A person is known by the company they keep. It’s an old saying, and a useful one for writers. Our characters show who they are in the friends they choose, and the way they behave with those friends. This week, I’m looking for excerpts with your hero and one or more friends. Please post it in the comments. Mine is from a story I’m just beginning to put together in my mind; one tentatively called Maximum Force and the Immovable Lady.
Max watched from the shadows as the Earl of Ruthford browsed the shelves in his library, one finger running along the leather spines, occasionally tipping a book out for further examination. So far, all those selected had been returned to their place.
The man looked well; better, in fact, than Max had ever seen him. His casual house attire — ornately-patterned banyan worn over an open-necked shirt, loose pantaloons and indoor slippers — suited him no less well than the regimentals of their joint past. The tall form, broad in the shoulders and narrow in the hips, had not changed, and nor had the dark hair, cropped short enough to discourage but not eliminate the curls.
However, something about the way he carried himself spoke of comfort ; happiness, even. The ready smile, flashed at a book that amused him, carried no overtones of bitterness; no expectation of a dark tomorrow. Max’s old colleague and sometime commander had found a haven here in England; in his ancestral home. Max envied him.
Watching so closely, he caught the moment the earl realised he was not alone: a miniscule pause in the movement of the reaching hand, a slight tension in the shoulders. It was enough warning. When the earl turned and pounced, all in one fluid movement, Max was ready for him, sliding sideways and speaking as he did.
“Good to see you, too, Lion.”
Love your mystery Earl and hope the story develops easily.
The extract is from my WIP, The Outcasts.
Lifelong friends Joachim and Bertrand are escorting visitors on the last leg of their journey to stay with Joachim’s family. They’ve stopped at an inn for the night.
Joachim had got as far as rolling up his shirtsleeves when Bertrand gave a perfunctory tap on the door and strode in.
‘My friend, I don’t envy you being saddled with that pair for months. I couldn’t put up with either of them for a week, even.’ He perched on the windowsill and raked his fingers through his mop of curly brown hair.
Joachim poured water into the basin and dipped his head in it. He emerged, gave a sigh of relief and groped for a towel. ‘Aren’t you being a bit hasty? Only yesterday you said you were planning to marry one of them to restore your family fortunes.’
Bertrand stretched, moving his neck from side to side until it creaked. ‘Yes, well, that’s before we’d set eyes on them – and ears. All that shouting in the coach! Now, I assure you, even if they were as rich as Croesus, I’m not interested. Oh, I grant you the younger one is a beauty in the style of an English rose, but not even that could tempt me.’
Joachim grinned at his friend’s gloomy expression. ‘Give them time. They’ve been on the road for the past five days, all the way from Paris. You can’t expect them to be at their best.’
‘You always are kind and hopeful. Something tells me you’re doomed to disappointment this time. As for me, my hopes are shattered. I’ll find some other way to boost my family fortunes.’ Bertrand spread out his hands and shrugged. ‘And of course, we’re only assuming they are heiresses because they’re related to Olivia.’
‘You assumed. I really have no idea. They belong to the cadet branch of the Hartford family, anyway. Their father is a colonel on Lord Wellington’s staff.’
‘Amazing, wasn’t it, to get through a whole meal and have scarcely two sentences of conversation from two out of the three of them.’ Bertrand rubbed his chin. ‘Yet the younger sister is so full of …er…charm for everyone she sees.’ He gave a bark of laughter. ‘And with a sister like mine, I know where that will lead her.’
In the middle of retying his neckcloth, Joachim frowned at his reflection as colour crept along his cheekbones. He finished wrestling with the knot before remarking, ‘It’s my opinion she favours the English major.’
‘She favours anything in breeches,’ growled Bertrand. ‘Even that rough fellow by the well, just now. No wonder her sister is so cripplingly mortified.’
Joachim opened his mouth to reply, then thought better of it. He tugged a comb through his long damp hair, jerked his jacket straight and gestured towards the door. ‘We’d better collect Major Dawlish and go down. I hope the young ladies make haste if they plan to join us. I’m too hungry to wait much longer.’
Interesting! I definitely want to know more. Why does Bertrand need an heiress? Is the younger sister the flirt that Bertrand implies, or is he attracted to her. What is Joachim planning?
Thank you. Bertrand could develop his estate so much better with a bit of money. The sisters have many problems, the younger one is in teenage rebel mode, driving everyone mad. Joachim is concerned the girls may cause his mother problems. [this extract is from Chapter 2. Long way to go…]