Imagine, if you will, far from the noise and chaos of city life, the wild, rolling hills of the Scottish Highlands. It’s probably raining – it usually is - and a bit cold, but you’re surrounded by scenery so beautiful and so peaceful, it makes you want to cry with awe. There are no traffic noises, no other people to be seen. The only sounds are the singing of birds as the rain eases off, and perhaps the odd bleat of a sheep.

You get back in your car and continue to drive along a single track road – winding and so narrow that if you meet a car coming the other way, one of you has to back up to a hewn out passing place, or you risk ending up in a ditch.

From the summit of a hill, you catch your first glimpse the sea. You can make out a few scattered islands, maybe the odd ferry or fishing boat.

At the foot of the hill, right on the coast, is a picturesque village: a scattering of mostly older houses, a couple of small shops, a pub, a tiny public library, a harbour with a few little boats tied up, a small, ancient church with a graveyard whose memorial stones go back hundreds of years. The signpost pointing to the village says “Ardknocken 2 miles”.

If you follow the road downhill, you pass a big, old house of weathered stone, where once the local chieftain or laird must have lived. This is Ardknocken House and it overlooks the village and the sea. You might imagine a wealthy lord of noble lineage lives there still with his elegant lady, as his ancestors have done for generations leading back into the mists of time.

But you’d be wrong.

In fact, the current owner of the big house was born and bred in the rough housing schemes of Glasgow and he was recently released from prison where he served time for murder. His name is Glenn Brody, and he shares the house with several other ex-cons, most of whom he met in prison…

This was my starting point for the “In” series. A small, peaceful Highland community, appalled to be invaded by not one but a whole bunch of city bad boys. I had great fun imagining their reactions and interactions, how and why the way they regard each other might change and what might bring them together.

Because, whatever their colourful and reprehensible pasts, my ex-cons are actually going straight. By means of a co-operative run with the help of ex-parole officer Chrissy Lennox, they’re trying to make a new, honest life for themselves with their own legitimate skills and talents, which range from mechanics and joinery to art and music. Some of them look a bit scary; some of them, like Glenn himself, ooze the kind of danger that makes the timid swerve to avoid them without quite knowing why. They’re pariahs, untouchables, and yet very slowly, but inexorably, they’re becoming part of the village community.

The process began In His Wildest Dreams when villager Izzy Ross, a single mother on the run from her past, plucked up the courage to ask Glenn for a job at the big house and discovered the residents were interesting and fun. In fact, far from being scary, Glenn could be the love of her life.

Then In Her Secret Fantasy, prodigal village son Aidan, an undercover policeman, came home to investigate the Ardknocken House boys and instead fell in love with their manager, Chrissy, thus creating more ties between house and village.

Now In The Mists of Time, wild weather forces the communities to work together. Aidan’s sister Louise is about to have the sexiest encounter of her life with computer geek Thierry, who once stole millions from an insurance company. They meet as strangers in the mist, a very odd mist that seems to have a personality and an agenda of its own…

Because Ardknocken isn’t really a very ordinary place at all. The big house is haunted. Mythical selkies visit the beach, and something or someone might just have awakened an ancient Celtic goddess of the mist.

If you believe that kind of thing…

In The Mists of Time, third of the “In” series comes out today – contemporary Scottish romance with a twist of paranormal - I hope you enjoy it!

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Paranormal romance author Marie Treanor lives in Scotland with her eccentric husband, three much-too-smart children and a small puppy who rules them all. Having grown bored with city life, she resides these days in a picturesque village by the sea where she is lucky enough to enjoy herself avoiding housework and writing sensual stories of paranormal romance and fantasy. Marie is the award winning author of over forty sexy paranormal romances – Indie, New York and E-published.

Marie can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and MarieTreanor.com.