Edge of the Precipice

Chapter 1 - extracts introducing Michael & Sarah

Michael: bad boy with a big heart.

Michael enjoyed male company but his life was usually surrounded by women: sisters, daughters, aunts, nieces and friends. He had a charm and confidence that friends admired, women loved and those with ‘small man disease’ secretly resented.

Head of a family that would often complain he was a bad influence; a bad boy, it wasn’t that he’d ever done anything truly bad; it was just the way life had formed him. Underneath his rugged exterior he was as soft as a puppy. He quite enjoyed the bad boy reputation but deep down he knew he was a romantic at heart with the same aspirations to be loved as anyone else.

Sarah: bad girl with a cruel heart.

It had taken a lot of persuasion and two bottles of Chablis but Sarah now had her prey exactly where she wanted: naked, vulnerable and in her bed.

Although the girl had been tempted before, especially in her youth at an exclusive all-girls boarding school, this was her first time with a woman. She had been hesitant to begin with, knowing it was highly dangerous for her to be in this situation, but Sarah was a powerful and elegant woman; an icon in their world. The girl had been overpowered by an intoxicating mix of lust and ambition. And wine; she was now drunkenly giggling and muttering something about never knowing it could be this good. Sarah wasn’t listening; the incessant chatter was beginning to annoy her. It was time to finish the job and shut her up.

Chapter 2 - extracts : Introducing Emma

Strolling confidently toward their courtyard table at the Arts & Letters Restaurant on East Anapamu Street, Emma’s long blonde hair was glimmering in the sun; she had blazing blue eyes and a figure that most women would kill for. Petite and perfectly formed, her body toned to a degree that surfing on a regular basis guarantees. She had spotted Andrew waving and, as always she was smiling. Andrew noted that, also as always, the married men sitting at other tables were quickly turning their attention back to their wives in fear of being busted for noticing her a little too much.

Michael and Andrew both stood up politely as Emma kissed Emily on both cheeks first and then Andrew. She held out her hand for Michael to shake, still smiling.

“Michael, this is Emma” Andrew announced loudly and proudly, as though introducing royalty.

“It’s lovely to meet you” Michael said, enveloping her dainty hand in his.

“You too” she said beaming. Emily had been right; there was something very special about this British hunk.

It was an occasion they would often recall together with laughter. Michael maintained it had been love at first sight. He could barely take his eyes off her and had a terrible urge to stop all the chatter and simply take her in his arms and kiss her. Andrew kept winking at him during the meal, pleased that they’d made such an excellent choice.

It had taken Michael a while to settle into the relationship, not being entirely comfortable that Emma was nearly twenty years younger and well aware that gold diggers had often tried to get their claws into his wealth. But Emma had proven the opposite, often spending her money on him and never hinting that he should reciprocate or spoil her in any way. It wasn’t that she was being careful, it was natural. She had no desire for a ‘sugar daddy’; she had inherited a house in Montecito, the most exclusive area of SB and had more than enough income as a well paid reporter for KEYT, the local TV station. What she wanted most was the stability and experience that only a mature man could provide.

Chapter 3 - extracts: Hollister Ranch near Santa Barbara

Michael watched admiringly as Emma carried her surfboard across the sand towards him; the glistening black wetsuit accentuating her curves, making her look even sexier.

“I know exactly what you’re thinking and you can forget it, I’m pooped!” Emma said, catching the familiar glint in his eyes. Fair enough. He had braved the six foot waves, larger than usual for thirty minutes whereas Emma had spent more than an hour in the water. She had surfed particularly well that day and although tired was feeling refreshed and invigorated; well and truly ‘stoked’. She sat down beside him.

“This is an amazing place” she said, “you are so lucky to be able to use it”.

Michael nodded in agreement. “Yes, I feel like I’m living amongst Californian royalty”. He was referring to Andrew and his amazing mother, Jane Hollister whose generous hospitality had made him feel so welcome. Emma asked him to tell her the story of the Ranch, so Michael relayed what Andrew and Jane had told him about their pioneering family....

snip

They left The Ranch that evening after a barbecue of steak and lobster tails; ‘surf-n-turf’ as it’s known, snuggling by the fire as the sun set on the horizon in blazing reds, pinks and oranges. They had made love under the stars with the intensity only possible when both bodies and souls are entwined. Michael hadn’t felt so good in years, perhaps not since he had been with his first true love at the age of eighteen.

Emma was also highly contented, grateful to her God and very excited.

London beckoned.

Chapter 4 - extracts:

George: partner with small man disease

Major George Archibald Stanley Denton had been a Legionnaire after he left the British Army. It was a case of either leaving or being court marshaled, but no one would ever get to know that. He had been working in logistics and had been caught smuggling huge quantities of booze using military vehicles. He had ‘done a deal’ with his Commanding Officer by offering not to publicly expose his wife whom he knew had been having an affair with one of his junior officers.

Had the recruitment officers at the Legionnaires offices in Paris known this, they would never have let him through. It wasn’t the smuggling they would disapprove of; they are renowned for giving any man a second chance of redemption, it was the subject of the blackmail. That anyone could do such a thing would be abhorrent, especially to the French.

The French Foreign Legion, as it is fully known is a legendary military unit shrouded in mystery but well known for their strict code of honour, clearly laid out in seven articles: ‘Discipline and friendship are your strengths. Courage and honesty are your virtues; each legionnaire is your brother in arms whatever his nationality, his race or his religion might be; you are an elite soldier who is rigorous with himself; your mission is sacred. It is carried out until the end… if needs be, at the risk of your own life; in combat you act without passion or hatred. You respect vanquished enemies. You never surrender your dead, your wounded, or your weapons.’
 

Chapters 5 - 7 and a love scene later in the book