Dragon's Curse (Harlequin Nocturne)

by Lynn, Denise

  He had a point. She waved away the phone. “Fine. So I have to be here. But that doesn’t mean I’m suddenly going to act like I’ve stepped into some medieval court.”

  “I’m not asking you to.” He dropped the phone, reached across the distance separating them to hook a warm hand around her neck and drew her closer. With his lips nearly against hers, he whispered, “Although, the idea of being your absolute lord and master has merits.”

  Ariel forced herself to ignore the flare of heat threatening to steal her mind. She pushed him away. “Stop it.”

  “I haven’t done anything.”

  “Oh, no, except try to drive me insane. You can just forget it, my lord, you are not sharing this lowly peasant’s bed.”

  He chuckled, then tapped on the divider again before leaning back against his seat. He picked up his papers, asking, “Can I go back to work now?”

  The man was infuriating. “Please do.”

  * * *

  Aelthed breathed a deep sigh of relief as a welcome wave of homecoming washed over him. Finally, he was back on Mirabilus Isle.

  He’d been listening, eavesdropping on the changeling and his mate when they’d argued in the apartment. That’s how he’d learned about the jaunt to Mirabilus.

  Nothing could have stopped him from slipping unseen into the woman’s luggage. He wasn’t about to miss what might be his only opportunity to return to the land of his birth—and death.

  Granted, it wasn’t as if he could walk the grounds, or pace the beach, but just to know he was home was enough to make him weep with gratitude.

  * * *

  Cameron stared out the tall window of his bedroom, watching as the solitary figure, carrying a duffel bag, crossed the open distance to the workshop.

  Did she really think she’d be given complete freedom to come and go as she pleased? Little did Ariel know that two of his staff followed closely behind her at all times.

  He moved away from the window and into the sitting room. He didn’t need to see where she was going, he already knew. She was going snooping for the pendant and box that she’d finally admitted the Learneds wanted.

  At the moment, he didn’t care. It wasn’t as if she would find anything, or be in any danger. The men were under strict orders to call him if anything unusual happened. He didn’t care if the wind changed direction—they were to call immediately.

  Nor did he worry about her snooping around on her own. He’d expected it and would have been disappointed had she not taken the opportunity to go out on her hunting expedition.

  She wasn’t going to discover anything in the workshop. After he’d searched for the items himself, he’d had the circular chamber cleared of everything. Ariel would be lucky if she found so much as a speck of dust, let alone a pendant or a puzzle cube.

  Cam poured a snifter of brandy and sat in the overstuffed armchair before the fireplace. Raising his glass, he spoke to the empty air, “To you, Brightworthe. You’ll be sorely missed around here.”

  He’d known the caretaker for his entire life. The man had been ancient when Cam and Braeden were born, so there was no telling how old he actually was in human years.

  Like Harold, Brightworthe wasn’t quite wizard, but neither was he quite human. They’d both been from the clan of long-lived folks of Mirabilus.

  Harold would be devastated to learn of Brightworthe’s death. The men had been close, more like brothers than friends. And for that reason Cam had put the funeral off for a couple days. He wouldn’t dishonor his own friendship with either man by not giving Harold a chance to attend the ceremony.

  The jet would return to the Lair tomorrow. The next day they would bring Harold, Danielle and Sean to Mirabilus. With any luck, his aunt would have had enough time to cool off before coming face-to-face with Ariel.

  Cam frowned and set down his brandy. He realized that Braeden deserved and needed this vacation with his wife, but it might be best if he at least made an appearance.

  “I’ll be there.” Braeden’s voice raced through Cam’s mind, easing his concerns on that score.

  “Any idea what happened?”

  He had a few ideas, but none he wanted to share until he checked them out fully. “Not yet. I’ve questioned the men who found the body on the beach, but they had no answers for me. Still working on it. Go pester your wife.”

  Sensing his brother’s departure, Cam leaned his head back against the chair, propped his feet up on the cushioned ottoman and closed his eyes. After being up for over two days, he was exhausted.

  Hopefully, Ariel would return to the keep soon so they could all get a good night’s sleep. The buzz of his pager drew a ragged sigh from him. So much for a good night’s sleep.

  He glanced at the backlit screen, then lunged from the chair. Something was wrong in the workshop, otherwise the men wouldn’t have contacted him.

  Cam slipped into his shoes and grabbed a jacket as he headed out the door of his bedroom. He waved off the men standing guard in the hallway. They were only doing their job, protecting the current ruler in residence, but he didn’t want any babysitters around when he confronted Ariel.

  Racing across the grounds, he came to a skidding halt outside the old shed that disguised the entrance to the workroom. The two men assigned to Ariel met him at the door. The taller, older man said, “Sorry, sir. There was a strange light.”

  The other man added, “Then something whizzed past our heads and went inside the shed.”

  “Did you see if it followed her in?”

  Both men shook their heads. “It was there, then just—gone.”

  Cameron sensed no presence of magic, no Learneds, nothing that gave him reason to believe Ariel was in any danger.

  After dismissing the men, he entered the shed. It took a minute for him to locate the panel that would slide open, giving him entrance to the corridor leading to the workroom.

  Thankfully, his beast was awake and alert, so he didn’t need a flashlight to see his way down the blackness of the hallway.

  His mind flipped back to the last time he’d followed her in here. He’d been in dragon form then, intentionally wanting to frighten her enough to keep her from returning.

  Apparently, it hadn’t worked.

  So, this time, he would approach silently and then use attitude and threats to scare the hell out of her.

  With any luck, that might work.

  He stopped at the arched doorway into the workroom and peered around the bricks. The chamber was ablaze with light from at least a dozen flashlights. Did she really think the light would keep the dragon at bay?

  She was using a metal file to dig at the foundation near the old coal brazier. Was she planning to excavate the entire room?

  Ariel paused, she had the odd feeling that she was no longer by herself. Had the men following her come inside? She’d closed the secret panel behind her, so unless they knew the trick to opening it, she doubted they had entered the corridor.

  Besides, these men obviously weren’t skilled at secrecy—she’d spotted them on her tail almost the minute she’d walked out of the keep. If they had figured out how to open the sliding panel, she was certain she’d have heard their approach.

  It had taken every ounce of bravery she possessed to make herself come back here. But she’d been able to think of no other way. She had to find that puzzle box for Renalde.

  Since Cam had been so certain that his sister-in-law would never give up her emerald pendant,
Ariel knew she had to make certain she located that box. Maybe in the process, she’d find another pendant. Hopefully, the significance was in the pendant itself and the color wouldn’t make any difference.

  She’d vowed never to return to Mirabilus, but since she was here through no volition of her own, she knew that she might as well make use of her time. After all, Carl’s life depended on her success.

  A quick glance over her shoulder showed her that she was still alone. Her pulse settled back to a more normal tempo.

  No. If someone had opened the panel, she’d have heard it. The thing had screeched so loud when she’d slid it open, she was surprised the entire castle hadn’t rushed out to see what all the noise was about.

  Besides, she’d brought along her stun gun, so if someone was unwise enough to sneak up on her, they’d be in for a shock—literally.

  She resumed picking at the foundation. A closer examination of the wall had shown what appeared to be a separate square, much like the panel in the shed’s wall. It was a long shot, but she hoped that her efforts would turn up something of—

  Ariel froze at the sound of a footstep behind her. Slowly, with her free hand, she reached inside her jacket to slide her hand through the wrist strap of the gun, then pulled it from the holster.

  Before she could change her mind, she spun around, closed her eyes, reached out until the gun pressed against something semisolid, and then hit the button.

  Chapter 15

  “Damn!” Over the ratcheting noise of the gun, Cam’s strangled curse took her breath away.

  Ariel opened her eyes and backed against the wall behind her for support. Whatever she’d jolted was, yet at the same time it wasn’t, Cameron Drake.

  It was a—thing—a man writhing on the floor and changing, transforming into a…dragon.

  An extremely angry, spitting, snarling dragon.

  Unable to back away, and too frightened to convince her suddenly paralyzed legs to run, she covered her face with her hands and screamed.

  It seemed as if seconds turned to hours, heartbeats evolved into years. Finally, when she was hoarse from screaming, and nearly deaf from the beast’s roars, Ariel spread her fingers enough to peer out between them.

  Staring back at her was the most magnificent animal she’d ever seen.

  Magnificent?

  Half afraid she’d lost her mind from fear, Ariel drew in a shaking breath and screamed once again.

  The beast jerked its head back and did the same. His roar shook the timber supports.

  Desperately trying to think, Ariel knew the only escape route was to find a way around the beast. But it shifted, effectively blocking her path to the door.

  She swallowed. Now what?

  The dragon rumbled, cocked its head to stare intently at the gun still dangling from her wrist.

  Ariel fought to clear the haze of fear from her mind. Dragons don’t exist—at least not in her world. Hadn’t she tried to convince herself of that before?

  And hadn’t she been wrong then, too?

  To keep a grip on what was left of her sanity, she reminded herself that this was somehow Cam. While that didn’t help much, it did permit her to breathe.

  Besides, if the beast had wanted to kill her, wouldn’t it have done so by now? Unless it was like a cat and wanted to toy with its food first.

  Ariel forced that fleeting thought from her mind. She untangled the strap around her wrist and tossed the stun gun across the workroom. Then, with her heart in her throat, Ariel stepped forward to stroke the dragon’s…chest.

  To her surprise, its scales felt more like a soft, supple leather against her fingertips than anything resembling a reptile. Ever-changing, iridescent greens, blues and purples shimmered as his skin rippled beneath her touch. He looked just like the dragon drawing in the grimoire.

  But where that was nothing more than a painting, this was a living, breathing beast.

  She stood her ground as he lowered his head, but closed her eyes when his breath blew hot against her cheek.

  Like a dog chuffing for a scent, the beast slowly nosed her cheek, neck and head. The heavy inhale and warm exhale of his breath blew her hair back and forth against her face.

  Whose actions were more insane? The beast’s or her own?

  Ariel couldn’t understand why she hadn’t fainted. Then the reason suddenly came to her—this was the beast she’d been dreaming about all along. She had lost her fear of this dragon weeks ago when she’d realized that it wasn’t in her dreams to hurt her, but to protect her.

  She reached up to grasp the dragon’s head between her hands and pull it down so she could gaze into his deep sapphire eyes. “Enough, big guy. You know damn well who I am.”

  The rumbling in his chest sounded suspiciously like a growl. Had she gone too far? Ariel quickly lowered her arms, stepped back and with her eyes closed prayed she hadn’t inadvertently turned herself into an evening dragon snack.

  “You are seriously a fool. That’s who you are.”

  The voice whispering against her ear wasn’t coming from a mythical beast. She relaxed with a shudder of relief.

  “Don’t get too comfortable.” He pushed her aside to inspect the area on the wall that she’d been chipping away at earlier. “What were you looking for?”

  “Shouldn’t you be asking if I’ll live instead of what I was looking for?”

  Cam glanced over his shoulder for a split second. “You look fine to me.”

  “The dragon—thing. That’s how you knew I’d been here before.”

  “Yes.”

  Ariel frowned. Now that her whirling thoughts had slowed and she’d had a chance to catch her breath, questions flooded her mind. “You are the dragon from my dreams.”

  “You dream about beasts?”

  She approached, hoping to see his face as he talked. Her thoughts now ran in never-ending circles. “On occasion. In fact, more so since coming to the Lair.” She narrowed her eyes, asking, “You had something to do with that, didn’t you?”

  Cam realized that she wouldn’t like his answers, so he opted to keep his mouth shut as he picked at the stone block.

  “Could you at least look at me?”

  He brushed away another crumbling piece of block before turning around. Ariel had crossed her arms against her chest. Her anger swirled around him, hotter and more intrusive than her fear had been.

  “So, tell me something, Sir Wizard. Can you influence my dreams?”

  “A little.”

  Her eyes widened for a split second before resuming the familiar glare. “A little? Meaning, you have the ability to know what I dream about?”

  “Of course.”

  “Of course?” Ariel stepped back, her shock evident on her face. “And can you participate in them, too?”

  He knew exactly where she was headed with this line of questioning. His first impulse was to lie through his teeth.

  But she’d just stood toe to toe with a beast. She’d stroked a dragon, had the audacity to treat it like a pet dog. It was debatable if she’d done so out of bravery or momentary insanity. Nevertheless, she had.

  If nothing else, he owed her the truth—or as much of it as he dared give her. “Yes.”

  Her glare deepened. “Can you make me dream?”

  He held her stare, answering, “Yes.”

  Cam watched as the meaning of that answer sunk in. Ariel blushed with embarrassment, then paled as she w
hispered, “Oh. My. God.”

  She uncrossed her arms, and holding them out in front of her, stumbled away from him. “You used me. Then passed it off as nothing more than a dream.”

  “No, Ariel, I didn’t.” He didn’t know what had happened in her dreams after he’d departed, but he certainly hadn’t used her. He’d left her on the hammock untouched, although not unwanted by any means.

  “You changed the upholstery on my sofa because I didn’t like suede, then accused me of doing it. When I tried to hide from you in my bedroom, you used magic to get inside, then forced yourself on me.”

  Forced himself on her? “Your memory is a little faulty there.”

  “Oh, really? What part is faulty?”

  “For one thing, I didn’t change your upholstery.” Although he was fairly certain his dragon had. Cam stepped toward her, trying to keep from shouting. “And I certainly didn’t force myself on you.” He raised his eyebrows and looked down at her. “Not even after you begged me.”

  “I never—”

  “Oh, didn’t you?” She really wanted to debate this? From the smug look on her face, she obviously thought she was right. Fine, he’d remind her of the event.

  Before she could guess his next move, Cam reached out and grabbed her. He jerked her hard against his chest. “You did beg me, Ariel.” He ran one hand through her hair until he cupped the back of her head. Threading her hair through his fingers, he tugged her head back and stared down at her. “Remember?”

  Her overbright gaze faded and a frown replaced her glare. Certain he could convince her to think back to that day, he said, “You thought I’d be handy on housecleaning day. When I claimed to be handy with other things, you asked me to show you what things.”

  Her cheeks flushed with color. She whispered an unintelligible curse.