For King and Country update

 “The unread story is not a story; it is little black marks on wood pulp.
The reader, reading it, makes it live: a live thing, a story.”
– Ursula K. Le Guin

Mark and I met last week while the other two members of our writing group had real life intrude on our usual Thursday night session. Mark had been able to read four of the last 12 chapters of For King and Country. He’s reading with his editorial hat on, and as usual found a few cliches scattered about, a few phrases I should eliminate, but overall he was excited and enthusiastic about what he’d read. Let’s see if he’s still singing that tune when we meet next week. Hopefully the rest of the gang will have finished their reading, too, and then can get down to the messy editorial work.

While we wait, enjoy this snippet from Chapter 4, and then go sign up for the giveaway for Book I, Men of the Cross. Today is the last day to comment and be entered to win!

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Robin waited but a moment. He could not give up so easily. He bolted towards the door. Seeing her again, being so close. Christ, she was not the young girl he’d left—she’d been feisty then, but now…she was a strong woman who knew her mind and her heart. And me? Take a dagger to my soul—will I only bring more heartache? Was Marian right? Except for a life with her, he’d always had his way. It had come too easy. He’d fought for what he had, always won. But this life—with Marian, with Robert—would he lose? It might have been better if he’d stayed away. No! He couldn’t accept that. If ever there was a time he wanted to win, this was it. He needed Marian. Somehow, he would make her see that…though it would be the toughest battle of his life.

Marian had not gone far. She stood beneath the light of the full moon, her dark eyes fixed on some distant point.

Robin drew up beside her. “I only want what is best for Robert. Christ, Marian. Do you know how often I’ve thought of you? If I’d known about my son—”

“Don’t call him that,” she said, stepping out of his reach. “You have no right to call him that.”

Pain wracked Marian’s eyes. She didn’t deserve this life he’d left her to. His selfishness—what a mess he’d made. She was right to protect Robert. If only she would let him give his heart to the two of them.

“He is from us,” Robin said quietly.

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Book II of Battle Scars: For King and Country
will be published in 2015.