Click on image to enlarge.

Category: Erotica/Erotic Romance
Description: "Bedding a Mermaid" When Nerina, an adventuresome mermaid rescues a friend from the fish net of a ship, she's surprised to find a merman onboard the vessel. Sneaking onto the ship and seducing him, she discovers he thinks he's human. The son of a nobleman, Daire prefers the sea to the lavish parties at his castle. When he wakes from a night of passion with a mermaid in his captain's cabin, he's devastated to find Nerina is gone, so to forget her, he goes home. Obligated to staying for his mother's springtime ball, Daire meets the woman that beguiles him with her sensuous presence. However, when she leads him to the sea with an incredible story about him being a merman, he can't help wonder if the myths aren't true--that enchanting mermaids really do lead men to their death in the sea. "Beyond Green Man's Gate" Ryanne finds more than wildflowers when she escapes into a secret garden where the Green Man lives to make fantasies come true. When she comes to the gate with a Green Man sculpture in the middle her curiosity is piqued. Little does she realize that Cernunnos, keeper of the garden, waits to seduce her in the wild fashion she secretly longs for.
eBook Publisher: Whiskey Creek Press, 2007
eBookwise Release Date: January 2008

10 Reader Ratings:

Great	Good	OK	Poor

Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [70 KB]
Words: 14331
Reading time: 40-57 min.

"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! FIVE CLOVERS!"--Jennifer A. Ray, CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

"In this delightfully sexy anthology, Ann Cory and Brenda Williamson take you on a trip through the mists of myth and legend with pair of creative stories that tease and delight. Two delightful stories from two great authors, and you can't lose."--Rose, Rave Review from Romance at Heart

"Heat is definitely on, in both stories. Characters are well-sketched ... it is a good read."--Zee, Enchanting Reviews

BEYOND GREEN MAN'S GATE

by

Ann Cory

Chapter 1

Ryanne fell away from the festivities of Beltane to inspect the lush grove. Wildflowers, sprinkled along fields of green, seemed to taunt her from afar. Even the haunting Celtic harp music and mouthwatering aromas of sweet butter rolls, succulent chicken, rosemary and thyme couldn't keep her attention. Her appetite was for nourishment other than food.

Quinn would expect her to dance the Maypole in the evening beneath the pale dust of the moon. Unfortunately, she wouldn't be there. His disappointment would be great, but she could see no other way to spare his feelings, and hoped his pain would lessen over time. While charming and good husband material, Quinn lacked the intrigue Ryanne looked for in a man. Strong in stature and intelligence, he exuded a seriousness that didn't appeal to her freethinking nature. And then there was the conservative sex.

Her body lay dormant, forever trapped in a bitter winter, while spring bloomed all around. A forbidden lust lay out of reach. She yearned for skilled hands to caress her body and ramble along hidden passages awaiting discovery. Quinn's passive demeanor was better reserved for demure ladies with a penchant for the mundane. He would never consider weaving her wrists together with blades of grass, or thrashing her bare bottom with broomcorn. A hunger far more decadent festered between her legs.

The music grew faint as Ryanne quietly stole away, glancing back once to watch the ladies in pretty crowns made of flower garlands. Ribbons in scarlet, green, and gold cascaded down the length of their hair. Their long dresses swirled as they skipped about with childlike smiles frozen on their anxious faces. The evening would decide their fate, and they welcomed it with open arms. Unlike them, Ryanne's interests ran beyond marriage, babies, and a simple life. A bigger world waited, filled with excitement and new experiences. Her spirit craved adventure, and her body desired passion. She didn't see those dreams coming to fruition with any of the men in town. While Quinn turned heads with his dusky locks and peacock-blue eyes, Ryanne knew she'd never be truly satisfied. She would only hurt him later.

The sound of the festival was far behind her as she approached the field. Lilies and thistles brushed against her legs as she hiked her dress up to her knees. Whispery touches of grass tickled her ankles as she walked, making her laugh like a young girl rather than the woman she was. While her people spouted the life of tradition, she set her sights on the unobtainable. She'd always been the one in trouble at school for her daydreaming ways. Teachers wanted her to be a young lady, reserved and quiet. She fought the conventional ways, knowing full well it wasn't her nature to live her life for a man as he saw her, but to be the woman she was inside.

In reflection, she paused in the middle of the field. Ryanne couldn't recall having ever roamed this far before, but it was as if something beckoned to her. Golden rays of the sun bathed her in their warmth like a blanket. Arms spread out she twirled until dizzy, like she used to do as a child. When she stopped, Ryanne waited for her balance to return. A peculiar object in the distance caught her attention. She shielded her eyes and squinted, but still couldn't make out the hazy mass. Curiously, she ventured forth. It looked inviting.

Cernunnos watched the beguiling lass step gracefully through the field toward him. Her copper hair glinted like fire in the sunlight. His cock reacted sharply to her divine womanly form and ignited a spark in his spirit. Her white dress flared at the edges as she walked, intriguing him to explore what lay beneath. He envisioned his hands along her sinuous flesh with her limbs bound and her lips pleading for more.

Within the Glenariff Gardens, Cernunnos made his home as the Keeper, though he had many names and titles throughout his life. He maintained the rare flowers that grew in the garden, flowers scented with strong aphrodisiacs that made it difficult for women to resist. In his mysterious way, he tended to both the flowers and the women in much the same manner. He knew what made their soil rich and couldn't help but admire their exquisite beauty. Many lonely hearts had trod upon his garden, in search of answers that couldn't be found elsewhere. Porcelain faces with coy glances and pink-stained cheeks. Minds filled with forbidden thoughts, spirits alive and yearning for physical inspiration.

His quest to fulfill their innermost desires gave him a sense of purpose, and he thrived on the empowerment they walked away with, a permanent smile fixed on their bee-stung lips. Without them, he would be nothing. Most men could only dream of being in his position, but he did harbor one regret. Love, or the lack of it. Once the women left, their feelings often changed.

Cernunnos had been feeling vulnerable lately, and even more so today. He was drawn to the woman approaching. Her footsteps quickened his pulse and made him anxious. He loved to listen to the drumming sounds of her feet along the soil, beating in time to the resonance of the forest around him--the forest, which was his true home.

Before he came to reside in the garden, he had walked the woods, as part man, part animal, and part tree. The great horned one or the stag god, he was often called, with his duty to reinforce the vital decree of nature. He was known to revive the energy of vegetation and of nature itself.

His struggles with the appreciation of the woods and forests had nearly vanquished his godly powers, and he opted for a new way to instill magic into those who could heed the call. This woman changed the air and made it sweeter. She was strong-willed. Relentless. Driven by a powerful craving. She proposed a challenge without even knowing it. Rare was the woman who didn't give in to his advances. He would have to stay sharp around her, using his powers of persuasion. Her dreams had helped sustain the garden, and now she would experience it.

Cernunnos bit into a plump red grape and let the juice run down the sides of his mouth. It spilled along his chest, leaving its sticky remains. Would she taste as decadent? Did her juices run fast when prompted by languid strokes? He imagined that she did. Long it had been since a woman visited him with such strong desires. Even he wondered if he would live up to her expectations. Many women came to him, pure, innocent, naïve. Love had struck them, but still they held onto their ideals of a hero coming to take them away. The copper-haired woman didn't believe in heroes, and she didn't have a trace of innocence in her. What she wanted was far greater. Cernunnos vowed to seduce the Irish beauty and sample her nectar. When she left, the path of his cock would be forever foraged between her thighs.