place would take a week.

Beth dragged her to the far end where a small table sat piled with ancient papers. “Look out there.”

Christy glanced up from a ten-year-old phone bill to look out the bay window. Her breath caught, and she stepped back in surprise. There was no ground below the window, just air. Three hundred feet below, the waves crashed against the rocks, the ocean as gray and dark as the clouds above.

“Isn’t this amazing? Roger and I are looking for a vacation home in the area, but there’s not much available.”

To the south, walls of rock blocked the tide, the cliffs climbing even higher than where the house stood. To the north, the land sloped down to a wide, weathered beach. Moonlight Cove. She’d only caught a glimpse of the town as they drove through. It was pretty in a very unremarkable way.

“Where’s the guy?” Christy asked. She didn’t know what else to say. Yes, it was pretty. Yes, she supposed this would make a nice vacation spot. But she wasn’t on vacation. Her dear sister was dumping her here for an undetermined amount of time to play housekeeper and cook to a total stranger.

Well, he was a stranger to her. Beth had been his agent for over five years, and she made a trip up here every three months to collect a manuscript from him because he was too...too something to put it in the mail like a normal person. A rich snob, she assumed, since he paid all Beth’s expenses for her time and effort. Hell, Beth got rich off the fifteen percent she got from every book from this guy. She could easily retire and handle only his manuscripts.

Beth grabbed her hand again and tugged her out of the kitchen and back to the hall. “His office is down here. He’s probably working.”

“Isn’t it rather unsafe that a blind guy leaves his door unlocked and then ignores when someone comes in?”

Beth shrugged. “It’s little-town life, sis. Everyone knows everyone, and his only visitors are the mailman and the delivery guys who bring his groceries and stuff.”

Beth stopped in front of an open door. Inside was nothing but a wide desk and an empty leather executive chair sitting in front of a window. On the desk were a computer, printer, and a stack of papers.

“Hmm.” Beth pulled her farther down the hall. “Mike?” she called. “Hey, Mike. Where the heck are you?”

The clang of metal on metal came from somewhere upstairs. Beth headed for the narrow staircase at the end of the hall, dragging Christy behind her. “He must be in the workout room. He lifts weights when he gets writer’s block.”

They climbed up the first flight of creaky, wooden stairs and veered off down another long hallway. It was dark, with only the dim light from windows filtering into the hall from the open doorways of mostly empty rooms.

“Mike?”

Another clank of metal. “Beth? That you?”

The man’s voice was deep and rich.

“Hey,” Beth said, stopping in front of an open door at the end of the hall. “How you doin’?”

Christy peered around her sister at the man seated on a weight bench. Her breath lodged in her throat, nearly choking her. His wide shoulders, bare stomach and chest looked like a Greek statue, while the left side of his face was something akin to a Frankenstein monster.

Mike grabbed the towel from the vinyl bench and swiped it over his face and chest. “Hey, Beth. I didn’t expect you until later today.”

“Mmm hmm. I see that. You’re looking mighty fine, Mr. Horton.”

He chuckled. “As you can tell, the new book isn’t coming along too well.” He fumbled for his cane on the floor and used it to lever himself up. “Let’s head downstairs so I can get a shirt on.”

Mike heard a faint gasp that didn’t sound like Beth. He tipped his head to the side and tried to make out the shape in the doorway but could only see one silhouette. “Someone with you?”

“My sister. She’s agreed to be your new housekeeper and cook. Say hello to Mike Horton, Christy.”

The smile left Mike, and he clenched his jaw. Damn his meddling agent. He told her he didn’t need her to find him another housekeeper. The four he’d been through over the last two years were enough to prove it wouldn’t work out. He was perfectly able to take care of himself. Frankly, he didn’t want anyone hanging around him and his house.

“Now, Mike...”

“No offence to your sister, but I don’t need a housekeeper.”

A soft chuckle he knew wasn’t Beth’s came from the doorway. Beth had a hardy, robust laugh, not a soft, feminine...anything.

“She’s an award-winning chef, and she can clean like no one’s business. And yes, you do need a housekeeper.” He heard footsteps approaching him, and he steeled himself, focusing on the shadow moving toward him. A finger poked him in the stomach, making him jump. “I think you could use a few good meals. Christy’s cooking can make a grown man weep—I know, I’ve witnessed it.”

Beth’s husky chuckle made him shake his head. He dropped his voice, wondering where the mysterious sister stood. Still in the doorway? “I don’t like people in my house, and you know that.”