To Seduce A Siren by Jane Cousins Page B

facts straight if
you’re going to play the bard.”
    Nate
had remembered her eyes were green… hmm, what did that mean?
    “Green!” 
Her admirer jumped on the word and ran with it.  “Eyes the colour of
freshly cut grass…”
    “Maat,
what are you, a farmer?  First with the milk and now with the grass. 
Look snap out of it, your boat is still sinking.”
    “That’s
okay… not my boat… borrowed it.”  He shuffled forward, his hand now
clutched over his heart.  “I love you, I don’t think I can live without
you, I don’t want to live without you.”  Her admirers eyes fluttered shut
for a moment.  Him being inebriated meant Bettina was having a much easier
time of siphoning off his emotions.  He’d be falling into a deep sleep
soon. 
    Nate
swept past the drunk, placing his arm protectively around Charisse.  The
moment his hand came to rest on the small of her back she jumped on the
spot.  Ouch, that had hurt. A sharp jolt of pain had coursed through her,
rather like being bitten by a snake.  Nate must have felt something too as
he was rubbing his hand and glaring at her … breasts?  No slightly lower
down… weird.  Well she’d already guessed Bettina wasn’t fond of Nate but
until he’d tried to touch her she hadn’t figured out exactly how much.
    “Sorry.” 
She tried to shrug off the incident.  “Must be some static electricity in
the air.”
    “Yeah
right.”  He glanced over at Charisse’s admirers, the one on the ground had
curled up into a ball and appeared to be fast asleep, the remaining one just
stood there swaying, hand outstretched towards Charisse, a thin line of drool
dripping down his chin.  Maat, anyone and their sister knew that boating
and drinking were not a good combination.  Here were the poster boys for
abstinence if he’d ever seen them.
    Sighing,
Charisse brushed past her visitors, picked up some rope keeping one of the
fenders secured to the rock and tied up the sinking boat.  At least this
way the insurers could collect the wreckage and the motor.  
    “What
do you want me to do with these two?”  Nate gestured towards drunk and
drunker. 
    Goddess,
it was nice for once to have someone else offer to clean up Bettina’s
mess.  Still, these men were her problem, her responsibility.  “I’ll
put a call into the marina.  They’ll send a boat over to pick them up.”
    Nate
nodded, that sounded like a sensible plan and it wasn’t as if either of these
two were a threat to Charisse’s safety, not in their condition.  Glancing
towards the horizon he tensed, noting the low position of the sun.  Where
had the day gone?  “Well it’s been… interesting Cyd.  Thanks for the
drink.  I’ll catch you around.”
    And
just like that he dove into the water, trousers, boots and all.  Striking
off in the direction of… well, she supposed it was his beach now since he’d
bought Kaleidoscope Folly. 
    “Umm,
bye.”  She muttered, though he was long gone.  She looked over at the
one guy still awake.  “That was weird right?”
    “Pretty…” 
Was all he managed to mumble before collapsing to his knees and then onto his
back.
    “Typical
man.”  Charisse glared down at him.  “When I’m finally ready to talk
all you want to do is sleep.” 
    Then
she directed her glare at Nate’s retreating form, the real person she was angry
at.  Why had the Council allowed him to buy property in the
Sanctuary?  Oh sure Vaughn and Drum may have recently married into the
family, but that didn’t give the rest of Maat’s warriors the right to just move
in, buy up homes and roam the countryside and seas being all buff, half-naked
and frustratingly distant… did it?

 
     
    Chapter
Five
     
    For
the fourth morning in a row Nate watched the sun rise.  He didn’t sleep
much these days, often he found himself working deep into the night on whatever
project he’d chosen to keep his mind off his problems; sawing, hammering,
stripping, sanding, ripping,