Halloween 2016

To those people who celebrate Halloween, the scare fest is coming soon.

What is the scariest movie you’ve ever watched?

I don’t mind admitting I’m a big chicken when it comes to watching horror movies. I’ve declined invitations to watch “The Conjuring” movies several times. However, recently, I did sit through one of the “Paranormal Activity” movies. I think the horror genre was ruined for me when I watched “Carrie”, a movie based on a book by Stephen King. If I try really hard, I can remember the gruesome, blood splattered movie scenes, and the cruelty toward the girl, Carrie. I wish I could unremember the story, unsee the scenes and erase it all from my mind.

source: http://www.picturequotes.com/

Do you know people who like to tell ghost stories?

For Halloween 2016, I thought I’d write about my last ghost encounter which occurred a couple of weeks ago.

At the Camp Fire

But first let’s get into a spooky mood…let’s pretend it’s night time, and we’re sitting on cosy blankets around an open fire. The logs crackle and catch alight. Soon afterward, the fire hisses and spits and fills the air with the fragrance from the burning oils in the wood. Smoke spirals upward in wispy patterns.

Above us, the sky is clear, midnight black and jeweled with stars.

We hear a creaking sound.

Is it a door?

How could it be a door? We look around us. There are no buildings near our wilderness camp site. We must be hearing things or our minds are playing tricks on us.

Over in the east, the arc of the moon is rising above the horizon. Suddenly, pearly light shines over us…and…it illuminates a procession of ghosts who have walked out a distant graveyard.

Aaarrrr! It’s Halloween and someone has opened the crypts of the dead. (Just joking—my real life ghost story is not that scary)

The Ghost Going Somewhere

As I mentioned earlier, my last ghost encounter wasn’t very long ago. The house I live in is located on an old path to a local freshwater hole in the ground (the site is now a hotel, and there are no signs of the natural, rockhole—said to have once been an Aboriginal site.) 

The path is now a spirit path that lingers in the ghost dimension from ye olde days—just over one hundred years ago. Spirits from the colonial days sometimes walk through the house as they follow the track to water. Unfortunately, some of the early pioneers in the district died of thirst, while others were so dehydrated that they crawled back to town on their bellies. 

I sort of live on a water ley line in a parched, semi-arid place. One night a couple of weeks ago, I was busy writing my romance stories on my laptop. I took a break to go to the bathroom. It was an automatic thing to do, walk to the bathroom, flick on the light switch, and walk into the room. I’ve done this action a thousand times before and I don’t think about it.

On this occasion, I turned on the bathroom light and kept walking. It took me a second for my eyes to go from darkness to seeing the grey/white outline of a ghost. His body was invisible and he was standing right in front of me. By the time my brain worked out what I was seeing, it was too late, I’d walked straight through the spirit person. I came to a stop soon after. I flung a hand over the solar plexus area of my body in a strange gesture of warding off a ghost possession. Seconds later, my emotions caught up with me. I was shocked, hardly believing what had just happened. Then I was a little bit scared. All in all, my emotional reactions caused a rush of energy through my body, and during those seconds, I believe the ghost harnessed the energy and took off.

Fortunately, I wasn’t possessed by the ghost, and I did wonder afterward if the ghost had been waiting for me to visit the bathroom. I think he somehow used the living energy of my body as a boost to go off to his next destination. Hopefully he was going to where he needed to be, like returning to the light or going to heaven or wherever was the right place for him. I had the sense that the ghost had whooshed off, and left my house for good. 

In the days that followed, I made myself, turn on the light, stop and pause before walking into the bathroom. Now time has passed, I sometimes forget to stop….

Back At the Camp Fire

Meanwhile back at the Camp Fire, the procession of ghosts dissolve in the moonlight. Thank goodness the haunting is over. The doors to the crypts of the dead are closed once more.

It’s time to have a drink and toast the marshmallows in the fire.

Oh no…all of a sudden the flames turn purple and leap high into the air.

We quickly scramble away from the burning logs.

A dog howls a spine-tingling message. Is it a shape-shifter? A wolf or a werewolf?

Closer still, snap, crunch, another animal walks over dry twigs and leaves.

With a hand over our fast-beating hearts, we see the glowing eyes of a cat, watching us back.

Cloaked riders on broomsticks streak across the face of the moon. The witches are coming!

Black night and pearly light,

Witches gather to dance,

and sing,

casting away,

monsters, ghouls, and everything,

hiding in the shadows,

of Samhain’s eve…… 

source: http://www.picturequotes.com/

The Halloween bogies are coming.
Have a cackling good weekend.

♥ Ashlyn

Aliens & The Great Pyramid - Part 1

This week I’m continuing the strange and spooky theme…with some armchair traveling to Egypt. I’m writing about two enigmas—Aliens and the Great Pyramid. Did Ancient Astronauts build the Great Pyramid? Some people think so, while others don’t.

There’s a story about an alien mummy being found in the Great Pyramid. In 1988, French Egyptologist, Louis Caparat, reportedly found a secret chamber in the Great Pyramid and it contained a crystalline transparent case. Inside the box was an alien mummy that he believed was hibernating or in a stage of suspended animation. You can read more about it here, http://locklip.com/hibernating-alien-discovered-inside-secret-chamber-in-the-great-pyramid/

Are aliens still visiting the Great Pyramid? Some conspiracy theorists think UFO info is being kept secret from the masses. However, more and more people are photographing strange cloud formations and capturing videos of flying UFO’s on their smartphones. Maybe the secret is out and aliens are visiting earth.

Next up, I have a video showing alien space craft hovering above the apexes of the three pyramids on the Giza Plateau. The video was recorded over 4 hours in April 2016. I’d never heard of this news, and debunkers think the alien spaceship visit to the pyramids is a result of special effects editing or CGI. Take a look and see whether you think the video is real or a hoax.

If the Great Pyramid is a destination on a Galactic highway, then there must be a reason for the alien connection or a mysterious purpose as to why the Great Pyramid was originally built. I don’t pretend to have the answers or know how to debunk the ideas. 

I've decided to extend this blog because there are some more interesting things to write about the Great Pyramid.  But I've run out of time for research this week. So after Halloween, I'll be back with Part 2.
I hope you can join me again.
Until next time, take care and have an enjoyable weekend.  
♥ Ashlyn  

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More Posts

In my Part 1 blog, I raised a few questions. Is the Great Pyramid a destination on a Galactic highway? Is there a reason for the alien connection or a mysterious purpose as to why the Great Pyramid was originally built?...

Aliens & The Great Pyramid - Part 2 

This week I’m continuing the series of posts about Aliens and The Great Pyramid with number 3. I don't know what to believe but I'm keeping an open mind on the subject.  Let's get started with a strange-ish video that talks about the Great Pyramid being a structure to house a once functioning star-gate transport system that is still there...
Aliens & The Great Pyramid Part 3

More Egypt Posts

This week, I’m excited to be blogging about my first non-fiction short book. The inspiration to write it started here at my blogger site. Back in November 2016, I wrote about Napoleon’s Nightmare & The Great Pyramid, and for a time, it was a popular post. Afterward, I was still curious about Napoleon Bonaparte’s expedition to Egypt. He was an army general and a military genius yet he sponsored the beginnings of Egyptology…

Book-Napoleon's Nightmare & The Great Pyramid by Ashlyn Brady

This week I’m writing about the alien connection with ancient Egypt. Are there any records of alien visitations in Egypt’s ancient past?  No, maybe… I found a short video which shows some examples of “ET” styled art in Egyptian wall carvings...

Alien Hieroglyphs in Ancient Egypt

In January 2017, while I was on holidays in Perth, I was able to attend the exhibition of Tutankhamun—His Tomb and His Treasures. The display began touring the world in 2008, and millions of people in a dozen countries have seen it. The exhibitions re-created the moments in 1922 when Howard Carter, an English archaeologist, discovered the boy-king’s tomb, what the crypt looked like inside, and the recovery of the treasures…

Tutankhamun, His Tomb and His Treasures

“Egypt is full of dreams, mysteries and memories.”

—Janet Erskine Stuart, (Catholic Nun and Educator)

“Egypt is the mother of the world and will be as great as the world.”

–Abdel el-Sisi (President of Egypt)

Back to Ancient Egypt

Paris Bone Crypt 2

Let's go down to the crypts...

Beneath the streets of Paris there are hundreds of miles of tunnels and chambers carved into the bedrock. In the southern area of Paris, the Romans dug down to quarry limestone blocks to use as building material. Mining of the “Paris Stone” continued over the centuries and built the city in the distinctive colors of the natural stone.

Tourists first visited the Paris Bone Crypts in the 18^th Century. Since then, the mausoleums have become a popular attraction. Last year, Airbnb, paid 350,000 euro to offer customers the chance to stay overnight in the crypts (source: en.wikipedia.org).

source: wikipedia/commons

There’s a fascinating history connected with the catacombs, and modern day cataphiles are people who love to visit the Paris underground.

What is it like down there beneath the busy city streets, in the grey bowels of the earth? The thick limestone rock has the effect of “silence in the dark”. To have a look and see, I thought I’d share this video of a group of men who visited the underground for twelve hours.

Gates of Hell – Barrière d’Enfer

Why did a group of men risk their safety to climb down an old hole in the floor of a disused railway tunnel and venture into the catacombs? They were hoping to solve a mystery.

Some time ago, a man filmed himself exploring the catacombs. For some reason he became panicked. Was he scared of something? He started running along the passageways and his breathing grew heavy. He dropped his video recorder and he disappeared into the darkness. No one knows what happened to him.

A freelance cameraman enlisted help to retrace the steps of the mystery man, and maybe find him. It's probably illegal and dangerous to do what this group of guys did. They faced the risk of getting disorientated and lost. Or encountering low oxygen levels as they descended to the deeper levels.

In the video, you see the guys walking astride the edges of water-logged tunnels, maybe they were being wary of unknown holes in the floor that they could fall into, drop down and drown. There’s also the risk of running out of batteries in their lights, and not being able to find their way up to the surface.

When the guy leading the search walked on the bones of a mass grave in the warren, I turned queasy. The guy said he found the Gates of Hell in the catacombs. Do you believe him…or not? Here's the video.

Stop! This is the Empire of the Dead – Arrête! C’est ici l’empire de la Mort

(words from a stone portal above the entry to the Bone Crypt)

How did areas of the limestone mines become bone crypts?

A cold wind blows through the graveyard…

In days gone by, church cemeteries were the usual destination for the deceased. Some of the graves dated back to Paris’s earliest history of over 1000 years.

There were mass graves for the poor who couldn’t pay much money for their bodies to be buried. Layer upon layers of people were laid to rest in the church pits. By the late 1700’s, there were problems with the Parisian cemeteries, and then crisis struck and a solution had to be found.

Health Scare

The groundwater near the graveyards was contaminated with disease (perhaps an outbreak of cholera???). At least three church cemeteries were condemned by authorities. In 1763, burials were banned in the French capital.

Overcrowding

In 1780, large spring rains caused a wall around the Les Innocents—the largest church cemetery in Paris to collapse and then…the corpses…it’s too gruesome for me to write about.

Collapsing Tunnels

Underground mining of the limestone had been uncontrolled for a long period of time. In 1774, sections of the limestone mines caved in.

source: wikipedia/commons

The Solution

In 1786, a section of the underground quarries had been reinforced, was dedicated and consecrated. The bones from the Les Innocents graveyards were transferred to the catacombs. In the years that followed, other parish cemeteries relocated their deceased.

“…bones were always moved in a quiet parade of carts accompanied by priests, and these movements always took place at night.” source:  www.parislogue.com 

Victims of the French Revolution (1789-1799) were also placed in the catacombs.

By 1859, the final delivery of grave remains was complete. In the following year, the Bone Crypts were renovated by Georges-Eugène Haussmann as part of a greater plan to rebuild Paris. Haussmann was chosen by Emperor Napoleon III to renovate the public spaces of Paris. Both men had ambitious, grand and extravagant plans which were criticized at the time as old buildings were demolished to make Paris into a modern beautiful city.

Meanwhile, below the streets, the bones were stacked in heaps, and arranged into sculptures and monuments. Some grave artifacts were salvaged from the church cemeteries and installed in the crypts.

From 1874, a section of the Bone Crypts was opened to the general public.

A little Haunted.

Are the Bone Crypts haunted? From the youtube videos I’ve watched, visitors have reported being touched by invisible hands and grey shadows moving around the room. A shriek and ghostly words have been found on EVP (electronic voice phenomena) recording equipment. 

The Paris catacombs are the world’s largest graveyard, holding the remains of over six million people or roughly three times the population of Paris. It seems likely that some unsettled spirits wander the caverns. If you’d like to find out for yourself, here’s the link to the catacombs official website. www.catacombes.paris

Excuse me if I stay at home and hug the cat.

Well that’s my brief tour of the Paris Bone Crypt history come to an end.
Peace with you.

♥ Ashlyn 

Some information in this post was sourced from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombs_of_Paris 

2016 October Highlights – Strange and Spooky Things

In October 2015, I blogged about the Paris Bone Crypt, and it became a popular post. Why do people like spooky stuff? Macabre, creepy things like graveyards. Listening to and telling stories about ghosts. Investigating haunted houses. Is the Zombie Apocalypse coming soon?

Is it more than curiosity that stirs people’s interest in spooky stuff? We have a superstitious history of disbelieving things that can’t be perceived by our five senses or can’t be explained using our logical, left-brained minds. When I was a kid, it was common for people to be highly skeptical about ghosts and haunted places—they didn’t exist, they were the devil playing tricks.

What lies beyond the limits of this physical world? It’s astounding…time is fleeting…I remember doing the Time Warp dance from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". It was a cult movie for over a decade. Fans dressed in costumes to watch midnight screenings at the cinemas. In another dimension…what can we see with our inner eyes and hear with our inner ears? Some people dream in color, and they experience vivid sensations of taste, smell, and touch while they’re fast asleep. Does that make sense?

Right-brain thinking is the half of the mind that responds to creativity, emotion, intuition and psychic perception. But left and right brain thinking is popular psychology and might be a myth about the mind and not how it works at all. How do we comprehend strange and spooky things? It's wonderfully weird!

As you read on, enjoy some spooky background music from Star Diva.

Life is not all that it seems…

Life and death are part of a journey.

In old Europe before 5500 B.C, people had symbols and ways to understand a triple path—life, death and regeneration.

What happens after life ends is an interesting topic...

source: PictureQuotes.com

Halloween has its roots in the Samhain festival of the Celts and also from All Saints Day. Samhain was the time of the harvest moon, the end of the harvest season before the start of winter. It was celebrated with bonfires. The veil or divide between the living and the Otherworlds thinned, and could be crossed over. It was thought that faeries and earth spirits were needed to help the people and livestock survive the winter. The souls of the dead might also cross over to join the celebration for the changing of the season.

It's such an ancient pitch.......Bette Midler sings “I put a spell on you” from the movie, --"Hocus Pocus", 1993.

During October, I’ll be writing a new blog about the Paris Bone Crypt, and also posting lots of strange and spooky things on Google +

I hope you can join me again.

Shivers! 

♥ Ashlyn

Movie - "Bridget Jones's Baby"

Last weekend I went to see the “Bridget Jones’s Baby” movie. There were some funny moments and sometimes I couldn’t get enough laughs out of my chest before the story moved on. The movie trailer reveals the basic story—Bridget Jones is going to have a baby, but she doesn’t know who the father is. 

How mature singleton and Londoner, Bridget Jones, gets in the family way and gives birth to the baby is the comic, awkward, hilarious, and complicated entertainment in the movie.

Renee Zellweger is Bridget Jones and Renee does a wonderful job reminding the viewer of Bridget’s world. She’s still a mess, terrible at public speaking, clumsy, and makes the wrong decisions. She’s not perfect, she’s human and vulnerable. In this movie, Bridget get’s the distracted brain of a pregnant woman who forgets things like the PIN number for her money card, her handbag and flat keys etc. I’ve been in that hazy, zombie zone myself, and it lasted after the baby was born. Whoops!

But Bridget doesn’t give up trying to improve her life. It’s not that she thinks she’s strong. She just keeps going until things work out better for her. She has some sort of hopeful optimism that bubbles up inside of her.

The movie starts with Bridget celebrating her birthday, she’s alone and single again, but older in this movie world. It’s time for Bridget to kick up her heels and live a little. I’m not going to give away any spoilers about the baby Daddy, but Bridget does fall into bed with two different men on separate occasions.

source: www.mirror.co.uk

Romeo number one is American Billionaire, Jack, played by Patrick Dempsey (McDreamy). Bridget embarrasses herself, and the scenes with Jack start off funny. Jack is a likable guy. He’s a good time with no string attached. As the story unfolds, he supports Bridget’s pregnancy and says positive things to her. I liked that Jack was a caring man.

source: www.mirror.co.uk

Romeo number two is Mark Darcy, mister stuffy lawyer man, who seems to catch Bridget in her embarrassing moments. Is he judging her? Disapproving of her behavior? It’s always hard to read him. 

Mark dresses sharply in the way of a fine English gentleman. I was challenged by his cool reserve. The way he kept things close to his chest, and didn’t reveal much of what he was feeling. He described himself as “emotionally constrained”, and Colin Firth did portray that well. For ten years, Bridget and Mark had an unresolved relationship, did they love one another or was it over?

When the opportunity arose for Bridget and Mark to get together, the icebergs melted. The couple circled each other in the room of a country house. Something changed in Mark’s eyes, there was warmth, sparks, passion—he was going to seduce Bridget! 

Who is the baby Daddy? Which man does Bridget want a future with? At the end of the movie all of the answers are revealed.

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The Movie Synopsis

After breaking up with Mark Darcy (Firth), Bridget Jones’s (Zellweger) “happily ever after” hasn’t quite gone according to plan. Fortysomething and single again, she decides to focus on her job as top news producer and surround herself with old friends and new. For once, Bridget has everything completely under control. What could possibly go wrong?

Then her love life takes a turn and Bridget meets a dashing American named Jack (Dempsey), the suitor who is everything Mr. Darcy is not. In an unlikely twist she finds herself pregnant, but with one hitch…she can only be fifty percent sure of the identity of her baby’s father.

source: www.bridgetjonesmovie.com

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The Movie Trailer

Have a relaxing weekend.
Life's short.
We all grow old.
Do something you enjoy!
♥ Ashlyn

Book - "Lost in Amber" by Rebecca Raine

Rebecca is back on the blogger with her third book, “Lost in Amber.” Last February, I got myself hot and tangled when I blogged about her book, “Our Little Secret”. Two erotic guys want to share their lives with one woman, only they have to make a move on practical, responsible Julia before she says goodbye.

“Our Little Secret” was the first book in the Finding Forever series.

“Lost in Amber.” is now the second contemporary romance book in the same series and it tells the story of Amber and Lincoln.

I was just reading a review of the book…

“Rebecca Raine has a wonderful quirky style of writing that makes you laugh out loud. With hot sex scenes tossed in to keep things spicy.” –AusReader, Amazon.com

Here’s the Blurb

True love should always come with a convenient expiry date.

Amber O’Hara loves her life as a single woman. She does what she wants, when she wants and never answers to anyone. And when she wants someone to do? As far as Amber is concerned, that’s what friends are for.

After a childhood marred by casual neglect, Lincoln Zane craves a deeper connection—in life and relationships. He’s not about to settle for Amber’s offer of a friendship with benefits, but he will counter with an offer of his own. He’ll give her the freedom from commitment she desires, but in return he’ll demand she not shy away from the intensity of their passion for the short time they’ll be together. After all, love doesn’t have to last forever to be real.

In Lincoln’s proposal, Amber sees her chance to experience the depth of a ‘real’ relationship, without compromising her future. It’s a temptation too great to resist. But as the bond between them grows, they discover love doesn’t always play by the rules.

Now they’re lost in each other, will they ever find their way back to freedom?

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

“Lost in Amber” is available now for the Kindle price of $2.99 US and $3.99 Aus.

Here's the link, Amazon.com

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Rebecca kindly provided an excerpt of the story.

Amber O’Hara stood on the footpath with only an umbrella to protect her from the rain and wondered if keeping her job was motivation enough to ruin her favourite pair of heels. Four metres of mud lay between her and the front porch of the almost complete house. Inside the house, her boss waited for her to deliver important documentation that required his immediate approval and signature. If she didn’t have the documents in the post by six o’clock, heads would roll. Her head, specifically.

Granted, with her current income she could easily afford to buy half a dozen pairs of shoes if she wished. But finding another pair of six-inch heels this comfortable would be like searching for the Holy Grail. Divine intervention would be required.

“Can I help you?”

The masculine drawl came from somewhere to her left and Amber turned her gaze from the inconveniently placed mud to see a pair of dirty work boots beside her. As she tilted her umbrella back, a pair of muscular legs came into view, followed by a body that knew exactly how to fill out a set of gardening clothes and did so admirably. Then her slow perusal reached his head and her admiration for his fine form choked up and died.

It wasn’t the liberal splattering of mud all over him that turned her off. She could appreciate the dishevelment that came from a hard day of manual labour. Nor was he unpleasant to look at. In fact, she would have considered him quite good-looking in a rough, uncompromising sort of way—if he wasn’t smirking at her.

Amber had no patience for men who smirked at women.

“I’m looking for Scott Mason,” she said. The rain had reduced to little more than a drizzle, so she closed her small umbrella with a snap.

The muddy gardener gestured to the house. “He’s inside somewhere.”

“Yes. That’s what I thought.” She eyed the mud again before asking, “Is there another way in?”

The smirk grew wider and he crossed his arms over his overly enthusiastic pectoral muscles and favoured her with an amused shrug. “Not currently.”

Amber sighed. He was not being particularly helpful in her time of need. “Don’t you normally put down wooden boards or something? So you don’t traipse mud all over the client’s new house?”

“Sure,” he nodded. “But just about everyone is gone for the day and I had to spread the soil before the lawn shows up tomorrow. So I removed them.”

“The soil,” she repeated. “You mean this mudslide?”

“Yes. That’s what soil turns into when it gets wet.” He wasn’t actually laughing out loud at her, but she figured it was a close thing.

Amber scowled at his condescension. “Well, it’s a very level mudslide. I’ll be sure to let the head gardener know how industrious you’ve been.”

“Would you?” he replied with a blatantly false look of sincerity. “That would be great. I really want to impress the boss.”

She felt the corner of her top lip lifting in a clear show of distaste and yanked it back down. It would be unprofessional of her to get into an argument with this man and since she’d inherited this job from her best friend, Julia, less than six months ago she wanted to be as professional as possible. Julia had been unflinchingly professional in every way and so could she. “Of course,” she said with a wide not-so-convincing smile of her own. “Well, I’ll be heading inside now.”

Her weight shifted from one foot to the other as she considered the best form of attack. Maybe she should take her shoes off before crossing the mud. Except then she’d have muddy feet and wouldn’t be able to enter the house at all—or put her shoes back on.

“You’re going to ruin your shoes.” Another drawled comment from Captain Freaking Obvious.

“I’m aware of that,” she snapped. Why, oh why, had she offered to bring these papers to Scott after she left work? She’d thought it would be a quick matter of popping into a construction site so he could approve the changes his partner, Derek, had made and add his signature to the bottom. Then she could pop the envelope into the post box on her way home. It had all sounded so simple. Until she found herself confronted with a river of sludge. Damn it. She loved these shoes.

“Come on, princess.” The gardener stepped forward, grabbed her wet umbrella with one hand, and scooped her up into his arms before she had a chance to react.

Her feet flew up in the air and she squealed as she gripped onto him for dear life. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

He adjusted her in his arms before taking a few long strides over the mud. His step was sure and steady, despite carrying her squirming self in his arms. “I’m saving you the tears you’ll shed over the destruction of those torture devices you call shoes.”

“How dare you? Put me down!”

Coming to a stop, he leaned forward to peer over her body at the ground. The move shifted her balance in his arms and she squeaked in horror and gripped onto him tighter.

“Are you sure you want me to put you down?”

Amber peeked over her shoulder and saw the muck surrounding them. The front porch of the house was now a mere two metres away.

“Yes,” she said with as much dignity as she could muster. “I want you to put me down, right there.” She pointed at the safety of the porch with one manicured finger.

He started to laugh. The full, deep sound reverberated through her body until she could feel her own mouth twitching at the corners, despite her fear his continued mirth would cause him to lose his balance and drop her. She gripped onto his arms and felt the shift of heavy, corded muscles beneath the tanned skin. Yeah, okay, it was time to get out of his arms before she started to lose her head.

“You’ve had your fun. Can you please get on with the saving part now?”

A few long strides later, he stepped up onto the porch. One arm slid out from behind her knees and her legs swung down toward the wet, but relatively clean, wood. She held onto his shoulders as her feet touched down and she regained her balance.

His hands shifted to her waist, steadying her, and for a moment, their gazes met. The late afternoon light fell across his face, showing his eyes to be a pale green. Compared to the rest of him, which suffered the ill effects of toiling with dirt in the heavy rain of an hour ago, his eyes were crystal clear.

Yes, he was more than a little good-looking under all the dirt. Rough. Roguish. But hot all the same.

Realising she was staring, not to mention the fact they had yet to let go of each other, she snatched her hands away from his shoulders and stepped back so his hands slid off her waist. She took a deep breath in an effort to recover her composure.

“Thank you for your assistance, Mr…?”

“Linc,” he said as he handed the umbrella back to her.

“Mr Linc,” she repeated. “Though next time you decide to put your hands on a woman be sure to ask permission first. Do you understand?”

There was that maddening smirk again. “Sure thing, princess,” he said, placing his hands on his hips.

She paused in the process of flattening out the envelope she’d crushed in her hand to look up at him. “I’m not a princess. I’m an accountant.”

“My mistake.” He licked his lips and laughed as his gaze travelled the length of her—twice. “You sure do look like a princess.”

Amber frowned as she checked her outfit. She was dressed in a tailored navy blue skirt suit, paired with a cream knitted top. Her jewellery included a trendy coral necklace with matching earrings. It was a clean, modern look, but nothing was going to stop her ensemble from screaming ‘office worker’ to anyone within a fifty metre radius. In no way, shape or form, would she ever be mistaken for a princess.

Tilting her head back, and now she was this close she realised how far back she had to tilt to do that, she narrowed her eyes at his amused countenance and pressed her lips into a thin line. “Good day, Mr Linc. Enjoy your dirt.”

She walked into the house and slammed the door behind her, but she couldn’t block out the sound of his laughter echoing in her ears. For all his supposed chivalry, the man was still a condescending bastard. No amount of sex appeal could make up for a bad attitude.

When she exited the house twenty minutes later there was no sign of the dirty gardener. There was, however, a path of wooden boards stretching from the porch all the way to the footpath. Her shoes would live to see another day, after all.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

About “Lost in Amber” from Rebecca

This book started out as my way of exploring two disparate parts of myself. Lincoln is the minimalist part of me who doesn’t like to be surrounded by too much stuff, hates the thought of wasting the earth’s resources and wants to live simply. Amber is the girly part who adores pretty dresses and fancy restaurants and wants to chill on the couch binging on chips and TV marathons. I really enjoyed putting them in a room together and watching the sparks fly!

About Rebecca Raine

Rebecca is a long-time lover of all things romance. Whether it’s a book, movie, or real-life, she will always have more fun if there’s a love interest thrown into the mix. She lives in Queensland, Australia with her very own hero husband, two adorable children and one big, black dog. Other than reading and writing books, her favourite things include loud music, enjoying a glass of wine on the patio, organising everything in existence, and spending too much time on the Internet.

Connect with Rebecca

Website: www.rebeccaraine.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/rainewriter

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/rainewriter

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/rainewriter

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Rebecca’s other books...

Some risks are worth taking.

         Blog post link; Our Little Secret 

Amazon.com  

Ignite the magick within, or be hunted in the dark.

Blog post link; Splinter  

Amazon.com

Rebecca, congratulations for the launch of your third book! I look forward to your "Finding Forever" book series growing with more hot and humorous, heroes and heroines.

Have a good week.

♥ Ashlyn