(scroll to the bottom for an excerpt, but read about the other books in the set, too!)
The unexpected hero in
threadbare jeans and a white tee shirt turned away, ignoring the oversized
teenager with the bad attitude, and offered the sobbing girl his hand. “Are you
all right?” he asked.
“Who are you?” Tanya
replied, wide-eyed at seeing anyone else on this deserted property. She had
made sure she and Tubby would be alone. And, although she was new in this small
town, she would have remembered seeing a man this good-looking and broad-shouldered—
here or anywhere!
“Hey!” Robbie stepped
over and wedged himself in between the blonde damsel in distress and her
dark-haired knight.
Luke’s eyes narrowed as
he assessed the cad, noted his unsteady stance, then gave him a well-placed hip
bump, knocking him to the ground.
“That’s twice you’ve
knocked me for a loop,” Robbie said. “You’re a marked man now, Asshole!”
“Marked? Nope.” Luke
rolled up the short sleeves on his cotton tee shirt to the top of his
shoulders, flexing his muscles slightly to antagonize the chunky man-child even
more. “Not marked. No tats on me anywhere. At least, that are visible,” he
added with a wink to the stunned femme. “And you got my name wrong, too. It’s
Luke. It’s a simple mono-syllabic moniker. It should be easy for you to
remember.”
“You won’t be around long
enough for…”
Luke had turned his
attention back to the young, stunned woman, once again deliberately ignoring
the boor.
All bullies were alike. They talked big, yelled loud, pushed and shoved
those smaller than themselves, and somehow—without any specialized
schooling—managed to excel in the science of intimidation.
“Hey, I’m talking to
you…” Robbie tried again to get the newcomer’s attention, this time gripping
Luke’s shoulder from behind.
Luke grabbed the grimy
paw, squeezed fingers together until he heard a whimper, then spun away,
twisting the sweaty arm up and behind the youth until he looked as if he had a
duck wing, not an arm.
“Hmm. I’ll bet this is
your favorite position. At least, for your victims. I’d call you by your given
name, but I really don’t care enough about you to ask for it. And, since I
believe you were planning on visiting some distant relative in a neighboring
town — or better yet, a distant state — I’ll not bother. Now, the lady and I were
just getting acquainted, so skedaddle and take your broken knife with you.”
Luke held out the knife
he had surreptitiously filched during the arm-twisting do-si-do.
“But it’s not broke,”
Robbie said, reaching for it.
“Well, I’ll be.” Luke
flicked opened the switchblade, dropped it to the ground, then used his boot to
nudge it on top of a half-buried stone. He stomped down with his size 13
Wellington, separating the six-inch blade from its plastic faux-bone hilt.
“Oh, and don’t even think
about complaining to the cops or anyone else. That type of ‘shaving razor’ is
illegal. I doubt you’d want to admit to any of your so-called friends that the
new guy in town bested you, either.”
“But…but…”
“No, dude, it’s bye, bye.
Can you repeat after me? Bye.” Luke paused and sucked in his lips in
exaggeration, then exhaled as he enunciated, “Bye,” and walked away, the young
blonde clinging to his arm.
(Was this the right girl for Luke? Download the box set and find out! Oh, and thanks if you do!)
