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.”