Masters of Desire. Layla Chase

      “Kanoni, I’m so glad you’re here.” Melodie hurried toward the Obeah woman’s hut, her belly tied in knots, her body afire with memories of her pirate’s tryst. “Where is Busara?”

      “She’s away tending to a sick man in the village.” Kanoni rested her hand on Melodie’s forehead. “Your face is flushed. Are you well?”

      Melodie pushed her hand away. “No, I’m not well.”

      “Then sit. I’ll gather mother’s herbs.”

      “You can’t cure me with herbs.” She spun and walked a few steps away, wrapping her arms around her belly. “My stomach and chest hurt so bad I think I shall die.”

      “Did you eat something bad?”

      “No.” Tears welled in her eyes and she turned to her friend. “It’s him!”

      Kanoni’s brows dipped into a fierce frown. “A man? Did he hurt you?”

      “No. Yes. Oh, I don’t know,” she wailed.

      Her friend propped her fists on her narrow hips. “If he hurt you, Kanoni will do terrible tings to him.”

      “No, no, he didn’t do anything to me I didn’t want him to.” Melodie’s cheeks flamed and she shied away from her friend’s knowing look. “He touched me in the most glorious places.” Her voice faded off as her mind recaptured the magic of his hands and tongue.

      “Is that all?” Kanoni let out a relieved sigh. “For a moment you had dis girl worried.”

      “Is that all?” Melodie flung her arms wide. “He wants to kill your mother!”

      The Obeah’s daughter shrugged. “Dat will never happen. She has de magic about her.”

      “He is a very determined man, Kanoni.”

      “Determined to kill my mother, or to deflower virgin mermaids?” She smiled and wrapped her arm around Melodie’s shoulder. “Come, girl, talk to Kanoni. What happened last night? Did the stars cast their spell on you? Did my mermaid friend fall in love?”

      “No!” Melodie pulled away. “How could I fall in love? I’ve only known him for one night.”

      The dark-skinned young woman shook her head as if blessed with a maturity beyond her nineteen years “It only takes a moment for some.”

      “But that’s impossible, I tell you.” Melodie paced in front of the Obeah’s cabin. “He held me captive and…and…did things to me.” Her voice trailed off into a whisper.

      “Ah.”

      Kanoni’s lips tipped upward in a gentle smile. “He made love to my Melodie, did he not?”

      “Yes.” Melodie sank to the dirt and buried her face in her hands. “I thought I could lure him in and kill him. But once he came, he was so beautiful I couldn’t kill him. I couldn’t. He could just as easily have killed me.”

      “Der, der, my sweet.” Kanoni sat on the hard-packed earth beside her and patted her back. “All is not lost.”

      “But it is!” Melodie looked up through tear-soaked eyes. “He’ll be back to kill Busara and I won’t be able to stop him.”

      “Are you afraid he will come back, or more afraid he will not?”

      Melodie stared at her friend for a long moment and then dissolved into even more tears. She hadn’t cried this much since her parents died. “How could this have happened? How could I?”

      “How could you fall in love?” Busara’s deeper voice sounded from behind the two younger women. “Why do you think I sent you to ward off Lord Rafe Herrington’s attack?”

      “To make me fall in love with him?” Melodie stared at the woman she’d come to for help.

      “No, to make him fall in love with you.”

      “But he doesn’t love me! He only…” Her chin dropped to her chest. “Made love to me.”

      The Obeah woman crossed her arms over her breasts. “He will be back.”

      “Only to kill you.” Melodie leaped to her feet and grasped the older woman’s hands. “I failed you.”

      “You did no such ting.” The woman’s boney fingers clutched hers. “I am still alive, am I not?”

      “Yes, but—”

      “No buts. ’Tis true. And he will be back, not because of me, but for you.” She held her hand up to stem the flow of Melodie’s denial. “Oh, he will tink he comes for himself, but he is only a man. They don’t always know how to listen to de heart.”

      “What if he kills you?”

      “He won’t. ’Tis not in de bones.” She tapped a finger to the sack tied to her waist containing her collection of bones. “He will come to know his love for you.”

      “But we are too different. He is a man. I’m half mermaid.”

      “You are alike in more ways dan you tink,” Busara said. “You will have decisions to make.”

      “Decisions? Rafe Herrington is the former governor of the island. I could never fit in his world. I’ve already made my decision. I want to be a mermaid forever.”

      “You haven’t changed your mind?” Busara asked.

      “No.”

      The Obeah woman’s eyes narrowed and she fixed a hard stare on Melodie. “Then tomorrow you will have your potion.”

      “I will?” Melodie’s heart leaped. After years of being caught between two worlds, she was finally going to get her wish.

      “Yes, now, go. I have much work to do. Play with de little ones in de cove. They love to swim wit’ you.”

      Despite having her greatest wish within a day’s wait of coming true, Melodie warred with uncertainty. She looked to Kanoni.

      The younger woman grabbed her hands and squeezed. “Trust Mamma. All will be well.”

      What more could she do? Lord Rafe Herrington was a man. Melodie would soon be a mermaid forever. Their worlds were vastly different. Even if Melodie chose to be human, she’d never fit in his life. Not that he’d made any declarations of undying love. Nor would he.

      Melodie left the small cottage and walked down to the cove, her heart heavy with thoughts of her future. She couldn’t deny she wanted to see Rafe again. But what good would it do? And what if Busara was wrong? What if Rafe killed her?

      4

      As night neared, Rafe made his way toward Siren’s Cove, promising himself he would complete his mission. If the Obeah woman wouldn’t give him the potion to cure his curse, he’d kill her and hope that by killing the old woman, his curse would reverse.

      Dusk had melted into the darkness of night as he neared the shore. To avoid Melodie’s enticing music, he’d taken the precaution to plug his ears with candle wax before he set out. He moved in silence just beneath the surface until his serpent’s belly scraped against the sandy bottom. Popping his head above the surface, he realized he’d unwittingly returned to the same rocky point where he’d made love to Melodie. He should have taken the more direct route, entering Siren’s Cove under the cover of dark when the witch’s magic couldn’t hide the entrance.

      The shoreline stood empty, the rocks casting dark shadows in the light from a million stars. He willed his change back to human form, his gaze rising to the boulder where he’d originally found Melodie.

      From where he stood, waist deep in the surf, he couldn’t see her. Why hadn’t she come to lure him away again? Not that she could with the wax firmly in