#SFRMonday ~ Will they choose love or duty in CRISIS AT VALIDOR by @GretavdR #scifirom
Learn more about Author Greta Van Der Rol’s Crisis At Validor.
Newly-promoted Captain Brett Butcher is about to achieve his life-long ambition to command a battle cruiser. But before he takes up his new posting, he goes home on leave, hoping to perhaps catch a glimpse of his first love, the unattainable Lady Tarlyn.
When the queen is assassinated in a terrorist attack, Tarlyn’s life is thrown into turmoil when she, too, becomes a target. The last person she expects to rescue her is her childhood sweetheart, Brett Butcher.
As Validor’s Ptorix and human populations face off over a group of islands neither owns, the calls for war grow louder. Torn between love, duty and ambition, Butcher and Tarlyn struggle to prevent an inter-species conflict, while the ember of love that has smouldered for so long bursts into flame. But with planetary peace at stake, both will be forced to choose; love or duty.
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She gazed up at the stars. “It’s nice out here. I think I’d rather stay here.”
He leaned over her. “You need to sleep. You don’t know what tomorrow will bring. We’re safe enough at this place.”
Her mouth thinned and she raised an eyebrow at him. He knew that look. It might have worked twenty-five years ago, but not any longer. “Madam, if you were a junior officer on my ship, I’d order you to bed. So accept this instruction as a polite order. Get your ass down below, and hit a mattress.”
Her lips formed an O. All this talk of beds and mattresses was heading straight for his groin. What he’d really like to do was kiss her. And then maybe a little more. A lot more.
Chuckling, she shimmied slowly to her feet, her eyes fixed on his face. “Yes, sir. Straight away, sir.” She raised her arm in a civilian version of a salute.
He grinned, and returned the gesture. “Very good.”
She’d moved halfway past him when she turned and put her hands on his shoulders. “I’m so glad you’re with me, Brett.”
She leaned toward him, tilting her head as she did so. The touch of her lips on his sent his defenses into a tail spin. He tasted a heady cocktail of wine and her, soft lips, a probing tongue. His arms had wrapped around her of their own accord, drawing her close while his conscious mind damned the uniforms they wore. She molded against him, saying more than words. Bed. Naked. Sex.
The boat lurched, throwing them both off balance. Butcher let go of her, grabbed the edge of the table. What the fuck?
Hi, I’m Greta van der Rol. Welcome to my worlds.
Ever since I was a very little girl you would have found me with my nose in a book. While the other kids messed about with dolls and things, I’d rather talk to the people between the pages. Yes, I had a torch so I could read in bed without mum knowing. Many years later, I’ve had a variety of jobs, including a brief, forgettable stint at teaching. But that history degree and the teaching qual came in handy when I fell in love with computers and programming, and entered the burgeoning world of IT. Why? Because most of the young men recruited into IT couldn’t write a report to save themselves, let alone explain a system to the end user audience – and I could. But the urge to write fiction has always been there, and that’s what I do now I’ve ‘retired’.
I live with my husband not far from the beach in Queensland, Australia. When I’m not writing I take photographs of nature and animals, and now and then I do some cooking.
