Well, this daily writing has helped get the creative juices going again. I’m also seeing some interest in what I have to say, which is a nice reward. I’m all for incremental growth… the first day, it was a hit because it’s a hot topic, but then things settled down into more normal numbers. The first day, I saw 17 visitors here, then it dropped (and stayed) down in the single digits for most of my first week.
The last two days of my first week being a ‘blogger’ turned good double-digit numbers. Yesterday, I even broke 20 views. It’s exciting to see 20 views in a day when I’m just starting out! Now, I’m going for 30. I’ll keep ’em coming if you keep reading.
Numbers aside, I thought I’d toss out a little short story today. I’m planning on adding romance to my novel, and I need to try my hand at writing romance before I set it to paper:
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Unsettled
The walk from Bridgeton to Armot was a nice trek for anybody – two days on foot or a good day’s ride on horseback. Elliot stole a glance at his traveling companion, hoping she didn’t notice. At 5’4″, Wendy was just under Elliot’s height. Her luscious red hair, glinting with flecks of blond throughout and her green eyes entranced young Elliot from the moment their gazes met. “Her eyes… If I don’t stop looking at her eyes, I’m afraid I’m going to drown in them,” El thought to himself. “It’d be the most pleasant death I can imagine,” he quickly amended to himself as he again tried to catch her looking at him.
Wendy knew what Elliot was doing, of course. She was enjoying this cat and mouse game. They had been on the road for a few hours and Elliot couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. And why not? Wendy knew exactly what was going through his mind. Wendy saw her opportunity and stumbled, quickly reaching out to grab his arm. Elliot, ever the gentleman quickly grabbed her, rescuing her from an embarrassing tumble. When her hand lingered on his arm, El couldn’t believe his luck. A thrill sent shivers down his spine, but he gently extricated his arm and gallantly saved himself from the embarrassment of blushing by saying “You’ll want to watch where you’re going Miss Wendy. Your father sent me out here to protect you from bandits. He’d have my hide if I let anything harm you, ma’am.”
Wendy gave a coy smile and thoughtlessly wet her lips, as if from nervousness. She enjoyed the way Elliot quickly averted his eyes and scanned the perimeter. This was going to be too easy. “Oh, my father is very thoughtful, but he can’t protect me from myself,” exclaimed Wendy. Then with an impish grin, she asked “And who, dear Elliot is going to protect you from me?” Elliot, clearly not sure where this was going, rested a hand on his sword and said “Miss Wendy, I have no idea what you mean. If I were you, I wouldn’t fret. I’m strong and a good hand with a blade – I can deal with any threat on the road.”
Wendy smiled as they rounded a corner and she saw the familiar path leading off the road. Running ahead, with a smoky look over her shoulder, she called back “Better watch out then, because we’re not on the road now.” As she disappeared into the trees, Elliot began to have an unsettling feeling that Miss Wendy wasn’t as innocent as she would have him believe. Pieces began to fall into place, and as Elliot followed her into the woods, he wasn’t sure what he had in mind if he caught her.
As the twigs slapped him in the face and vines pulled at his boots, Elliot’s thoughts troubled him. “Her father will kill me if he ever finds out something has happened to his daughter – whether it’s danger or…” and he couldn’t finish that thought, though the image was vivid in his mind. That blondish-red hair and those eyes burned into his memory. His honor would, and had prevented this very situation from happening, though then it had been a maid and a loft that he had saved himself from. This time though, there was a frantic desire, a need to caress that lovely, lovely hair while drowning in those eyes.
Rounding the corner, he found Wendy with her dress pulled up enough to dangle her feet in the water of a little bubbling brook. Her shoes and stockings were kicked to the side and she demurely batted her lashes at him. “I’m sorry I ran off like that. I’ve made this trip a few times and I found this little alcove on one of those trips. It’s so nice and quiet, you wouldn’t even be able to hear someone scream,” she said in an apologetic tone. With her remark making his mind roam into forbidden territory, he bent down to drink from the stream. After rising back up and finding her close beside him, he replied “Just please don’t do that again, Miss Wendy. Remember, your father will kill me if ANY-thing untoward were to happen to you.”
As Wendy leaned in to press her luscious lips against his, she mumbled, “Oh, you don’t have to worry about him.” With that, she reached up and twined her fingers through Elliot’s thick brown hair and kissed him again. To his credit, Elliot tried to resist… which had led to her getting a better grip on his hair. Soon though, his feeble protestations faded and he enthusiastically returned her kisses. He found his broad hands roaming up her back and soon found that beautiful hair flowing through his fingers.
He pulled back to catch a breath and looked into those beautiful, purple eyes. He leaned back into the kisses and had found Wendy atop of him, putting pressure on him. Elliot was sure that she could tell how she was affecting him, but something was nagging at him. He just couldn’t get enough of those beautiful purple eyes and that luxurious raven hair. This alcove was so dark and secluded, things were sure to be leading to a very interesting place.
As Wendy pressed herself against him, she leaned down and said “Now. Now is the time.” Elliot had misinterpreted her, for he wrapped his arms around her and moved to undo the belt that was at her breeches. With a flaring pain in his back, Elliot thought breathlessly “Not now!” It wasn’t until Wendelian was pulling the dagger from his back and standing from the soon-to-be corpse that she leaned over and whispered “I told you that you needn’t fear my father. Know in your dying moments that we drow don’t take kindly to strangers killing our mothers or daughters.”
The ebon-skinned elf reclaimed the glamour of a red-haired human, complete with sun dress, boots, and stockings and calmly strode away from the secluded alcove and dying adventurer.
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As I said, a SHORT story. What do you think? Leave some feedback on how I can improve the romance writing. Did it pull you in? Did you need to check and see if someone was too close to read? Did it bore you?
Now that I’m picking up readers, I’d love to start getting some comments! 😀