To Trap A Temptress (Southern Sanctuary - Book 2) (22 page)

Nell
smiled up at him.  “Okay for today… then we have a lifetime together to
plan and execute our revenge.”

Drum
laughed out loud.  “That’s my bad girl.  Come on let’s get married.”

*                     
*         
            *

The
sun was setting in spectacular technicolour fashion, better than any fireworks
display.  Drum and Nell danced together at the water’s edge, moving slowly
in time to the music. 

“That
went infinitely better than I expected.”  Drum murmured softly.

“Which
part?” 

“Well
the part where your father, brothers and cousins didn’t tear me limb from limb
when we announced we were getting married was kind of surprising for a start.”

Nell
chuckled softly, letting her breath play over his collarbone.  “I think
they’re all terrified of you.”

“Me? 
My reputation is in serious jeopardy here.  I let your grandmother pinch
both my cheeks for Maat sake.”

“And
you let my mother cry all over you.”  Nell reminded happily.

“They
were happy tears right?”  Drum asked dubiously.

“Absolutely…
she loves you.  Though she’s not too happy with me at the moment.
 
Between the tattoo and the shock wedding meld
ceremony, she told me privately that she hopes married life will help settle
down my wild ways.”  Nell chuckled again.  “Wild ways?”

“Like
I said from the start Doc, the only one you had fooled with that nice girl act
was you.”

“It
seems so.”  She shivered slightly as a wave of seawater raced over her
feet, goose bumps breaking out across her bare arms.

“Problem?” 
Drum lifted his head, looking out to sea.

“I
don’t know.  Suddenly the water felt icy.”  She surveyed the gentle
waves rushing into shore, their colour beginning to deepen as the sun continued
to slip slowly from the horizon. 

Without
hesitating Drum picked Nell up, every instinct he had wanting her out of the
water now.  His eyes continuing to scan the waves for an immediate threat.

“You
don’t think Case would try again do you?”  Nell dug her fingernails
reflexively into Drum’s shoulders.  “Devon dumped him, there’s no point in
drafting me as his virgin sacrifice.
 
The
only reason for him to turn up now would be to exact revenge on us for messing
up his plans.”

A
wave, some distance from the shore began to grow exponentially in size compared
to the baby waves before it. 

“Son
of a bitch.”  Drum moved quickly, depositing Nell on the soft dry sand
further up the beach, planting his body firmly in front of hers.  “The
fucker just doesn’t know when to quit.  I should have ended him when I had
the chance.” 

Nell
gripped Drum by the arm, holding him in place.  “What are you going to
do?”

“Stay
here.”  Drum tried to shake off Nell’s hold.  Looking down he smiled
at her. “I’ll be fine.”

“What’s
going on?”  Darcy popped up beside them.  Despite her current
frustrating task of trying to pin down an amazingly elusive Nate for a little
‘harmless’ talk about what he knew about her supposed magical mystery mark that
was designed to keep the male gender at bay Darcy’s nose for trouble had been
tweaked.

“Drum
thinks Case, the Merrow who tried to have me killed so he could gain the upper
hand in his marriage contract is here looking for revenge.”

Darcy’s
face lit up like a kid waking up on Christmas morning.  “Oooh cool.” 
Turning she cupped her hands on either side of her mouth, calling out in a loud
voice to the crowd.  “Everyone we have an enemy bogey approaching from the
east on a collision trajectory.”

There
were several excited whoops and hollers and then en masse about fifty of the
guests started running for the ocean, splashing through the shallows, diving
into the deeper waters.  Drum watched as Flynn and Dash join the exodus,
shedding their t-shirts just before they hit the water.

“I
should...”  He turned and met Nell’s look, her eyebrow raised in
query.  “Err, stay here with my lovely new bride whilst our friends and
family deal with this nuisance interruption?”

Nell
bestowed a big smile on him.  “And who said the big bad bear couldn’t
learn new tricks?”  She moved into his arms, the music never faltering as
laughter and the occasional pained hoarse scream drifted to them from just off shore. 

Drum
couldn’t look away from his wife’s stunning blue eyes.  “Are you trying to
tame me Nell?”

“Never. 
But my family would never have forgiven you for taking Case on solo and keeping
all the fun to yourself.”

“Fun
huh?”  Drum smiled, moving a large hand around her waist to rest on her
hip.  He’d certainly married into the right family.

“Speaking
of which, it’s probably time for us to leave.”  Nell’s blue eyes sparkled
with mischief and heat.

“You
don’t want to wait and see how Case fairs?”

Nell
just smiled, going up on tippy toe to plant a wicked swift kiss on her
husband’s delectably cruel mouth.  “I could care less what happens to
Case.  All I’m interested in is getting you alone and making up for the
last week.”

“Ah
Doc you’re killing me.”  His black eyes shon with passion as he captured
her lips with his, this time for a long lingering kiss.

“Goddess
would you two just get a room already.”  Darcy sounding aggrieved stomped
away towards the bar.

“Best
idea ever.”  Nell smiled as she came up for air.

“Forever.” 
Drum agreed with a solemn vow.

“My
very own Big Bad.”

“My
very own Ninja Doc.”  Drum trailed his hand up over her spine, his fingers
dancing lightly across the scales of her tattoo.  “Speaking of which… I
believe I still have a few gaps in my education regarding pressure points.”

Nell
gasped softly, arching into his touch.  “Well we can’t have that now can
we?”  With a saucy smile she traced Drum’s tattoo from his ribcage up his
chest, walking her fingers ever so slowly.  “Pressure point…. pressure
point.”

Drum
captured her hand in his, bringing it to his lips, placing a hot dry kiss on
her palm.  “Now Doc if you’re going to go into teacher mode shouldn’t you
be wearing your white coat?”

“Oh?” 
One of Nell’s eyebrows arched up briefly in query, a saucy smile tilting up the
edges of her lips.  “Anything else I’ll be needing besides the lab coat?”

“I
was thinking maybe the shoes you were wearing the day we met?”  Leaning
over he nuzzled her ear, sending hot shivers down her spine as he breathed “And
leave your hair up I’ve been dreaming of taking it down.”

Nell
sighed in anticipation.  “Fine we can play Doctor but only if you promise
later we can play cave girl meets He-man?”

“What
would that involve exactly?”  Drum laughed.

“Well
it would start with you in a loin cloth.”

“And
what would you be wearing, a fur bikini?”  Just the thought bought a
wolfish smile to his face.

“That
could be arranged.”  Nell gasped out a laugh of sheer surprise as Drum
suddenly swept her off her feet striding fast towards the parking lot.

“Stop!” 
Nell protested loudly.

“Hey
everyone will understand.  I don’t even think they’ll miss us.” 

Nell
laughed.  “No, I meant you’re going in the wrong direction.  If we
use Charisse’s hall closet we can be home in seconds.”

“Oh.” 
Drum started grinning.  Shifting her slightly in his arms he placed a soft
kiss of promise on her lips.  “That’s my temptress.”

The End

About
the Author

Jane
Cousins is a not so mild mannered IT Project Manager by day.  Her greatest
working achievement has been to perfect ‘the silent glare of promised
retribution’ that encourages her team to meet their deadlines.  Over the
years her job has taken her all around the world, requiring she live in the UK,
China and Singapore.  Now settled in Melbourne, Australia she has adopted
the night time persona of author.  Which generally involves donning a silk
mask, hunching over a computer and fighting in the name of alpha males and
their more than a match female counterparts everywhere. 

A
huge fan of witty banter and smoking hot instant attraction Jane has never let
the facts or inconvenient reality interfere with the telling of a great
story.     Currently she is hard at work on book 3 of the
Southern Sanctuary series.  Be on the lookout for Locke Valhalla and Earth
Witch Serena’s story next.

Books
by Jane Cousins;

Southern
Sanctuary series:

To
Woo a Warrior

To
Trap a Temptress

To
Wrangle a Witch (Coming soon
 
- early
2014)

By
the Numbers series:

One
For The Wedding

Two
For The Show (Coming soon - early 2014)