To Wrangle A Witch (Southern Sanctuary Book 3)

by Jane Cousins

  “Okay, crossing off long holiday jaunts for you then.” Clear amusement was written on Locke’s face.

  “Umm, okay. I suppose the other alternative would be for you to move.” She wondered how long it would take her to pay off this house? Though the idea of him moving away… ouch that kind of hurt, but then so did the idea of spending a century near Locke but never being able to touch him again.

  “Why would I do that? This is my home.”

  “Yes… yes of course, it’s just that it’s my garden now.”

  “That was pretty much made clear when your grass ate my expensive sandstone tiles and a 30 foot palm tree appeared overnight.” Locke raised his glass in a silent toast to the palm tree that had saved his and Serena’s lives earlier in the evening. “Remind me I’ll give my uncle a call tomorrow to come and fix the shower alcove.”

  “Oh you don’t need to do that.” Serena assured him, she was commandeering his garden for life and the man was being way too cool, calm and collected about it.

  “Not a problem, besides you’ll at least need a shelf to put your beauty products on.”

  Serena blushed at the memory of what else she and Locke had done thanks to that shelf. “Thanks.” She managed to mumble, burying her nose in her glass to hide her embarrassment.

  “By the way, which one of the Chippendales do I have to thank for smashing it?”

  “Um… Dash. Why?” Her eyes widened suddenly. “Please tell me you are not collating an itemised bill?”

  Locke shrugged off her question with a laugh. “Just how much do reality TV show stars make anyway?”

  “Locke.” She chided him with a shake of her head. “We’re getting off topic. I really don’t think you’ve fully comprehended what I’m trying to tell you about me and this garden.”

  “I think I’ve got a pretty clear picture. You’ll be spending a lot of time out here?”

  “Yes.”

  “There will be dancing?”

  “Yes, occasionally.”

  “Skyclad dancing?”

  “Umm, well yes, but I can limit it to just special celebrations, the equinoxes, the full moons, the red moon… I can make a list if you want.”

  Locke nodded, his blue eyes twinkling, a sexy half smile gracing his lips. “Oh I want.”

  Umm, Serena swallowed the last of her wine in one gulp. Earth was it hot out here? Where was a cooling night breeze when you needed one? “I was actually thinking of starting my own business… a nursery. After talking with Nell about her problems sourcing plants and trying to grow rare and exotic species I’m pretty sure that’s something I’d be good at.”

  Locke nodded. “I think you’d be great at it.”

  “Thanks, I just need to find some land, close by here preferably and speak to the local bank about a loan.”

  “Why don’t you just use the rest of the garden here?”

  Serena glanced around the courtyard more than a little dubiously. “Well it’s kind of small for what I had in mind for one thing.”

  “Not the courtyard.” Locke waved a hand around in the air. “I’m talking about the twenty acres surrounding the house.”

  “You have twenty acres of garden?”

  “Well garden is a very posh term, if you were to downgrade your expectations to scrubby bush land and a disused dam then you might be a little bit closer to reality.”

  “Oh my Earth.” Serena clasped her hand to her chest. Oh her lucky Stars, she’d bound herself to a whopping great tract of land. Then just like that all her excitement left her in a flash. “That’s so kind… but I couldn’t. I’d be putting my stamp all over this place, what would your family think? Earth for that matter what will Kirsten think?”

  “Kirsten?” He frowned, trying to place the name.

  “Twelve hours ago she turned her obviously cosmetically enhanced nose up at my garden and threatened to bulldoze it down.” Serena winced, wishing she could recall those words, Earth she sounded downright catty and jealous.

  Still Locke shook his head.

  “Seriously? Your Aunt, the ‘famed match maker’ introduced you to her, the perfect woman, the love of your long life.” Serena narrowed her eyes at him.

  “The love of my life you say? You’d think I’d remember that. As I recall it was my mother who introduced Kirsten to me. My Aunt, ‘the famed match maker’ as you call her, was only interested in one person at that table and that was you.”

  “Me?”

  “Yes you. In fact thinking back on it now I believe my Aunt found Kirsten to be rather tiresome and kind of boring… I know I did.”

  “You thought she was boring?” Serena’s mouth dropped open in shock.

  “Olympic class.”

  “But you’re a lawyer!”

  Locke chuffed a laugh, navy eyes sparkling with amusement. “Are you telling me you think I’m boring?”

  “Earth no. But you and Kirsten just have so much in common and well, she is really beautiful, plus there’s the designer clothes, and did you see her briefcase? It kind of reminded me of yours. She’d be a stunning addition to your home.”

  “You make her sound like a piece of art I might acquire, one of those really glossy, all façade but ultimately hollow pieces that my brother Erik always decries as being manufactured rather than created.”

  Serena reached out with blind fingers for her wine glass; this conversation had taken a rather unexpected swerve in a direction she hadn’t been planning on. She looked up abruptly, instead of her questing hand finding her glass Locke had reached over and captured her hand once more, this time he gave a tug, the vines around her legs disappearing in a flash, traitors. “What are you doing?” She tried to resist.

  But he had more upper body strength and was sending her a sexy smouldering grin that caused her synapses to misfire and her hormones to leap. Before she knew what was going on Locke had pulled her out of her chair, around the small table to sit on his lap. How had that happened?

  Oh Earth, she kept her back straight, refusing to lean into the heat of his body. “Locke, this isn’t a good idea.” She tried to stand up but he wrapped an arm around her waist holding her in place. This close, he smelt divine, felt even better, it made her want to cry. How was she going to spend the rest of her very long life living and working so close to Locke and not beg and plead with him to love her?

  “So Earth Witches and bonding, would you like to elaborate on the topic a bit more for me?”

  Oh Earth, she felt her cheeks flame, of all topics for him to choose. “Not really.”

  “You sure? Does it happen a lot?”

  “N..no.” She kept her eyes averted, inhaling sharply as one of his long dexterous fingers slid slowly up her bare arm.

  “Have often would you say it happens?”

  That finger of his was so distracting, slowly tracing a path along her collar bone. “Once. A true bond happens just once in an Earth Witch’s lifetime.”

  “What are the circumstances?”

  “Umm.” She flinched as his fingers ran up along her throat, heat spiking down her spinal column. “Err like I said, an Earth Witch and a garden form a…” What had she been saying? His hand had come to rest on her bare knee. “A bond.” She brushed his hand away but it came right back to settle on her other knee. “Stop that!” She hissed.

  “Okay.” He removed his hand entirely, she almost whimpered at the loss of his touch. He reminded her he was still holding her around the waist by splaying his other hand over her ribcage and caressing her absently with his thumb through the thin fabric of her dress. “You were saying about the perfect circumstances?”

  “Yes… um circumstances, so give and take… um… growth… a safe haven, energy is imparted and exchanged and sometimes well it just… locks a witch in place.” She finished in a rush.

  “Liar.” He whispered the word into her ear. “Though I did like the bit about ‘locks’ a witch in place.”

  “I am not a liar.” She kept her back rigid, determinedly leanin
g away from him.

  “Okay maybe not all of it but there’s definitely some bull shine going on in your explanation somewhere, I can hear it in your voice.”

  She studied a nearby ginger plant, looking anywhere but at Locke.

  “Serena.” His voice was deep and coaxing in her ear. “I was going to ask you to stay.”

  “You were not.” She reared back, glaring at him, forgetting her promise not to stare into his gorgeous dark blue eyes.

  “I was, I swear.”

  “Why? Why, would you ask me to stay?”

  “You want the list? Of course you’re a woman you want the entire list. Because you make me laugh. You challenge me and my OCD ways, you push… just enough, you compromise when you know that it matters more to me. Because I’ve never seen anything more beautiful than you dancing skyclad under the moonlight and I want to see that every night for the rest of my life. No one… and I mean this with all my dirt loathing heart, no one could make me contemplate the thought of bringing babies… children into this world, into my home but you. I want them to have your pansy coloured eyes, your smile, your adorable toes and of course it goes without saying my fashion sense. I want to make you happy and I want you to keep surprising me every day for the rest of our lives. Serena Chastain… I love you.”

  “Oh Locke.” Tears shimmered in her eyes as she melted into him. Pressing her soft lips against his for a sweet hot kiss. The fire between them igniting instantly as she opened her mouth pressing harder, devouring him.

  It took all of Locke’s willpower to break the kiss, gripping Serena by the shoulders to gently push her away. “Your turn.”

  Bee stung lips in a pout she stared at him heavy lidded. “You’re a guy, you don’t need words… you need actions.”

  “Serena.” He gave her a soft shake.

  “Oh fine. So needy.” She smiled, leaning forward to give him a swift peck on the lips. “I was a goner pretty much the moment you walked through the door back at that horrendous prison. You picked me up in your arms and I just knew…”

  “You looked like you were going to hurl if I remember correctly.”

  “And you didn’t drop me?” She giggled. “You knew in that moment too didn’t you?”

  “We’ve done my turn… it’s still your go.”

  “Even though I wasn’t conscious of it I was putting down roots that first night I spent here. What I did to the courtyard, it takes a tremendous amount of will power… desire… to transform something that dramatically in just a few hours even with the help of the Sanctuary grid boosting my magic. And what I did out here, all the changes I made, it speaks towards ownership, essentially…” She eyed him with mischievous blue-purple eyes. “I was marking my territory… staking my claim on you, I just wasn’t ready to consciously acknowledge that until today. I suppose I was a little hesitant… anyone looking at us, they’d think we were poles apart. Kind of like the look that snooty Kirsten was giving me when she found out I was mere actress.”

  “Tangent…” Locke brushed a thumb over her petal soft lower lip. “Back to us.”

  “You make me laugh and you piss me off… frequently, but then you invariably make me laugh again. Earth I love your wit, your honesty, your fearlessness. I like that you’re a warrior in a three piece suit, fighting for the little guys of the world, doing so in your own unique, obsessive compulsive… okay and yes, stylish way, determined to make the world a better place. I love you Locke Valhalla, from the Earth to the Moon… I love you.” She leant into him, letting her lips hover just over his. “Satisfied?”

  “Yes.” He leant in to close the distance between them.

  Her lips moving just out of reach at the last second. “Hold on a moment. I have just one question. What have you done with all my shoes?”

  “What does it matter now? You’re never leaving.”

  “Locke.” She tried to sound stern but it was hard when the man was smiling at her like that. Suddenly he stood up, lifting her with him, twirling them about so her hair flung out wide.

  “Dance with me witch.” Slowly he lowered her feet to the ground, appreciating the way she clung to him.

  “Forever and ever Lawyer man, we can talk about the shoes later… when we further explore what it means to be bound… after all, you have an entire closet full of Italian ties just begging to be put to good use. ”

  Locke didn’t know whether to wince or laugh. “Not my silk ties!”

  She moulded herself to him even closer, staring up at him wondering how she’d gotten to be so lucky? “Well… if not the silk ties, maybe there’s something from the garden we could use instead… some vines maybe.” She caressed her thumb over the sensitive skin just below his ear.

  Locke shuddered partly in awareness of what her touch was doing to him, partly because the thought of letting a vine wrap itself around any of his body parts was kind of chilling. “The ties… we definitely go with the ties.”

  This woman was going to create havoc in his life every single day for the rest of his life, not to mention the impact she was going to have on his wardrobe. Leaning down he captured her lips, a prayer of thanks to the Goddess above in his head as he did so for all his good fortune. She might not have been who he was looking for but Serena was the perfect one for him. Life wasn’t going to be easy… or restful or necessarily as pristine as he’d imagined it but he was damn sure every day he spent wrangling with his witch would prove to be challenging, joyful and delightfully provocative.

  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 promised 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 4 of the Southern Sanctuary Series - To Sin with a Siren – Maat warrior and full time flirt, Nate’s story.

  Books by Jane Cousins;

  Southern Sanctuary series:

  To Woo a Warrior

  To Trap a Temptress

  To Wrangle a Witch

  To Sin with a Siren (Coming mid 2014)

  By the Numbers series:

  One For The Wedding

  Two For The Show (Coming March 2014)

  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 6.6ft 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 match maker 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 manoeuvres, 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.

  To Trap a Temptress

  (Book Two - Southern Sanctuary)

  What Nell needs is a man - a completely shocking, ridiculously inappropriate, insanely unsuitable, ludicrously improper man.

  Considered too vanilla in a world full of flavours Doctor Nell Montgomery’s dating life is a barren waste land with few prospects on the horizon. Tired of being labelled the nice girl, she’s decided she needs a life make-over stat. With that in mind she instigates a bold plan to shatter her nice girl image irretrievably. All she needs is one shockingly inappropriate man. When she does find him she intends to seduce the heck out of him and bury her goody two shoes reputation once and for all.

  There’s only one seven foot tall problem standing in her way. His name is Drum, an elite warrior in the Goddess Maat’s guard. He’s spent over a hundred years killing magical nasties in the most vile, bloodiest manner possible – and quite frankly enjoying the hell out of himself. With a reputation as the big bad, Drum is used to dangerous women throwing themselves at him. What he isn’t prepared for is one gorgeous Doctor who challenges and tempts him at every turn.