Overboard Read online

  “What the fuck did you just do?” It was more of a yell than a question, but damn it, this shit was freaky! Rooms did not just change in a blink of an eye.

  She was dead. She had died -- drowned, in the middle of nowhere with no one to mourn her. How shitty was that? It was just so unfair. Sinking down to the floor, fat salty tears rained down her face. She didn’t bother attempting to wipe them away. What was the point? Dude wasn’t real, none of this was real.

  “At least Mae and Belle will never get their dirty hands on Uncle Mitch’s money,” she tried to console herself, ignoring Mr. Horse Hung completely. He no longer mattered seeing as how he was merely a figment of her dead imagination. She had never been into vanilla anyway. “At least I had a will. All the money will go towards a worthy cause and they will be out of luck.”

  It wasn’t much but it made her feel a little better. Too bad she had to be dead so she wouldn’t get the satisfaction of seeing their faces when they learned of that little piece of information.

  *****

  The lass was daft. Or maybe she waterlogged just a bit. He had been all prepared to hand her his pelt, a MAJOR concession on his part, and her she was blubbering about being dead.

  “Ye are NOT dead woman! I saved you! Me, Thane! And I am not a seal! Do ye not know the difference between a seal and a selkie? Are ye completely daft?”

  Well of course she was. Why else would she be sitting on the ground when he had conjured many a fine chair for her lovely ass. And it was lovely. In spite of his extreme irritation, his cock bobbed in agreement in his appreciation of her fine form. And here he had thought she might be a wee put out he had gotten rid of her ruined fancy gown.

  With a heavy sigh, he sat down on the floor to face her. Human women were fragile things. He had to remember that, now that he was about to mated with one for life. His father had warned him this might happen. It was a good thing he had contacted the elders, along with his sire prior to her coming around. The elders had inspected her and declared her fit to bare his children, as was expected when one mated with a human. It was not surprising in the least many of them expressed envy at his great fortune. It was a damned good thing he decided upon his current course of action. It had allowed him time to investigate the modern human world. It had been amazing to see how far they had advanced, yet they managed to stay as boorish as ever.

  Yes, it was a shame she was human, but her dark skin was soft and beautiful, her lips full and welcoming, more than made up for her humanity. She was far more mysterious and beautiful than any other woman he had ever seen, even those of the Otherworld. She had hips meant for riding, in fact, all her curves were a playground of delight. Best of all, she would be able to mentally survive the trip the depths for their mating ceremony. Not many humans could deal with such a thing. Although it was impossible to convert a human to selkie form, she must undergo something of a transformation to allow her to breathe underwater and to live beside him for many, many years to come. Every selkie must return to the sea from time to time, though he would be forced to live the majority of at least one lifetime on land until she was comfortable with notion of ocean living. After that, if he could convince her, she needed to be able to live in the sea.

  If he ever got that far, that is. She was just sitting there in some kind of daze, staring off at nothing in particular, rocking back and forth with her arms clutched tightly around herself. Hell, if she wanted a hug, all she had to do was ask. He was not the most handsome of his parents’ pups, true, but he was not all that bad.

  “Come here, lass.”

  Thane wasn’t sure what surprised him more, that he sat on the floor and opened his arms to her, or that she readily climbed in his lap, laying her head on his shoulder. He was not the touchy feely type in general. Although he felt nothing short of foolish sitting on the floor in the opulent room he had created just for her, he felt as if all was right with the world.

  The daft lassie fit as if she had been born to be right where she was. Now that he thought about, he supposed she was. There was only one female born for every selkie male. Gaia in her infinite wisdom had expanded the pool of mates to every sort of female on the earth, due to the lack of female selkies. It may take a fellow centuries to find a mate, but once he did, that was it. Given that their mates could be found anywhere, there were many who never found their other half and were cursed to live a solitary life. As the selkie lifespan was so long, no one knew for sure how long it was, it was a sad existence indeed.

  After a time, many simply disappeared, preferring to live life away from others in the deep rather than to watch as males all around him found their one and only. Others were even worse off, finding themselves mated to some of the most vicious of creatures. His brother was mated to a mermaid, poor sap. Mermaids were notoriously mean to the point of being just plain evil.

  “There are worse things than being mated to me ye kin?” Thane supplied helpfully. “I can give ye yer heart’s desire, and I cannae leave ye for verra long. And ye will nae age as yer kind is want to do. Well, after the ceremony anyway, but a few days should nae add many wrinkles. I will never even look at another female, and part of my powers will be transferred on to ye after we are well and truly bonded. Plus, I am not all that bad to look at. The mermaids say I am an excellent lover. So all in all, lass, I think ye are getting a pretty good bargain. After all, ‘tis I who is stuck with a human.”

  Thane finished his statement with a huge grin, inordinately proud he was able to state such a convincing case. Yet after five minutes, he began to worry his little lass had heard none of it. She lay silent in his lap, her warm cushy behind nestling his cock which had become as hard a granite, and was now weeping to be inside his mate. Yet another testament to his stellar control. He had yet to throw the wee lassie to the ground and ravish her as every cell in his body demanded he do. He was a veritable rock.

  “Lass?”

  Looking down, Thane found the woman was staring directly at his smooth chest, a frown marring her beautiful face. He didn’t like it. There should be no reason for his woman to frown, not ever.

  “What was your name again?”

  A huge grin split his face. Now they were getting somewhere. “I am called Thane. And ye are…?”

  “Hello, Thane. It’s nice to meet you. My name is Dallas, Dallas Craig. If you will kindly point me to the nearest passenger boat, airport, train or bus station, I will just be running along. I would love to stay, but you are insane, and I cannot possibly sit around on the lap of a crazy person. So I really must be going.” The human-Dallas (what an odd name for a human), pointed those devastating melting brown eyes dead at him and smiled. His cock jumped in approval. But then she had to continue talking. “If you could just give me back my clothes?”

  Chapter 4

  There was no way off this rock! Dallas had tried to go around what appeared to be a freakishly small castle, but there was a dense, heavy gray fog that encompassed both sides of the place, and the sounds emitting from that fog were not encouraging. The only place she could go once out of the massive oak door was to the shore directly in front the rock structure. There wasn’t a boat in site, and all she could see was miles and miles of blue-green sea.

  The color of Thane’s eyes…

  “Stop that!” she shouted out loud as if her wayward brain would listen if she said it instead of thought it.

  Yeah, right. All she could think about lately was Thane. The crazy ass man was just too fine for words. He was taller than most white men she had ever seen, except for maybe NBA players. Unlike basketball players, Thane was built much more solidly. He wasn’t all bulk and hulking muscles, but he wasn’t lanky either. His muscles were well defined, and she knew from experience he was hard as rock. Her poor knuckles still ached from the first time she had to punch him. The ass had had the nerve to just laugh at her efforts.

  And that weapon of his. Dropping down at the water’s edge, Dallas dribbled the cool water on her neck. The man simply refused to we
ar clothing, leaving her in a constant state of arousal. How could a girl not get all hot under the collar looking at all that all day every day? She had only been here all of three days, and in that short amount of time, he had invaded her very dreams. As soon as she settled into a nice, healing sleep she would start dreaming about those large hands caressing her body, that caustic tongue put too much better use between her thighs. And that dick of his…! He was built for sin, no doubt about it. Too bad he was out of his freaking mind.

  Who ever heard of a selkie? Yet, that was what he kept insisting he was. She wrote off the neat little trick of turning a shack into a three room castle full of all kind of decadent furnishings. She had been feverish. Yep, that was her excuse and she was sticking with it. And as far as his daily trips out into the ocean not to return for hours, well she was convinced he had a boat moored somewhere out there. For some reason he was holding her captive. Perhaps because he had never seen a black woman before and he was simple fascinated by the notion of a woman with skin much darker than his own.

  From what she could ascertain from his accent, they were somewhere in Scotland. It was probably the Highlands given how deliciously barbaric Thane was. Wait, no-not delicious. Irritating. He was over bearing, egotistical, sweet in his own way, oh so sexy, and…

  “Damn it! Get out of my head you bastard!” Dallas fumed, hurling a stray rock out into the ocean.

  “Ye will nae get out yer frustrations by abusing the sea, lassie. And I assure ye, my parents were mated right and proper, as we will be soon.”

  Speak of the devil and he will appear. She didn’t bother to deny she was speaking of him. He would never believe otherwise, so what was the point?

  “I have no idea what you are talking about,” she sniffed indignantly, sticking her noise in the air and waltzing past him back into the mini-castle. “And would you please put some damn clothes on!”

  She didn’t have to look in his direction to know a shit eating grin was plastered all over his face. The unrepentant ass knew she had a devil of a time keeping her eyes off that massive appendage of his. With each passing moment it was getting harder and harder to stop herself from climbing all over him and having her wicked way with his body. Whenever he was near, her skin itched and burned to be close to him. Just this morning she had awakened to find she had literally crawled all over him in her sleep. And did he just ignore it and pretend it never happened like she needed him to? No! He had to grin and invited her to do some in depth exploring. As if!

  At least he had finally supplied her with clothing, if you could call it that. The simple hopelessly antique dress was made for easy access. It was free flowing without being shapeless, infinitely comfortable, and easy to get in and out of. It was just one continuous dress with no zippers of buttons to fool around with. Surprisingly, the simple silk kept her warm from the chill, and the deep burgundy contrasted beautifully with her skin. It seemed to cling to her figure though it was incredibly easy to pull on and off. And goodness, how she longed to pull it off and rub herself all over her captor.

  A low moan escaped her lips before she could call it back. Damn, but the man was fine.

  “It will only get worse, lass.”

  Dallas jumped at the deep murmur right in her ear. He was standing so close she could feel waves of heat emanating from his bare skin. How had he gotten right up next to her without her noticing? What would be like to touch him? Was his skin nearly as smooth as it looked? Would his skin be salty if she licked him, just a little?

  “What will get worse?” her voice was a hoarse croak, but she really wanted to know. Was he counting on her craving becoming too much for her to bear? Would he taunt her to the point of insanity?

  “Mating heat. Yer lovely body recognizes its mate. If only the daft woman in possession of such a bountiful playground would recognize it as well.”

  “Mating heat. Riiiiiight.”

  If it wasn’t this mating crap, it was the constant insistence that he was some kind of magical seal-man-thingie. Selkie, that’s what he called himself. She was willing to admit she had no idea how he seemed to make food appear out of nowhere, she had no idea how the candles lit at the exact right moment, and she couldn’t quite figure out how a modern bathroom seem to appear out of nowhere after her complaints about the hole in the floor and an old fashioned pump with a huge wooden tub thing, but she was NOT going to jump off the deep end and say Thane was some kind of mythological creature. He was a man. An oddly hairless (except for the glorious midnight black mane), smooth, beautifully constructed man, but a man nonetheless.

  So why do you get so wet you are fairly dripping every time Thane is near? There were days when Dallas fervently wished she could turn her brain off. Always rationalizing, her damn mind was. There was nothing rational about her situation. She had to get out of here and back to Texas, preferably before Mae and Belle made it back with their crocodile tears with their grubby little hands stuck out for her money. She didn’t have time for a completely insane, albeit devastatingly handsome loon of a Highlander.

  But the only way out was through that sexy slice of fruitcake.

  Turning on her heel to face her nemesis, she considered her options. It would certainly be no hardship to go along with his delusions, within reason of course. If she played along for a little while, perhaps he would take her to civilization long enough to get away. It would be difficult to even appear to suspend her disbelief…Yeah, right. You want to jump his bones and you know it. Okay, fine, it would be no sweat off her back to pretend to be his mate or whatever. But she had to play this right.

  “So what does this mate stuff, uh, entail?” Dallas batted her eyelashes, a move she had seen Belle execute repeatedly. Taking a step forward, she boldly ran a finger across his smooth, well defined chest. Damn, his skin was warm and inviting. Splaying both hands against the expanse of the hard area, she leaned forward for just a little sniff. He smelled like the ocean and wind and the wild outdoors. Her mouth watered as her nipples pebbled into hard points. Just a taste, one little taste…

  “Lass, if ye kept it up I will nae be able to…”

  *****

  Thane’s mind blanked at the first swipe of her warm, wet tongue against his skin. He had waited too long as it was. The mating heat began gently at first, probably to allow the destined couple time to get to know each other. Unfortunately for humans and those fated to be with them, the gentle forty-eight hour period was not enough. Thane was walking on a very thin ledge when it came to his little human.

  He didn’t know what was worse; Dallas nude, or Dallas in the form fitting dress he graciously deigned to allow her to wear. While the magnificently nude Dallas had him salivating and precariously close to throwing her down on the nearest surface, the dressed Dallas set his mind to wondering of all the ways he could undress dress her, half dress her, or take her fully dressed. Instead of feasting his eyes on her hills and valleys, he was imagining all the different ways he could expose them for his pleasure.

  Dallas confounded him in a way no other female ever had. He found himself visiting his father daily for counsel on how to deal with her. Not that his father was much help, Thane’s mother was a siren.

  Thane had very limited experience with Dallas’ kind. His sire had once been with a human female thousands of years prior, so his help was a little outdated. The world had changed drastically, as Thane had found out. He had found the ancestral human home his family had set up in the case one of them found themselves bound to the land dwellers had lain abandoned, seeing as how neither he nor his brothers had bothered to visit it. None of them ever considered they may ever need it, no matter what the elders had warned. Thane had to expend more magic to set him up as a human than he had ever used before. Now that he had found his mate, he could not simply return to the sea at will, nor would he be able to make their home in the watery depths. He needed his mate much more than he needed to ocean, though he would have to return from time to time.

  He could not imagine
not offering his Dallas every advantage, therefore it was necessary to resurrect the ancient title one of his uncles had tricked the ancient King of Scotland out of many eons ago. Thane had found, to his chagrin, Scotland had long since been annexed by England, meaning he had to expend energy and magic to travel there to set up his long since defunct title as well as to set up his human fortune. That task was greater than he had ever expected.

  In the meantime, with patience he never knew he had, Thane waited, allowing Dallas as much time as she needed to become accustomed to him. His father had warned him against it, yet Thane knew with all Dallas had been through, she was hanging on by a thin thread. The last thing he wanted to do was push her over.

  Then she touched him.

  As long as she was running from him he was fine. He had not overtly touched her at all, afraid he would not be able to stop. He had begun to despair she would ever come around. The feel of her hands on his body lefty him breathless and weak in the knees. But her tongue, Sweet Mother, his body was set to flame by the first little innocent swipe of the wee instrument of torture.

  With a battle cry he had not uttered in centuries, Thane sweet his woman in his arms, charging inside and up the narrow stone staircase into the room he had created just for her. The act of dropping her on the bed was the last concession to any sibilance of control her could claim. Thank the gods his Dallas did not attempt to deny him, it would have driven him out of his half-gone mind. Instead she looked up at him, her chocolate eyes wide with wonder and anticipation. He could see her chest heaving with every harsh breath she took.

  Not willing to take the time to undress her, Thane simply waved his hand and the dress was gone.