Sweet Saturday Sample 28-1

I just want to thank everyone who visits me on Sweet Saturday Samples and to say how much I appreciate your comments.

This week I am sharing a sample from my Valentine story His Chosen Bride, to be released by Astraea Press.  When I wrote my current release, From Now Until Forever I didn't expect it to turn out to be the first of four stories about the Gasquet Princes, but then the characters 'insisted'!
His Chosen Bride is Prince Henri's story.

She lost track of time until the flames caught her attention once more. They flickered from orange to gold, to silver, to white.



A flurry of snowflakes masked the flames and for a second Monica watched the most beautiful, pristine snow-scene she’d ever seen. Her lips curved in longing. How she’d love to get a toboggan and slide down that slope. She knew where it was, and had done just that many times in her childhood, first with her parents and then, in clandestine manner, with her brother. Sneaking an old tin tray from the back of her mother’s walk-in pantry, she’d then grabbed Billy’s hand and they’d rushed out the back gate, heading for the lakeside track that led up into the hills.


Darkness, dense and thick with grief dropped over the scene. Startled and disconcerted by the strength of emotion emanating from the vision Monica shifted to her knees, ready to stand, when a voice, a deep male voice, sharp with fear called out her name.


“Monica!”


She knew she’d never heard the voice before, and yet—it was as familiar to her as the image she saw in her mirror each morning.


“Help me, Monica.”


Desperate for more clues, she searched the darkness within the flames until it sputtered and faded. With a curse she jumped up and ran for the phone. With her outstretched hand hovering over it she halted and let her hand drop to her side once more. What could she say? What would the police or rescue team think of her if she called them and told them she’d seen a vision of a man in distress?


They’d laugh in her face and classify her as a lunatic. Well, maybe not. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d contacted them with positive information but something—an instinctive gut reaction told her what she’d seen this time hadn’t happened yet.