Tired of the confines of her office, and in need of a little night air, Kiku Shimoda emerged from the rear exit of the small Kabuki Theater, a place she owned and operated in the theater district of London, England. She didn’t find the soothing peace she wanted. Instead, she found herself shivering in the unnatural quiet permeating the night. Stillness filled the dark, made it static. She heard none of the busy sounds that normally dominated the night and made it pulse with intangible life. She hugged herself and looked around. There was no one else present. The theater was empty, for she’d bid the last of the employees goodnight almost an hour earlier. She stood in the doorway, frozen by indecision, faced once again with a fear to which she had grown happily unaccustomed to experiencing since arriving in the U.K.
He was late.
And he had never been late—not in the entire year the theater had been open—not without first warning her.
Still, she would wait a little longer.
For a few minutes, she dismissed her worry and allowed her thoughts to drift, allowed herself to remember.
She’d been performing in a club located in Hong Kong’s backstreets, and trying to avoid the humiliation of becoming another of owner Chen-Li’s possessions, when Adam Walker had stumbled into her tiny dressing room. The blood pouring from a gash running from the center of his chest upward to his left shoulder should have terrified her. But something in the fierce eyes of this stranger told her she need not fear him. Chen-Li had not been so fortunate later when he discovered Kiku was not alone to fight his clumsy advances. After that night, she had never felt the isolation of loneliness, and it had been her last spent in Hong Kong—it had also been Chen-Li’s last night anywhere.
In the weeks following Walker’s dramatic entrance into Kiku’s life, she learned much about the man. First, she discovered his injury had been inflicted by a katana—during a confrontation only he had survived. She also learned quickly not to question him—not because he refused to speak honestly to her, but because he would—and his answers frightened her more than the possibilities her imagination created.
Over five years had passed since then, and he’d become many things during those years: always her protector, as well as a companion, then her truest friend. And in more recent years, her sensei. He was teaching her to overcome her fear of the “darknesses” in her life, and because of his training, it had been a considerable time since she’d been truly frightened. They moved, often. London was his home, and she was aware the people he worked for operated out of this European capital, though they held a quiet presence worldwide.
There had been a time when she believed Adam wanted her as a lover, but that dream was one she’d been forced to banish. She’d met one of his few partners, a beautiful but dangerous woman he trusted, and Kiku had seen what Adam and his lady friend had yet to understand—they loved each other, and their bonds ran deep.
A chill passed over her, a ripple of unease that caressed her spine and brought her back to the present.
“Adam?” she whispered, feeling unseen eyes watching her, though she knew immediately her watcher wasn’t Adam.
She could feel his presence when he was near. His ki was intense and filled with his strength. The uneasy fear, which had haunted her throughout the day, flared to sudden, potent life.
Control your fear—listen to the voice of your instinct.
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Canadian born and bred, and a lifelong dreamer, I began writing at an early age and can’t recall a time when I wasn’t creating in some artistic form. My life has had several on-going love affairs that shape much of what I write, the American West, Victorian England, cowboys, a passion for pirates, Greek Gods, and Ancient Egypt. The other endless love affairs in my life are Italia and all its magic, beauty, and dazzling culture, and a passion for Romania. Those loves spill into all aspects of my life.
In the past half dozen years, I’ve signed with over a dozen publishers, and have released books in all lengths and genres, and it’s something I hope to continue to do for many more years. A visit to my website will show the diversity of what is currently available, and the mixing of genres and styles that will be employed in many up-coming projects as well.
Voted Preditors and Editors Best Author of 2012 and 2013
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