Silver James

Yes. I virtually typed THE END last evening. Today, I’m editing and doing some formatting and then I’ll get the draft up on Amazon for the pre-order. 🙂

In the meantime, here’s a longer snippet from DOUBLE CROSS, from which I’ll be taking some sentences for Kiss of Death’s #1lineWed Tweet event today from the snippet. Today’s theme is **SOMETHING UNEXPECTED**. There are several unexpected things happening in this passage. 😉

“Wait. Let me look.” Cory’s hand settled on his jaw, gentle but firm. She tilted his head—toward the sun judging by the temperature change on his skin. “Oh…no.”

Fuck. That didn’t sound good. “What?”

“Can you see anything? Anything at all?”

And there it was, the punch to his gut. “No.”

Her hand dropped away amid the rustling of more clothes. He pictured her kneeling at his side. “Tell me what you remember.”

Frustrated, Duke growled again. “Not here. We have to get under cover.”

“Oh. Yes, you’re right. We should. A moment.”

Cory scanned the area around them. They’d have to wade through shallow water to reach the bank of the river. A wadi ran down to the water, forming a cut between the higher ground beyond. It would give them a way to climb out, back to the plains so she could see.

“I found a way out.” She explained her plan to use the wadi. He stood, settled his pack and searched the sand bar with his foot for something else. “What? What are you looking for?”

“Gun case. My sniper rifle.”

“Oh.” She turned a slow circle, saw the case snagged close to shore. She could retrieve it on their way to shore. “Found it. Give me a moment to put my medical kit back together.” She hastily stuffed supplies in and zipped it. Slinging it over her head, strap crossing her body from left to right, she stepped back to the master chief. “Put your hand on my forearm. I’ll lead you.”

“No. Shoulder.” And he followed through by clamping his big hand on her left shoulder.

“Well…all right then. Fine, master chief—”

“Duke.”

“Beg pardon?”

“Duke. My name is Duke.”

“Duke? Is that a nickname?”

“Nope.”

“It’s your real name?

“Yup. I was named for John Wayne.”

“Wait…but…” Cory knitted her brows and pursed her lips, still not following. “If you are named for John Wayne, then why—”

Duke glared—or thought he did. He wondered what her expression showed.

“Oh. I… All right. Duke.” She tasted the name on her tongue and tried to piece together the reason for his nickname. Not that Duke didn’t fit him perfectly. Strong. Arrogant. And she had far more serious things to worry about than his broad shoulders, square jaw, and— She jerked her thoughts back to the situation at hand.

“We have about twenty-five, maybe thirty feet of sand bar and then about eight feet of shallow water to wade before we hit the bank. It’s not smooth like a beach or anything. We’ll have to scramble up a little ways to get into the wadi.”

“Lead on, McDuff.”

“Actually, the quote is ‘Lay on, McDuff.’ The phrase has been misquoted over four hundred years.” Cory babbled on, relating the history of the phrase, quoting from the scene in Shakespeare’s “MacBeth” until Duke squeezed her shoulder.

“Damn, princess, don’t you ever shut up?”

I’ll admit something here. I’m really excited about this book. Some twists and turns presented themselves and I love the interaction between Duke and Cory. I’m looking forward to the editing process and can’t wait to get it into the hands of my readers. And speaking of reading, who has words to share today from a WIP or book you’re enjoying reading?