Bedding a Mermaid, by Brenda Williamson

Where merfolk dwell beneath the sea, affection is freely shared between males and females. After Nerina spies a merman walking on a ship, acting more a human than he should, she climbs into his cabin and seduces the handsome creature feeling a bonding with him is greater than any she’s known before.

The son of a nobleman, Daire prefers the sea to the lavish parties at the castle. After an encounter with a beautiful mermaid, he feels beguiled by her sensuous presence. When he wakes from their night of passion and she’s gone, he feels crushed by the loss and goes home for a visit. There, during a springtime ball, Nerina reenters his life and he couldn’t be happier.

Yet, Nerina tells him an incredible story about him being a kidnapped merlad from years ago. Having always been afraid of the water, he wonders if the mermaid isn’t trying to lure him to his death in the sea.

Excerpt

The sea air hung heavy with a cool mist. Daire’s agitated pace put him near a wooden bucket and frustration got the better of him. He kicked the pail across the deck of his ship.

“How can ye not catch one wild mermaid?” He demanded to know of the thirty sailors standing before him. “I want the little sea witch captured or killed and I want it done today!”

“Ye know, Daire,” his ship’s mate said low, “’Tis quite bad luck to kill a mermaid.

Daire shoved his fingers into his thick hair all damp and sticky from the salt air.

“I do not want her killed, just stopped,” he grumbled with regrets of even speaking such a violent thought. “Ye make sure no one harms her. I was not seriously thinking of her being hurt. It is just frustrating to have her cutting up the nets. She is interfering with my trade.”

“She is the feistiest one I have ever heard tell of. Never seen one so bad-tempered.”

Daire raised a brow and looked at his first mate, Niles. “I do not recall ye ever mentioning knowing any mermaids.”

“A long time ago, thy father and I had one caught up in the net. A wee babe and a merman pitched a high devil of a fit wanting the small-tailed lad returned. But thy father would not give him back. He said it might help stop the merfolk from destroying his business.”

“I have never heard this story, why not?”

Daire leaned on his forearms against the polished railing. He fingered the pendant dangling from a strong piece of leather. The Celtic knot, carved from a smooth shell, hung around his neck for as long as he could remember.

“Many years, many stories, nothing all that special to the tale,” Niles replied.

A rise of a cheer had men run toward the port side of the ship.

“We got her!” someone yelled. “We caught a mermaid!”

Daire pushed his way through the group. “Do not hurt her!” he demanded.

“Will ye look at that,” a man whistled. “I always heard it, but never believed it.”

“Yeah,” someone else chimed in with a sigh. “She is as naked as the day is long, she is. What I would not give to touch that creature.”

Daire strained his neck to get the best possible position to see. He hung dangerously far over the railing. In the net, tangled and struggling, a mermaid sat in the trap with other fish flopping around her.

She mesmerized him.

From the top of her golden head, to the split of her glistening scale covered ass, her beauty radiated no less than any perfectly sculpted woman. Yet, from the thigh area and down, she had a sleek, scaly, and silvery iridescent fishtail. Pale ivory breasts hung rounded and pink tipped. Slender arms supported her pose of someone exhausted.

“Well, Daire, ye got thyself a mermaid, now what?” Niles asked.

“Look at her, Niles. Will ye look at how she stares right at me with her boldness? Have ye ever known such loveliness in any creature before?”

“Daire?” Niles shook his arm, breaking the spell.

The mermaid’s mouth opened and wicked thoughts jumped into his head. Her moist lips would do well to quench more than one desire he had for her.

Reviews

...Incorporating myths and legends in a Celtic setting with a decidedly sexy spin, Whiskey Creek Press Torrid's Celtic Love Knots Volume 6 is sure to delight all who love their fantasy with a hefty dose of eroticism!

... Jennifer A. Ray, CK2S Kwips and Kritiques