Blind Speed Dating #51 (Adult)

Title: TO CATCH A FETCH

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Word Count: 90,000

Query:

When real estate photographer Devyn Cartwright stumbles across the path of a bare-chested and barefoot Ronan Evans, she knows one thing: the man has secrets. Okay, maybe two things: he's also effin' hot.  So when he offers her the job of her dreams, Devyn—both her lust and curiosity piqued—accepts. Not long after making her deal with the devil she learns a third thing about Ronan: the hot, secretive man is also batshit crazy.

Ronan isn't crazy—he's a ghost hunter. His job is not so much to hunt ghosts down, but rather, as he puts it, "to catch and release." A member of The Society, an ancient order devoted to the study and protection of the spirit world, Ronan uses his paranormal abilitiy to aid souls trapped between the physical and spiritual realms. Lately though, his main occupation is to stop a group of renegade hunters. Called Poachers, these ex-hunters attack trapped souls. They devour a spirit's integral energy—sucking the being dry until nothing is left. Ronan has sworn to do everything he can to put an end to the Poachers and their horrific practice.

His efforts lead him to an abandoned Pennsylvania estate, and a mouthy photographer with hair like moonlight. From the first moment he sees Devyn, Ronan knows there is more to her than meets the eye. He senses an aura about her, the kind one feels when near another person with paranormal abilities. If true, it’s his responsibility to recruit her for the Society. He decides more observation is needed, but admits his decision is not altogether altruistic…after all, it’s hard for him to be objective when other parts of him are, well, hard.

Even though the attraction is undeniably mutual, Devyn does her best to deny her feelings. After all, what kind of sick, messed-up woman desires a man with enough nuts in his noggin to host his own cocktail party? The problem is, the more Devyn gets to know Ronan, the less nuts he seems. If Ronan is sane, Devyn can ditch her guilt for lusting after a crazy person. However, if he's sane, she must accept he could be right about her...and his belief she has paranormal abilities too.

Smart, sexy, and a little spooky, TO CATCH A FETCH is The Ghost Whisperer meets The Black Dagger Brotherhood and recently placed first in the paranormal category of the RWA Heart of Denver's Molly Contest.

First 250:

Devyn Cartwright stood on the porch steps of the abandoned Victorian house and inspected her future. Opportunity hadn't knocked, it had handed her the damn key. Now, as the last fragments of dusk died away, she clutched the home’s antique key in her hand, its engraved edges scraping the sensitive skin of her palm.

 The heavy oak door opened on silent hinges that belied their age. Devyn stepped inside and heard the door snick closed behind her. She reached out to feel for a light switch along the foyer wall. Layers of thick shadows cloaked the rooms to her right and left, making it difficult to discern more than the most basic outlines of cloth-draped furnishings.

 Lots of cloth-draped furnishings. Her pulse jumped. Some women went crazy for purses or shoes, but Devyn’s obsession was houses, specifically nineteenth-century homes and period furniture. The lure of an abandoned mansion was temptation enough, but the fact it was rumored to be stuffed to its rafters with authentic pieces made the house too good to resist. She had taken one look at the vintage key in her boss’s hand and canceled her last photo shoot of the day.

Maybe I should have asked a few more questions before hauling ass out here—like did the house have working utilities? Her fingers brushed against the rounded edges of a modern light switch and she sighed with relief.

Several futile flicks later she muttered her third favorite curse word.