The Nymph's Curse: The Collection

by Danica Winters

  Aura turned to him. “If you want to stay on this investigation you better stop laughing.” She pointed over at the sergeant’s confused expression. “I think they’re starting to wonder if you’re losing it.”

  Dane clamped his lips shut, but his body still shook with unspent laughter. Trying to cover his laughter, he turned to the van and slammed the doors shut. He held his hands on the metal for a second until the shaking of his shoulders stopped.

  The sergeant, who had been talking to the fisherman, sauntered over. “Dane, what’s going on here?”

  Dane turned and faced the firing squad. “We identified the victim. It’s not Natalie Montgarten. The woman’s name is Jenna Cygnini. She’s a woman out of Idaho.”

  The sergeant frowned. “And how do you know this?”

  Aura stepped up for her turn. “I know her. She’s a friend of a friend.”

  The only reaction the sergeant gave her was a terse raise of his eyebrow. He turned to Dane. “Find out who did this.” He reached in his jacket and pulled out a piece of paper. “Here’s the credit card number. I’m running a check on it. You will find the paperwork in your file when you get to work in the morning.”

  Dane took the slip of paper and slid it into his pocket. “Got it.”

  “Now I want you and Aura to go home. Get some rest. And think about how you’re going to solve this case.” The sergeant turned back to the fisherman. He looked back at them over his shoulder. “Remember. Two days.” He put up two fingers, like a pair of scissors that waited to snip away Dane’s reputation.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “You’re still staying here?” Dane looked at the campground sign.

  “It’s fine, really. I like staying in my trailer.” Aura looked up at him with her tired eyes and he felt instantly guilty.

  He didn’t know her financial situation, maybe she couldn’t afford to stay at a hotel. Or maybe she’d just planned on passing through, didn’t want to set down roots, or was it a nymph thing?

  Dane slowed down the car, and looked down the dirt road that led to the main camping area. “It’s too cold to be staying outside. The news is saying it’s supposed to get close to zero tonight.”

  “I’m sleeping in the horse trailer’s tack room. I’m used to it. Besides, we spent last night out in the same weather and we were fine, weren’t we?”

  Faint warmth moved through his cheeks as he thought about her lying in his arms, out in the moonlight with only the stars and the mountains watching. It was a night he would never forget. Suddenly he realized he’d made love to a nymph — a goddess. He couldn’t hold back his smile. “Are you going to tell me you don’t freeze because you’re a nymph?”

  She laughed tiredly. “I never really thought about it, but I guess we can’t.”

  He started to turn the car into the drive, but instead merely pulled to the side of the road. “How about you come over to my place and you can take a shower and rest. That way I don’t have to worry about you being alone.”

  She looked at him wryly. “What do you think you’re going to do with me when you take me to your house?”

  His smile widened. “I swear I only have the most honorable of intentions in mind.” He instantly visualized her lying naked on his bed. “Just thought you could use a soft bed and a hot shower.” His thoughts twisted to envisioning her standing in the glass walls of his shower, steam rising around her, fogging up the windows. He tried to ignore the way his pants grew tighter.

  “Honorable, right.” She laughed.

  “I swear. I will not touch you … ” He put his hand over his heart. “Even if you beg. You need your rest.”

  Her happy laughter rippled through the tension that had filled the car since they’d left the crime scene. The sound made relief swell inside his chest. It felt good to hear her really laugh again.

  Checking over his shoulder, he eased the car back onto the highway and drove toward his house. An odd sense of excitement mixed with his sense of relief. He could protect her from anyone and maybe get a chance to really understand her. There were so many questions he had about her and her kind.

  While he drove, she told him a short history of her kind from Epione to modern day. His mind felt as if it was floating with the new wealth of knowledge. The new reality that she was presenting was like a dream that he couldn’t fully grasp. He couldn’t help feeling like he’d finally broken into sitting at the cool kids table — that he was part of some elite class of beings that knew the truth.

  “Jenna had some problems with who and what she was,” Aura continued as she reached over and took his hand. “Sometimes it happens. They can’t handle the nature of the beast.”

  “What do you mean the nature of the beast?” He looked over at Aura.

  She caught his eyes, but guiltily glanced away.

  “I’d like to think we are past you lying to me. Don’t you know you can tell me the truth about anything? You don’t see me running away, do you?” He threaded his fingers between hers and pulled her hand over his heart. “I want to help you the best that I can. I care about you.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” she said half under her breath.

  He pulled the car into the driveway and parked. “What do you mean by that? Don’t you want me to care about you? I know it took a lot to tell me the truth. I don’t really get it yet, but I will with time.”

  She hesitated for a moment, as if she were weighing her options. “I care about you too.” He heard the words, but the tone was that of a break-up. “But you and I, we can’t be together. We’re too different.”

  He wanted to tell her she was wrong, that they could make a relationship work, that all they needed was a little time and they could work out their problems. But all he could think of was Angela. They had been different as well, she had been similar to Aura in the fact that she’d been a drifter, and look at where they had ended up.

  Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing to avoid having a relationship. What they had worked. At least that’s what he forced himself to think. In his heart, he could feel the sharp edge of the lie cutting away at his resolve.

  “I get it.” He got out of the door and went around and helped her out of the car, giving himself a moment to think.

  She kept looking at him, like she was waiting for him to argue with her or for him to get upset, but he just walked silently to the front door and opened up the lock. If she didn’t want a relationship, he didn’t either. She was the one running this thing between them, he couldn’t force anything.

  “Do you want to take a shower first?” he asked, pointing down the narrow hallway to the guest bath. “I think I have a set of clothes around here that might fit you.”

  She wrapped her arms around her body and stared down the hall. “Yeah, that would be great.”

  He tried to ignore the awkward silence between them and he tried to think of something to say, but there was nothing. If he brought up Natalie she’d go off and they’d probably end up running around the woods all night tracking down leads, but they both needed their rest. His head hurt and the muscles were still stiff and sore from the horseback ride the day before.

  Dane made his way to his room as Aura followed. She kept her arms around her as if she was afraid to touch anything in his life and leave her mark. What was she so afraid of?

  As Aura took her shower Dane changed the sheets on his bed and set up the couch for himself. She could have the bed. She needed a little bit of comfort — and who knew, maybe she’d wake up and decide that there was something that they needed to explore between them. Maybe she would come to understand how much he cared about her, how much he wanted her in his life.

  But for her to know … he had to say something.

  She came out of the bathroom still toweling her hair dry. At the end of the hall there was a bookcase filled with dust-co
vered pictures and stacks of well-read books. Not noticing him standing there and watching, Aura walked to the end of the hallway and looked over the contents. He walked to her, letting her have a moment to peer into his life and memories.

  He stopped next to her. “Good shower?”

  “Oh hey,” she said, dropping her towel over her arm. “Yeah, the shower was great, thanks. Nice and relaxing.”

  He tried to ignore the reawakened images of her in his shower as he cleared his throat.

  There on the top shelf, just at eye level, was the only award he’d ever won and he blushed slightly as Aura picked up the little wood and brass plaque.

  “Lifesaving Medal awarded to Flathead County Deputy Dane Burke. In grateful appreciation of your outstanding police performance, in saving of a human life and the display of compassion, initiative, capability, and attention to duty, thereby earning respect and admiration for himself and the Department.” A wide smile spread across her face. “You must be really proud.”

  “It wasn’t like that. Anyone on the force would have done what I did. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time.”

  “What happened?” She ran her fingers lovingly over the edge of the frame.

  That cold day three years ago had seemed much like today — he’d been standing on the edge of the lakeside after helping load a dead woman into a body bag.

  “It was a few years back. A family had come up to Montana for a family trip and thought they could go out on the lake in a rickety old boat.” He pointed at a picture he’d taken of Flathead Lake. “That place is one of the largest freshwater lakes in the U.S. and one of the coldest. It’s fed in the summertime by snow runoff. It gets real deep in places. In the winter the lake has only been known to completely freeze over once and the ice didn’t last long.”

  He lifted the plaque from her hands and sat it back on the bookshelf, wiping some of the dust off in a feeble attempt to cover his lack of housekeeping skills. “Of course they got stuck out there and the wind picked up. We don’t know what really happened from there, the little girl was only three. But it sounded like the father had tried to row with his arms, but got tossed overboard. The mom jumped in to save him, not knowing how cold the water was … or how quickly hypothermia can set in.”

  He watched her shiver beneath his oversized tee.

  “We got to the little girl just in time. The boat had begun to take on water and she developed hypothermia from the exposure. I had to hold her until the medics showed up. They said I saved her life, but I’m telling you it was exactly what anyone else would have done. She was just a little frightened girl.”

  He’d been plagued with thoughts of that day for months afterward, until he’d finally gotten up the balls to go and see the psychologist. Even now, once in a while, he would have the reoccurring nightmares. They would take turns with the night at the barn. Each nightmare was horrific and terrifying in its own cruel way.

  “Is the little girl okay?” Aura asked.

  “Yeah, I see her from time to time. She moved in with her grandparents who don’t live too far from here. They seem to take really great care of her.”

  Aura looked back at the plaque. “I don’t know how you do it all. I don’t think I could deal with all the horrible things you have to deal with. It has to be a lot.”

  Dane lifted the towel from Aura’s arm and wiped away a droplet of water that fell from her hair and had started to twist down her forehead. She moved closer, like she wanted to take him in her arms like he had done with the little girl, but she stopped short and turned back to the shelf.

  An unexpected sadness formed in his heart. He couldn’t kiss her full sweet lips and tell her it would all be okay. She couldn’t open her arms and let him find solace in her embrace. They were just like that little boat sitting out in the cold water, bobbing away, simply waiting and hoping that they would make it through the day. But there was no rescue coming for him or for her — unless it came from the other.

  “Who are all of these people?” she asked, pointing to a picture of him and his family as they stood outside of the bright red barn at the Diamond.

  “Oh, that’s my mom and dad.” He pointed to the familiar pair at the far left of the picture. “That’s Zeb next to them, then me.”

  “You guys look really happy. How old were you here? Sixteen?”

  He wrestled the thoughts of the little girl from his mind, but unfortunately she was quickly replaced with thoughts of his mother. “Yeah, I guess I was about that. This photo was taken a year before … ”

  “Before what?”

  “Before I found my mother in the barn … she … she’d had an accident.” The words filled his mouth with acid. The smell of the ash was still fresh in his mind though it had been years before.

  “Do you mind me asking what happened?”

  He’d lectured her on honesty in the car and as badly as he didn’t want to tell her about his past, he knew it couldn’t be avoided without him looking like a hypocrite. She had opened up to him, telling him about who she was, when she could have kept up her front. It was time to let her in, at least enough for her to know that he trusted her as much as any cop could trust another person.

  “My mother was a smoker. She knew better than going in the barn to light up, but she was trying to hide it from my dad. Of course, he knew but he always pretended to not notice the way her clothes smelled of cigarette smoke.”

  “It was a senseless accident, and I tried to save her, but the burns were too severe.” The thought of his mother made his heart clench and tears well in his eyes. “My father died not long after from a heart attack. And when I left the ranch, I guess I thought I left it all behind. But I’ve been wrong. I think I’ve just been running. Trying to save the ones I can.”

  “I’m so sorry, Dane. I shouldn’t have asked.”

  “Yeah, well, I guess shit happens to everybody. My brother tore down what was left of the burned out barn after I left.”

  “So your dad left the place to Zeb?” Her cheeks flamed, as if she instantly felt shame for continuing to pry into his past, but he didn’t mind.

  “No.” He cleared his throat. “He left it to both of us, but after I left, Zeb took over the running of the place. After the accident and everything that had gone on at that place … well I just didn’t want to be there anymore. There were too many memories. Plus, I hate to admit it, but I really hate working with cows.” His laughter echoed through the dusty house.

  “What about horses?” She gave him a seductive smile.

  Dane moved into her and wrapped his arms around her and could feel her moist skin beneath his old tee-shirt. “I’m always up for a good ride,” he whispered, pulling her sweet, freshly washed scent deep into his lungs.

  She looked up at him and there was a light in her eyes that he recognized from the night they’d spent on the mountain. She wanted this … even if she had said she didn’t. He leaned down and feathered his lips against hers. He didn’t want to take this fast. If this was his last chance to make love to this beautiful goddess he was going to relish every second of it — even if he had to think about football to make himself go a little further.

  She took his lip in her teeth and nipped, the pain only made him want her more. He tightened his arms around her and pulled her against him, showing her exactly how much he needed to feel her again.

  Aura ran her hands up his chest and ran her thumb over the cloth above his nipple, making it harden like the rest of him. Dane ran his hands down to the bottom of her shirt and lifted up the edge, he slid his fingers underneath and felt her buttery smooth skin. He found the line of her panties across her ass. Finding the top of the silk, he pushed his fingers under the thin fabric.

  Her palms moved over his chest and she pushed gently as she released his lip from her sucking mouth.

  �
��Dane,” she said, between heavy breaths. “We can’t do this. Not now.”

  • • •

  The clock ticked away, marking each second that passed while Aura imagined him lying out on the couch. Was he thinking of her? Was he thinking of the things that could have just happened between then? Or what had happened in the past?

  Her hands slipped down under her panties as she thought about the feel of him inside of her. She had wanted him again, there was no question, but there was so much at stake — and most fragile was their hearts. He couldn’t love her and more importantly, she couldn’t love him. She couldn’t risk feeling his body against hers, the heat of his breath on her skin, or the way he made her heart flutter to life.

  The moisture under her fingers grew as she envisioned his body between her legs, him thrusting inside of her like there would be no end to their lovemaking. She fantasized tiptoeing out into the living room and finding him in the night — hungry for her touch. With her other hand, she reached up and ran her finger over her lips, trying to mimic his kiss. Her fingers felt cold, familiar, and unwelcome — and they left her wanting.

  Could she risk going to him?

  Aura closed her eyes. The motion of her fingers and the lulling warmth filled her body, relaxing her mind and making her body her only focus. She was growing closer by the second to finding a fleeting moment of bliss.

  Her breath came in cutting jags as the sound of a knock on the door broke her body-centered trance.

  “Aura,” Dane whispered, “are you still awake?”

  She silently tried to catch her breath and slow her heart from pounding out of her chest. She didn’t know what to do. If she stayed silent, he would probably never come back to her. What they had together would be gone. The morning would come and they would treat each other as strangers. If she answered, he would know that she had been lying here thinking of him. If he opened the door he would see her sweating face and know what she had been doing — and in her heart she knew he would find his way into her bed.