Thanks so much for having me at Romance Runkies. When we were talking about what to write about, the subject came up of ghost stories and because it’s so close to Halloween, I though it was perfect.

I grew up in the country and there is nothing scarier than a country road in the dark of night. Which of course makes night land Nav the army just so much fun. The woods. At night. Alone.

Now Fort Benning has pigs. And the briefing for night land nav includes to listen to the bushes and if you hear anything that sounds like a pig, get in a tree.

Really? The course of action for a pig in the middle of the night is get in a tree?

So there I was. Uniform buttoned up to my chin in July in 100 degree heat waring glasses to keep the spiders from dropping into my shirt (spiders st fort Benning are HUGE). Spider stick swinging in of my face (did I. Mention how big the spiders were).

Walking through the woods, trying to find a sign in the middle of the woods using a red lens flashlight.

And something crunched in the woods. Under a bush. Off to my left.

Now I don’t know to this day if it was someone else on the course. Or if it was a squirrel or a pig. The only thing I can say is that at least I didn’t scream but I damn sure got the heck out of there.

No, my pride did not survive. And I’m okay with that.

That’s the extent of my ghost story.

To celebrate the release of my next book until there was you, below is an excerpt where Evan chases Claire into the woods. And well, it doesn’t end up in aghast story but, well you get the idea…

Evan stalked down the hall and lifted his hand, prepared to beat Claire’s door off the hinges until she opened the damn thing. It could not be a coincidence that Engle had briefed the exact changes Claire had mentioned. But she ripped open the door before his fist had fallen once. Claire rocked back on the heels of her running shoes, her eyes filled with unspent fury.

“I’m not in the mood right now, Evan.” She shoved past him, heading for the stairs. As she disappeared down the hall, he took in that she was prepared for a run. Just what he felt like doing, going for a jog through the woods in full army combat uniform, complete with boots. And of course, Claire made it look like she was up for a marathon, not a quick jog.

“Too bad.” He tried to grab her arm to slow her down. “I need to talk to you.”

The vinyl of her jacket slipped through his fingers as she yanked free. “What part of ‘I’m not in the mood’ don’t you get?”

Stunned by her ferocity, he let her go, unable to reach her past the fury that radiated from her every movement. She slammed into the stairwell, heaving the door shut behind her.

He swore quietly, pissed that he wasn’t dressed for running in the cold. But, hell, he’d gone through Ranger school and Airborne school running in boots. He took off after her, bolting down the same stairwell where she’d disappeared.

Afternoon had fallen and with it, light fluffy snowflakes drifted down, dusting the world in deceptively peaceful quiet. A snow machine rumbled somewhere in the distance. Evan caught a flash of white and blue as Claire disappeared down a snow-packed trail.

The frigid air seared his lungs, ripping the breath from his body. He followed her at a distance, hoping some of her fury would abate by the time he caught up to her.

She plunged headlong into a narrow copse of trees, their branches hanging heavy and pregnant with ice. If she heard him following her, she showed no sign of it. He heard nothing now but the huff of his own breath. The hair on the inside of his nose froze, his fingers following quickly. He might have grown up here, but his blood had thinned in the years since he’d left.

Finally she slowed, and he caught her before she rounded the next bend in the trail. “Damn it, Claire, will you stop?”

From the back cover:

Jessica Scott returns with an all-new contemporary eBook original romance, following last fall’s release of her sizzling debut novel Because of You.

He plays by the rules, she’s not afraid to break them. Now these two strong-willed army captains will prove that opposites attract . .

A by-the-book captain with a West Point background, Captain Evan Loehr refuses to mix business with pleasure—except for an unguarded instance years ago when he succumbed to the deep sensuality of redheaded beauty Claire Montoya. From that moment on, though, Evan has been at odds with her, through two deployments to Iraq and back again. But when he is asked to train a team prepping for combat alongside Claire, battle-worn Evan is in for the fight of his life.

Strong, gutsy, and loyal, Captain Claire Montoya has worked hard to earn the rank on her chest. In Evan, Claire sees a rigid officer who puts the rules before everything else—including his people. When the mission forces them together, Claire soon discovers that there is more to Evan than meets the eye.

He’s more than the rank on his chest; he’s a man with dark secrets and deep longings. For all their differences, Evan and Claire share two crucial passions: their country and each other.

You can order UNTIL THERE WAS YOU at these ebookstores or wherever ebooks are sold!

B & N | Amazon | Powell’s| iBookstore

BIO:

Jessica Scott is a career army officer, mother of two daughters, three cats, three dogs and two escape-artists hamsters, wife to a career NCO and wrangler of all things stuffed and fluffy. She has commanded two companies, served in Germany, Korea, Fort Hood and Iraq, and been lucky not to get fired. She is a terrible cook and an even worse housekeeper, but she’s a pretty good shot with her assigned weapon. Somehow, her children are pretty well adjusted and her husband still loves her, despite burned water and a messy house.

You can find her online at

Website: http://www.jessicascott.net

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jessicascottauthor

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jessicascott09

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5131118.Jessica_Scott