The Haunting of Castle Dune - A Novella
Book 10.5 of Morna’s Legacy Series
Bethany Claire
Contents
Copyright
Book Description
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Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Epilogue
Sneak Peek of Love Beyond Destiny (Book 11)
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About the Author
Acknowledgments
Copyright 2018 by Bethany Claire
All rights reserved.
License Notes
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Editor: Dj Hendrickson
Cover Designer: Damonza
Available in eBook, Paperback, Hardback & Audiobook
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eBook ISBN: 978-1-947731-95-0
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-947731-98-1
Hardback ISBN: 978-1-947731-99-8
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http://www.bethanyclaire.com
~Book 10.5 of Morna’s Legacy Series~
A Scottish Time Travel Romance
by Bethany Claire
© 2018
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[email protected]
http://www.bethanyclaire.com
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The vacation of her nightmares might just hold the key to her heart.
* * *
Eleanor Ackard always knows the right thing to do to help her patients when it comes to their relationships, but when an almost-vacation with her immature boyfriend makes it clear that she needs to take her own advice, she rethinks her plans and sets off on a solo vacation to Scotland. But when a boat tour ends up with her stranded inside a haunted castle, Eleanor is faced with the opportunity to change history. Thrilled to escape her mundane routine for just a little while, she jumps at the chance, never expecting for a moment that it’s her heart that is as likely to change as history.
* * *
Monroe Dune never thought it would be a simple wound that would fell him. Resigned to his fate, he sets sail to return to his castle intent on being the last person to ever live on the Isle of Dune. His plans are upended when a mysterious stowaway who refuses to let him die ends up trapped on the isle with him. Despite his best efforts to keep the lass at bay, she slowly but surely finds a place within his heart.
* * *
Does he love her enough to send her away? Or can they find a way to change history and find happiness together?
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Dedication
For Morna,
my muse and writing partner
Chapter 1
Morna’s Inn — Present Day
* * *
“Forgive me, lass. I know the good ye do, but now it seems that ye are just looking for places in which ye might meddle. Ye dinna have relatives at Castle Dune, did ye? Why do ye feel the need to make it yer business?”
Morna frowned as she looked up from the paper laid out before her. “Jerry, ye make it sound as if I only care for those who share my blood. No, I dinna have relatives at Castle Dune, but I shall make it my business because there are few on this earth who can change this. I am one of them. That castle has been standing for centuries, and it should stand for centuries more, but it shall be torn down in a fortnight for no other reason than ghost stories that have gone awry.”
She reached for her coffee as Jerry sat down across from her and looked down to read the article.
“Are ye sure ’tis only stories, lass? All legends and fairy tales contain some semblance of truth. Ye should know that better than anyone. The last four owners have abandoned and sold the castle within three months of purchasing it. They canna all have had their imaginations get the better of them.”
Morna sighed. Broken hearts were fertile soil for lingering souls, and if the visions she saw through her spells were true, the Isle of Dune was filled with them. She had no doubt it was haunted, but that was no reason to go tearing down anything so beautiful. Besides, what made anyone believe that demolishing the building would rid the isle of its ghosts? As far as she knew, that wasn’t the way souls worked.
“I dinna say anything about their imaginations, Jerry. The ghosts of Castle Dune are real, but I verra much doubt they are worthy of inducing such fear. Their plans to demolish and repurpose the isle willna work. The only way to get rid of ghosts is to prevent them from forming in the first place.”
“And just how do ye do that, lass?”
“Ye go back and change history, love. What else do ye think I would do?”
Jerry’s brows pulled together in confusion, and Morna could already guess what he was going to say. He knew her spell the night before hadn’t revealed all that she’d hoped, but he didn’t know that a good night’s sleep had been just what she needed to form a new plan.
“I thought the magic over the isle prevented ye from seeing what ye wished to.”
“Aye, ’tis true. ’Twas surprising to see the magic of another already over the isle, but the darkness of it has only made me more resolved to see history changed upon the Isle of Dune. I canna go back. The last lair
d lived during my time at Conall Castle—during yer time there, as well. ’Tis far too dangerous to travel back to a time in which you already exist. But there is another I’ve found—one who shall be headed this way verra soon—who can.”
“And why have ye chosen this particular lass?”
“Because she has just the heart and mind strong enough to withstand the darkness that lingers there.”
“And, naturally, she’ll be single, aye? Just as I suspect ye will tell me the last laird of Castle Dune was, as well?”
Annoyed, Morna stood and stomped away from her husband as she moved to rinse her now-empty mug of coffee.
“All women are multitaskers, Jerry. Is it so terrible that I mean to kill two birds with one stone?”
“No, ’tis not terrible at all. I would expect nothing less of ye, lass. Nothing less, at all.”
Chapter 2
Boston, MA — Present Day
* * *
“Now, Amy, I know I mentioned it to you during our last appointment, but I wanted to make sure you remembered that I’m leaving for vacation tonight. I’ll be hard to reach for the next three weeks, but in the meantime, you can always call and schedule an appointment with Dr. Everett if anything comes up, okay?”
“You…you won’t have your cell phone?”
I watched as the young mother’s lower lip trembled. My heart squeezed uncomfortably with guilt. I rarely gave patients my personal cell, but there were always special cases that needed more care than I could give them in an hour—Amy was one.
It would be my first vacation in two years, and part of me worried that I wasn’t going to be able to enjoy any of it. I would be worried sick the whole time.
“No. I’ll be on a cruise ship. I’m afraid there won’t be any service. But Amy…you’re going to be just fine. You’ve made so much progress. Jason is gone now. He can’t ever hurt you and Emily again. Just remember all the techniques we’ve talked about for when the panic starts to set in, and remember what we worked through to treat your nightmares. Dr. Everett will squeeze you in if you need anything at all, okay?”
She nodded, but I could see in her eyes that she was near tears. It took every bit of my strength to walk her back into the lobby and return to my office before I let out my own sympathetic sobs.
I shivered and pressed my palms into my eyelids as I thought about all she’d been through. I could sense in my gut that I was too emotionally spent to continue with my day’s schedule.
Glancing at the names of patients scheduled to see me today, I decided it was safe to reschedule them. I could only absorb so much sadness and pain before I was no good to anyone else. On days when that happened, I knew the best thing I could do for my patients was to reschedule. Today was one of those days.
Picking up the phone in my office that connected me straight to the front desk, I waited for Branson to answer.
“Don’t worry, Doc. I saw your face when you led Amy outside. Your next appointment had already called to cancel, so I’ve already started to reschedule the others. Go ahead and call it a day.”
I sighed with relief as I drew in a shaky breath. I was too much of an empath for this profession, but at this point, I was already too committed to ever consider doing anything else.
“You’re the best. Thank you so much.”
“Enjoy your vacation, Eleanor. You deserve it.”
My suitcase was nearly zipped when my phone rang. Still straddling the much-too-large bag that I was trying to squeeze shut with my thighs as it wobbled on my mattress, I leaned forward and tried to reach my phone.
I’d worked too hard to get the zipper to its current point to give up on my efforts now. If I jumped off the bag, I knew it would split and spring open, spilling all of my warm weather clothes that I couldn’t wait to wear.
I cleared my throat to get Brodie’s attention. He heard me, I was certain, but he didn’t respond.
“Brodie.”
Nothing.
“Brodie.”
Silence.
Gritting my teeth, I reached behind, pulled off my shoe, and chunked it at his head.
Unfortunately, it missed, but the whirling motion next to his head was enough to finally get him to turn around.
He snarled as he whipped his head around. “What?”
I nodded toward my phone. “I need some help. Grab that for me, please?”
He didn’t say anything, but he took his sweet time walking over to the nightstand to grab my phone. In that instant, he looked to me like a petulant, spoiled thirteen year old who’d just been asked to take out the garbage or do some other overly simple task that just seemed like too much for his lazy, entitled ass to do. I wasn’t sure if it was my trying day at work or just too many months of putting up with less than I deserved, but in that moment, something inside me just snapped.
I thought of Amy and of how she was finally free from a man who’d done her so much harm. I thought of so many of my other patients who I was constantly telling to value themselves, and I realized that by putting up with a man-child like Brodie, I wasn’t following my own advice.
I was a grown woman. Why the hell was I spending my time with a grown man that thought it was a monumental inconvenience to get off his ass and walk across the room? Why was I planning on going on vacation with him?
By the time he handed me the phone, it had stopped ringing. I was too worked up to even look down to see who’d called.
Releasing my thigh muscles before I rolled off of my giant suitcase, I allowed it to spring open as I walked over to him.
“Brodie?”
He stopped and faced me. “Are you ready yet? We should’ve left for the airport thirty minutes ago.”
I shook my head. “Nope. I’m not going. I wish you all the best. I really, truly do, but I am so over dating a selfish, lazy, good time Charlie.”
He looked as if I’d slapped him. “Everything is already confirmed. Don’t tell me you’re being this way just because I made you miss your phone call?”
“No, that wasn’t it, but it certainly was a moment of clarity. If the cruise line won’t let you replace me with someone else on such short notice, I’ll send you a check for the cancellation. But either way, you better head to the airport. And before you leave, I’ll be needing the keys back to my apartment.”
It was my job to read people. I could see in his eyes that there was a part of him that was just as relieved to be rid of me as I was him.
“Are you serious, Eli? Because if I walk out that door, I’m not coming back.”
I hated it when he called me Eli. I knew my name was old fashioned. I’d been the surprise of a lifetime to my parents, and my name reflected their ages, but Eli made me sound like one of his guy friends.
“I’m not angry with you, I promise, but I’m entirely serious. Goodbye, Brodie.”
Without another word, he gave me my key and turned to leave. As I shut the door behind him, all I felt was relief.
It was several hours later, just as I was finishing up putting all of my summer clothes and swimsuits away, that a brochure that had come in the mail a few days earlier caught my eye.
Sticking out amongst the pile of junk mail was a brochure about an inn in a small seaside village on the coast of Scotland.
I couldn’t begin to imagine why they’d sent the information to me, or how they’d even gathered my info in the first place, but one glance at it and something inside my chest lit up with excitement.
Three weeks in Scotland—all alone—sounded perfect.
Everyone at my office thought I would be without service for the next three weeks. I wouldn’t even have to tell anyone where I was going. The very thought of such a spontaneous act filled me with a joy I hadn’t felt in ages.
I picked up my phone, and before I could talk myself out of it, dialed the number on the front of the brochure.
It took a moment for the international number to connect, but once it did, it didn’t take long for a woman with a lovely Scottish
accent to answer.
“’Ello, ye’ve reached The Inn at Warton Shore. My name is Marilyn. How can I assist ye?”
“Uh, hi. Hello. I know this is very last minute, but I received a brochure from your establishment in the mail a few days ago. It just so happens that I’m on vacation for the next few weeks and thought I might call and see if you had any vacancies?”
I could hear the smile in the woman’s voice as she answered.
“Ach, I wish ’twas my establishment, but alas I only work here. Aye, miss, we do. We have a seaside view available, if ye wish. All rooms include breakfast daily.”
I reached for my wallet as my excitement grew.
“That sounds perfect.”
“Doona ye wish to know how much the room is?”
It would be my first vacation in years. I couldn’t care less.
“Nope. But I’m ready to give you my card number whenever you’re ready for it.”
Marilyn laughed, and I could hear her typing away on her computer as she spoke.
The Haunting of Castle Dune - A Novella: Book 10.5 of Morna’s Legacy Series Page 1
