Sleeping with the Fishes Read Online Free PDF Page B

throat, and khaki shorts which showcased his powerfully muscled legs. No shoes, or socks. Big feet. A closely cropped beard the color of his hair. A broad forehead, a strong chin. And that voice! Deep, rumbling… like verbal, velvet.
    "But I think it's fine to step outside."
    "What?"
    "I think it's fine to step outside," the stranger repeated. "Or we could make use of your sire's pond."
    " My what's what?"
    "The pool," In a low voice, as if Fred couldn't hear perfectly well, he bent down (and down, and down) and murmured into her mom's ear, "Is something wrong with her mind?"
    "No," her mom practically snapped. "She's a Ph.D., for crying out loud. Don't do that, it's freaky."
    "Get away from her," Fred ordered, still edgy. Okay, she was usually edgy. But it had been a rough forty-eight hours.
    "It's all right, Fred. I'm sorry I scared you. It's just—you're not the only one who makes dramatic entrances. This is—well—this is the High Prince Artur ."
    "Prince Artur ," Fred repeated, like a parrot.
    "Of the Black Sea," the stranger added helpfully.
    "He says—he says you're one of his subjects," her mom continued.
    "Oh, does he?"
    "And that you owe him fealty and loyalty and such."
    "Really."
    The prince bowed. "It is always my great pleasure to meet a comely new subject."
    "Really."
    "And we, uh, we didn't really know what to think when he showed up and said all this and also said—uh—"
    "Spit it, Mom."
    "That your father is dead," her mom said, and burst into tears.
    "Good lady," the prince said, looking distressed for the first time, "I did not mean to upset you so. I had been told you but barely knew each other and that my subject had known your mate as her sire."
    "We only spent an hour together but—but now Fred will never meet him. And I'll never get to thank him for giving her to me." Her mother covered her eyes like a child and sobbed.
    "Okay, that's
it
. Get away from her right now."
    The prince ignored her. "Our people will tell her all she wishes to know. And her sire was—he was not the type to appreciate his progeny," the prince said carefully.
    "Bio father was kind of a dick, huh?" Fred guessed.
    The prince patted her mother, almost sending her sprawling, then straightened. "Shall we adjourn?"
    "Now? Right now?"
    "Yes. Shall we?"
    Fred noticed it was a command disguised as a question. But even though they seemed to be getting along, she was wild to get this huge redhead away from her folks. "Okay. Sorry about the door, Mom."
    "It was one of your more dramatic entrances," her mom said, perking up right away. "I kind of liked it."
    "Indeed," the stranger murmured, and led the way to the pool as if it were his house and not the place she'd grown up.
     

Chapter Ten
     
    "So. High Prince Artur —can I call you Art?"
    "You may not." The prince was— eep —stripping. The shirt went flying, followed by the pants. No underwear, she couldn't help but notice. Then he dove into the saltwater pool, giving her a glimpse of a muscular back and taut buttocks, and then he was under. She squatted by the side of the pool. "Well, I'm sure as hell not calling you Your Highness," she yelled to the water. "I live on land. I'm not one of your damned subjects!"
    He popped up, water glistening in his beard, and grinned at her, showing a great many teeth. Almost… pointy? How had she not noticed
that
before? "Oh yes you are, Little Rika."
    "Fred."
    "Ugh."
    "Fred. Not Rika. Not Ugh. Fred. Not little anything. I'm five ten, for crying out loud."
    "Little Rika," he said, and dove back down, splashing her with his tail.
    His tail.
    His
tail
?
    Much longer than hers, wider at the hips, too. A much darker green than hers. The fins were wider at the base, and longer. She instantly deduced he was a faster, stronger swimmer—and she'd never met anyone or anything, land or sea, that could beat her in the water.
    Well, shit.
    "So why are you here?" she said to the water.
    He popped up again and blew a stream of water at her. She