The Costume Party Continues | Lauren Smith Brings Not-So-Superstitious Bastian Carlisle – The Earl of Weymouth

Welcome back to Fresh Fiction's Halloween Boo-k Spectacular Costume Party! Some of your favorite authors are sending their characters to this virtual party in style. Bastian Carlisle--the hero of Lauren Smith's THE SHADOWS OF STORMCLYFFE HALL--has left his (haunted) home for the evening to join a certain lady at the party...

Bastian doesn’t believe in ghosts. That’s just ridiculous. So what if his family’s ancestral home Stormclyffe Hall is apparently haunted. It’s what the workmen who are repairing it say, but Bastian knows that’s merely superstition. Bloody nonsense, the whole ghost business, in his opinion. Still, he does enjoy Halloween, so he thought he’d show up for the party. No costume of course. He’s an earl, and earl’s do “dress-up”. That’s why he’s wearing his tailored black suit and leaning against the wall by the bunch bowl which is smoking a bit mysteriously. Probably dry ice in the bowl, then again…that trio of witches huddled by it look a bit Macbeth-ish for him and their pointed hats look oddly realistic and not too costumey...

The only reason he came to this blasted party is because Jane Seyton asked him too. Jane, that lovely and infuriating American graduate student. She thinks she can write a historical thesis on his home and his family’s tragedies? Right, he won’t let that happen, not without a price. She looks quite stunning tonight, with her black Victorian bustle gown and those lace-up shoes. Her witch’s hat sits at a slight angle on her head, giving her a saucy look that makes his skin burn and his body heat up. That’s one witch he has every intention of getting closer to...