ISBN 1-59201-032-6
Books Unbound E-Publishing Co.
http://www.booksunbound.com
Publication September 2004
Cover Art by D. Lee
Last White Knight
D. Lee
Copyright 2004
All Rights Reserved
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and occurrences are
either the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any
resemblance to actual events, places, organizations, or persons, living or
dead, is entirely coincidental and not the goal of the author or
Books Unbound.
Prologue
The owl's golden eyes blinked
rapidly as its head bobbed side to side. The object of its curiosity was a
noise within the undergrowth. It was getting closer. Something being chased.
The owl recognized the pursuer's sounds. It had witnessed this hunt before. Its
feathers ruffled in alarm when the woman burst into view--then it vanished down
the game trail.
Shelly cried out when her
blonde hair snagged on a branch. She looked around fearfully as she untangled
it. The owl hooted a warning. A crackle to her right sent her running again.
She had lost her shoes long ago; her feet were cut and bleeding. A root caught
her foot and threw her to the ground. With the wind knocked out of her, all she
could do was whimper. When she heard voices nearing her position, she covered
her mouth in an effort to make no sound.
"Shelly ... I know you're
here--I can hear your heart pound--your blood rush. I can smell your fear.
Don't make this easy. Run. Your only chance is to run."
With a strangled cry, she leapt
to her feet and ran blindly. The branches fought her every step. They ripped at
her arms and legs as if trying to hold her. Behind her, laughter spurred her
terror.
Finally, just as she broke
free, a shadow leapt out ahead of her and caught her when she tried to change
directions. "You're no fun, Shelly. I thought you would give us a good hunt."
Shelly struggled to breathe.
"Please ... please let me go, Carl. I won't tell anyone. You have my word." She
struggled to free her arm, then forced herself to calm enough to look up at him.
Fangs glistened in the
moonlight.
She closed her eyes and opened
them quickly.
It has to be an illusion.
The image didn't change. The good-looking man that had swept her off her feet
earlier in the evening had vanished.
A nightmare. That's what's happening ... any minute I'll wake up.
Please God--let me wake up!
The fangs came closer.
Only the silent owl heard her
screams.
Chapter One
Christine fumbled blindly for
the phone. When she found it, she pulled it under the blanket where she was
hiding from the morning sun. "Uh huh?"
"Chrissy?"
The nickname woke her almost
instantly. Only one person called her that. "Mother?"
Silence.
"Hello?" Christine pulled the
blanket down and sat up. "Mother, what is it?"
"I'm sorry, Chrissy. I didn't
know what else to do."
Christine pushed her dark hair
off her face and tried to shake off the sleepiness. They hadn't talked in five
years; something had to be drastically wrong. Not even when Christine got
married or when Richard, her husband, had died.
Then again ... I never told her.
"It's okay. What happened?"
"It's Shelly ... she's missing."
The golden one screwed up?
Christine shook her head at the malicious thought. "Maybe she finally moved
out? She is twenty-five, after all." The silence was deafening. "I'm sorry. I
know you and Shelly get along well. How long has she been gone?"
"A week."
"Has she ever done anything
like this before?"
"No ... she isn't like you."
It was Christine's turn to
remain silent.
Why is it so hard to talk to her?
Christine tried to remember a time when they hadn't fought. Now that she was
older, she realized it wasn't all her mother's fault. Christine had always
rebelled against her mother's overly protective nature.
"This was a mistake. I
shouldn't have called." The phone went dead.
Christine got up and walked to
the window. She, having had the past brought foremost in her thoughts, didn't
admire the mountain view as she normally did. Twelve years might as well be
fifty. It seemed so long ago since she had left her mother's tight control to
find her own way in the world.
Christine rubbed her fingers
through her tangled dark hair. She smiled when she saw the group of people near
the barn. Thomas, the guide, was prepping the new group of executives for their
week-long 'get in touch with your inner strength' hike. Thomas was a
weatherworn bear of a man who struck fear in the hearts of naïve city
folks. He was the perfect taskmaster. He'd push them to their limits, but never
endanger their lives. By the time the hike was over, most found he wasn't as
nearly as scary as they first thought, but they respected him.
Christine grinned when one of
the clients attempted to mount his horse and fell. Thomas bodily hoisted the
man into the saddle. When all were mounted, Thomas led the nervous group out
of the corral towards the mountains.
In the year since Richard had
died, it had been almost impossible to keep the ranch. Collectors had stripped
his estate to the bone. Three months after they had gotten married Richard had
become the sole beneficiary of his uncle's will. The instant wealth had changed
the free-spirited, artistic man she had known and thought she loved into a
globetrotting playboy. The only extravagance Christine had enjoyed was this
ranch. Thomas had been the previous owner and had fallen on hard times. He
agreed to stay on and take care of it. When Richard died, the two of them sat
down and came up with a plan to keep the ranch productive. The wilderness hikes
had saved them.
After her shower, she dressed
and went down to the warm kitchen. It was filled with the aroma of fresh baked
bread. "Suzy, you at it again?"
Suzy poked her head out of the
pantry. "Oh, you're up early, Mrs. Foster. I'm sorry I didn't get the phone
call in time. I was outside."
Suzy refused to call her
anything but Mrs. Foster, no matter how hard Christine had tried to get her to
drop it. Suzy was Thomas's daughter, although one would never know it by
looking at them. Where Thomas was tall and lean, Suzy was short and round. She
loved to cook and it showed.
"It's okay." Christine sat with
a coffee, still distracted by the call.
Suzy put a fresh cinnamon bun
down in front of Christine. "Are you okay? Still tired from your hike?"
"No, I'm fine. Did the clients
leave happy?"
Suzy laughed. "They said you
enjoyed torturing them way too much, but yes, they were very happy. I sent them
home with the usual basket of goodies."
"I make them lose the fat and
you help them gain it back."
Suzy shrugged her round
shoulders with a happy smile. "Tis my mission in life to make everyone look
like me. See ... I'm happy. Now you on the other hand ... need to eat that bun."
Christine shook her head and
changed the subject. "I don't have another group for a couple weeks ... I'm
going to take a trip."
"Oh that's a good idea. You've
been working much too hard. A holiday will fix you right up."
Christine gave her a wan smile
and went to her room to pack.
Suzy appeared at the door a
moment later, concern in her eyes. "Where are you going?"
Christine closed the suitcase
and looked at her. "I'm going home."
This is a sample chapter from
The Last White Knight
by
D. Lee
We at
Books Unbound E-Publishing Co.
www.booksunbound.com
hope you will enjoy the entire book!
D. Lee has also published other books at Books Unbound.
She partnered with co-author Kammy Bonias to create:
Beyond the Horizon; Uncertain Horizons, and War on the Horizon
.
The two of them also
paired up for
Paradise Shattered
,
where you first meet the characters in
The Last White Knight
.
Author's Biography
I live in B. C. Canada with my husband, two grown sons, a cat and a dog.
Hobbies include computers and photography. Something of a late bloomer, I
didn't start to write until I was forty, although I've always been a dreamer.
Perhaps I had to live first, before I could sit down and put my daydreams into
actual stories.
Dreams are only unreachable if you stop dreaming.
See more of D. Lee's art and learn more about her by visiting her
Website.
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