Magenta Mine: An Invertary Novella (14 page)

Epilogue—three months later

“I’m ready.” Harry walked into the living room of the house he shared with Magenta.

It’d taken quite a bit of cajoling to get her to move in with him. She kept telling him that their relationship was too new, that it was too early to take such a big step. He pointed out that it couldn’t be new when he’d known her since he was eight. In the end, he was pretty sure she only gave in to stop the nagging. He grinned. It was a technique he’d use again. But only for important things. Like convincing her to marry him as soon as possible.

“You’re seriously going to wear that?” Magenta’s voice distracted him from his self-congratulatory thoughts.

He looked down at himself. “I don’t see the problem.”

Magenta started laughing. “You have duct tape around your legs.”

“To keep the rats out of my trousers.” He wasn’t stupid. He also wasn’t taking any chances.

She leaned forward and sniffed. “Damn, you’ve sprayed yourself with pine oil, haven’t you?”

Another sensible measure. He pointed to his backpack. “I’ve packed some yummy rat-treat poison as well. You can never be too prepared.”

Magenta eyed his pack, which was double the size of hers. “This is only a day trip, Harry—we aren’t spending the night in the mine.”

Thank you, Lord.
Harry glanced towards heaven. He really wasn’t ready for another night in the mine. He’d probably never be ready.

“Did you pack your tent too?” The sparkle of amusement in her eyes made his knees weak.

“Of course I did. The caving website said that you should be prepared for anything.”

“Did the website also say that you should listen to your qualified and experienced instructor?”

“You know it did.” He was so proud of her. As soon as she’d been officially diagnosed as dyslexic, she’d charged towards achieving her goals. Her self-esteem was still wobbly, but it was getting better every day. “I totally trust my guide. I know she’s the best in Scotland.”

She arched an eyebrow at him.

“Sorry, I meant to say in all of Europe.” He smothered a grin.

Magenta gave him a regal nod. “That’s much better.”

She was wearing her usual black uniform, only instead of a sexy mini-dress she had on jeans and hiking boots. He still hadn’t managed to get her into a blue silk dress, but he was a patient man. He had the rest of their lives to wear her down. He had managed to supplement her lingerie with a rainbow-coloured assortment of styles. It drove him crazy knowing that under her black exterior was a sexy explosion of colour that only he got to see.

He watched with growing horror as she went through his bag, discarding half the things he’d packed. Things he was
sure
he would need. He had to bite the inside of his mouth to stop from objecting. As she kept pointing out, he either trusted her to keep him safe in the mine, or he didn’t. There was no middle ground. Which was a total bummer.

“Right, that’s much better.” She handed him the pack. “At least now you won’t damage your back carting all of that around with you for the day.” She eyed the clock over the mantel. “Okay, we need to go. I don’t want to be late and make everyone wait.”

She bounced on the spot with barely contained excitement. This was her first official tour into the mine. Part of her new business as an official guide for the local mines and caves. A business she’d called Magenta Mine. He glanced at the pile of business cards and leaflets on the table. He’d managed to talk her out of using black for her logo. Instead she’d used the colour magenta. She’d grumbled a little about pink being the wrong colour for caving, saying it was unrealistic, that caves as a whole didn’t tend towards pink. He’d argued that dirt brown wouldn’t be a great image either. In the end, she went for bright and attractive. Just like her.

“I can’t believe I’m doing it,” she told him. “Actually leading my first guided trip into the mine. I really hope people enjoy themselves.”

“They will.” Especially since this first tour was made up of their friends and family. Even the twins were daring to go underground. They’d bought matching pink jumpsuits for the occasion, in honour of the Magenta Mine colour scheme. Magenta had taken one look at them, shrugged in disgust and declared it was Barbie Does Caving. Matt had almost choked, he’d laughed so hard.

Harry followed Magenta to the front door, passing the framed photos she’d taken that lined the walls. His chest swelled with pride. She was an amazing photographer. She managed to make the mine seem exotic and mysterious, rather than a rat-infested hole in the ground. He shook his head. Mustn’t think like that. He didn’t want to lose it and run screaming from the mine. Not only would that embarrass his woman, but he’d never hear the end of it from his cousins. He wondered if there would be time to stop at the pharmacy on the way to the mine. There must be some over-the-counter anxiety medication he could buy to help him out. He reached for his mobile phone. He’d google it while they walked.

Before he could get to Google, he spotted an email from Rachel. Things were still tense between them, although the distance helped. He wouldn’t be surprised if she was looking for another job. It hurt to think about it. He had eight years of friendship with her that had been damaged by her behaviour towards Magenta. He wasn’t sure they’d ever get past it.

He was so busy with his phone that he didn’t realise Magenta had stopped in front of him. He walked into her back. She turned on a sigh, reaching up to cup his cheek with her hand.

“You don’t need medication.”

Harry blinked at her. How did she know he was thinking that?

She smiled. “You were mumbling again. Don’t worry. You’re going to be fine in the mine. You’re going to have fun.”

He wasn’t convinced. And he wasn’t great at hiding it either. Magenta grinned at the look on his face. She pressed in until her body was flush against his. As usual, the blood in his head rushed south to enable a much more important function than allowing him to think. Magenta trailed her black-painted nails up his chest.

“You need to think about something else to take your mind off the rats.” She gave him a pointed look. “Of which we won’t see any, I can promise you. As soon as they hear the noise we’ll be making, they’ll run and hide.”

He didn’t bother arguing. He’d already told her every story he’d read where the rats had done the opposite.

“How about when we get home, we have a bath together and I’ll wash all the dust from the tunnels off your body.” She blinked up at him, a fake-innocent look in her eye that made his mouth water. He swallowed hard. “And when you’re nice and clean, I’ll lick you from head to toe.” She leaned in and whispered, “Maybe we could tie you to the bed tonight and I can show you exactly how much fun I can have with you. Would you like that, Harry? Would you like to be at my mercy? Would you like to feel my fingers, my lips, my tongue, my hot breath, over every inch of your skin? Every. Single. Inch.”

He shuddered as she gave him a wickedly mouth-watering grin. “Yeah.” She nodded. “I think you’d like that a lot.” She reached up, wound her fingers into his hair and pulled his head down to her. Her lips moved slowly and seductively as she tasted him. She moaned as his hand found the spot on the small of her back that drove her wild. He pulled her to him. Holding her tightly as she gasped and he took control of the kiss.

Sadly, she pushed away from him, but he was pleased to see her eyes were heavy with desire. She licked her lips, making his jeans painfully tight.

“Now, how about you think about what’s going to happen
after
our excursion, rather than during it,” she said.

Harry doubted he’d think about anything else. He pretended to narrow his eyes at her. “You’re sneaky.”

“And horny. Remember that as we walk the mine. I’m as desperate to get back here and get naked as you are.” She tapped her chin in thought. “As a special treat, I’ll let you know more about my plans for you throughout the day. That should keep your big brain occupied.”

Damn. Now he didn’t want to leave. “Maybe we could do this trip another day?”

With a laugh, Magenta tugged him out of the door and slammed it shut behind them. Guess they were still going into the mine. He let out a disappointed sigh that made her giggle.

“Thanks for wearing the present I gave you,” Magenta told him as they headed for the car.

Harry looked down at the T-shirt. It was bubble-gum pink—a colour Dougal, the town’s unofficial mayor, thought was a fashion statement. On the front in bold black writing were the words
Magenta Mine
. He grinned at it. He knew the shirt was supposed to advertise her business, but as far as he was concerned it told the world whom she belonged to. She was definitely his.

“You’re going all caveman again, aren’t you?”

He looked over his shoulder to see Magenta staring with pride at the back of his T-shirt. It said:
Property of Magenta Fraser.

“I don’t think I’m the only one,” he told her. “You think you own me.”

Magenta smiled knowingly, but didn’t deny it was true. Harry couldn’t argue otherwise. The T-shirt was right. Magenta Fraser totally owned him.

And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Invertary book 4, Calamity Jena, will be out in 2015. If you’d like to hear about future books, you can sign up for my newsletter here:
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Invertary Book One

Englishman Lake Benson loaned his life savings to his dippy sister so that she could buy a shop. It was a big mistake. His sister was steadily flushing his money down the drain - and now he wants it back. Years in the special forces taught Lake that if you want a job done, do it yourself. So he steps in to make the shop profitable, sell it and get his money back. The only problem is, the business is an underwear shop. And all Lake knows about underwear can be summed up in how fast he can unsnap a bra. To make matters worse, the tiny highland town already has a lingerie shop. A successful one, run by an ex-lingerie model. A very gorgeous ex-lingerie model, who’s distracting him from his mission more than he’d like to admit. If Lake wants to get his savings back, and get out of Scotland, he only has one option - wipe out the competition.

Kirsty Campbell has spent years rebuilding her life after she woke up in hospital in Spain to find her body scarred, and her ex-fiance had run off with all her money. The last thing she needs is a cocky, English soldier-boy trying to ruin all she has left. Her home town is only too happy to help her fight the latest English invasion, although Lake is beginning to sway them with his sex appeal and cut price knickers. With the help of her mother, and the retired ladies of Knit or Die, Kirsty sets about making sure that her shop is the last one standing in Invertary.

It’s Scotland versus England as you’ve never seen it before. It’s lingerie war.