He was four storeys up with unforgiving concrete beneath. One sharp tap on the glass.īen peered down at the drop below the window. The wind ruffled one immaculate white feather, and an immediate adjustment was made, beak ferreting and smoothing, replacing and realigning. Ben had never felt so lost or so alone, and he had spent a fair proportion of his life being buffeted by metaphorical winds far stronger than those that prowled the vast oceans of the world. The first albatross perhaps to make it to England, tossed on ocean currents all the way from the Chatham Islands, lost, alone. It was so vast, so impressive, that it seemed inconceivable it could be an ordinary gull blown in from Plymouth Sound and sitting on the grimy ledge. Secretly, Ben thought the gull was an albatross. Ben was never sure if the gull wanted in, or for him to open the window and join it outside, flying or falling. Sometimes, it tapped the window with its beak.

The seagull was back, perched on the sill, as it had been day after day. He brought his gaze back to the utilitarian architecture.

He didn’t speculate much in the realms of fiction these days though. Farther away, he could see the roofs of some houses, and perhaps, if he let his imagination run away with it, the distant hills of Bodmin moor. The view from the window hadn’t changed since the last time Ben had studied it-one grey, depressing wing of the building, the car park below, and some scraggly trees, still bare in January. No part of this eBook can be shared or reproduced without the express permission of the publisher. This eBook cannot be legally loaned or given to others. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of International Copyright Law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines and/or imprisonment.

This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Visit ManLoveRomance Press, LLC on the Internet: Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.Īll rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. For the first time, Nikolas meets an enemy more powerful than he is. Desperate and fearing for Nikolas’s life, Ben makes a bargain with a surprising ally. They return with a metaphorical darkness that threatens everything they have created together. Neither of them, however, foresees the long-term impact that endless winter has on their relationship. A short break on the polar ice sees them trapped in a nightmare of murder and deceit. You’d have thought that Ben and Nikolas would have learnt that their romantic holidays inevitably end up as disasters.

Enduring Night by John Wiltshire