Quite a bit of Tempest Beach Series Book One has been re-written and it has been completely edited. I think this latest edition is much better than the first two editions but I’ll let my readers be the judge of that.:-) Here is the re-written prologue for your enjoyment.
Prologue
From across the street, inside his parked car, he watched the couple. They opened the door to the house and the man exited, turned back to her.
Her.
He watched them embrace and share a passionate kiss. The loving display was absolutely sickening. He watched as the woman waved her lover goodbye and then went back inside the house. The man left in his car. Good.
It was time, the observer thought. It would be dawn before much longer and he wanted to get this over with long before then.
He quietly exited his car and slipped across the road, entering the yard of the house and creeping around to a side window. The observer watched as the woman tidied up the room from dishes and wine glasses. She was a beautiful young woman. He took a moment to enjoy watching her in a silk bathrobe that had been casually tied and loosely draped over her curves. She wasn’t wearing anything else. It was easy to see what the other man saw in her. But she was a problem. One he needed to deal with, now.
He crept back to the front door and produced a key from his coat pocket. It fit the lock, like he knew it would, and he silently unlocked the door to slip inside and quietly shut it behind him again. The man stood for a moment, listening. He could hear the young woman humming a tune. She sounded happy. Well, that wouldn’t last long. Not when he was finished with her.
Sometimes it was necessary to be forceful to do what was right.
The observer crept along the passageway of the house. He stopped at the edge of the living room doorway and carefully peered around the corner to see where the woman was. He saw her walking away, long legs swishing in silk, just leaving the room to enter the kitchen.
He slipped stealthily into the living room and stood waiting, with arms folded across his chest, for the woman to return. The room was still disarrayed from the night’s activities. A computer sat on the low coffee table, open to an e-mail page. It was a cozy little scene of domestic harmony.
His heart rate kicked up a notch. That same rush he always felt when he was about to confront someone came over him now. The man did not have to wait long. He could hear her humming getting louder as she came back.
She didn’t see him immediately upon entering the room and he had the opportunity to really study her for a few seconds. She looked positively radiant. Long dark hair. A pixie’s face. A woman’s body that was both child-like and sensual. The man felt a moment’s guilt at what he was about to do but quickly pushed it away. He had to do this.
Time slowed as he watched her turn and notice him. For a second it seemed like she was frozen. Then everything started up again as she took a stuttering breath. She screamed.
“Dear God! What are you doing here?” Her eyes were wild. She was truly frightened.
Just like he wanted.
“You and I need to talk.” He found her fear of him amusing. It was empowering. He grinned at her and came towards her and as he did she shrank away from him until her legs hit the recliner and gave out from underneath her. She plopped down into the chair, staring up at him.
“What do you want to talk about?” He could see how she was trying to be brave but the tremble in her voice gave her away. “I don’t think we have anything to say to each other.”
“Well, really, I just want to do the talking and I want you to do the listening.”
She looked so confused. She started to ask something. It wasn’t her turn to speak. She needed to know that. He held up his hand to stop her.
“When I have said what I have to say, you will do what I tell you to do. No. Questions. Asked.” He emphasized each word with biting intensity. “Okay?” When she didn’t answer right away, he got down in her face and yelled at her. “Okay?”
She nodded her head, too scared to do anything else.
“Great!” The man was very pleased with himself. This was how it should be. The man speaks. The woman listens. “Now what I want you to do is very simple. Very simple indeed. Are you listening?”
He paced the length of the room, back and forth, back and forth. The woman just sat watching him with her wide, terrified eyes. When he swung around quickly to point his finger at her, she jumped. He grinned a little. He was starting to get into this.
“Now. What I want you to do is…”
So what do you think? Better?
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