Dragon's Curse (Harlequin Nocturne)

by Lynn, Denise

  “Yeah, you remember now, don’t you? Then you should also remember that I didn’t just jump to the occasion even after you begged me to.”

  “Fine. You’re right, you didn’t.” Her flush darkened further. She shook her head out of his hold. “But afterward, you did something to make me think the entire episode, the furniture, the wizardry, the kissing, that all of it was a dream. Why?”

  “You were the enemy. I didn’t want you to remember that I’d admitted to being a wizard. Why would I let you remember information you might use against me?”

  “What did you do?”

  “Made you go to sleep and dream to forget.”

  “Of dragons, flying and making love on a beach.”

  “No. That was your dream.” To his regret, he hadn’t been there for the making-love part. What he had done was set the stage and nothing more. “I just supplied the beach and opportunity.”

  She cleared her throat, then asked, “Am I still the enemy?”

  Cam released her with a sigh before answering her question with a question of his own. “What were you doing sneaking around the workroom, alone, at night?”

  “So, this dragon thing…” She made no pretense of avoiding his question. “How does it work?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Do you just decide to be a dragon at whim?”

  “Sometimes. Not often.” He crossed the room to retrieve her weapon. Handing it to her, he added, “Usually the change is under my control. Unless I somehow get zapped with a stun gun.”

  At least she had the decency to look away. “Sorry about that.”

  “Yeah. I’m sure you are.”

  “It’s not like you could have died. There isn’t enough juice for that.”

  “Maybe not, but you could have been killed.”

  “Good point.” She shrugged. “But I wasn’t.”

  “Nor did you answer my question. What are you doing out here alone?”

  “I wasn’t alone, your goons were with me.”

  “My goons didn’t come into the workroom. What if one of the Learneds had been in here, waiting?”

  “I thought they couldn’t come on your property without you knowing about it.”

  “They can’t. However, Brightworthe’s body was found on the beach. And if you remember correctly, it’s fairly easy for the Learneds to get one or more of their minions on the property.”

  Ariel groaned. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

  “Obviously.” He wanted to lock her in a room back at the keep, but knew she’d throw enough of a fit to start tongues wagging. Too bad Mirabilus didn’t have an equipped dungeon.

  “So what now?”

  “Now that you know my secret, I’ll have to toss you from a cliff into the ocean.”

  “But…”

  He couldn’t believe it—she frowned as if she was trying to determine if he was serious or not. Cam rolled his eyes as he walked by her on his way toward the corridor. “Not tonight though. I’m too tired.”

  She fell in step behind him. “From your point of view you’d probably be justified. I am technically working for your enemy.”

  When he didn’t reply, she added, “And I did lie to get hired at the Lair.”

  Without stopping, Cam asked, “What are you doing? Trying to convince me to murder you?”

  “No, I just…I don’t know.”

  He stopped at the entrance panel and turned toward her. Reaching out in the dark, Cam grasped her shoulders. “Look, Ariel, if killing you had been my intention, don’t you think I’d have done so by now?”

  “I suppose. But I’ve never been quite certain what your intentions are.”

  Unfortunately, neither was he. The more he was around her, the more undecided he became.

  She shivered and he brushed a hand down her arm before taking off his jacket to wrap it around her. “My intentions have always been the same—to find a way to get to the Learneds. You seemed the most direct route.”

  She pulled the jacket tighter around her shoulders. “And now?”

  Cam slid the panel open, asking, “And now what? What are you thinking, or trying to figure out?”

  Ariel buried her face in the collar of his jacket and breathed in the woodsy scent of his aftershave. She didn’t exactly know what she was thinking.

  He’d told her before that there was no “us” and he’d been right, they weren’t a couple. And they’d both claimed more than once that they were essentially enemies. Again, the claim was correct—regardless of the reason, in the end her job was to rob him and naturally, his was to prevent the theft.

  Then why did his touch say otherwise? Why did the lingering memory of his kisses leave her thinking of a future together?

  “Ariel?” His breath rushed warm across her temple. “There is no us. You understand that, right?”

  His nearness, the gentleness of his voice made her brave enough to ask, “How can you be so certain?”

  Cam jerked away and walked through the panel door into the old shed. “Certain? I’m positive. It would never work between us.”

  She hadn’t the slightest clue what drove her. Temporary insanity perhaps? Maybe she was overly tired, or more fed up with this entire situation than she’d realized. Or maybe she just felt the need to be contrary. The only thing she knew for certain was that she had to ask, “How can you be positive if we don’t at least try?”

  Ariel followed him out of the shed and squinted against the brightness of the perimeter light as it swept across them.

  “No.”

  “So, what then? It was just a brief roll in the hay with an employee?” If his intent had been to make her feel cheap and used, he’d succeeded. “And now you’ll just send me on my way?”

  He still kept walking toward the keep without turning around. “If that explanation works for you, feel free to use it.”

  “What about Renalde and my brother?”

  “I said I’d help. I won’t change my mind.”

  “And once that’s all settled I’ll be out of your life for good, right?”

  “That is the goal.”

  Ariel’s head pounded. This was the reason she’d avoided involvement with men to begin with. She liked her life ordered, uncluttered, compartmentalized.

  She’d known that she wouldn’t be able to deal with the conflicting emotions a relationship and subsequent breakup would bring.

  “It would have been easier if I’d never met you to begin with.”

  “Probably.” He opened the door and held it for her. As she strode past him, he suggested, “Just pretend nothing ever happened.”

  “I wish I could just forget.”

  “That is an option.”

  She came to a dead stop in the foyer. “You’re right. It is, isn’t it?”

  He was directly behind her. “Yes, Ariel, it is.”

  His voice sounded choked. She turned around and looked up at him. “Will I forget the taste of your kisses? The feel of your caresses? Will I go to sleep at night and not dream of you—or dragons?”

  “If that’s what you want, yes.”

  She grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the stairs. “Then do it.”

  Cam’s dragon broke out in a fit of rage that nearly dropped him to his knees. The mark on his shoulder blade felt as if it was trying to pull free of his flesh. He stiffened his spine, clenched his jaw and followed her up the stairs.

  As crazy as the idea sounded, it wo
uld be easier for both of them if she believed they’d never shared a kiss, or a bed.

  Since she seemed to want to forget so badly, he was certain that he could convince her that the grimoire, the dragon—everything—was nothing more than strange dreams and nightmares she’d had while working at the Lair.

  They would become employer and employee in every sense. At least until he found the items she needed for Renalde. He’d find a way to sneak them under her nose for her to discover. Then she’d be gone.

  It would all be so easy.

  And far too much of a coward’s choice for him to live with.

  Ariel shoved the door to her bedroom open so hard that it crashed against the wall. She tossed his jacket onto an occasional chair, then sat down on the bed. “Okay, I’m ready. Get it over with.”

  He sauntered in behind her, deliberately taking his time. “Get it over with?”

  “Just do whatever you have to do.”

  Cam glanced at the desk. He swore he heard the grimoire laughing at him. Intentionally ignoring the imagined laughter, he sat down next to her. “You’re sure?”

  “Yes!” She grabbed his hand and held his palm against the side of her head. “Do it.”

  Cam nearly choked on his own laugh. She watched far too much television—specifically science-fiction movies—if she believed he could perform this magic with some type of alien mind meld.

  He gently pulled his hand free and waved toward the pillows on the bed. “Lie down. Get comfortable.”

  She didn’t need to know that he wasn’t going to do anything more than put her to sleep. Tomorrow morning would be soon enough to have this argument.

  “I’m ready.”

  Cam stretched out alongside her and pulled her into his embrace. It felt as if he held an unyielding piece of lumber against his chest. “What are you ready for, Ariel?”

  “For all this to go away.”

  He traced lazy circles on her back, hoping she’d relax beneath his touch. “Really? There’s nothing of the last few weeks you’d like to remember?”

  “No. Nothing.”

  The hot wetness seeping through his shirt claimed her a very bad liar. He reached up to brush the telltale tears from her cheek. “Nothing?”

  She shook her head against his chest.

  For some reason, knowing that there was nothing she wished to remember cut like a razor against his heart. He closed his eyes against the emotions tugging at him, fighting to not act upon the hurt that her revelation caused his beast—and him.

  He would get over this temporary pain, but what about his beast? How could she so carelessly, callously touch the dragon’s soul only to leave him wanting in vain?

  Cam gritted his teeth. This wasn’t her fault. She didn’t know. How could she know when he’d said nothing to make her believe he truly cared?

  Forcing himself to ignore everything whirling inside, he calmed the tumult with a slow, deep breath, and then tipped his head to rest his forehead against hers.

  His beast roared, rearing up in stunned amazement. Cam froze at the sudden certainty that he’d been wrong. So very wrong.

  This creature, this person now resting comfortably in his arms, was far from human. At her core, at the very depths of her soul lived a shadowy beast.

  He probed deeper, needing to know if this beast had been sent to him for some nefarious purpose by the Learneds. What he found was a dragon newly born. It was taking shape, fighting to be free, to be given the chance to fully form.

  Relief flowed through him like a mountain stream, sweeping away his hurt in its path and giving him a glimmer of hope that he was not alone. Even though she had yet to realize it herself, she was as much a changeling as he.

  “What are you doing?”

  Her question startled him from his thoughts. “Nothing, go to sleep.”

  She halfheartedly pushed against him, complaining, “You aren’t going to make me forget anything, are you?”

  “No, Ariel. I’m not. Go to sleep.”

  His mind was too busy to deal with her anger or disappointment. “Just go to sleep. The next two days will be busy. You won’t have time to go searching for pendants or boxes, so don’t waste your time making any plans.”

  “And what if I’m not tired?”

  A thousand different ways of killing time until she was tired flooded his mind. Each idea more erotic than the last. But the slowness of her words said she’d fall asleep the moment she closed her eyes. “Just go to sleep, Ariel.”

  She tried to shrug off his arm and push him away. “Go away, Cameron. I’d like to be alone.”

  And he’d like to be on a deserted tropical island without a care in the world. He kicked off his shoes, letting them fall to the floor. There was one way to make sure he’d get some sleep tonight.

  He lifted an eyebrow at her curses as their clothing joined his shoes.

  She lifted her head to glare at him through sleepy, bloodshot eyes. “This isn’t your room. Leave.”

  “In case you haven’t noticed, that isn’t going to happen, so stop arguing.”

  The quilt at the end of the bed unfurled over them. Cam slid his arm from beneath her, flipped over onto his stomach and then draped an arm securely across her. “Now, either go to sleep on your own, or I’ll see to it myself.”

  She pounded a fist on the mattress. “God, I despise you.”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  Chapter 16

  Ariel watched from her seat in the far corner of the ballroom as the inhabitants of Mirabilus poured into the room. She was out of place in this crowd of mourners.

  Brightworthe had been nothing more to her than a name she’d heard once or twice. From the number of people at his funeral, it appeared she was the only person on this entire island who hadn’t known him.

  Young or old didn’t matter, everyone she talked to had had a story to tell her about the man. If just half the stories were true, Brightworthe had been a good person—one who shouldn’t have died because of her.

  Knowledge that she was responsible for Brightworthe’s death and the pain these mourners were suffering fueled her guilt. Renalde had taken care of two objectives with this one horrendous move. He’d made good his threat of making her pay by killing Brightworthe, and that move had guaranteed she’d end up back at Mirabilus.

  Although, how she was supposed to find anything here was beyond her comprehension. Between Cam and his goons this was the first time since yesterday morning when she felt as if eyeballs weren’t boring into her back.

  They’d watched her every move. Going so far as to stand outside her bedroom door while she’d changed clothes for the funeral service.

  When confronted, Cam had claimed the guards were posted for her own safety. She only partly believed that explanation. The only danger to her physical safety was Danielle Drake.

  Sean and Harold had seen to it that Ms. Drake was never within striking distance. Cam was keeping close tabs on her for some other reason, too. Her guess was that he didn’t want her snooping around the keep.

  A woman nearly tripped over her, snapping Ariel’s attention back to the crowd. She pushed her chair farther back into the corner.

  “Ariel?”

  She didn’t need to look up to recognize Cam’s voice. What was he bugging her for now? Didn’t he have other things to keep him busy?

  Without taking her focus from the pink-hued veins crisscrossing the marble floor, she
said, “I’m not doing anything. I’m just sitting here like an obedient little serf.”

  She gasped at the strangled chuckle that met her response. Quickly jumping to her feet, she stared up and frowned. This wasn’t Cam. From his identical looks, this must be his twin, Braeden Drake. “I apologize. I am really sorry. I—“

  “Stop.” He touched her shoulder. “It’s a common mistake people make the first time they see both of us.”

  A common mistake? Granted, Cam and Braeden were nearly identical twins—if one didn’t take in the different eye color. However, it was a little hard to mistake Braeden’s mesmerizing amethyst gaze for Cam’s sapphire one. He must think she was a complete idiot.

  “No. Misguided on some things perhaps. But not a complete idiot.”

  Ariel groaned. Another one like Danielle. “Please, don’t do that.”

  “I forgot. Cam doesn’t like to drop into people’s minds, so you probably aren’t used to it.”

  She wasn’t about to tell him how far off the mark he was on that assumption. “No, he doesn’t intrude on my thoughts. But he has other talents.”

  Braeden clenched his jaw and swallowed visibly. “Unfortunately, it’d be inappropriate for me to laugh right now.”

  She didn’t know what to say to her faux pas, she hadn’t meant his talents in the bedroom, but it was obvious that’s what Braeden thought.

  “Braeden, don’t harass the guests.” His wife, Alexia, linked her hand around his arm. “Whatever you do, Ariel, do not let him bully you.”

  Swallowing a moment of embarrassment, Ariel tore her stare from Alexia’s stomach. She knew Braeden’s wife was pregnant. But she didn’t know how many babies the woman carried. From the looks of it, there had to be more than one—maybe three?

  Cameron joined them. “Private discussion, or can anyone participate?”

  The sight of the twins standing next to each other was breathtaking. Even Alexia’s eyes widened briefly as she moved to stand next to Ariel.

  Both were decked out in black tuxes—including the shirts and ties. The only spot of color were the sashes at their waists. Braeden’s in purple. Cam’s in sapphire. Even the scabbards of their dress swords were etched with identical dragons.