What to do with a Naked Leprechaun
By
Tianna Xander
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
What to do with a Naked Leprechaun
Copyright ã 2007 Tianna Xander
ISBN: 1-55410-770-9
Cover art and design by Martine Jardin
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
Published by eXtasy Books
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www.extasybooks.com
Dedicated to:
Kevin: For your unfailing encouragement and support.
Bonnie: For getting me out of all those sticky spots.
Sharolyn: You’re always an inspiration.
Tony: For being a member of our mutual admiration society. You’re my muse as well.
Prologue
Liam stood hidden in the bushes on the edge of the woods and tried not to watch the girl as she bathed. He had been able to resist her when she was younger, but all that changed the day she turned twenty-six. For five years, he’d watched over her, protected her and felt nothing. Only the last six months had been painful.
Need slammed through him as she shed her clothes and stood beneath the small waterfall. He frowned at the ever-strengthening sensation. He shouldn’t be able to feel anything, yet he did. Desire shot through his blood like lightning, burning its way through his veins.
He fought the unreasonable urge to fondle genitals that were no longer there. Guardians were rendered a-sexual before they were sent out to watch over humans, to prevent such an attraction. He snorted his disgust and quickly covered his mouth in horrified silence when she turned to look toward him. A frown marred her beautiful face as she peered through the dense foliage and stared right at him, thankfully unseeing.
After a moment, she shook her head and returned to her ablutions in the cold mountain water. She brushed her hair back from her face, rinsing the dirt and perspiration from the smooth milky skin Liam ached to touch. Her nipples pebbled beneath the chill spray, drawing his attention to the full, ripe mounds of her breasts.
He closed his eyes and swallowed. His throat nearly closed off with need, as he smelled the rich scent of the composted earth and her unique scent that clung to the clothing at his feet. Another lightning-bolt of desire shot through his blood at the scent of her woman’s cream upon the lace panties. He fought the urge to pick them up and drag them to his face.
Liam smiled darkly. He may not be allowed to touch her in reality, but no one forbid him to visit her dreams. Her tall handsome dream lover came every night to touch her, caress her, send her keening over the edge of desire’s precipice.
Closing his eyes, he wished himself away from the pond, away from his charge. She would be fine if he left her alone for a few minutes. Liam needed to get away, find a respite with his own people as he attempted to make plans to be with her. He opened his eyes to find himself standing before his king and queen, shaking with barely suppressed desire.
He knelt before them, his tired knees creaking from disuse. After five years of watching his ward, he was no longer used to kneeling to anyone. The action rankled but he didn’t let it show. It wasn’t wise to ire those from whom you were about to petition a favor.
“What brings you to us, Liam?”
His queen’s musical voice usually caused ripples of desire to crawl over his skin. Yet, this time, it did nothing for him as he knelt before her, his head bowed.
It was reputed that the Queen of the Leprechauns could make any man shiver with need with a mere look. Her voice alone—if she deemed you worthy to speak to—could drive any man mad with desire. Usually.
Liam swallowed around the sudden lump in his throat and addressed his King.
“I wish special dispensation, Sire.”
The King of the Leprechauns glanced down at his short fingers and picked at his nails. Thinking.
“For?” he asked, his emerald green eyes narrowed, his fiery red brows drawn down in a frown.
The queen smiled. “Can’t you tell, darling?” she asked, trailing her hand along his arm. She stood, stepped down and strolled around Liam as he knelt before the golden dais. “He’s in love with his Charge.”
Reaching out, she feathered her fingers through Liam’s hair and a glossy black clump fell over his right eye. She knelt down to whisper in his ear.
“She would never love you as you are. You know that don’t you, little man?” Her glacial eyes flashed as her gaze drifted over his slight form and she tapped her chin with her finger. “You’re much too short for her, you know.” She stared cruelly at his short muscular form with an appraising eye. “While usually you are rather well-endowed for a leprechaun, you will certainly leave something to be desired with a human woman. They do not call us the little people for nothing.”
Liam clenched his teeth. Did she think he did not know that? That was why he was here. On his knees again. He stubbornly squared his shoulders and lifted his chin, determined to get his way in this matter.
“Leeanau, my queen, I beg you.” He looked back and forth between them, earnest. “Allow me to use my magic to become human. If she refuses me as a man, I will return to your service as before.”
The king and queen, never able to resist the opportunity to haggle, glanced at each other and smiled.
“There must be something more in it for us,” King Danu, said shifting in his seat.
The gold and jewels in his liege’s crown glittered brightly drawing Liam’s attention to the shining treasure. He shook his head, refusing to be swayed. He could not give up his treasure. He would need it to support himself and Cammie should he succeed. Besides, he would need money in the human realm to court her.
“My treasure remains mine. I will need it if I succeed.” He didn’t add that he didn’t trust anyone with its whereabouts. He took a deep breath, knowing that what he was about to offer could very well come to pass. If it did, it meant that Cammie had refused him and it would not matter anyway because he would be dead inside. “If I do not succeed, I shall remain here in Delura as your personal servant for one-hundred years.”
Leeanau’s eyes flashed with certain anger. “An insult!” She lifted her chin, twitched her skirts and looked down her nose at him, an evil-looking smile on her too beautiful face. “A thousand years.”
Liam shook his head. “Two-hundred fifty.”
Danu sighed, exasperated and tired of the game. He pounded his jewel-encrusted cane against the emerald tiled floor. “Five-hundred years, boy. Take it or leave it.”
“I agree to those terms but I have a few conditions of my own.” He ticked them off on his fingers. “My hair and skin color remain the same. As a human, I want to be six and a half feet tall and . . .” he glanced down toward his groin. “ . . . I want large genitals for a human male, but not freakishly large. The genitals should be proportionate to my new build and stature.” He stared into each of their eyes. “And no tricks from either of you. I’m to
be set down close to Cammie so I will not have a difficult time finding her.”
“Agreed,” they said in unison. “Now you shall hear our terms.” Leeanau paced before him, her stiff skirts swishing with every step. “You will enter that world remembering nothing of this life. You shall have no memory of the girl and you will be stripped of your magic. If you have not won the girl’s love and trust by midnight of the Saint’s Day, we shall return you here to fulfill your half of our bargain.”
“What of my treasure? How will I have the means to court her if I have no magic and do not know who I am?”
They glanced at each other. “We shall leave you with the means to live and to court her. You will remember everything once she declares her love or you return here for your penance. You have our word.”
“Agreed.”
Chapter One
Cammie stepped from beneath the cold spay of her natural shower and started up the soft grassy bank. She jumped at the sound of a large splash.
“Now that was too big to be a fish.” She turned around warily, expecting to see a predator on her trail.
Instead, she saw a large man lying face down in the center of the clear-water pool—a very large, very naked man.
“Holy crap!” She jumped into the frigid pool and swam out to the man with the strong sure stokes of someone who spent a lot of time in the water.
She reached the body in less than a minute, rolled him over onto his back and dragged him to the bank. Tilting his head to the side, she pressed on his chest in an attempt to rid his lungs of water. Nothing happened. It was almost as though she wasn’t strong enough to force the deadly water from his lungs.
Overlooking both their nudity, she straddled the man’s stomach, placed her hands just below his chest and pushed with all her might.
“Come on, damn it! Cough it up! I don’t want you drowning on my land. I would never be comfortable here again.” Oh, now that was nice wasn’t it?
Finally, after what seemed like forever, his body shuddered and he coughed up what seemed like half the pond onto the grassy bank.
She rested her weight on her knees and watched him cough up the water, hoping he would be all right. The man was just too damned handsome to die. Wet, jet-black hair fell back from his face revealing a strong jaw. A slightly crooked nose gave him character and his lashes were long enough to kill for.
She frowned, why did men always get the long lashes and women had to buy enhancements? Her chest heaved from the effort of saving this man’s life as she sat on him and stared down at his too handsome face.
His eyes opened and she stared into the most beautiful sapphire blue eyes she’d ever seen. Something hard poked her in the hip and she blushed, finally remembering their state of undress.
“Can you breathe?” she asked as she jumped off him. Men! They get a damned hard-on over anything. Less than two minutes ago, his life hung in the balance. Now he’s aroused. Well, that figures, doesn’t it?
Keeping her distance, she kept her gaze on his face. Big mistake.
He stared back at her through half-closed eyes. God, he was potent. Even half-dead. Just a look left her melting. She felt it. Her insides turned to jelly. Heat pooled in her womb and her nipples hardened when his gaze dropped to her chest.
Sexual energy rolled off him in waves. Something told her to run. He was definitely fine. He had to be. Anyone who could stare at her with such intensity had to be okay. She backed up a step, mindful of her nudity. God, she wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole and hide. Whether she would be hiding from him, or her own sexual appetite, she had no idea.
Cammie tried to keep her gaze locked above his waist. The last thing she needed was to see the part of him that pushed so insistently against her hip a few short minutes ago. The thing felt huge.
Thank goodness she didn’t give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. It would have seemed too intimate, too much like a kiss. He smirked at her as she put her fingers to her lips. Did he know what she’d been thinking? No. It wasn’t possible.
Shaking her head, she finished backing into the bushes where she left her clothes. In all the years she’d been bathing here after her morning runs, she’d never once encountered another person. She hoped this wasn’t the beginning of a trend.
* * * *
Liam watched the girl that had been sitting on his chest until she disappeared into the bushes. Looking down at himself, he scowled at the throbbing appendage between his legs. He sat up willing his traitorous body to behave. But the memory of her naked beauty haunted him.
“I do not know what I did to frighten you, miss. But I wish you would come back and tell me where I am.” How I got here and, who I am for that matter.
He lifted his hand to his pounding head. Every time he tried to remember, his head pounded like someone stood next to him constantly rapping him on the head with a mallet.
Putting his hand to his aching head, he lay back on the soft grass, his feet still dangling in the chill water. His stomach churned as the world spun around him and he waited, hoping the girl would return.
She did. Fully clothed. She sauntered up to him and dropped a damp towel in his lap.
“Cover yourself up, will you? Have some modesty, geeze.” She turned away, waiting for him to make himself decent.
Liam stood and wrapped the towel around his middle. It covered him up well enough, but it did nothing for his erect cock. The damn thing still stood at attention like some tiny soldier awaiting its orders. Well, not tiny.
He shook his head with exasperation that his ego would rear its ugly head at a time like this. Hell, he didn’t know anything about himself except his first name and he was worried about thinking his cock was small.
“I am covered now. Will you please tell me where I am, how I got here and where my clothes are?”
She sat down on a large rock near the surface of the water and pointed up.
“You fell from the stream up there. I was bathing beneath the waterfall and you fell into the pond face down. I pulled you out and pumped the water from your lungs. Other than that, I have no idea where you came from.”
He sighed. “You don’t know me then?”
She shook her head. Her wet hair brushed over the front of her T-shirt causing her nipples to jut against the wet fabric. Liam did everything he could to remain standing just where he was. If she ran, he wouldn’t even know how to find help.
He coughed again, his lungs still aching from the fluid he inhaled. “Can you take me somewhere where I can get help?”
“Help?”
“Yes. I barely remember my first name. There has to be someone out there who can help me.” He said, advancing on her by a step.
“Oh! Of course.” Her eyes widened. “You think you have amnesia?”
“There is a name for what ails me?”
She nodded then stood up. “Why don’t you sit here and let me see if you have any lumps on your head. You could have hit your head, fell into the river upstream and floated down here.” She bit her lip. It still didn’t explain his nakedness, unless he’d been bathing in the stream himself.
He sat on the log in the same spot she’d just vacated and closed his eyes when her fingers lightly ran over his scalp. He had to. The sight of her ripe breasts beneath her vee-necked T-shirt, topped with those tight pink nipples was too much to bear. A sharp pain jolted through him when her fingers touched a tender spot just behind his ear and he flinched. His eyes flew open to greet her cleavage and he resisted the urge to bury his face between her breasts.
“I guess that hurt,” she asked, then sucked her bottom lip between her teeth. The action made his cock twitch. He did his best to ignore it. The woman wasn’t making sexual advances. She was merely attempting to treat the injuries of a stranger.
He nodded and his head began to pound. “Yes, it hurt quite a bit.” He refused to act tough now. Tough would get him a pat on the back and a see you later. He didn’t want this woman to leave him here. Something about he
r made him want to stay close to her side. Perhaps she was his only link to finding out who he was.
Her chestnut hair lightened as it dried in the cool mountain air. The breeze began to get colder and he shivered.
She looked up at the darkening sky. “We should get to my cabin. I think a storm is brewing. I didn’t hear anything on the radio this morning but that doesn’t mean anything. We have strange weather patterns up here.”
Leaves and twigs blew across the path as she led him to her cabin. Liam followed her, picking his steps carefully. The twigs and rocks cut into his bare feet. He looked around him and recognized all types of trees, by their bark alone. Maple, oak, ash, hawthorne. They were all here. Why did the oak, ash, and hawthorne seem to have such importance to him? They were just trees, after all. Weren’t they?
The warmth of her cabin enveloped him as soon as he stepped through the door. Blessed warmth and the smell of something delicious wafted over from the wood stove in the center of the room.
He inhaled appreciatively and she smiled.
“Are you hungry? There is plenty of stew if you’d like some.”
His stomach chose that time to grumble out its complaints and he grimaced. “It smells wonderful.”
“Well, wait till you taste it before you say that. It’s not much, but it’s warm and it’s filling. I went out and got Cattail roots this morning before I bathed. They should be done by now.” She stirred the stew before she got two bowls down from a cupboard.
“Cattails?”
“Yes.” She ladled the thick broth and chunks of meat, vegetables and apparently cattail roots into his bowl. “They’re a lot like potatoes. A survival food, if you will. I usually have to resort to gathering them before the chopper arrives with my supplies.”
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