SIX SENTENCE SUNDAY - PAST UNDONE

Afternoon to you all.

A good week, a romantic week. William and Kate gave the world a day in which, for a brief moment, we could leave our troubled lives behind and share in their joy and revel in the majesty of a Royal occasion. No one does it quite like the Brits.
It was also a good week for me as I finally settled on a title for my recently finished ms. It is now officialy A Private Place. Also, for services to the British crown, my agent, received a knighthood. He is now known as Sir Maximus Rabbitus but, of course, still goes by the name of Rafa to his friends. You may have all seen him at the wedding, hiding behind Beatrice and Eugene's hats.

So on to my six of the week.....
I thought today, I would choose a six from my work, Past Undone. This m.s is doing the rounds as well a A Private Place so fingers crossed....

“Miss Jamison, there is a vast difference between being in love and loving someone. The first is often mere infatuation, a manic desire to possess the subject of one’s affection, mind, body and soul but it is a selfish love. On the other hand, loving someone, truly loving someone means giving them a part of you. It means promising to cherish and protect them for as long as you may live. It requires total unselfishness. This love needn’t be sexual but it’s a love that breathes life into your soul; a love you would willingly die for.

I leave you with a blurb and excerpt from Past Undone...

Blurb:

Sometimes Sofie Jamison wishes her father were a plumber. Her life certainly would be less complicated. At nearly twenty-one, she is a little tired of paying the price for her Director father’s caped crusader routine. She wouldn’t mind so much but the bodyguards he periodically hires to protect her possess as much charm and wit as Colonel Kaddafi.
Nik Lloyd is no exception. Mr. Lloyd has one simple set of rules: do as I say and don’t speak unless spoken to. Sofie wants to hate him on sight but it’s a little difficult when every time she looks at him, her feet leave the ground and she spins on an emotional roller coaster. Hidden away together in his beautiful Greek island home, Sofie soon realizes Mr. Lloyd is an ‘international man of mystery’, and a man, if his housekeeper is to be believed, who is hiding dark secrets. The housekeeper claims he is a tortured soul. The livid scar on his back convinces Sofie she may be right. Who does he cry for at night? It looks as if it will turn out to be one helluva weird summer. And just who is the mysterious young girl, Bella, who turns up out of nowhere, latching on to Sofie with all the tenacity of a limpet?

Excerpt:


“So, you took the job.”
Nik Lloyd closed the door and expelled a life-weary sigh. “Lily, you can’t keep barging in like this.” Ducking his head to avoid the scarred and pitted wooden door beam, he stepped down into the sitting room. The room was small, with a gentile shabbiness that betrayed its age. Nik loved it. The unsophisticated, rustic lines appealed to him. Disordered – like his psyche.
“Sorry.” Lily followed his every move, her eyes wide, innocent – too trusting.
“I would have lit the fire but…. You know how it is.”
Her smile dazzled him, turning his dark world into a place filled with love and - if not exactly joi de vivre - something close.
Not trusting himself to respond to her initial question, he crouched in front of the cast-iron grate and put a match to the already laid logs. Apple-scented wood spat and hissed into life, filling the room with their pleasing fragrance.
“It’s cold.” Wrapping arms around her wraithlike form, Lily shivered.
Nik smiled; Lily was always cold. Straightening up, he stretched his arms high above his head. His chin itched from two-day stubble. More than anything, he craved a long, hot soak, accompanied by a stiff measure of bourbon – or make that two. He’d cut down, his drinking now under control, but he knew Lily watched him like a hawk. That’s why he loved soaking in the tub. As audacious as she was, she abstained from sharing his bath time.
“So aren’t you going to tell me?” Graceful as a swan, she followed him into the tiny annex masquerading as a kitchen.
“Nothing to tell.” Avoiding her probing, he opened the fridge. Not much greeted him. Oh well, so be it. He was becoming pretty nifty at flipping omelets.
“You should shop more.” Lily sniffed in that irritatingly superior way of hers. “Your cholesterol must be sky high.”
“Lily,” Nik banged the frying pan down onto the unhealthy looking stove, “you should go. I need to be alone. I have to think this through and I can’t do that with you around.”
Silence brushed the back of his neck; a silence pregnant with hurt and rejection. Would he ever stop hurting her? He loved her. He always would but sometimes…. “I’m sorry, Lily.”
“No. Don’t apologize. I’m so tired of you doing that. I’m leaving. I know I am a pain but I worry about you. You know how much I care.”
Nik closed his eyes, her essence flooding his soul. Her warm breath caused the hairs on his arms to rise. Two years on and she still held him captive under her spell. Emptiness replaced the warmth in his heart. He knew she’d left him. Appetite gone, he turned off the gas and made for the tiny staircase tucked away in the corner of the cottage. He needed that bath – and drink – more than ever.
Negotiating the uneven steps, he pondered on his future. Was he doing the right thing? Common sense told him yes. It was time to pick up the reins of his damaged life and move on. If only he could shed the cruel mantle of guilt torturing his every waking moment, rendering sleep a distant memory.
Lily. Cranking up the thermostat dial on the upper landing wall, his old friend, sadness, crawled over him. Would he ever be free of her? Would guilt allow him to cut the fragile thread binding them together?

For more great Sunday Sixes check out this link http://sixsunday.blogspot.com/
Enjoy
Viviane Brentanos

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