The topic for today’s Snippet Saturday is Prologues. I thought I’d written quite a few prologues but, when I went looking, there weren’t many at all. I know a lot of readers and publishers don’t like them. I don’t mind a prologue as long as it serves a purpose and gives the reader information that isn’t readily available elsewhere.
My prologue is taken from Summer in the City of Sails, and we learn about the villain and what he wants.
Summer in the City of Sails by Shelley Munro
“I’m not telling him. You tell him.”
“It was your fault. You left the book in the taxi,” Marty snarled back at Ross. His hands curled to fists, and it looked as though he was ready to straighten the kink in his brother’s nose.
Dare Martin had heard enough. He strode into his Auckland office and shut the door behind him. The soft thud of wood sliding home muted the chatter from the early dinner crowd out in his restaurant and acted like a bomb explosion on his cousins. They whirled to face him, their familiar features bearing expressions ranging from uneasiness and trepidation to outright fear. He stepped away to stop himself from grabbing their dumb-ass heads and banging them together.
“I hope you’re fooling around.” Dare’s low growl displayed irritation, but the sound was mild considering the touchy subject. He dropped into the high-tech leather chair that sat behind the rimu-veneer desk and leaned back to observe them closely. They’d better be kidding, or he’d give them old-fashioned cement boots and drop them in the blue waters of the Hauraki Gulf. The book held an important place in his plans to take over the Ngataki family business. Hell, important be damned. It was bloody essential. “Where’s the book?” His normally lazy drawl flattened to crisp and no-nonsense.
Marty backed up and edged to the door, his chubby face paling to reveal a mug full of freckles. “Ross left it in the cab. We realized we’d lost…ah…left it and grabbed another cab to follow. When we caught up with the driver, he said there was no package on the backseat of his cab.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t there,” Ross said.
Marty glared at his brother then continued. “When we followed the cab, we saw him drop off at the library on Wellesley Street. A woman got out with a loada packages. I think she thought our package belonged to her and took it with her.”
Pissed, yielded swiftly to fury, but apart from lifting his hands to grip the edge of the desk, Dare kept his expression impassive. “I want that book.”
“We couldn’t find her in the library, but turns out the bird works there. We saw her leave and followed her home to Bottle Top Bay, boss,” Marty said.
“Yeah, we know where she lives. Young bird, she is. Nice tits.” Ross’ brows waggled up and down, and he smirked the dopey grin that never failed to prod Dare’s temper.
“If you know where she lives then get the friggin’ book back!” Dare roared, letting rip with his frustration. Goddamned bloody relatives. “I don’t give a rat’s arse how you do it. Just get it back.”
“Sure, boss.” Marty’s beefy hand reached for the wooden doorknob. “The house is isolated—just the one next door. Breaking in won’t be a problem.” He spoke so quickly his words ran together into one, a sure sign he sensed how close they were to bodily harm.
“Yeah, no problem, boss,” Ross said, his bearded chin bobbing up and down in agreement.
Dare sucked in a deep breath. A Goddamned bloody farce, that’s what this was. No wonder he’d found a gray hair this morning. After another calming breath, he flipped a red hardbound book open and reached for his engraved silver pen to add a notation to the margin. A soft shuffle of shoes made his head jerk up. “You still here?”
“Need a car,” Ross muttered.
“Steal one.” Dare seethed as he delivered the obvious answer. The blow his cousin had copped during that brawl last year had left him two sandwiches short of a picnic. “And don’t get caught because I won’t bail you out.”
Dare gripped his silver pen tightly and concentrated on his bookwork. Lumbering footsteps followed by a click as the door shut indicated his cousins had left. Dare tossed the pen down in disgust and leaned back. His chair slid smoothly into a reclining position.
He had a dream, a vision of power and how the future would pan out.
Nothing was going to get in the way of his dream.
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To read other Saturday Snippets follow the links below:
Sylvia Day
Shelley Munro
Jaci Burton
Michelle Pillow
Juliana Stone
Moira Rogers
Sasha White
TJ Michaels
Lacey Savage
Jody Wallace
Eliza Gayle
Kelly Maher
Taige Crenshaw
Beth Williamson
Beth Kery
Mandy Roth
Viv Arend
Lauren Dane
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