Here’s the link to the Weekend Writing Warriors central page, so you can visit all the participants sharing excerpts today…a fun way to sample new books and find new authors! (Also welcome to the Sunday Snippet visitors!)

May be edited a bit from published version.

The excerpt  will be the last one from this book as next week I’ll start on my Pets In Space 5 story. Jumping ahead a few days and over a number of events to answer the question for you if Henry has allergies or is he sick. The big social event for the colonists themselves, prior to tourist season kicking off, was a wedding. Henry was a groomsman and Saffia and Micah were guests: 

There were shouts now, yelling for a doctor.

Saffia wished she wasn’t wearing her fancy footwear but at least she had her medical bag. Guests were milling around in the corridor the closer she got to the reception area and Micah took her arm protectively as he bulled his way through.

“Make way for Dr. Mandell!” His deep voice penetrated the buzz of excited conversation and people moved aside.

When she entered the room where the elaborate multi course dinner was to have been served, Saffia would have stopped in disbelief if Micah hadn’t been guiding her forward. The bottom half of the towering wedding cake sat forlornly in the center of its table, highlighted by special candelabra. The rest of the cake was on the floor and covering the groaning form of her clerk, Henry. He must have grabbed at the table to steady himself as he collapsed but now lay sprawled in a heap on the elegant carpet, face down.

The bride was weeping hysterically in the arms of her new husband but as Saffia drew closer, she realized the distraught girl was primarily mourning the cake. Suppressing an exclamation of disgust, Saffia knelt next to Henry, moving him onto his back, Micah jumping in to help. She ran a quick scan. “High fever,” she said, eyeballing the next set of results scrolling across the screen with dismay.

The blurb: Newly graduated from a prestigious interstellar medical school, Dr. Saffia Mandell has been assigned to the Haven Two colony on the galaxy’s outer rim as the only doctor for some 2000 human residents. She’s counting the days until her five years there is up, trying to adjust to rural living after life in the crowded Inner Sectors and fighting her attraction to Chief Ranger Micah Navonn. She’s dreading the upcoming tourist season when the rich and pampered will descend on the planet for the scenic wonders and novel sports opportunities and no doubt inundate her little clinic but the colony depends on the seasonal income to survive.

As the senior official for his people, the Calinurra, the indigenous inhabitants of Haven Two, Micah enforces the treaty, regulates the tourist permits, patrols the forests and resists his fascination with Dr. Mandell. He never expected to be involved with a human woman and doesn’t want to believe in the concept of a fated mate. He wants to keep his life simple and isn’t ready for any long term commitment. Besides Saffia keeps proclaiming she’ll be leaving when her appointment is up in four and a half years so why should he risk his heart?

Then a ship arrives unexpectedly carrying a very ill little girl and soon the deadly virus is spreading through Haven Two. The colony authorities are desperate to cover up the problem to preserve the all-important tourist season and Saffia and Micah have to work together to battle the outbreak, the local administration and their undeniable feelings for each other.

Can the colony survive? And will Micah and Saffia be able to move past their fears about entanglements to act on the mutual attraction?

An 87K word novel of the far future…

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