Here's an early free holiday gift for you...an excerpt from my 1st published novel, "Murder Is Just the Beginning"! It, along with the 2nd and 3rd novels are all available now at Amazon, iBooks, Smashwords and nook.
“Cameron, Andrews,” he called. “My office. Now.” Glad for any excuse to get away from the dreaded paperwork, Paul and Dave arose and went into the Captain’s office. Inside, they saw the Captain had two guests, two ladies who were certainly quite pleasing to look at. Paul beamed them both a friendly smile. “Hello there, ladies.” Dave barely acknowledged them with a nod. Captain Hamilton walked back round to his side of the desk and rested his bulk on his chair. It groaned and creaked with familiar knowledge of the weight sitting on top of it. Aware all four people were looking at him for either an introduction or an explanation, he fixed his most professional and courteous smile on his face and gazed at Paul and Dave. “Gentlemen, let me introduce to you Cathy Edwards and Krista Nolan. Ladies, Detective Dave Andrews and Detective Paul Cameron at your service.” It took only a second for the names to register in Dave’s mind and he just about managed to conceal a scowl. So, the women from Northern Ireland had arrived. Terrific, he didn’t think so. “Which one of you is which?” Paul asked. “I’m Krista,” she answered with a hint of shyness. “And you are…?” “Paul.” He offered her his hand to shake, which she did and when the contact was broken, he could still feel the warmth and strength she had conveyed with the simple, time-honored gesture. He shook Cathy’s hand too, his smile rich and honest and his eyes twinkling softly with welcome and good humor. “And you must be Cathy. It’s a pleasure to meet you both, particularly when we’ve heard so much about you. Welcome to the United States of America.” “Thank you,” Cathy said warmly and looked expectantly at the one called Dave to see if he was going to greet them with a handshake or a smile. Her own smile faltered when she received neither and, immediately losing her momentum for a friendly introduction, she retracted inside herself in the way she sometimes did with strangers, to let Krista strike up an ice-breaking conversation. But Krista, who usually talked a mile a minute and had a true talent for talking to strangers as if she’d known them for years, had chosen this moment to keep her mouth shut. Aware of Dave’s reluctance to participate in any kind of a greeting, Paul folded his arms across his chest and sat on the edge of the Captain’s desk, retaining his relaxed smile to help put the ladies at their ease. Paul simply couldn’t get over Krista and Cathy’s appealing good looks – every image in his mind’s eye he had built up of them was totally wrong. They were quite beautiful, he would even be prepared to use the word stunning because that was certainly what they were. As Captain Hamilton droned on in the background about something or other, and as Dave retreated into his moody little shell of indifference, Paul sat and quietly assessed the newcomers, finding he was quite enjoying the show. Krista was tall, about five nine, and slim, probably weighing in at about one hundred and twenty pounds, but she was definitely filled out in all the right places and she carried herself with a naturally comfortable air and graceful poise. Her hair was very dark, almost as dark as Dave’s, and fell down her back in a thick, layered sheath with the bangs at the front short and feathered. Her complexion was creamy and flawless, her cheekbones high, her nose pretty and feminine and her lips, which fronted perfectly straight white teeth, were full, sensuous and inviting. But her piece de resistance had to be her eyes. Almond shaped, clear green, flecked here and there with tiny gold specks and fringed with long, thick eyelashes, Paul suspected they had lured many a man under their spell… just as they were doing to him right now, he realized with a jolt. And she hadn’t even being looking directly at him, nor seemingly was she even aware of his appraisal… For distraction, he quickly switched his attention to Cathy. She wasn’t as tall as Krista, only about five four, he guessed, and she probably tipped the scales at around one hundred and ten pounds, making her quite petite but perfectly rounded where she should be. He liked her hair, it was dark with a lot of hints of auburn and it stretched all the way down her back in a tumbled mass of curls and waves, giving her a wild, gypsy-like, free spirited appearance. Her skin gave off an untainted peach glow, her nose was perfectly sculpted, her lips generous, her chin strong and determined and when he lifted his scrutiny to her eyes, he was in for a pleasant surprise. They were blue – make that very blue, he quickly corrected – and the lashes that framed them were long and in abundance. Both women could hold their own in the looks department, that was for sure and he fell in love with their accents too when they started asking the Captain questions regarding their itinerary for the next day. A few minutes after the initial introduction, the Captain suddenly stood up. “Please excuse me, I have something to take care of on the third floor. I’ll be back in a little while.” Left alone, an awkward silence descended upon them and it was Paul who started the conversational ball rolling. “What made you ladies want to come to the U S of A? Unless…I’m sorry, is that too personal a question?” Krista quickly shook her head. “Oh no, we don’t mind that you asked. We needed a change of pace, basically. We both love our chosen careers and didn’t want to give it up, so we decided to try our luck in another country. Thanks to our former boss finding out about Captain Hamilton’s program, we wanted to offer our services against terrorism and we jumped at the chance to come here. We only arrived yesterday so we haven’t really got our bearings yet, but Captain Hamilton took us on a guided tour of the city this morning and most of what we saw looked really nice.” As Krista filled Paul in with where they had been that morning, Cathy did what he had done and quietly assessed him and Dave. She knew she was looking at two of the most ridiculously handsome men she had ever seen, two men who would look quite at home in a jeans commercial or a razor blade commercial, or even on a catwalk, doing the male model bit. She couldn’t help but wonder if they were the sort of men who knew they were gorgeous but the more she remained in their company and read their body language, the more she didn’t think that was the case. With Dave, she had to admit she was a little intrigued. She couldn’t understand why he was so quiet or why he seemed to have a permanent scowl stamped on his features, nor could she understand why his amazingly dark blue eyes were giving nothing away except a silent instruction that everyone keep their distance from him. Dave’s attitude and appearance were in such sharp contrast to Paul’s. Paul was being very friendly, perhaps to make up for his friend’s muteness, he seemed attentive, charming and eager to offer his services towards Krista and herself. Whereas Dave’s eyes were cold, Paul’s were warm and quite appealing too and, despite his honey blond hair, his eyebrows and lashes were much darker and therefore even more noticeable. But all that aside, Cathy couldn’t deny the two men exuded sheer animal magnetism and a raw sexuality that could be dangerous if ever she chose to explore what they had to offer. Not that she ever would, the last thing she, and Krista too for that matter, wanted was to get romantically involved with anyone just yet. First, they had to get themselves established both in a home and at work, then they had to get accustomed to a new culture and only then, when they felt comfortable and settled, would they even consider exploring a new relationship with any man. Aware there was a lull in the conversation, Cathy pulled herself out of her meandering thoughts and back to the present. “Are you both from Bathville?” she asked, hoping to draw Dave into the company. But Dave ignored the question, so Paul had to answer. “No, I’m from Brooklyn and Dave is from Las Vegas, out west. We’ve been here for nearly four years now and we love it. Don’t we, Dave?” He turned to his friend with an innocent expression, deliberately dragging him into a conversation Paul knew he didn’t really want to be a part of. After a second, Dave said curtly, “Yes.” And that was the end of the conversation as far as he was concerned. He had promised himself a long time ago he wouldn’t be even remotely friendly to the two girls when they reached Bathville’s fair shores and now that he at least knew what they looked like – absolutely gorgeous in a way he had least been expecting, definitely not the type to shave the whiskers off their chins – he was more determined than ever to keep their relationship at a cool and professional distance. “I must say,” Paul continued, with a slight frown in Dave’s direction, “it really is wonderful to have you ladies here. As I heard the Captain tell you earlier, Dave and I have been assigned the task of looking after you, you know, helping you out with lifts, showing you around, that sort of thing and I’m certainly looking forward to a welcome change in my routine. It will be a pleasure to help you both in any way I can.” He shot Dave a cool glare. “In any way we both can.” Neither Krista nor Cathy got a chance to respond because just then, a man popped his head around the office door. “Andrews, telephone call, line two. Sounds important.” Dave glanced in his direction. “Thanks, Jim, I’ll take it out at my own desk.” Paul watched his partner leave, then he turned to the two girls with an apologetic smile. “You’ll have to forgive my buddy, ladies, he tends to be rather shy at times and short on the conversation department too. Once you get to know him, you’ll find he’s a really nice person.” “I’m sure he is,” Cathy said dryly, clearly unconvinced that someone who seemed so rude and standoffish could actually be nice. Paul excused himself to see if Dave’s phone call needed his attention too but when he got out to his desk, he saw Dave wasn’t even on the phone anymore. In fact, all he was doing was the crossword in that morning’s edition of The Bathville Record. Paul studied his profile for a long moment and then said as casually as possible, “So, what do you think?” “Of what?” “Of Cathy and Krista.” “Oh…them…all right, I suppose.” “All right? Dave, they’re gorgeous, even you can’t deny that.” Dave threw the newspaper down. “So, what if they are? Still doesn’t mean I have to fall at their feet and tell them that.” “Are you going to even be cordial to them?” Dave broke into a broad grin. “Of course,” he said enthusiastically. Paul’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. He hadn’t failed to hear the underlying sarcasm in Dave’s voice. “In that case, you won’t mind if I ask them out for a drink tonight so all four of us can get better acquainted?” “Ask them out if you want to. Me, I can’t go, I have people to do, things to see.” “You have nothing planned, Dave. You told me so this morning.” “Something came up.” Dave picked up the newspaper again and put a frown of concentration on his face. “Hmm, let me see, eleven letters for what a graphologist would study.” “Handwriting,” Paul answered curtly and, no longer wanting to be around him, returned to the Captain’s office. To make up for Dave’s apathy, he invited the girls out for lunch and, while getting to know them a bit better, by the end of their meal, he had concluded they were very intelligent, very sweet, very funny and entertaining. Krista was a great conversationalist once she got started, Cathy was shyer but certainly just as friendly and witty. Cathy was more cynical while Krista greeted everything with good humor, but they certainly worked well together, had an obviously mutual trust and high regard of one another and shared the same devil-may-care outlook on life. They accepted his offer for the drink that night and when he took them back to the station and entrusted them into the Captain’s care again, his only regret was that Dave had missed out on an enjoyable lunchtime. One lunchtime wasn’t the only thing Dave was going to miss out on.