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Nixie finished heaving and wiped her mouth on the ragged hoddie.

"I hate him," she whispered. "Damn him to the depths. May the hagfish feast on his soul. May he be sodomized by Davy Jones himself--I hate him!"

Her mind was numb. It wasn't that Sovenn's adultery was anything new to her--it had been almost constant since they married. But she hated that he would treat anyone like that. There were times when we wanted to believe that she had felt the worst of his abuse, but obviously it wasn't true. He was a sadistic b*****d in more ways than she could count, and he was still haunting her from beyond the grave.

Nixie leaned into Kaori, soothed by her humming.

"I didn't want this," she murmured. "Just a fisherman. That's all I wanted. Uncle said all the men on shore were bad, but I didn't believe him. I thought I'd find a good, honest man who would love me. The ocean is so cold sometimes. Mates last a season or two, but I wanted something more permanent. I find the first charming man I can, and he turns out to be a snake."

Before long, Austin pulled up in the car. He jumped out, obviously worried, and demanded in a rush, "What happened? Is something wrong?"

Austin followed Kaori's instructions without so much as a glare. He couldn't smell anything by the fountain, but as soon as he stepped through the door, he recognized the stench of death. After he investigated, he came out and called the local police on Nixie's new phone. They came, saw, carted away the body, and Austin made certain they didn't bother the ladies. As far as they knew, he was the one who opened the door and found the body.

When he was finished with them and Nixie had composed herself, Austin drove them to the most luxurious hotel in Zurich. Nixie quietly checked them into a suite and Austin guided her to the elevators.

Once in the suite, Austin opened up the mini bar and poured Nixie a strong drink, which he forced her to finish. Then he put her to bed. He closed the door to the room and came back into the kitchenette/sitting area where Kaori was.

"I'd kill the sonovabitch if he wasn't already dead," he muttered as he pulled out the rest of the small bottles in the mini bar. He put them on the table between him and Kaori. "It wasn't as if he hurt her enough while he was alive, but then he leaves this mess." He threw back a small bottle of Wild Turkey. "She'll be fine in the morning. Distant for a few days, but fine."

"Hey now," Austin warned, throwing up a hand in front of his face. "You should know not to disrobe in front of a red-blooded man like that!"

He set his mini-booze-bottle down and went to retrieve his overnight bag. He pulled out a large white t-shirt and threw it at her head.

"Put something on after you take that off, otherwise I won't be responsible for my actions," he said, half teasing but half serious.

"I am not blushing," Austin grumbled as he came up behind her. "For your information, I'm still angry at a dead man."

He gently pulled the zipper down, something making him do it slowly. The fabric of the sexy dress parted to reveal the short silvery fur along her spine. He had a strange impulse to see if it really was as soft as it looked. He quelled the impulse, and went back around to his seat at the table. He grabbed another bottle and drained it.

"And you don't seem to know exactly how much you radiate sex appeal," he returned, flipping the focus of the conversation. "That arms dealer would have gladly taken you to bed tonight--and he would have paid more than an apple-tini to do it. I've seen that look in men's eyes before. He was boning for you."

Austin scowled as she blatantly teased him with the glimpse of her naked back and thong. It wasn't fair to do that to a man who hadn't seen, let alone indulged in, the softer parts of a woman in a good many years. He smirked as he passed her a mini bottle of booze.

"I don't pay for sex," he informed her with an arrogant tilt to his head.