Marked by the Dragon [The Dragon of Skye 1] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Doris O'Connor

  Duncan sighed and nudged her chin up.

  “Which he’d what?” he asked. He kept his voice low and gentle, the cadence one he used when he talked a subbie back down after the emotional high of a tense scene, and sure enough, she responded and carried on speaking.

  “They were pictures he’d taken of me, without my permission I hasten to add. They showed me…well, you can imagine, I’m sure. Everyone was outraged and no one would believe me. I hadn’t been at that practice that long myself, and I kept myself to myself. The women working there were all much older than me, and I never felt like I had much in common with them, so they didn’t really know me. It was his word against mine, and of course, he would never indulge in such perverted activities.” She mimed quotation marks around those last two words, and Duncan swore under his breath.

  “What a fucking cunt.”

  Kerry flinched, and he scrubbed a hand over his beard and shrugged.

  “Forgive the language, but men like him make me sick. Let me guess: his wife was nice and vanilla, and of course, her precious husband would never do such a thing, right?”

  She didn’t answer him, but her silence was proof enough.

  “So, you left because of the atmosphere?”

  Kerry nodded, and this time when she looked up, anger had replaced her earlier fragility.

  “Yes. She made it impossible to stay there, and in truth, I didn’t want to. I had some savings, and the lease on my flat was up, so I thought I’d take some time off and travel for a bit. I always wanted to explore Scotland, so that’s what I did. It was only supposed to have been for a month, but when I started to apply for other jobs, it quickly became apparent that she was blocking my applications. Lord only knows what on earth she’s telling people when they phone up for a reference, so, anyway, it leaves me looking for a job, and when I saw the sign in the window…well, I didn’t actually come in for that, but…” Her hand went to her abdomen again, and she blushed even deeper than before.

  “Okay, there is, as far as I can see, only one reason why you would seek out a tattoo parlor. Well, two and they’re interlinked. One is to get a tat, or to have one removed or altered. So, what are you hiding under there?”

  He grinned at her, and Kerry frowned.

  “You’ll think me even more stupid than you already must see me as.”

  Duncan crossed his arms over his chest, raised his eyebrows, and stared her down.

  “Really? You presume to know what I’m thinking now? Have I not already made it clear what happens to unruly subbies who spout nonsense in front of me?”

  It didn’t take long for her to cave in, but not before he’d glimpsed the flash of defiance in her eyes. He would have some fun taming all that passion before too long.

  “Have I not made it clear what I would do if you lay a hand on me?” she countered. Duncan was hard pressed to hide his amusement at her comeback, and continued to simply look at her.

  “Fine, have it your way. I have a tat, all right, a measly, pathetic little one, which I shouldn’t have had done and which keeps acting up. I had one too many and it was an impulse thing, and yeah…”

  His dragon snarled his displeasure at anyone marking their woman’s fair skin without due care and attention, and Kerry paled.

  “No tat artist worth his weight would ever work on someone half cut. Can I see?”

  Kerry swallowed hard, but she did lift her T-shirt up and pulled her leggings down just enough to reveal a very angry-looking and juvenile-looking tattoo of a tiny dragon.

  Yep, she was marked all right, but what a fucking shamble.

  His inner beast roared, and Duncan shook his head at the shoddy handiwork.

  “Did you follow the care instructions?” he asked. “May I?” He glanced up at her for confirmation before he traced the outline of the shading. A jolt of recognition, of rightness, shot up his fingertips at the contact with her bare skin, and Kerry gasped.

  “He didn’t give me any, or if he did, I don’t know what I did with them. Why, is it bad?”

  Duncan shook his head and put his hand over the mark. He couldn’t just heal her, but he could insert just enough of his magick to ensure the infection wouldn’t spread further.

  Heat gathered under his hand, and Kerry tried to push him away. He caught her wrists in his free hand.

  “I can’t do anything with this until it’s properly healed, but I want to string up the asshole who did this.” He lifted his hand off her mark and released her wrist at the same time, satisfied to see the skin less red and angry. If she noticed the difference, she didn’t comment, just covered herself back up again with jerky moves.

  Oh, how he wished he had the authority to order her to stop, but that would have to wait for now.

  “I don’t want you to do anything with it. I do like it; I just wasn’t sure it should look like that, and I can’t give you his name because I can’t even remember which back-alley shop I got it done in. I know I was in Glasgow, but don’t ask me where exactly.” She worried her bottom lip again in that nervous tell she had, and when he didn’t say anything, she rushed on. “It seemed a good idea at the time.”

  Duncan shook his head and forced a smile for her benefit.

  “Doesn’t it always? That’s why you should never get a tat on a whim. I can and will correct that for you if you’d like me to. On the house, so to speak, and when you’re ready, of course. I have to ask though, why a dragon?”

  He held his hand out to help her off the desk and smiled when she took it.

  “I could ask you that question.” She reached out as though to touch his ink, but withdrew her hand at the last moment.

  “Touché, wee one.” He released her hand the minute her feet touched the ground and put some distance between them. “I have some cream out back which will help with the healing.” He gave her his best impress-the-ladies smile, and she narrowed her eyes. “Now that we’ve cleared all that up, would you like to see where you’ll be living if you accept my job offer?”

  Kerry jerked back in surprise, and he grinned to see her this rattled.

  “You still want me to work for you?” she asked.

  “Of course I do. We both know where we stand, and we should rub along just fine, don’t you think?”

  Chapter Four

  Kerry had plenty of opportunities to rub along with her new boss over the next few weeks of frantic activity. Who knew a tattoo shop could get so busy? Then again, the annual tattoo convention had hit Inverness, so that brought in plenty of new business and established customers looking to add to their ink.

  It certainly made for fascinating people-watching. It never ceased to amaze Kerry, the multitude of folks from all different walks of life who sought out a tat. From the stereotypical bikers to lager louts, to the hippies and the odd aged granny, Duncan treated them all with respect and a degree of professionalism that left her stunned.

  The door pinged, and Kerry looked up into the smoky eyes of a walking, talking Barbie doll dressed in latex. She could pop someone’s eyes out with those pointy boobs alone. Laced into a tight leather corset, the heavily inked young woman snapped her gum loudly, popped her hip out, and perched one impossibly long leg, clad in eight-inch stiletto thigh-highs, on the desk. It afforded Kerry the perfect view up the woman’s tiny leather skirt. Lovely, not, especially as she wasn’t wearing any underwear.

  This customer definitely came under the “keep the floozies away from the boss” description Miri had told Kerry about.

  Miri had been a godsend, in fact, when Kerry got stuck with things. Some folks might look on her daily phone calls as interference, but Kerry didn’t mind one little bit. She felt well and truly out of her depth here most of the time. Being in such close proximity to Duncan all day long played havoc with her hormones. Not that she admitted anything of the sort to Miri, but getting the background on some of the regulars that came into the shop certainly helped, like this one.

  “Hi, sugar. I have an appointment with his hotness
.”

  The drawled words delivered in that fake accent made Kerry’s teeth ache, but she fixed a smile on her face while pointedly looking at the woman’s foot.

  “Name, please, and do you mind. I don’t want the desk scuffed with your heels.”

  Of course, Kerry knew exactly who this was. Miri had filled her in in some detail on this person. Ellie McPierson was well known to all the local tat artists. A pain slut through and through, she sought the dubious pleasure of having parts of herself pierced time and time again. Duncan, apparently, only indulged her because he didn’t want her seeking her pleasure, as it were, with other less reputable folks. The fact that Daddy was stinking rich and she always paid well over the odds also helped, of course.

  “Business is business, as they say,” Miri had said. “Personally, I think we could do without the likes of her, but she does bring in a lot of referrals, so I guess we can put up with her. Just don’t leave them on their own, ever. She’ll try to get him into an incriminating scene to get him to sleep with her. She’s done it before to others. That woman gets off on it all. Strange bird, but I also feel sorry for her in a way. All that money and she squanders it away. What she needs is a decent Dom to take her in hand, like Duncan, come to think of it.” Kerry had gasped down the phone and Miri had laughed. “Aye, never gonna happen on my watch, so make sure it doesn’t on yours either. He doesn’t need to get entangled with the likes of her. Fortunately, he’s got brains to go with his brawn, mostly…but, well, he is a man. Whoops, talking of men, my little man calls. Lord, I tell you, that baby has the appetite of a dragon…err, yeah, anyway, when are you coming to see us? And bring that boss of yours along. I know these are busy times, but he has yet to meet his future godson.” A baby’s loud wailing had stopped that phone call, and Kerry smiled to herself remembering that conversation now.

  A smile that slipped when this Ellie shrugged, snapped her gum again, and deliberately scored the heel of her boot along the desk before she put it down.

  “So sorry about that, sugar. You’re new here. Guess that Rottweiler finally had her baby, and you’re her replacement, huh. Well, don’t worry about announcing me. Your boss and I are old friends. I just go right back and—”

  “Oh no you won’t.” Bimbo’s eyes opened wide, and she stopped speaking when Kerry shot to her feet with such force that the chair clattered to the floor. No way on earth was she letting this, this person into the back, especially as Duncan was still with a client.

  Rounding the desk, she put her hands on her hips and glared at the woman.

  “You will do no such thing. Duncan is still with a client, and you’ll just have to wait your turn, won’t you? If you’d like to take a seat in the waiting area, I’ll call you when he’s ready.”

  Ellie opened and shut her mouth like a fish out of water, and then stalked over to the old and extremely comfortable leather settees grouped around the low coffee table laden with magazines. She plopped herself down with an exaggerated huff and flung her long ice-blonde hair over her shoulder.

  “Fine, have it your way. Bring me a coffee while I’m forced to wait, will you? Black, four sugars.”

  Kerry gritted her teeth and pointed to the coffee maker on the wall behind the settee.

  “By all means, help yourself. Freshly brewed coffee is right there, Ms.…”

  A far-from-attractive snarl marred Ellie’s face at Kerry’s response, but she did get up and stalk over to the coffee station.

  “Ellie McPierson, and mark my words, your boss will hear about this.”

  Before Kerry could respond to this, the sound of the curtains being pulled at the back of the shop warned her of Duncan’s presence. His deep voice carried as he said good-bye to the client he’d been working on for the last hour. Kerry’s skin tingled at his silent approach, as it always did when he was near.

  “I’ll be ready for you in a minute, Ellie, but whatever you have to say to me you can say right now. What will I hear about?”

  His large hands landed on Kerry’s shoulders, and shivers of awareness chased each other up and down her spine. Seriously, this close to him, she wanted to simply sink into his body and let him take care of her, especially when he used that tone of voice. Coupled with his accent, it played havoc with any woman’s hormones.

  It seemed to have a similar effect on Ellie because the cup in her hand clanged back on the counter. Fortunately, it was still empty, because Kerry sure as fuck didn’t want to have to clean up after her. Ellie tried for a seductive smile and failed when a menacing rumble rose from Duncan’s chest. This close to him Kerry felt the vibrations of that animalistic sound travel right through her, and she surreptitiously squeezed her thighs together to alleviate some of the instant ache in her pussy. Really, when he made that sound, and he seemed to do that a lot when he touched her, it was a live wire straight to her libido. It also meant another sleepless night was in front of her because she would be plagued by erotic dreams about her brooding boss, which no amount of self-help seemed to take the edge off.

  “Come on, out with it, woman. What could Kerry possibly have done that requires you to have words with me, as you put it? And why would I take your word over my trusted employee, who is only doing her job?”

  Ellie gasped, and Duncan squeezed Kerry’s shoulders and stepped to the side to let his last customer go by.

  The man looked bemused as he might well do, and Kerry followed him to the desk so he could settle his bill. She was all too aware of Duncan’s gaze on her ass, and sure enough, when she turned around to glance back at him, he was watching her. He smiled and then said something to Ellie that Kerry couldn’t catch because the client in front of her was talking to her.

  “She’s something else, huh?” he asked.

  Kerry rounded the desk and focused her attention on the middle-aged man rather than on the somewhat heated discussion her boss was now engaged in with Ellie. Duncan looked far from happy with whatever that floozie was telling him. He also looked tired. He’d been working long hours nonstop this week, and he really needed to take some time out.

  Miri’s words floated back into Kerry’s conscience as she smiled at Alexander Frazer and accepted his credit card to put in the machine.

  “I’m not at liberty to discuss other clients, Mr. Frazer. Hope to see you again soon.”

  Mr. Frazer laughed and shrugged back into the jacket of his business suit. He was another one you wouldn’t think was covered in tats, but he had an impressive number of them on his torso and back. “Wolf in sheep’s clothing” sprang to mind as he leaned closer, sniffed the air in that strange habit he had, and winked at her.

  “Oh, you will, my sweet. Are you sure I can’t convince you to come and have that drink with me after work?”

  Kerry laughed and shook her head.

  “I don’t go out with the clients. It’s against policy.”

  Alexander Frazer laughed and glanced over to Duncan, who appeared to be watching their interchange while listening to Ellie spout off whatever nonsense she was getting off her ample chest.

  “So your boss informed me when I asked him the same question. Can’t blame a man for trying, can you?”

  With that, he walked off, and Kerry winced at the shrill squeak coming from Ellie McPierson at that moment.

  “You can’t fucking do that. I’ll pay you double. I need this done, damn you.”

  Duncan ran a hand through his hair. He kept it confined to a man bun when he was working on a client, and the action meant that came loose. Kerry watched the byplay in his biceps with stunned fascination as he tugged the hairband out and pinged it on his wrist before he grasped the other woman by the elbow and steered her toward the exit.

  “Aye, I know and I am. I’m not doing this anymore. Find someone else to pierce you. I’m not in the mood for seeing your cunt today or any day. I told you last month that was the last time.”

  Kerry’s cheeks burned hearing the crude words he used, while he effectively manhandled the other woman out
of the building. Ellie didn’t go quietly, of course. A string of filth came out of her painted mouth, calling into question the size of Duncan’s cock, among other things, before he slammed the door shut behind her. He locked the door, flipped the sign to shut, and rested his head against the glass for a moment.

  He looked so bone weary at that moment that Kerry couldn’t help herself. She stepped up behind him and, against her better judgment, ran her hands over his tense shoulders.

  A groan escaped Duncan at her actions, and he swung around to glower down at her. Sparks of fire danced in his amber gaze as he studied her, and he offered her a tight smile.

  “I’m shutting up early. It’s been one hell of a day, if not to say week, and that fucking woman just about did me in. If she tries to get another appointment in the future, block her for me, would ye? No amount of cash is worth this shit.”

  Kerry nodded and balled her hands into fists to stop herself from touching him again. The urge to do so, to offer to massage what she knew had to be sore muscles from having worked for hours, was like a living, breathing entity inside of her, but to do so would breach the professional distance she had kept him at up till now. Instead, she just looked up at him, the silence between them heavy and charged, as he ran his gaze slowly over her. Her body responded instantly to the silent promise in his heated eyes, and to break the sexually charged atmosphere between them, she blurted out her next question.

  “What did she want you to do?”

  Duncan laughed and shook his head.

  “Pierce her clit and hood—again.”

  “Oh.” Kerry knew she was blushing like a trooper at that thought, and Duncan flicked her nose.

  “Last time I did that, she got off on it and soaked my entire chair with her cum. Took me ages to clean up, and I told her then I wasn’a doing it again. She wants to torture herself she can get her ass to Glasgow and one of the many kink clubs there. I’m sure some fucker would get a kick out of tending to her masochistic tendencies. It does fuck all for me, that’s for sure.”