by Jane Cousins
Shit, here she was at his mercy, tied up, half naked, and he was was cheerfully blathering on about antioxidants and willing to step away. “You’re an idiot.”
“Excuse me?” Declan was in the process of reaching out to release one of Darcy’s wrists, but halted, hope igniting in his gut.
“I’m not your average brainless bimbo panting around after you, Declan. I’m not going to simper over your looks. Or melt every time you dimple my way.”
“These dimples?” Declan smiled.
Darcy stamped down hard on the fact that things low in her body liquefied. Shit, what did she just say about no melting. Be strong woman. “Yeah, their completely wasted on me. Same goes for the pecs, and the windblown cover boy hair.”
“Wow, would you like me to fetch you an axe so you can really attack my ego? Don’t be shy.”
Darcy rolled her eyes. See, this is why she didn’t talk about emotions, she was crap at it, and it made her feel too… exposed, huh, though given her current state of undress and being tied up, it kind of felt like reality was mirroring her internal landscape. “I don’t want any bloody green tea. I don’t want you to untie me.”
“No? What do you want, Darcy?”
“You, you big idiot.”
“Why?”
“Why? Why do I want you? Because… because, fucking hell, I love you, alright, you made me say it. Are you happy now?” Clear blue eyes sparkled with the promise of death and destruction as they pinned Declan in place. He didn’t flinch, all he did was throw back his head and laugh. Damn it, the sound made Darcy want to laugh too, but she managed to hold on to her scowl by sheer force of will.
Declan leaned over, planting a kiss on Darcy’s upturned nose, even as she issued a low growl in the back of her throat which made him laugh again. “You so cute when you’re trying to intimidate me.” He planted another kiss on her, this time on her lips.
“I am not cute.”
“No, you’re sexy, strong, beautiful, funny, dangerous, determined, and you, Darcy Montgomery, are all mine.” He reached down and her skirt seemed to just melt away.
Darcy felt a primal urge race through her, just for a moment she bit Declan’s lower lip, hard, holding him in place before releasing him. “And you, Declan Benavidez, are all mine. Don’t you ever forget it.”
“Never.”
“You’ll love me until I’m old, grey and no longer able to hit a bullseye from fifty paces, or there will be consequences.”
“I promise, Darcy. Always, and forever.”
Hmmm, Darcy’s eyes rolled back in her head as Declan’s warm lips trailed kisses down over her breasts, pushing her bra out of the way. “And I suppose… when we get time we should think about melding… making this official.” Goddess, was it really her proposing that? But it felt right. From the core of the web to the boundaries that seemed to keep expanding, it… he… they felt right.
“Melded?” Declan glanced up, dimpling. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead. Hmmm, really? I think you might have to do some convincing on that front.”
He what now? She stared up at him, fingers of desire dancing through her blood, was he really being serious? Her gaze narrowed in suspicion suddenly. “Okay, that time you really did flex.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Now, where was I? Hmmm, right here I think.” He lowered his head back down.
Darcy smiled, oh yes, there, they could discuss melding later. Maybe turn about was fair play. Yes, Declan would look insanely hot tied down to the glitter station. Then she could take all the time in the world to convince him to meld with her. Hmmm, she couldn’t wait to take a turn torturing him for once.
Declan hid a smile as beneath him he could have sworn he heard his Hellcat purr… damn, that was sexy, he would never get tired of hearing that sound. And now that Darcy had admitted she loved him, he could look forward to an eternity of handling his Hellcat, making her purr for him again… and again… and again.
Sure, they would fight, Darcy would threaten, he’d be relentlessly cheerful. Together, they could deal with anything, together… although he thought he’d make her work a little bit harder to convince him that they should meld. Yeah, it was totally Darcy’s turn to handle him, and he couldn’t wait.
“Ah, Hellcat… I do love you.”
“Wait… what did you just call me?”
Epilogue
Swish. Swish. Darcy admired her shiny, teal, patent leather boots absently as she ran through her fast dwindling to-do list. Wow, there could be no denying that her recently souped-up web had increased her efficiency levels exponentially.
That, and she had even less patience for whiners, malingers and general time wasters lately than she’d ever had. Seriously, she loved her job, but once office hours were over she’d much prefer to be hunting down her gorgeous man and continuing their heated ongoing discussions.
Declan was proving a delightful challenge when it came to setting a meld date. Finding new and wonderful ways to torture him in the bedroom, the gift wrapping room, the kitchen, her office, the gazebo, had turned out to be a lot of fun.
Part of her was hoping he’d keep holding out. The other part of her, the possessive part, just wanted to make it official and plant her plaid flag metaphorically in his ass.
Who knew being in love could be so much fun. And make her an even better Special Liaison. Watch out supernatural bad guys, Darcy’s Spider Mage senses were on icy fire.
Hmmm, she re-read the email from Great-Uncle Nestor, he’d outlined an approach to dealing with the current and future magical newborns. Hmmm, smart, pulling a team together. Quinn, to deal with any psychological issues that might arise. Nell, for her medical expertise. And Aunt Patricia, who had volunteered to make the recently refurbished children’s wing of the library a safe hub for the new parents and their magical offspring.
Damn, she could get used to delegating. Of course no matter what she did, she was sure that some how, some way, her mother would find a way to blame her for this magical powder keg baby situation.
Oh, well, at least she had an ace up her short sleeve these days. She’d just distract Sarah by throwing Declan at her and start talking about potential meld dates. That should sufficiently knock Sarah for a loop.
As long as Drum didn’t pass out or make a scene when he heard that his child was going to be born with magic… potentially dangerous, uncontrollable magic, then everything would be fine. Hmmm, best thing would be for Nell to break that news to her meld mate then. Huh, why had she not delegated more shit over the years?
More data zipped through the web. Darcy added some notes to her online calendar. Deciding to volunteer Knox as the Southern Sanctuary Ambassador for the Griandor trade visit. It was genius. Knox was impervious to all poisons. The Griandors could chat and spit to their heart’s content without any nasty, unintended consequences. Brilliant.
It was really was rather satisfying, pulling everyone’s strings. Not that she intended to become a grand puppet master like Great-Aunt Alma and her wily wicked matchmaking ways, but there was no point in Darcy trying to do everything herself.
Work smart to play harder, that was her new motto.
Hmmm, speaking of playing, she pulled up her personal to-do list. Ignoring all the revenge reminders her gaze travelled down and stopped. Shit, Declan’s birthday, it was in two days time, and she didn’t have a present for him. Damn, what did Declan like? No, what did Declan love? Her, for starters.
Hmmm, what if she… oh, yes, good idea, she could kill two birds with one grenade.
Her hand was just reaching for the phone when it rang. Laughing, Darcy wasn’t surprised to see who the caller was. That’s what happened more often than not when you had so many psychics in the family.
“I was just about to call you.”
“Duh.” Riya’s husky tones travelled down the line.
“I need-”
“It’s done. You can pick it up anytime. I had a vision of what you wanted… a little too m
uch information, thanks for that.”
“Is it-”
“Slutty? Absolutely. Hot? Sizzling.”
“Will it-”
“Why do you keep asking stupid questions? Yes, it will be a hit, and yes… I have already had a vision for your meld outfit, it’s a little unconventional… your mother is going to hate it.”
“Sounds perfect. So you want to give me a little hint as to the date…. Next week? Summer?”
“Na-ha. You’re going to have to work on Declan for that, I’m not your magic eight-ball.”
“Fine. I’ll be by later to pick up the outfit, and thanks, Riya.”
Riya laughed. “Who would have ever thought we’d see the day when the notoriously single and footloose Darcy Montgomery would be joining the melded club.”
“You seriously think your oversized honeybun is going to be able to protect you from my vengeance if you keep harping on that? Marcus can’t be around twenty-four seven… let’s see, I’d get creative, dip all your thread in itching powder. Blunt all your scissors. I’d-”
“Yeah. Yeah. I get it. Hear me quiver in fear. You want to look good on your meld day, enough to melt hottie Declan’s knees? Then you’d better stay on my good side, you mad cow.”
“I love you, Riya.”
“Oh, just stop with all the threats. I’ll be open late, see you soon.”
“Bye.” Darcy smiled, disconnecting the call. She was going to be melded. She should be worried. But funnily she wasn’t. Declan really saw her, the light and the shadows in her soul, and he still loved her. He not only knew what he was getting into, he’d been stalking… manoeuvring her for years… it was kind of flattering. And hot, but then when ever she thought about Declan she got hot.
Hmmm, if she switched a few things around in her calendar, and swung by Riya’s shop to pick up the outfit she intended to wear as Declan’s birthday gift, then she could be hunting down her man within the hour for some sexy fun good times.
Casting her eyes one last time down her personal to-do list, Darcy’s gaze halted over the reminder to wreck vengeance on Great-Aunt Alma. Hmmm, she really needed to start doing some research on finding Alma a suitor. An eye for an eye. A match for a match. It was only fair.
The internal web hummed, and with little to no effort on Darcy’s part the answer suddenly crystalized. Really? Him? That was quite an age disparity. Darcy wasn’t sure she would have gone there for Alma. But when she mentally tallied their suitability she could see how the puzzle pieces interlocked and complimented one another.
Wow, this new speedy web and the ever expanding boundaries was the coolest. Darcy could see it all, the connections that would need to be made to bring the two together. The margins for failure. The pathways that would lead to the strongest coupling. The point of no return when the relationship would either be inevitable or fail.
Mentally she chose the optimal path, noting where she’d have to interfere, where she would just need to step back and let her potential lovebirds find their own way.
Hmmm, and Alma was right, no where in the equation was there the call for Darcy to use violence, annoying… but challenging. No, no. This was a means to an end. She was not going to grow to like it. Or do it again… although Fraser had been kind of mopey lately, maybe she needed a man in her l... crap.
Thankfully there was a distraction, the sound of hurriedly approaching high heels click clacking on the wooden floors outside her office, interspersed by the occasional sob. Grrr. Her office door opened. Darcy had a moment to assess the bodacious blonde in the doorway, tanned, long legs, tiny denim skirt, a barely able to contain all her assets yellow top and big blue watery eyes.
“You… you have to help me. I… I just met my soulm-” The newcomer’s breath hitched in her throat as suddenly at eyelevel in the doorframe a knife appeared with a loud thunk, vibrating back and forth.
“Mine.” Snarled Darcy, clear glacial eyes narrowing, promising a quick, painful death if the blonde even thought about laying a finger on her man. It was her new, number nineteen glare.
The blonde gasped, whirled, and ran back the way she’d come. Darcy stared at the empty doorway and the three knives embedded in the doorframe. Three! Grrr. That was it, Declan was hers, lucky him, his birthday was about to come early. Tonight they would be setting the date for their melding.
She knew he’d been holding out not just to teach her a lesson, but to doubly ensure she was ready to meld. Shockingly, she was. The idea of an eternity with Declan, it was like the final puzzle piece of her life had been located and locked into place.
He’d loved her since they were kids and made his choice, claiming her.
And it was well past time she claimed him back. And anyone who tried to steal him away, well, they’d have to deal with her. She’d unleash her Hellcat claws and teach them the hard way not to encroach on her territory.
Because once a Hellcat mated, they mated for life. All she needed to do was find a way to brand the man that would declare him off the market. Hmmm, what to do? She couldn’t magically mark him like he’d done to her…. Hey… what if she did find a way to mark him publically for all to see?
Oh, she’d just had a great idea. She’d ask her Cousin Riya to… Her mobile beeped, signalling a text, it was from Riya.
Batch of t-shirts ready. Went with the black print – Property of Darcy Montgomery. Hands off.
Darcy read the text, smiled, then laughed. She did love her family.
And the best thing of all, she knew Declan would wear those t-shirts with pride… and of course two dazzling knee melting dimples. Yes, it was time to collect that new outfit and go torture her man into committing to a meld date. Damn, her life was good.
The End
About the Author
Jane Cousins has lived in a number of exciting places: 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.
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 13 of the Southern Sanctuary Series – To Kiss A Kringle – to be released – late 2018.
If you liked this book, please rate/write a review on Amazon. Reviews are an author’s life blood. If you like, think of us as vampires. Look deeply into my eyes. You will do everything I say. Feed the vampire, go on, you know you want to. Just one little review.
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Books by Jane Cousins;
Southern Sanctuary series:
To Woo a Warrior
To Trap a Temptress
To Wrangle a Witch
To Seduce A Siren
To Bedevil A Beauty
To Date A Disaster
To Shackle A Shrew
To Thrill A Thief
To Vex A Valkyrie
To Surprise A Seer
To Fight A Fate
To Handle A Hellcat
By the Numbers series:
One For The Wedding
Two For The Show
Three For The Bank Job
To Woo a Warrior
(Book One – Southern Sanctuary)
It was common knowledge that Hadleigh Valhalla was a complete failure when it came to men. Too blood thirsty. Too tall at six foot six inches, and without a coy bone in her too voluptuous body. If there had been a fun, flirty and feminine test, she would have failed it hands down.
Thankfully she was much more suited to her role as an Enforcer, protecting her magically enhanced eccentric extended family on a daily basis from all kinds of nasties. It was a job she loved, much preferring to be out
there beheading the baddies than dating any day of the week … much less stressful.
Except now there’s a new threat in town. Great-Aunt Alma, the family matchmaker has returned to the fold and set her sights squarely on all the singletons. Hadleigh will do anything she has to in order to avoid Alma’s matchmaking machinations, even if that means signing on as the newest member of the hit reality TV show - Paranormal Exterminators.
Vaughn, Captain of the Goddess Maat’s Elite Warriors has a mission, to find and annihilate any and all magical beings that threaten to tilt the scales of justice into chaos.
A paranormal reality TV show provides the perfect cover. But there’s trouble on set. Their only female cast member has gone missing and they need a replacement fast. Enter Hadleigh Valhalla, the most luscious thing on two legs he’s seen in a century. From the moment he sets eyes on her he’s determined to make her his. There’s only one problem, Hadleigh insists she has a strict no dating policy. Claiming she’d rather be fighting than flirting.
A series of mishaps means it’s a race against time for Vaughn and Hadleigh to discover just who is targeting the show and stop them before someone gets seriously hurt or dead. While doing so Vaughn intends to teach Hadleigh to break all the rules and prove to her she is just as much woman as she is warrior.
His warrior. His woman.
One For the Wedding
(Book One – By the Numbers)
It was the society wedding of the year. A four day party extravaganza during which steel heiress Jami Creswell would wed nut and bolt heir Damian Olsen. Event organiser Ryan Callan thought she’d planned for every possible contingency.
But never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined that she’d bump into the magnetic Chase McNeil whilst she was wearing nothing but a smile. What happened next between them really wasn’t her fault. He was the one who flirted with her …. she only flirted back in self-defence. The bridesmaids have completely misinterpreted the whole thing and forming a posse to wreck vengeance on her life is just going way too far.
