So he forced himself to pull away, ignoring her soft exhale and the disappointment in her gaze as he withdrew one again.
“If you had any sense you would be, especially having seen Geva.”
Fire flashed in her expressive brown eyes, and two high spots of color appeared on her cheekbones. It should have warned him really, but before he could blink she had shot to her feet and the flat of her hand connected with his left cheek. The resulting slap echoed around the still hall, and it seemed to bring her to her senses. Not that she seemed afraid of him, rather shocked at her actions, and rubbing her hand on her dress shook her head.
“I-I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I don’t. I’m sorry.”
She jumped when he put his hands on her shoulders, and slid them upward until he could frame her face. He was playing with fire, but the soft skin of her neck called him, and tipping her head up forced her to look at him.
“I have had worse, little dragon.”
A tremulous smile played around her lips, and Drorgan sighed. Releasing her he stepped back and offered her his arm.
“If it means that much to you, would you please do me the honor of escorting me to luncheon in my library, of all places.”
He gave a little bow, and Rhonda giggled.
The sound made his heart feel lighter, especially when she slid her arm in his, accepting his olive branch.
“As you ask me so nicely, my lord.” She grinned up at him. “I hear the library has quite a fascinating history, and I reckon you’re just the man to tell me all about it, if you don’t run out on me again.”
Eugene hooted in laughter, and Drorgan shook his head.
“Watch it, Eugene. You can be replaced, you know.”
His old butler bowed his head, but his insolent smile never left his face as he led the way to the library.
Rhonda slowed her steps, as did Drorgan, to make sure they didn’t overtake the old man, and she whispered her question to Drorgan.
“You wouldn’t really replace him, would you?”
Drorgan shook his head and winked at her. Her answering smile made him feel ten feet tall, and a comfortable silence fell between them, while they followed the slow progress Eugene made around the castle, while holding a running commentary on the surroundings.
Rhonda seemed to lap it all up, her brown eyes shining in barely disguised excitement. Nothing could have prepared Drorgan for her reaction, however, when they entered the library.
A shriek of excitement escaped Rhonda, and letting go of his arm, she spun around in a big circle, seemingly as enamored with what she saw like a child would be on Christmas morning, having found her favorite toy under the tree.
Eugene rubbed his hands in glee, and both men stopped to simply admire Rhonda’s joy. Tracing her fingers along the spines of the old, dusty books she seemed utterly absorbed in her task. A strange feeling spread through Drorgan’s chest, as the tiny seeds of long forgotten hope blossomed into tentative shoots. His old butler was already there it seemed, because he beamed from ear to ear in a grin so big it was in danger of splitting his face.
Drorgan ought to put a stop to this, right here and now, but he was as fascinated in her reaction to a bunch of dusty old books as Eugene was. He couldn’t even recall the last time anyone had shown such utter, unadulterated glee in his company, let alone a female. Having run up the length of the library, Rhonda gave another small shriek and ran down the other side, before she stopped in front of the fairytale section, of all things, and reached up to pull something down. Unfortunately, or fortunately as the case might be, she overbalanced and the whole lot threatened to come crashing down on her. It gave him the perfect excuse to touch her, as he leapt across the space separating them, and hauling her body up against his, hunched his shoulders to take the full brunt of the tomes descending upon him, instead of her.
In truth he hardly felt the weight of the books pummeling his back, too engrossed in the feel of this woman in his arms. Still clutching the ancient looking volume of fairytales her shoulders shook as though she was laughing, and amusement washed over him, too, when he heard her whisper.
“Oops, this is getting to be a habit, this, you rescuing me.”
He reluctantly let her go, when she pushed against his chest, and try as he might he couldn’t find the distance he needed, not when she was grinning up at him, fairytale collection held to her heaving bosom. A faint blush spread across her exposed cleavage when he couldn’t tear his gaze away from the creamy flesh.
“I’m afraid the library is in need of organizing,” Eugene said from somewhere to his right, and Drorgan snarled when the old man struggled to bend down to retrieve one of the books off the marble floor. Since when had the library floor been marble?
“Leave that, you’ll do yourself a mischief, Eugene. It’s only books.”
“Only books?” Rhonda’s outraged question forced his attention back to her, and he had to grin at the way she glared at him. “There is no such thing as only books. You have an amazing collection here, one that seems sadly neglected, but I can fix that. It’s the least I can do to repay you for your kindness, after all.”
Drorgan could think of far more entertaining ways for his little dragon to repay him, and it was on the tip of his tongue to suggest that, before he realized what he’d just thought.
His little dragon?
She was no more his than he was hers, and he had to put a stop to this right here and now, no matter how inherently right it felt to think of her as his.
“Kindness is not a word folks would usually associate with me.”
Rhonda pursed her lips, and gave him a visual once over that made his fingers itch to put her over his knees for her cheek. Where was the respect due to him? Completely and utterly lacking, as brought home by her next words.
“Well, maybe that’s because you try so hard to be the big bad, when I know that you’re really just a pussycat underneath all that bluster.”
She giggled when he took a step back, crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her. While her breathing sped up, and the sweet, ever present musk of her feminine arousal increased, the little minx mimicked his actions. Spreading her legs wide, which only served to give his dragon renewed palpitations, and meant his damn cock would stand no chance of deflating any time soon as a fresh wave of her intimate scent hit his nostrils, she tried her best to glare back at him.
When that didn’t work the infuriating woman stuck her tongue out at him, and when he made a playful lunge for her, shrieked and put the width of the table between them.
The action reminded him that he was indeed hungry, and he simply shook his head at her.
“One day, your boldness will catch up with you, Rhonda,” he said, and immediately regretted saying that, when her hand shot up to the faint bruises on her throat.
“Don’t even go there, woman. That lowlife attacking you was not your fault. You just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Waving an anxious looking Eugene away, he stepped round the table, and placing his hands on her shoulders, urged her to sit down.
“Cook, Eugene, and I dread to think who else, went through a lot of trouble to lay out this luncheon, and to bring the table and chairs in here, so let’s eat, shall we, and not worry about might have been? There’s no point in that, believe me. I’ve had centuries of learning the truth about that.”
The thud of the heavy door guarding the library signaled Eugene’s departure, and having pushed her chair in for her, Drorgan rounded the table, and poured them each a glass of wine before he sat down.
He lifted his goblet in a mock salute, and his agitated dragon side calmed his frantic pacing when she smiled and clinked her glass to his.
“To the future and big bad dragons who make it a habit to rescue silly librarians in distress.”
****
He so did not look happy when she said that, and her heart broke a little for him. Lord only knew why he was so determined to mak
e her think the worst of him. Rhonda was under no illusion that he had a dangerous side. No doubt he deserved having been placed under whatever magic spell held him and the entire castle suspended in time, but like he said, he had a long time to think on his past sins. As far as Rhonda was concerned his current actions spoke volumes, and besides she refused to believe she could be this attracted to someone if he were a complete ass.
She had a very good asshole detector, thank you very much, and not once had that come on in his presence. Maybe that simply meant she was a deluded fool, but Rhonda didn’t think so.
“Stop glaring like that. My foster mother would have said your face will get stuck like that if the wind changes direction.”
A flicker of amusement replaced the intensity in his gaze, and Drorgan shook his head.
“Foster mother?” he asked. When she shrugged her shoulders in feigned nonchalance he reached across the table to take her hand in his. As prepared as she now was for the immediate jolt of connection and belonging that shot up her arm at the contact, she still couldn’t stop her body’s immediate reaction. Her breathing sped up, gooseflesh chased up her exposed arms, and she hastily dropped her eyes to the table, lest they gave away her thought processes.
The pressure on her hand grew painful for one second, before Drorgan released a rather shaky breath and loosened his grip on her fingers. He didn’t let go, however, and seeing him reach under the table to presumably adjust himself, gave her the courage to address the elephant in the room.
“Are we going to do something about this?”
Drorgan pulled back as though she had slapped him again, and she was half expecting him to take off. When he didn’t, she reluctantly raised her gaze. The sheer longing and intensity with which he studied her when their gazes collided, meant that time stood still. Who knew, maybe it literally did. They were caught up in some sort of magic thing, after all.
“No.” He ground that one word out through clenched teeth, and the table creaked under the white knuckled grip he had on the edge of it.
“Why not?”
Flames flickered in Drorgan’s blue irises in response to that question, and emboldened by his reaction, Rhonda pressed on.
“You must know I want you.”
Drorgan shut his eyes and shook his head, as though he was in pain.
“I’ve never felt this attracted to anyone, and before you say, this is just because I feel obligated to you, then let me reassure you I know the difference. Yes, I’m grateful for you rescuing me, of course I am. But that’s not the reason I can’t sleep without imagining you in me, taking me, making me yours. I want you, Drorgan, and I think you want me, too, so why are we dancing around this attraction?”
A growl erupted from Drorgan’s chest, the vibrations of which shook the table and made the fine bone china rattle. By rights it ought to scare her to death, especially as he grew bigger, more menacing. The air shimmered around him, as though he was about to shift into his dragon. His muscles bunched, and the veins on his neck and arms stood out, yet Rhonda had to press on.
“Don’t fight this, and besides you need to break the spell.”
He thumped the table with his fist, making all the contents fly in the air, before they settled back down. The resulting crack of the artfully arranged fish dish in the middle of the spread made him open his eyes and mutter something under his breath.
“Better to break the spell, than more of Cook’s best china. I don’t know her, but I’d wager a guess that she’ll be cross about that.”
Drorgan opened his mouth as though to say something, but nothing but a growl erupted. The heat of his breath singed the few tendrils of hair that had escaped the braid holding them back, and the smell of burning filled the air.
“Fuck this.” Reaching across he pulled the ruined strands of hair off her face, and cupped her face with surprising gentleness. “It’s too fucking dangerous. I will not risk you, and besides, don’t you think I’ve tried to break this spell? It never does. There’s no point in giving my people false hope. The spell holds fast, and it’s only what I deserve. I’m no good for the likes of you, little dragon.” He whispered the last word, and Rhonda placed her hands over his when he tried to withdraw.
Another gust of hot air, laced with the spicy musk of aroused man hit her face, and she inhaled deeply.
“Let me be the judge of that, Drorgan.” She’d surprised him, she could tell, because she looked into the eyes of the dragon when she looked at him, and the intense yearning reflected back at her took her breath away. Drorgan blinked, and the dragon disappeared to be replaced by the weary look of a man with the weight of his world on his shoulders.
This time when he pulled back, Rhonda let him. Her stomach chose that moment to rumble its hunger, and it broke the tension in the room. A faint smile kicked up Drorgan’s full lips, and leaning back in his chair he gestured to the feast in front of him.
“You’re right about one thing. Cook will have the scales off my back if we don’t eat some of this, so we should do that.”
He smiled when she nodded.
“Though, surely she can’t expect us to eat all that?”
Drorgan just shrugged his massive shoulders, and Rhonda soon realized why. Clearly it took an enormous amount of food to keep him well fed, because by the time she pushed her plate away, Drorgan had polished off several platefuls to her one. He washed everything down by draining the goblet of wine, and Rhonda found the act of seeing him swallow utterly fascinating. In truth anything he did just turned her on more. It was really quite ridiculous the effect he had on her, and she shifted restlessly on her chair to relieve some of that insistent throbbing in her pussy.
What would one of the heroines in the naughty stories crowding her e-reader back home do in this situation, she wondered. Not that whatever she could come up with would be enough to break through Drorgan’s iron self-control, even if she was any good at this trying to seduce a man lark. Sadly the few far from satisfying encounters Rhonda had had with the opposite sex were of no help whatsoever now, so biting her lip, she glared at her wine glass instead.
“You mentioned a foster mother earlier. Tell me about her.”
Drorgan’s deep voice shook her out her internal how best to snare a dragon musings—maybe there was a book about it somewhere in this vast library—and she looked up at him.
Unmistakable amusement glimmered in his blue eyes now. The damn man knew exactly what effect he had on her, and that was without him even trying. Heaven only help her if he ever set out to seduce her. No woman would stand a chance against him, which made it doubly infuriating that he refused to take her up on her blatant offer.
Trying to rein in her libido with only limited amount of success, Rhonda sighed, and Drorgan’s eyebrows together in a frown.
“If it’s too painful to talk about then—”
“No, it’s not that.” Rhonda interrupted him, and Drorgan leaned back in his chair again. One leg crossed over the other, his long fingers caressed the goblet, and a stab of jealousy at the inanimate object assaulted Rhonda out of nowhere. What would those long digits feel like caressing her skin, stretching her as he prepared her for his cock?
“Little dragon, stop that. We’re not going to have sex.” His voice dropped an octave taking on the deep growl of his dragon, and Rhonda’s stomach flipped over in delicious anticipation. She blew out a frustrated breath when he just sat there studying her. Were it not for the way he was tenting his tunic, Rhonda would have thought he was immune to her, but that huge bulge told her otherwise.
“Does being a stubborn buffoon come with being a dragon?” She flung the words at him, and for a second she wondered whether she’d gone too far because he looked all but ready to put her over his knee, but then he released a breath slowly and smiled.
“Nice try, but it will not work.”
Chapter Seven
She was goading him on purpose, he knew that, and she would never know how much it cost him to not take her up on
the invitation her body sent his way.
All through the meal the heavy, sweet musk of her feminine dew had called him to bury his head between her thighs and slake his hunger for this woman. However, he would not stop there. One taste of her would mean he’d lose control, and he’d meant what he said to her. With his dragon this volatile any coupling would be dangerous for her. She was human and fragile. Not used to the mating ways of the dragon, the fierce need to mark her as his. He couldn’t, wouldn’t do that. Not when his time here was so limited. Providing she survived the mating, what would happen to her when he was forced back into the stone?
What pulsed between them was nothing more than a healthy dose of lust. It couldn’t be anything else, for surely if it was, if she really was the one to break the spell, would it not have broken already? She had seen him both as the dragon and as the man, seemingly accepted him, so according to the chant he ought to be set free already.
That had been the stipulation, not a mating, not love, for surely no one could ever love the beast, not even this delightful young woman, who stared defiantly at him, daring him to take her up on her words.
He’d sensed her inherent innocence from the first touch of her skin. Any other woman as needy as his little dragon was would have already thrown her entire arsenal of womanly wiles at him, but not his Rhonda. It made his chest feel tighter and made him want to wrap her up in softness and take her far away from him, this castle, and the harsh world they lived in.
“So, your foster mother?” he asked instead of acting on this newfound feelings coursing through him. “Is she the reason you stopped coming to the stone?”
Rhonda seemed surprised by that question, and her nose wrinkling up in confusion, she shook her head.
“Not really. That was my mother’s fault.” A shadow crossed her expressive face, and his dragon growled a warning.
“If you’re trying to scare me with that noise, then I have to tell you it’s not working. It’s sexy as fuck when you do that.” Heat stained her cheeks as though she couldn’t quite believe she’d said that out loud, and despite the resulting ache in his balls, Drorgan laughed. Rhonda gave a feminine growl in answer, which made his cock so hard it hurt. He would have to shift soon to release some of that tension, but he wanted to learn more about her first.
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