To Shackle a Shrew (Southern Sanctuary Book 7)

by Jane Cousins

  For just a moment she caught a glimpse of Liam’s flashing white teeth before his upper body also flowed into his liquid form, the sneaky devil. For a moment it was mildly unsettling to realise she was being embraced by a Merrow in his liquid form, the density slightly heavier than water. But then the rippling caresses moved up her body as Liam slipped under her billowing sun top, tugging it off over her head and sending it floating away.

  Devon’s body twisted and turned slowly, as if she were dancing underwater, the feel of Liam everywhere at once. In this form he was able to tease her toes with what felt like little tingling licks even as he played with the hard nubs of her nipples through the fabric of her bathers. Alternating suction and playful little flicks that had her hands splaying outwards in delight and fisting in frustration that she couldn’t likewise touch him.

  For a woman who liked to take control when it came to her lovers, this was all kinds of torture. Used to picking them. Used to being on top. Used to being the first one out the door once her itch was scratched and before a dreaded conversation needed to be held.

  Devon didn’t know which way to turn thanks to her phantom liquid lover and the sensory overload on her libido. Damn, she needed him to stop, she was practically sobbing his name. Devon could only pray the distortion of the water would prevent him from realising how weak and needy he made her feel.

  She arched her back ever further as his caresses suddenly changed from a hundred soft tiny kisses to what felt like being dipped in a vat of bubbling champagne, as if a thousand bubbles were exploding against her skin.

  Somehow her bathers had been pulled down around her waist, almost mindless, she wanted to believe that it had been Liam easing the fabric down her body, but she couldn’t help but think that in her frustration she had instructed her curls to yank down the material.

  Rivers and Lakes, he had to stop. She had to stop him, before she begged, before she pleaded, before she made a complete an utter fool of herself.

  Then, just as suddenly, Liam was back in solid form, naked, his large hands palming her breasts, his strong muscular legs wrapping around her lower body, keeping her moulded to him. She could feel his engorged cock against her leg, his fevered skin heating the water around them.

  Pushing Liam away suddenly was the last thought in her mind, he wanted her too, it was sweet relief, and maybe… just maybe she wouldn’t have to kill him after letting him glimpse her so weak and vulnerable.

  Their lips locked as her hands raked down over his shoulders to his hips. There was a lot of him that she had yet to explore but all she wanted right that minute was him… inside her.

  Her killing nails exploded and for a split second she let them glide down over the sensitive skin of his lower back down to that tight ass of his. As his lower body pushed up hard against her own she dipped her tongue into his mouth, deepening their kiss.

  Every nerve ending she had might be sparking, her entire body might ache with throbbing need but she needed him to know she wasn’t some faceless, brainless ski bunny who just happened to be next on his roster to shag. She was Doctor Devon Patel, Makura Princess.

  With that thought she jabbed all of her nails right into his tight ass.

  Liam was both surprised by the sudden attack on his ass and relieved. His control had once more been slipping, but Devon using his ass as a pin cushion helped rein his control back in.

  He abruptly released her, scowling at the woman floating a few inches away. He hoped to hell she wasn’t having second thoughts about this, if she was, he was pretty sure he’d implode. Yet she didn’t look upset or angry, she looked flushed with desire, her lips swollen and red, her eyes dark and full of mysterious wicked promises.

  Fuck, he wanted her. If she didn’t want him too… well, he’d deal with it. He’d be sore and disappointed as hell but… he watched as Devon’s killing nails flashed silver through the dark water slicing through the bathers still clinging like a second skin to the lower half of her body. Miracle of miracles the fabric parted and drifted away.

  By the Trident, thank you Poseidon. Liam couldn’t grab her fast enough and she must have been feeling the same as several of her long glossy curls snaked out, wrapping around his upper arms, yanking him forward fast. Their lips met, his hand reaching up to cup her head, a shudder running through him as several of her curls trailed down his spine. Fuck control, fuck holding back. He wanted her and she clearly wanted him.

  He wrapped his arms around her narrow waist even as her fingers came down to rest on his hips, digging into his flesh, trying to pull him closer still as her long legs wrapped around his waist.

  Devon shuddered as Liam entered her, so hot, hard, filling her so completely that her hair curled in sheer wanton delight. They broke the surface of the water, Devon’s head thrown back as she moaned his name before they slipped once more down to the depths, tangling, inter-twining.

  Liam thrust into her tight heated core as if his very life depended upon it. She fit him perfectly as he pistoned deeply into her wet slick channel. One of his hands coming up to lift a full breast higher so that he could capture her nipple in his mouth.

  Devon was thankful for the water, otherwise she was pretty sure she’d be sobbing out loud and making a complete fool of herself right about now. Biting back a whimper, she shifted her upper body so that when he was finished with her left breast he had ready access to her right. Instinctively she tightened all the muscles in her lower body, smiling as she felt Liam mouth her name against her skin. Oh, yes, two could fight dirty.

  Her hair unconsciously wrapped around his waist, binding him closer still, heat ratcheted higher as her body was swept up by the approaching wave of desire, higher… as he thrust in deeper. Her mouth came down to rest on his shoulder and she gripped him tighter still. The wave was coming, it was unstoppable, it brushed the sky the crest was so high. Liam thrust once more and again… Devon broke apart as the metaphorical wave smashed through her, body clenching, exploding in orgasm. Liam close behind her, his body going rigid as the orgasmic wave ripped through him, the surrounding water swallowing the sound of her name as it exploded from his lips.

  Devon’s hair kept them intertwined but they were boneless as they drifted, spiralling in the gentle river currents. Liam was pretty sure he’d never walk again. Damn, he’d never felt so completely sated before. Better still as they gently spun, their bodies entangled together was the faint satisfied smile that graced Devon’s gorgeous face.

  He fought the urge to lean forward and plant a soft kiss against her temple, sex was fine… well better than fine, sex between them was explosive. But affection? No, that way led to madness, pain and quite possibly marriage.

  Shit, nothing about what they did could be defined as affectionate, no, it had been hot, wild sex. They’d had a thirst, they’d slaked it. Man, had they slaked it. But he needed to keep everything in perspective, and he certainly didn’t want Devon getting any matrimonial ideas just because the two of them set the river water boiling. It was pure self-defence on his part when Devon sent him a heavy lidded glance to wink at her in response.

  Devon fought the urge to punch Liam in his big fat winking smug face. How dare he treat her like just another dumb ski bunny… after what they’d just shared? Hold on, what? There was no need for her to get over wrought, all they’d done was have sex… very, very, good sex. But so what if Liam Chambers was a superior lover, they were flotsam passing in the night. She’d had an itch and he’d just been a conveniently located man, there was nothing more or less to the encounter they’d just shared.

  No messy attachments. No messy feelings, just sex… an aberration as she kept reminding him… hmmm, but an aberration could happen more than once and it certainly didn’t have a finite time limit assigned to it. With that in mind, Devon sent him her haughtiest superior smile and winked back.

  Hey. Liam fought the urge to flinch. Devon was winking back at him, what did that mean? Was she really going to be able to brush their encounter off so ca
sually? Was she brushing him off? Pat him on the ass, job well done? All his thoughts came to a screeching halt as one of Devon’s curls snaked down between their bodies and encircled his favourite body part. What the hey? Hmm, that was a mighty firm grip her hair had.

  He glanced up at Devon who had a saucy knee-melting sexy smile on her face as she began moving through the water, headed for the dock, pulling him along in her wake… thank Poseidon, it seemed that the Makura Princess wasn’t quite finished with him yet.

  * * *

  As the early morning sun filtered into the bedroom Liam lay beside Devon watching her sleep. It wasn’t a habit he made with his lady friends, usually he had grabbed his gear and tip-toed out the door barefoot long before this moment. Even with his lack of experience though he was pretty sure most women didn’t scowl in their sleep or snarl occasionally. Even as he watched Devon’s lips parted and she bared her teeth for a moment. Bloody hell, he kind of found that endearing. No, not endearing, just interesting.

  Still, he couldn’t help but wonder how she woke up in the morning. He was hoping for drowsy-eyed playful sex kitten. Though it would probably be more realistic to expect snarling tart tongued - cut you to the bone with a quip - shrew.

  Either way, after their encounter in the river and the night tousling together in her oversized bed Liam was damn sure he would enjoy any mode Devon chose to wake up in. Her temper, her quirks, her haughty glare, her quick flashing sexy smile… plain and simple, everything about the woman made him hard. The woman insulted him, he got hard. The woman took a deep breath, he got hard.

  Speaking of which, he started to reach for her when her eyes suddenly snapped wide open and she sat up abruptly.

  “Blisters!”

  Say, what? In the myriad of fantasies he had of Devon waking up this morning, her sitting up in bed and shouting out the word blisters, had not made the list.

  “Shit, I need my phone.” Abruptly she turned over, the sheet twisting under her as she lay, belly down, searching under the bed for her elusive phone.

  Liam could do little else but enjoy the view of her ripe little ass wriggling away in front of him. Though his ego was a tad dented, he was starting to think that Devon wasn’t even aware he was still in her bed.

  That was the moment she reached up, flipped her mass of dark hair over one shoulder and shot him a dark glare. “Stop staring at my ass.” She immediately turned her attention back to her search.

  “How do you know that’s where I was looking?” He tried to sound choirboy innocent.

  “Please, my ass is perfection, where else would you be looking. Hah, found it!” Devon sat up, unconcerned that she was naked, that her glossy hair streaming down over her bare body made her look mussed and wanton. She was too busy dialling.

  “Who are you calling?” Liam was a little disappointed, this was not the way he’d imagined his morning progressing.

  “Chief Hughes.” Devon frowned as she lifted the phone to her ear.

  Liam smiled and shook his head. “It’s a bit late to say you weren’t willing, Devon.”

  “What?” Devon turned her head, suddenly seeming to register his presence. She rolled her eyes heavenwards. “No, don’t be asinine. I know who tried to kill us… it was Sienna Groves, it has to be her, it’s the only thing that makes sense.” Devon stopped speaking to him for the moment and spoke into the phone. “Chief Hughes please, it’s Doctor Patel.”

  “Who the hell is Sienna Groves and what did you do to her to make her want to kill you?”

  “I don’t know why she wants to kill me, she’s a patient, keeps turning up with a blistered throat. I thought she had allergies flaring up, but the timings? She only started coming in recently. She was in my office the day after your accident and again the day after my car was totalled and we were attacked at the square.”

  “But why-” Liam leaning up on one elbow had a hundred questions to ask her.

  Devon switched her attention back to the phone. “Chief Hughes? I know who is trying to kill me… yes, I’m sure… Sienna Groves… a patient… No… Yes… Okay… Yes.” Devon hung up abruptly.

  “What did the Chief say?” Liam asked as Devon untwisted the sheet and threw it aside, striding away from the bed towards the bathroom.

  “Stop staring at my ass, Merrow, and get dressed, the police are on their way.”

  “Shit.” Liam wanted to hit someone. He hadn’t finished exploring the wonder that was Devon Patel’s gorgeous body and now all his clever plans to keep her in bed for a long and lazy morning of indulgence had vanished in an instant. Then he forced himself to face reality, this was a good thing. The fact that Devon could just sashay out of a room without a second glance back at him proved she hadn’t gone soft on him just because he’d rocked her world last night. Not that he ever thought Devon would go all cooing and cloying on him just because they’d done the deed… five… no, six times.

  Except… he’d done some of his best work last night, would it have hurt the woman to at least send him a regretful – thanks for ruining men for me, you big stud you – look, before she sashayed casually away from him?

  Stare at her ass? Of course he’d been staring at her magnificent ass, he doubted any man would ever grow tired of that view, but still he didn’t want her thinking she held all the cards. He heard the shower turn on in the bathroom, and couldn’t resist calling out. “There you go again, Princess, such tickets on yourself, thinking I haven’t got better things to do than look at your ass.”

  Devon’s throaty chuckled drifted through the partially open door. “Sure, whatever. But you should probably know the Chief said he was over at Reverie Valley, which means he won’t get here for another twenty minutes or-” Devon stopped speaking as a large masculine hand abruptly snatched away the soapy sponge she had been holding. She watched amused, and a little turned on, as a large naked and now wet Liam joined her in the shower, the sexy grin on his face had her knees melting and her sex creaming.

  “Twenty minutes, huh?” Liam eyed her wet naked body up and down like he was deciding where to start.

  “Perhaps this isn’t a good idea.” Devon wasn’t sure if twenty minutes was going to be enough time.

  Liam’s aquamarine eyes darkened as his hand bought the sponge down to glide across her tummy. “Missed a spot there, Princess.” He leaned down nuzzling her neck. “In fact, I think you missed a whole lot of spots.”

  “Well, don’t just stand there.” Devon clutched at his hard chest. “Get to work and rectify the matter.” Heaven help her water bill.

  Chapter Twelve

  Where was everyone?

  Devon stalked down the eerily empty hospital corridor, her heels clicking hard against the linoleum, the sound echoing in her ears. Had there been a fire drill? A staff meeting she hadn’t been invited too?

  No, that didn’t explain the lack of visitors and patients that generally lollygagged around the hallways, getting in her way, and too often trying to engage her in inane conversation… as if she didn’t have better things to do with her time.

  Maybe Nell had finally listened to her diatribe on how - if the patients were well enough to be out of bed then they were too healthy to be in a hospital – and had them all kicked out.

  Yeah right, as if anyone ever listened to her sound advice.

  Entering the room of the first patient listed on her afternoon rounds Devon was surprised to find the curtains drawn and the occupant of the bed apparently sleeping. This was unusual. Jeb Mathews was a gregarious large man in his late eighties, though he could have passed for a fighting fit fifty year old. He had a shock of grey hair and large scarred hands that too often wandered trying to pat her on the rear end.

  The man was an irrepressible flirt and spent all his time and energy teasing Devon, whilst she tried to treat his severely impacted sinuses. What made him an extra challenging case was that his sinuses kept magically filling up with quick dry cement. Which Jeb casually shrugged off as one of the hazards of working in the buildi
ng trade in a magically inclined environment. Mrs Mathews however, was sick to death of his snoring and she wanted her husband cured.

  So here Jeb Mathews was, flat on his back, supposedly deeply asleep. Yet the man wasn’t snoring.

  Devon paused beside his bed, staring down. “Mr Mathews?” She waited, thinking he’d instantly sit up, give her a smile and reach for her ass. Except he remained motionless, to all intents and purposes deeply asleep. “Mr Mathews? Jeb?”

  She resisted the urge to pop a killing nail and jab the man. He might be handsy and annoyingly chatty but he was still a patient and she had taken the Hippocratic Oath to do no harm… still, it was tempting. Okay, she’d play along then, patient number one was asleep.

  Swinging around Devon bypassed her police escort for the day, Officer McKenzie, and headed for patient number two on her schedule. Seriously, where were the nurses? It was like a ghost town. Out the corner of her eye she caught sight of an orderly at the far end of the corridor, who upon seeing her, literally dove through the nearest doorway.

  What the hell was going on?

  The next patient on her roster was Felicity Walker. Aged just over a hundred, Felicity raised some type of weird animal, that from the pictures she’d shown Devon were a cross between a goat and a peacock. Felicity had assured her they were docile creatures, except during the mating season when they had a nasty habit of spitting acid at their rivals.

  Felicity had unfortunately gotten between two Romeos vying for one Juliet and accidently ingested some of the acid, which had promptly burned and badly scarred her throat. Devon had performed a technique three days ago which had involved essentially sandpapering down the scars so there would be no chance of Felicity choking in the future.

  The one thing Devon could normally count on would be Felicity sitting up waiting for her, invariably knitting some seriously gorgeous sweater with the wool she harvested from her flock of gococks, or was it peaoats? Well whatever, the sweaters were gorgeous and Felicity made a killing selling them online. She was also very, very eager to get back to her farm and her flock.