To Shackle a Shrew (Southern Sanctuary Book 7)

by Jane Cousins

  “And no pointless flattering or compliments.” Devon jabbed a killing nail in his direction.

  “Just sex, I know.” His hand snaked out wrapping around her bare knee, sliding his palm slowly upwards along her inner thigh.

  Devon jumped slightly at his touch. “What do you think you’re doing?” She gritted her teeth to prevent a moan escaping as his warm fingers brushed over the sensitized flesh of her inner thigh.

  “Just following orders, Captain. This recruit doesn’t want to disappoint a superior officer.”

  Devon tamped down on the sudden urge to laugh out loud, the man was just full of fun surprises. Narrowing her eyes further she glared down at him. “Yes, the punishment for failing to live up to my expectations can be pretty severe.” Suddenly her frown was genuine. “Why have you stopped, Recruit?”

  His hand remained stationary, wrapped around her mid-thigh.

  “I’m waiting for permission to go higher, Captain.” Liam’s aquamarine eyes sparkled with mischief and pure lust.

  “Permission granted.” Devon’s voice sounded a little bit breathier than she would have liked considering the role she was playing. But the continual progress of Liam’s hand as it moved up her thigh soon proved too distracting to worry about such inconsequential matters.

  Liam watched with anticipation as the hem of Devon’s dress started to rise, revealing those taut dark chocolate toned thighs of hers. Man, considering he was sitting and she was still standing in front of him, he literally had the best seat in the house as he moved his other hand up the back of her left thigh. Her dress was almost rucked around her waist now, revealing cornflour blue lacy knickers that looked more than a little damp.

  He scooted to the edge of the sofa, leaning forward ever so slowly to place a soft kiss on her upper thigh, and then another slightly higher still, then more as he kissed his way upwards over damp silk, his lips tracing a path across her tight tummy, skimming the edge of the lace.

  Devon found herself gripping Liam’s shoulders for support, her knees suddenly feeling too weak to hold her upright. Biting back a moan as he hooked two fingers into her knickers and dragged them slowly down her thighs until they dropped to the floor.

  Liam parted her dark curls with his fingers and bought his mouth down on her clit, flicking his tongue out to tease it. She tasted like sun warmed honey and cinnamon. He couldn’t get enough of her. Two of his fingers slid inside her tight wet core, thrusting slowly in and out.

  Devon released a throaty sigh, her spine arched, her head thrown back. The way Liam was worshipping her with his mouth, his tongue… oh, Yami, one of her hands came up to fist his hair. Yes, her toes were practically curling in her Christian Louboutin’s, if he stopped, her wrath would know no bounds. Her hair lashed out, several curls wrapping around his upper arms, holding him in place whilst several others dreamily caressed his back, plucking at the material of his t-shirt.

  Now this was the way to be greeted after a long hard day at the hospital. No stupid meaningless chit chat, just hot - knee melting - sex. Devon’s whole body locked as an orgasm swept through her, washing away her tension, her frustrations and all her anger.

  Liam lowered her down on to his lap, claiming her mouth, sharing the taste of her. Breaking the kiss he watched Devon try to catch her breath, her eyes heavy lidded with pleasure.

  “How did I do, Captain? Think I’m cut out for a life in the army?”

  Devon smiled, brushing his blonde hair back from his eyes with a languid hand. “You could use some work on your technique, Recruit.”

  Liam chuckled. “Well, you know what they say about improvement. It can only be achieved through practise, practise, practise.”

  Devon let out a soft gasp as Liam stood up, sweeping her up into his arms and striding down the hallway to her bedroom.

  * * *

  Liam surveyed the large array of almost empty Chinese food containers balanced precariously on Devon’s bed. Where was the satay chicken? He’d barely finished the thought when one of Devon’s curls snaked out, snatched up a box, and offered it to him. A-hah, satay chicken. “Thanks.”

  Devon, her back resting against an array of fluffy pillows placed her own chopsticks in a nearby empty carton. “Phew, I’m done.” It felt kind of decadent to be eating a midnight feast of takeaway in bed with a man draped only in a sheet. With little conscious thought her curls starting stacking empty containers and transferring them to the bedside table.

  Liam savoured a mouthful of chicken in peanut sauce. “So, this Sienna Groves woman? I didn’t get a chance to ask you this morning, why do you think it’s her? One moment you were sleeping, the next moment you’re awake shouting something about blisters and calling the police.”

  Devon smoothed down the black satin robe she’d donned earlier to answer the door to pay for the food. “I was waking up, my mind drifting and I was thinking about what we’d done the previous night.”

  “And that equated to blisters? Thanks very much.”

  “No.” Devon rolled her eyes. “I was thinking about how despite the fact that I’m Makura, and you’re Merrow, we’re compatible underwater when it comes to metabolising oxygen from the surrounding water. Which got me to thinking about clans who can do a human form but need gills underwater. And that’s when it hit me, the timing, why Sienna’s throat kept flaring and why she wouldn’t let me conduct any tests. If I did, I’d know what type of species she was.”

  “So which one is she?” Liam asked, finishing the last mouthful he handed over the empty carton to one of Devon’s curls to stack with the other empties.

  “No idea, but that’s not important. What is important is that underwater Sienna requires gills to breathe.”

  Liam shook his head. “I’m still lost.”

  “Look, imagine you’re an underwater race that can breathe fire, green fire which burns at temperatures way hotter than normal flames and is a bitch to put out. Underwater when they open their mouth to release the fire their gills open also, flooding their respiratory system, protecting them from any damage. But Sienna is creating fire in her human form and her body isn’t equipped to protect her as thoroughly as it does when she’s underwater… hence the badly blistered throat.”

  Liam lounged back on an elbow, thinking. “But why? What’s in it for her?”

  “No idea.”

  “Could she be an assassin for hire?”

  Devon shook her head. “And be this incompetent? I don’t think so. Besides, it feels personal, doesn’t it? Her turning up in my treatment room, getting to know me. Why would she do that?”

  “Size you up maybe. And it also gives her a good excuse to hang around the hospital, keeping an eye on you, listening in to all the gossip. Find out first-hand how her attempts to remove us from the picture turn out.”

  Devon thought about Sienna, her lank long mousey brown hair, pale skin that mottled often with high embarrassed waves of colour. Her constantly red rimmed eyes, that leaked tears of pain down her full cheeks, were a non-descript brown. If not for her body size Sienna would be easily dismissed but her height, at just under six feet, and barrel shaped body, made her stand out as unusual. She moved awkwardly as well, shoulders hunched, her head tucked down. Perhaps she didn’t spend a lot of time out of the water, which might explain her dress sense, all those drab ill-fitting jeans and oversized tops.

  “Did she ever share any personal information with you? Where she was from? Did she say anything about knowing anyone in the area?”

  “All questions the police asked me.” Devon was momentarily distracted as one of Liam’s large hands came down to rest on her ankle. For a moment she flashbacked to earlier in the evening. This time though, rather disappointingly, his hand remained in the one spot, his fingers lightly caressing the side of her foot. Hmmm… what had she been going to say? “The woman barely talked to me, not with the state her throat was in. I just got a lot of pleading teary looks and stubborn frowns of refusal if I suggested I perform some tests. We weren�
�t BFF candidates or anything.”

  “Damn.” Liam’s fingers moved lightly to trace Devon’s ankle bone. “Our first real lead and we’ve come to a complete standstill. And it doesn’t sound like she left anything behind for the police to find. She could be anywhere by now.”

  Devon was finding it hard to think. Why was the act of Liam doing nothing more than touching her bare ankle so distracting? Her heart was racing and her curls were moving restlessly over the pillows behind her. Concentrate woman. “I doubt she’s gone very far away. She’s made at least two serious attempts so far to hurt people and I don’t think she’s finished.”

  “You say that like you think she’s done more than just knock me off my bike and total your car?”

  “I was thinking about the time line. She’s been in to see me three times so far for treatment and the first time was a few days before your motorbike accident.”

  “You think she attempted to hurt you or someone else before I even arrived here?”

  “I can’t think of any other reason her throat would flare up unless she had used her ability to breathe fire. The police are combing back through police reports, trying to find evidence of an earlier incident.”

  “Unless she was practising. Maybe she’s never used her ability to create fire out of water before. Maybe the blisters were a total surprise, or she knew about the side effects and used it as an excuse to get close to you.” Liam sighed in frustration, his breath blowing heat over the sensitive skin of Devon’s forearm. “I hope they find her soon, this chick definitely sounds unstable.” Liam’s thumb absently brushed back and forth over Devon’s ankle.

  Devon pulled the satin collar of her robe closer together, trying to hide the fact that her nipples had gone rock hard. What was it about this man, his proximity to her that turned her on so much? A simple touch from him confused and distracted her, she didn’t like it, but at the same time, she couldn’t bring herself to kick away his hand. Biting her cheek to keep a relieved moan at bay when he finally, finally moved his hand up her leg to trace her calf muscle up and back… up and back, it was hypnotic and frustrating. The man was turning her into a weak willed spineless female… and yet she still wasn’t killing him or even kicking him out of her bed.

  Pretty soon she’d be laughing at all his jokes, dressing to please him and making him breakfast. Pah, the very thought sickened her, yet it was all she could do not to squirm in place as his fingers danced around the back of her bent knee, tingles of sensation racing up her body to centre between her legs. The throb there now was as constant as waves breaking on the shore.

  “So, what did you do with yourself all day?” Sweet Yami! Had those inane words actually been uttered by her? By all the Rivers, what was this man doing to her?

  Chapter Fourteen

  She wasn’t jealous… she wasn’t. Big deal, Liam had spent yesterday at the fitness centre owned by Elisabeth Bright. And so what if he was back there today because Elisabeth had personally asked him to teach a couple of climbing classes.

  Unconsciously Devon growled.

  The patient, whose nose she was looking up at the time jerked her head back, eyes wide. “Is there a problem, Doctor?”

  “What?” Devon released a breath, peering at her patient’s nose. “No… well, other than it’s bright green.” And it was, very green, very bright. Nor was it particularly unusual, she had a whole reception area full of senior citizens with the exact same complaint, a bus load of them in fact, the Southern Sanctuary Sunshine Senior’s club.

  Daphne Galt, the club’s stalwart leader had volunteered to be the first to be examined by Devon. With her dyed bobbed red hair, glittering long earrings and swathed in jewelled coloured fabrics, Daphne certainly brightened up her dull office. And Devon had a sneaky suspicion that if she turned the lights off, the woman’s nose might very well glow in the dark.

  “When you growled just now you reminded me so much of Nabha.”

  Devon looked up from the notes she was making. “You know my Great-Great-Aunt?”

  “Of course, she’s married to my husband’s brother.”

  “Oh, that’s… nice. Now you say it doesn’t hurt? Your nose?”

  “No, though it is kind of discombobulating being able to smell money like this, did you know dear that you have a fifty cent piece under that cabinet over there.”

  “Ur, no, thank you. Now, you were telling me how this happened.” She clicked her pen.

  “It’s all Adelaide’s fault, she’s my older sister. Today’s group outing was supposed to be to the casino at Tweed Heads. We like to play the poker machines there and the buffet is very good value for money.”

  Devon tamped down on the urge to roll her eyes. “And your noses?”

  Daphne brushed a dazzling yellow scarf back over her shoulder, the material billowing out an almost hitting Devon in the face. “Well, Adelaide fixed this potion you see, so that we could detect which machines would be lucky. Sniff out the money so to speak… it’s not cheating or anything, just hedging luck in our favour. A harmless bit of fun. Obviously the potion turned out a lot stronger than she was expecting.”

  “A-huh.” Devon made several more notes. “Can you tell me what was in the potion?” Personally she’d kill to be able to smell money, anything would be better than the cloud of Chanel no. 5 that emanated off Daphne in choking waves.

  “No, you’ll need Adelaide for that, not that she’s admitting she did anything wrong mind you. I’ll fetch her if you like.” Daphne stepped down from the exam table waving a bejewelled hand, gesturing towards the reception area.

  “No, that’s okay.” Devon retreated to her desk. “I’ll buzz reception to send her on through, why don’t you take a seat?”

  Three minutes later Devon was sitting across from Daphne and her sister Adelaide, who in sharp contrast, wore nothing but the colour white. They resembled one another around the mouth and had the same eyes, though Adelaide’s hair was as white as her elegant trousers and blouse. Like her sister she was inclined towards sweeping hand gestures, large easy smiles and a matching bright green nose.

  They also both seemingly had a heavy hand when it came to applying perfume as Adelaide’s Shalimar fought a battle with Daphne’s Chanel no. 5 to saturate the air in Devon’s small office.

  “Did you know that you have a fifty cent piece under that cabinet over there?” Adelaide enquired, smiling.

  “Yes, I did, thank you.” Devon snapped out the words.

  “Oh, she’s just like Nabha, isn’t she?” Adelaide nudged her sister, who nodded enthusiastically. “We’ve all been following your dates. Our group has a permanent booking every Saturday at the Five Alarm Bar. It’s very exciting, all these young men coming and going. And that last one who brought the young lady, what a sleaze bag. Though I did have a very interesting talk with the young lady, I write novels you know… erotic novels, always researching.”

  Daphne cut off her sister, eyeing Devon avidly. “Any tips for the next date? I was thinking of betting that he would be twenty-seven minutes late.”

  “Twenty-seven?” Adelaide shook her head. “I was thinking more like an hour and three minutes.”

  Both ladies looked towards Devon, as if she could provide them with insider information.

  “I can’t help you with that, I’m afraid. Now, about this potion you made, that turned everyone’s noses green?”

  Adelaide huffed out a derisive breath. “Honestly, such a fuss, yes it turned out a little stronger than I had planned on, but I don’t know what everyone is complaining about. If we’d just stopped and bought some heavy foundation and concealer like I suggested, we could have been at the casino by now raking in the jackpots.”

  Devon fought the urge to bring out her killing nails and start slashing. “The ingredients?”

  A stubborn look settled over Adelaide’s features as she crossed her arms, giving Devon a pointed look.

  “Adelaide… please.” Daphne looked at her sister. “Remember we have that climbi
ng class scheduled tomorrow at the fitness centre with that lovely young man Elisabeth knows, and I, for one, don’t want to be distracted by the smell of a ten dollar note when I’m thirty feet off the ground.”

  Devon’s nails gouged into the wood of her desk. She. Was. Not. Jealous. Liam had a perfect right to hang out at the fitness centre, speak to whomever he liked… even if they were some over-sexed athletic blonde old enough to be his mother.

  “You should join us?”

  Huh, what? “Excuse me?” Devon looked at Daphne. Studiously ignoring her hair which seemed to be writhing in excitement, thank Yami she’d clipped it back this morning.

  “You should come to the climbing class tomorrow, all you’ve done since you’ve been here is work and date.” Daphne peered at Devon, genuine warmth radiating from her. “That can’t be healthy.”

  Adelaide, instantly distracted, lost her stubborn mulish look and leaned forward intently. “Yes, you should join us darling girl. Martha won’t come climbing, not since that incident with the zip line last year in New Zealand.”

  Daphne nodded. “Yes, and Crips won’t come either, you know heights always remind him of that trapeze artist he dated. You should come along and make up the numbers.”

  Normally Devon would scoff at such an invite, her climbing? She had better things to do with her free time, say deep conditioning her hair, but a small niggly part of her really wanted to go. Because climbing was supposedly fun, not because she wanted to watch Liam interact with Elisabeth Bright again. It wasn’t like she was jealous or anything.

  “You’re not going to tell me about the potion unless I agree to go, are you?” She directed the question at Adelaide, hoping like hell the older lady would think she had her over a barrel. Better that they believe they had coerced her than let them know how badly she wanted to go… to try climbing of course, and if she happened to spy Liam and Elisabeth together, then so be it.

  Devon glanced down at her desk, discreetly nudging her folder over so that it covered the five deep gouges she had scratched across the wood… she was not jealous… she was just territorial. It was in her blood, Makura were notorious for it. Not that she owned Liam or that he answered to her or anything, but they did have an unspoken exclusive agreement to have sex with one another.