Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet
Sunday. Sample the work of a
new author. Read snippets of stories in different genres.
I am posting excerpts
from my new Sci-Fi Romance, Lured by the Lion. This story is part of a new series, Second Chances in
Space, with standalone stories about
space pirates, spies and second chances for romance.
I
may be unable to post new excerpts for the next 2-3 weeks since I’ll be
traveling to the UK. This week's excerpt is longer than usual to make up for my absence.
Relevant
background: Josie Yazzie, the captain of a small spacecraft, has flown to
another planet to visit her aunt. She has made two new acquaintances, Penelope
and her father, Leonardo Horlis, a widower still mourning his deceased wife.
You can
read my last excerpt at: https://auroraspringer.blogspot.com/2022/04/a-priceless-vase-excerpt-from-lured-by.html
In the last excerpt, Josie made Leo laugh. In this week’s excerpt, a visitor arrives while Penelope is showing Josie around the garden.
They had admired the pink and
white roses and were circling back to the table when the patio door slid open. An
incongruous vision emerged of a slim man with a handsome face and jaunty outfit.
His jacket bore alternating stripes of black and yellow, and his brown hair was
cropped short with the ends tinted gold. He minced over the flagstones on five-centimeter
high heels like a foppish townie promenading on the pier at a seaside resort.
A dangerous dandy, Josie
suspected. His gaudy jacket hung wide at one side and the bulge over his hip
suggested a holstered weapon.
“Drat,” Penelope groaned. “It’s
Ned Grampon.” She continued in a conspiratorial whisper, “I wish he wouldn’t visit
us. Now, I’ll have to speak with him and Tata will be rude.”
Ten sentences
plus a few more:
“Shall I leave you?” Josie
whispered.
“Oh no. Please stay. You can
divert Tata, while I listen to Ned.” Ceasing to whisper, Penelope took Josie’s
arm, possibly for moral support, and they walked toward the unwanted visitor.
Grampon made a flourishing bow to
the head of the household, saying in a squeaky voice, “Sir, I’m delighted to
see you in such excellent health.” Without waiting for a response, he rotated
to face the daughter. Throwing his arms wide, he cried, “Lovely Penelope, you
are a veritable angel roaming among your flowers.”
“Good afternoon, Ned.” Penelope pressed
Josie’s arm and made the introductions, “Captain Ned Grampon. My friend, Josie
Yazzie.”
Cringing at his florid verbosity
and grating falsetto, Josie merely said, “Hello.”
He bent his head in a slight bow
and resumed his flirtation of Penelope. “Allow me the pleasure of your charming
company on this sunny afternoon. Will you escort me around your blooming flower
beds?” He stepped forward and offered his arm.
Her cheeks blushed pink and
Penelope said, “Ned, I can’t spare much time since we have another visitor.”
Unwilling to make an ignored
third, Josie slipped her arm free and murmured, “I’ll chat with your father.”
Grampon steered Penelope into the
path behind the rose bushes, while Josie rejoined Horlis on the patio and slid
into the seat opposite him.
His face as dark as a
thundercloud, the Felicine man glowered at Grampon’s slim back as if he wished
a bolt of lightning would strike the dandy.
Widow with a spaceship meets widower with a
dangerous secret.
After the death of her ailing father, Jocelyn
Navarre Yazzie is free to roam the galaxy in the Star Condor, the spacecraft
she inherited from her deceased husband. She embarks on a trip to deliver her
father’s bequest to her aunt on a rural planet outside the civilized sectors.
A chance encounter with the crippled Leonardo
Horlis changes her future. Horlis suffers from a debilitating malady and
expects to live for less than a year. Josie is strongly attracted to him, yet
she cannot hope to compete with his beautiful dead wife, whose portrait
dominates his house and his memories. Sympathizing with his grief and illness,
Josie offers to transport him in her spaceship to the top medical center of the
ultracivilized inner planets.
Their attraction intensifies in the cramped
quarters of her spaceship. But, Leo has a dangerous secret that threatens to
terminate their voyage and their lives. Can Josie and Leo escape the perils and
vanquish the ghosts of their past to find happiness together?
Available at My Store (Discounted) or Other Retailers
I’ll
be happy to reply to your comments.
Please
return to http://wewriwa.blogspot.com/ to sample the works of
the other writers.
Find a catalog of my published stories HERE.
