Highlander in Her Bed

This randy paranormal romance pits a burned-out ghost-hunting tour guide against a cranky person-hunting ghost. After her last skeptical jaunt into London's haunted past, Mara McDougall stumbles upon an antique store and finds the enormous medieval bed of her dreams. She buys it, despite the strange warning of a stunning but rude man who tells her, "The bed is mine, wench." Just as she's about to leave London, she learns that a friend in the tourist business has left her a huge Scottish castle—and a catch: she must make the place into a memorial to the MacDougall clan of Scotland. It turns out her gorgeous new bed has a catch of its own: it's haunted. Scottish knight Alexander Douglas, he of the rude warning, was cursed to spend eternity with the bed by one of the MacDougalls, and he's sworn revenge against them (and, now, maybe the Mc Dougalls, too). The premise is charming and innovative, but the leads' lustful preoccupation overshadows the promising subplots and quirky supporting cast. The novel also frustrates by assuming, wrongly, that the rules of interaction between ghosts and humans are self-evident. This novel definitely delivers a blast of Scottish steam, but its take on love, paranormal style, is thwarted by overactive hormones that seem all too earthly. (Nov.)