Excerpt

 

     Captain Frazier didn't need this nonsense, even if the café was named after his daughter, Katherine. Being a ghost was difficult enough without all the annoying noise from Dakota's renovations.

     The bed and breakfast part wasn't too bad. The worst noise came from snoring guests. But the banging of the carpenters was the last straw. A café. She was turning his beloved home into little more than a roadside diner. That was no way to respect a centuries-old house. No way to respect him. He had to take the wind out of her sails and belay this nonsense.

* * *

     Dakota stood to one side holding a flat pan in her hand, her sherry-colored eyes wide open as she surveyed the mess. A few wisps of her dark brown hair peeked from under a crooked red bandana.

     Will stepped into the room, the door swinging shut behind him. "You doing some heavy-duty redecorating?" He regretted his teasing in case she'd been hit by one of the falling pans. "Seriously, are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

     Dakota shifted her gaze to his chest. Her eyes widened even further.

     At that moment, Will realized he wore only his pajama bottoms. In his haste to discover what had happened, he had neglected to slip into his jeans and pull on a T-shirt.

     "No, I'm fine. It's just… I don't know what happened."

     Her voice sounded dazed, worrying Will that she had indeed been injured in spite of her assurance she wasn't. He didn't see any blood or bruising, so he had to assume she was okay.

     "I reached for this," she waved the flat pan she held, "and everything came tumbling down."