Today, to celebrate uploading Reckless Rescue to Amazon (waiting for it to go through their upload process now, apparently it can take up to 48 hours), I’m posting an excerpt from the first chapter. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter001

The phone buzzed on the bedside table. Rubbing his eyes, Tyris rolled over to pick it up. The bed was empty beside him, the covers thrown back. Trying to focus, he stared at the message on the screen, ignoring the little niggling feeling in the back of his head telling him that something wasn’t quite right.

“Appreciate the help, Tyris. Hope you enjoy these tickets to the show next weekend as thanks.” It wasn’t signed, but he knew who it was from. A tingle of anticipation ran down his spine.

He’d got them.

Tyris smiled and lay back on the pillows, resting the phone on his knees. An image of the screen projected above it, and he swiped his fingers across it several times, checking for the best space fares. Finding a good deal from Urslat to anywhere else in the galaxy wasn’t easy these days, what with the scarcity of anysogen, but price was no object.

He’d thought long and hard about how to top the anniversary gift Milandra had given him last year. A slow smile curved his lips. He’d been so disappointed that he couldn’t make the shuttle races on Milat, but his leave application had been denied. He didn’t know Milandra had already arranged with General Harrington for him to have the time off, and had already bought the tickets in advance. Sometimes, being married to a general’s daughter had its advantages.

He hadn’t even minded that they’d spent five of the seven days shopping. The race had been amazing. Hard to top. But he’d done it. Exclusive, invitation only tickets to a show by her favourite designer on the faraway moon of Pilar. He didn’t understand what was so wonderful about making new clothes out of old ones from three decades ago, but that didn’t matter. Milandra loved the stuff. Luckily, the designer’s assistant owed him a favour.

Tickets booked, he set the phone on the nightstand, jumped out of bed, and went looking for his wife.

He found Milandra in the kitchen staring into the freezer. The picture she presented, bending over, white silk dressing gown lifting to show most of her thighs, made him smile. He crossed the room and kissed the back of her neck as she stood up, sliding his arms around her waist. “Good morning,” he said huskily.

Milandra laughed, and twisted in his arms to return his kiss. “Good morning to you, too.” She wriggled out of his arms and poured herself a glass of orange juice. “There’s a letter for you.”

Her words sent a sudden chill down Tyris’s spine. “There is?” His voice sounded faint, even to his own ears.

Milandra nodded towards the kitchen bench where she’d thrown the mail. Tyris stared at it from across the room. The pile contained mostly junk mail, but hidden under the stack was an official-looking letter with a government seal.

Why did bad news still come by mail when for years everything else had arrived by e-mail?

Want to read more? Keep an eye out for Reckless Rescue in the Kindle store.