Catch of a Lifetime (38 page)

   Those earlier Humans hadn't been too bright about sail ing. His great-great-grandfather had told him hundreds of stories about drowning people being saved by dolphins. Well, what they'd
thought
had been dolphins.

   "So, now what are you going to do with her? When she wakes up, she's going to have a ton of questions."

   "And whose brilliant idea was it to turn her?" Reel glanced at her face, now restful in sleep rather than death, her chest rising and falling like his own. Her lungs were working perfectly.

   "Hey, don't look at me. You could have let her drown."

   "Like that had been a choice." But, oh, was he in for it when The Council heard about this. Turning a Human was expressly forbidden. No one had turned any since the massive sea-serpent hunts two hundred
selinos
ago.

   A Human had changed his mind about living under the waters and told his kind about Mers, which caused the Great Exodus from coastlines. Before that, they'd enjoyed hanging out on nice sunny beaches among the seals, swimming in the surf, and passing themselves off as dolphins for the local legged folk, but that mass hunt ing of his kind had sent them to the ocean depths.

   Then Humans had come up with all sorts of gadgets for exploring the sea bottom. Massive trolling nets, subma rines, sonar, scuba gear… it was difficult to live a normal life anymore. No late-night jumping contests in the shore line surfs—not unless they were uninhabited islands, and where was the fun in that? And even though he physically looked like a Human, his parents had grounded him for risking such exposure at their crowded beaches.

   And for good reason. No Human could know Mers existed, or they'd be out on their ships in no time. With the technology they had today, an intensive hunt could lead to an intensive slaughter.

   And he'd just brought one of their kind over.

   He must be out of his brain-coral mind.

   She exhaled and moved slightly in his arms. Her

eyelashes were the same seal brown as her hair. They swept her cheeks where the sun had lingered a bit too long, leaving a sprinkling of sun-dots on her nose, but even those were adorable. He wondered if her eyes were as Caribbean blue as he remembered.

   Fish, she was so tiny. Her legs were in proportion to what he'd expect to see on a small Mer of her size, but to be so slight! His people were full of muscle to battle the roiling waves in storms, to swim downstream in the strong currents of the North Atlantic, to outrun a hungry white or orca…

   She'd never be able to survive the rigors of his world. Maybe he should have let her die or taken the chance of rushing her to the surface…

   "Dude, what's done is done. She's turned. Now you get to keep her."

   "She's not a pet, Chum."

   "It's sure going to feel that way until you get her used to her new home away from home."

   "You know, I could use a little more confidence at the moment. A little more help. You were all full of advice while she died. 'Turn her, Reel. No big deal.'"

   "Hey, that rhymed."

   Reel rounded a guyot. Behind the rise in the ocean floor yawned the gutted hull of a once-proud U.S. bat tleship behind the gates he'd salvaged, complete with guards. No one entered his lair without permission. That included chatty remoras.

   "I'll catch up with you later, Chum." He sped through the gates, nodding to the monkfish on duty.

   "But—"

   Reel turned back, the woman's hair wrapping

around his waist like a trawling net, only now he didn't mind being snared. "When she wakes up, she's going to freak out seeing me. We don't need to add talking fish to the equation."

   "But every fish talks."

   "She doesn't know that." He turned back and headed inside. "Yet."

Rod ran his fingers over Valerie's smooth leg, down the curve of her calf, around the heel, and gently probed the indentation below the anklebone.

   "I don't think it's broken." Zeus, there were so many little bones in there.

   And if he focused on that, instead of the soft puffs of breath brushing his cheek and the scent of flowers cling ing to her skin, he might be able to ignore the heat radiat ing from her like the volcanic rock that lit his world.

   Then he touched another spot that made her flinch and she grabbed his arm. Electricity raced from her fin gers straight to his groin.

   There was no ignoring that.

   But he had a job to do, not to mention a throne to in herit by doing it, and he'd focus on that, and not the fact that her shell-fillers—breasts, Reel said Humans called them—were mere inches from him.

   He shifted another inch or two away from her just to ensure he stayed focused, which also ensured that she'd remove her fingers from his arm.

   A High Councilman
did
have to make sacrifices for his people.

   "Rod, I'll be fine." She tried to stand and nibbled her upper lip again, an action so insignificant it shouldn't have caught his attention—but did.

   Especially when she did it again.

   Chum's words about falling in love with her came back to taunt him.

   But that was ridiculous. He wasn't falling in love with her because she was beautiful. He'd been around beautiful women before. Hades, all Mer women were beautiful.

   It was just that Humans
weren't
beautiful, and he hadn't expected her to be.

   Her Mer blood must be shining through. Just like her eyes, blue as the Tyrrhenian Sea, shone beneath the jumble of blonde curls that framed her face with those adorable sun-dots bridging her nose.

   "Um… Rod?" She tapped his shoulder this time, and, clothing or not, it had the same effect as when she'd touched his bare skin.

   Not a thought he needed at the moment.

   "Yes?" He cleared his throat and willed his body to simmer down. This attraction was odd. Stronger than he'd had to anyone before. Must have something to do with the air…

   "Could you help me up? The shirts… they're too soft to push off of."

   Then she nibbled her lip again.
Good gods.

   But what could he say? No?

   So instead, he prepared himself to touch her again, stood up, and held out his hand. "Uh, certainly."

   Her fingers rested in his palm. Yeah, there was no preparation for
that…

   "Thanks. I'm sorry for knocking you down—"

   "It was nothing, Valerie."

   She arched an eyebrow at him, steadying herself with yet another touch to his shoulder. "Really? You have women bowling you over all the time, do you?"

   None before her, and he didn't mean the incident on the floor.

   Zeus. What was wrong with him? She was just an other female. Half-Human at that, and he was the next High Councilman. He needed to back off.

   But then she stumbled as she tried to take a step, and he instead swung her up in his arms. Big mistake. It was as big a gesture on land as his brother had said.

   He deposited her on top of the counter. "You should stay off that leg." And out of his arms.

   Valerie looked up at him with those beautiful blue eyes, startled wide now, and a blush tinged her cheeks before she quickly lowered her golden lashes. "Um, thanks, but I have work to do. This mess has got to go."

   And she had to go, too; that was the thing.

   That bird, whoever he was, had a lot of explaining to do, and Rod would put out a call to Air Security to fol low up once he and Val were on their way to the ocean. But right now, Val had something more pressing to deal with.

   "Don't worry about it, Valerie. You have your fa ther's estate to concern yourself with now."

   She licked her lips, moistening their soft pink sheen, then nibbled one again. He still found the action mesmerizing.

   "Right. My father's estate. Um, listen. I appreciate you coming here to tell me about it, Rod, but I'm going to pass."

   "What?" That statement got his eyes off those perfect lips. "You can't."

   "Yes, I can. I don't want it. At all." She slid to the edge of the counter. "Thank you for stopping by, but as you can see, I've got my work cut out for me, so if you don't mind…"

   She was refusing?

   No. That wasn't possible. She
had to accompany him
.

   "Valerie, you don't understand. You must accept this inheritance. And soon. Time's running out. Just come with me to New Jersey, and the estate will be all yours."

   In Rod's experience, the words "legacy," "inheri tance," and "dreams come true" brought people swim ming—make that, running. The Council had fabricated this story for that very reason.

   He'd hated the thought of lying to her. Oh, there
was
an estate. But it wasn't a cherished memento or a bag of currency he could hand over. No, Valerie stood to inherit the governorship of the Southern Ocean. They'd all agreed, however, that spouting off about Mers and Atlantis to an unsuspecting Human would damage Rod's credibility and risk her refusal. Not to mention break that rule again—and
that
was not an option.

   Hades, they'd gone to the trouble of manufactur ing those papers to make the story seem legitimate in Human terms. All he needed to do was get her to the ocean where one drop of seawater would begin her transformation so she could learn—and believe—the truth. A tail was very convincing. But if he couldn't even get her to come with him…

   No. That was not even a consideration.

   "Thanks, really, Rod, but I want nothing from that man. Just take the inheritance and… I don't know, do nate it to a children's hospital or something."

   "Donate it?" An entire ocean and the fact that she was the salvation of their world? Right.

   The gods had to have gotten this wrong. She couldn't be the answer to The Prophecy.

   He felt a rumble beneath the store. Ah, they'd fol lowed him even here.

   "Yes. Donate it. Let him do good for
somebody's
kids before it's too late, but he missed the boat with me."

   Rod stared at her. No one had seen this coming. What person—Mer or Human—wouldn't want wealth?

   Valerie, apparently, as she picked up the papers, rolled them, and tapped them against her lips.

   "Seriously, Rod, pretend you didn't find me. Let it revert to the state, or whatever happens to unclaimed inheritances. Give it to the kids, a college… I don't care. I don't want to see any part of it. I'll stay here and run Mom's shop, and Lance can do with his inheritance what he's done for me my whole life." She slid off the coun ter, making him back up, and handed him the papers.

   "Absolutely nothing."

JAZZ AND NICK'S DREAM ROMANCE HAS

TURNED INTO A NIGHTMARE…

FEISTY WITCH JASMINE TREMAINE AND DROPDEAD GORGEOUS vampire cop Nikolai Gregorovich have a hot thing going, but it's tough to keep it together when nightmare visions turn their passion into bickering.

With a little help from their friends, Nick and Jazz are in a race against time to uncover whoever it is that's poisoning their dreams, and their relationship…

STASI ROMANOV USES A LITTLE WITCH MAGIC IN HER LINGERIE shop, running a brisk side business in love charms. A disgruntled customer threatening to sue over a failed spell brings wizard attorney Trevor Barnes to town—and witches and wizards make a volatile combination. The sparks fly, almost everyone's getting singed, and the whole town seems on the verge of a witch hunt.

Can the feisty witch and the gorgeous wizard overcome their objections and settle out of court—and in the bedroom?

BY
L
INDA
W
ISDOM

Feisty witch Blair Fitzpatrick has had a crush on hunky carpenter Jake Harrison forever—he's one hot shape shifter. But Jake's nasty mother and brother are after him to return to his pack, and Blair is trying hard not to unleash the ultimate revenge spell. When Jake's enemies try to force him away from her, Blair is pushed over the edge. No one messes with her boyfriend-to-be, even if he does shed on the furniture!

"Fan-fave Wisdom… continues to delight."
—Romantic Times

"Highly entertaining, sexy, and imaginative."
—Star Crossed Romance

"It's a five star, feel-good ride!"
—Crave More Romance
"Something fresh and new."
—Paranormal Romance Review

HE WAS CURSED WITH A "GIFT"

Born with the clairvoyance known to the Irish as "The Sight," Donovan O'Shea fled to America to escape his visions. On a return trip to Ireland to see his ailing father, staggering family secrets threaten to turn his world upside down. And then beautiful, sensual Rylie Powell shows up, claiming to be his half-sister…