“Stop that at once! I said stop it!” Their mother’s voice rang through the air, and then Tabitha stepped between them.
The flaming stopped.
Gabriel and Calder stood there, panting with rage and exertion, fists clenched, and their mother stood there, stark naked and furious, between them.
“You two idiots just burned my favorite dress. That was a Dior, I’ll have you know,” Tabitha snapped, but, as was her custom, she only looked at Gabriel.
“What are you doing here?” Gabriel asked her. “Why aren’t you downstairs with the guests?”
Tabitha’s mouth twitched into a sad smile. “I came to deliver your happy news to Alexandra,” she said, glancing at the big door. Then her face fell. “But even here, I get no peace.” She gave a rare glance at Calder, her eyes brimming with tears, lip quivering.
As if she hadn’t suffered enough. Gabriel drew his breath in to blast his brother with a fireball he couldn’t recover from, but Calder merely shot her a look of annoyance. “We all know you were a theatre major in college, mother – or should I say, Tabitha,” he said coldly. “So save it.”
Tabitha’s tears vanished instantly, and she turned and stalked off, holding up her hand and extending her middle finger at her older – by five minutes – son.
“I curse the day you hatched!” she yelled at him, then leaned in to let the retinal scanner scan her eye. The door opened for her, and she paused as if to brace herself, then walked into the room, leaving her two sons alone.
Calder flashed Gabriel an annoyingly superior look, as if to say, “She suckered you, as usual,” then turned and walked away. Gabriel was even angrier because his brother was right.
And unfortunately, family tradition required that Calder remain in the valley until Gabriel was married. It would be a miracle if they could get through the next thirty days without killing each other.
He climbed onto the elevator and took it downstairs, then strode through the great hall that led back to the main area of the castle. He was determined not to let his asshole ex-brother ruin his good mood. The universe was clearly smiling on him today. For the past year, he’d been crushing on Kelly Henderson. More than that – dreaming about the stubborn spitfire brunette. Lusting after her. Struggling to banish her from his thoughts. Enjoying himself far too much every time she showed up and tried to interrogate him.
For the past month, since both his name and Pandora’s had been selected by the fair committee, he’d been plunged in gloom. Not only would he never be with Kelly, he’d be married to a horrible, viper-tongued, social-climbing phony who made his stomach roil.
He and his family’s lawyers had researched every possible angle to get him out of the nightmare that would be his fate, and had found nothing. They were positive she’d cheated and rigged the drawing so she’d be selected – and it didn’t even matter.
If he refused to marry the Fair Maiden, he would be in defiance of the Dragon Codicil, which meant that he and his family would forfeit everything they owned to Pandora’s family and would be banished from associating with their fellow dragons forever.
The Dragon Elders didn’t mess around.
And then the spyware that his family had recently used to infect Kelly’s laptop had paid off…shockingly well. They’d done it because they were still desperately hunting for a power gem with healing powers, and hoped that Kelly might have information about such a gem on her computer, and also because they wanted to keep abreast of Kelly’s investigation into them. But when he’d learned that Kelly planned to come to the Tri-Valley Dragon Festival and substitute herself for the Fair Maiden, it had been like a hurricane had blown away and the sun had beamed down on him from the heavens.
There could only be one reason that this had happened. Kelly was meant for him. He’d known it the moment he’d first laid eyes on her. And she would come to see it too, sooner or later. He hoped sooner, because looking at her made all the blood in his body rush to his dick, and he wanted nothing more than to taste every inch of her lusciousness.
As Gabriel headed for the staircase that led up to his bedchamber, he spotted his valet. Winthrop had changed out of his medieval garb into his suit, and was striding through the great hall carrying a tray full of dirty dishes.
“Do you believe in fate, my good man?” Gabriel asked him cheerfully.
Winthrop answered with exaggerated patience and his usual doleful expression. “No,” he said. “I believe in doing one’s duty and behaving and dressing appropriately to one’s station.”
It was just Gabriel’s luck to have inherited a valet who was painfully morally upright and continually horrified by the Kingsley family’s antics. Tradition said that Winthrop couldn’t leave the Kingsleys’ employ unless he got married. So far, there had been no takers. Gabriel glanced at his dour-looking valet and shook his head.
What a surprise.
But Gabriel wasn’t going to let Winthrop drag him down this afternoon, either. “Winthrop, you could suck the joy out of a billion-dollar lottery win – but not today, my friend!”
“Er…thank you?” Winthrop looked baffled. “Will that be all, sir?”
“For the time being, yes.” Gabriel headed for the stairs, humming to himself.
* * * * *
Kelly looked over the outfits that she’d just hung in her closet. She wasn’t really sure what she should wear. What was an appropriate outfit for dinner with the dragon who’d just kidnapped you? Finally, because it was hot out, she selected a light blue jersey tank dress with a lace hem, and a matching blue lace jacket.
She headed out of her bedroom to search the other rooms in her suite.
She managed a grim smile. Gabriel knew that she was a gem empath, but he didn’t know how powerful she was, or he’d never have agreed to bring her to his castle.
Most empaths needed to handle a gem to sense whether or not it had powers, and to be able to manipulate those powers.
Not Kelly. She could feel the vibrations of any jewels that had special properties without touching them, even through walls and safes. Nobody knew that outside the insurance agency where she worked; it was a closely guarded secret.
She did have to be within a few dozen feet of the jewel, which meant that she was literally going to have to search the castle from top to bottom. She also couldn’t just feel it by walking by; she had to concentrate really hard, putting herself almost in a trance state, if she wanted to sense the vibrations.
It had taken years of training to get her powers up to their current strength, and it was very draining to do it for more than a few minutes.
She’d still have to get extraordinarily lucky to be able to find it, but at least now she stood a chance.
She opened up her mind and listened for the jewel wavelengths. Once she felt her mental barriers relaxing, she began walking around the room. She stopped in each corner, paused, and let her mind sweep the area. Nothing. She kept moving, stopping, sweeping…
She paused by a carved antique dresser. On top of it sat a tray of jewel-studded cufflinks, most of which had no special abilities. There was one set of onyx cufflinks with some power in them, but they weren’t even that strong and they weren’t stolen. They had the ability to be mildly calming in stressful situations. Xanax onyx, she thought, stifling a giggle.
Anyway, didn’t matter. They were at home here. Passed down for generations. She could feel it.
After a few minutes, she was satisfied that there was nothing in her suite. She hadn’t thought it would be that easy, but then again, Gabriel struck her as someone with a perverse sense of humor, and she’d feel pretty stupid if it turned out he had hidden the Dragonsblood in a safe in her room. She really wished he had; she was a master at safe-cracking. If you wanted to defeat a crook, you had to think like a crook.
But no, there was definitely no ruby in her suite, so she left and walked into Gabriel’s room. Dear God, what a freaking huge room. Her townhouse in Seattle was pretty good-sized; she could fit the entire
thing in here and then some.
The floor was flagstone, with richly colored Oriental carpets scattered across it. There were groupings of sofas and chairs and mahogany end tables. Some of them were gathered around a massive stone fireplace. There was a reading corner with shelves stocked with thousands of books. Somewhere a Barnes & Noble was jealous of Gabriel’s book collection.
“Big, scaly show-off,” she muttered to herself, sinking into an exquisitely comfortable chair and letting out a contented sigh as she plucked a book of poetry from a shelf. She stroked its glossy cover and tried not to imagine coming home to this room every night. Spending hours cushioned in this cloud-like chair, lost in in a book… Sprawling across that bed, naked… Gabriel kissing his way down her body…
“You stop that!” she scolded herself out loud. She quickly stood up and forced herself to concentrate, to open her mind back up and call out.
Come to me, Dragonsblood…and could you make it snappy before I start touching myself and humping Gabriel’s pillow?
She heard a noise coming from behind a door, which she was pretty sure led to Gabriel’s closet. She hesitated; had he come back in while she was in the shower?
“Gabriel?” she called out. There was no answer, but she heard a rattling noise.
“Winthrop?” she tried again. Still no answer.
She felt a little uneasy, but she walked over to the door and yanked it open.
She saw a row of suits hanging from a rod – rocking gently, because somebody had just moved them. And she saw a pair of pointy-heeled shoes sticking out from behind an overcoat in the corner. The closet was the size of a large bedroom, and she saw that a chest of drawers had been rifled through, with all the drawers pulled out.
Someone else was searching his room? How dare they?
“I can see you, you idiot!” she yelled.
The overcoat was shoved aside – and Pandora stepped out. She was wearing a red stretchy lycra dress with a neckline so low it was flirting with her belly button.
“Come on, Pandora – come out of the closet. I mean, nobody’s judging you – it’s the twenty-first century,” Kelly said snidely, and walked out of the closet back into Gabriel’s bedroom. Pandora stormed out, her high heels clacking on the floor.
“Who the hell are you? Are you that bitch who took my place?” Pandora advanced on her, fists clenched. Her face was red with fury.
“I’m sorry, skanky cat burglar says what?” Kelly scoffed.
Pandora began slapping and punching at her, forcing Kelly back as she kept raising her arms to ward off the blows.
“This is my room, not yours! He’s mine! Mine, mine, mine!”
Kelly blocked her again and Pandora tried to bite her arm. Kelly shrieked and dodged out of the way. Was Pandora completely insane? Some of her spit had splattered her arm. Was she going to need a rabies shot?
“Get your hands off my uncle’s fiancée, you ho-bag!” Evangeline came charging through the room’s open door and raised her fist.
“You little brat! You’re crazy! You’re just as crazy as— Ouch!” Pandora let out a scream as Evangeline’s eyes went red and reptilian and she shot a stream of flame at her. It singed off some of her hair on the right side of her head.
“All of you! Stop it!” Gabriel bellowed from the doorway. He hurried into the room. “Pandora, what the hell are you doing here?”
“My family was invited to the celebration,” she snapped. “Since we assumed it would be my celebration. So we have every right to be here.”
Gabriel shrugged, looking annoyed. “Yes, I knew you were on the grounds, but that doesn’t give you the right to be in my bedroom.”
“Or searching his closet,” Kelly added.
At Gabriel’s startled look, Pandora said quickly, in a wheedling tone, “I caught her going through your closet. She pulled out all of your drawers. Go see for yourself! She’s a thief!”
“Oh, good, then she’ll fit right in.” Gabriel bared big white teeth in a grin as Kelly spluttered a protest. “Now run along, Pandora. There’s an open bar at the wedding celebration; I hear you like those.”
Apparently Pandora’s reputation preceded her.
Pandora stood right where she was, her hands on her hips. “This is my wedding celebration! I know dragon law! This is my room, you are my fiancé, and I am not leaving.” Her eyes glittered with rage.
Gabriel snorted. “You’ll leave, all right. I don’t care if I have to throw you out.”
“She tried to set me on fire! I’ll have her arrested!” Pandora pointed at Evangeline, hand shaking.
“She called me crazy.” Evangeline’s face was flushed with anger.
“She is crazy,” Pandora hissed. She jabbed her finger right in Evangeline’s face. “She should have a straitjacket on her and be locked up like— Owww!” Evangeline shot flame at her fingers, and Pandora yanked her injured digits back and shook her hand hard.
“Excuse me while I call for the guards.” Gabriel walked over to an intercom on the wall, and glanced back at Pandora. “Of course, this is going to be quite embarrassing for you, being hauled out of here in front of everyone. I’ll make sure you’re carried past all of the guests.”
“Fine,” she spat at him. “I’ll leave for now, but don’t think you’ve gotten away with anything. We’re appealing to the Dragon Elders and they’ll make you marry me.”
“How romantic…I mean pathetic,” Evangeline sneered, and Pandora lunged at her, and there was another brief interchange of screaming and slapping and very unladylike swearing before Pandora stormed out.
“Thank you,” Kelly said to Evangeline.
Evangeline scowled at her. “I didn’t do it because I like you. I did it because I hate Pandora,” she said stiffly, and marched towards the door.
“Evangeline!” Gabriel barked at her, but she kept walking.
He stormed after her, grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around. There was an exchange of angry words before she yelled at Kelly, “Fine! I’m sorry!” and stomped off.
Gabriel walked back into his room, shaking his head in exasperation. “I apologize for her,” he said. “I sent her to her room for the rest of the party. She’s got some teenage drama going on in her life, but it’s no excuse for her behaving like that.”
“It’s all right. I was all ‘woe is me’ too, when I was a teenager.” Kelly shrugged. Of course, that had been because her father was in prison and all the kids in school hated her because her dad had bankrupted their parents, and her mother was thrown out of their country club and continually railed at Kelly and Teresa as if it were their fault, but still. She understood angsty teenagers. “So, what’s on the agenda now?”
“Well, tonight we feast. Then, according to tradition, we’re supposed to come up to my room, where I pleasure you all night long. That’s certainly an option.” He looked at her hopefully.
“Pass,” she said dismissively.
“Ouch.” He placed his hand on his heart dramatically and pretended to look wounded.
She snorted. “You’re still a suspect, and therefore it is not appropriate for me to be romantically involved with you,” she said primly.
He just smiled and shook his head. “You’ll change your mind. And in the meantime, the wedding is a month from now.”
“There will be no wedding.”
“Your hallucinations are so cute,” he said to her with an infuriating smirk. “Anyway, according to tradition, tonight we have the celebration banquet, then over the next few days I take you on a tour of the castle and of the town, and you get started on your wedding planning.”
Yes! A tour of the castle! She could search for the Dragonsblood to her heart’s content.
Things were finally looking up.
A shrill voice drifted down the hallway. “Is she there? I swear to God I’m going to kill her!”
Gabriel quirked a brow in amusement. “Your beloved sister, I presume?”
She groaned. “You presume correctly. Why,
universe? Why can’t I just once catch a break?”
Chapter Six
Kelly and Teresa left Gabriel’s room and went downstairs to the drawing room so that Teresa could verbally eviscerate Kelly in private.
They flopped onto an eighteenth-century sofa with bowed, hand-carved legs and blue silk cushions.
“Go on, have at it,” Kelly said. “Let it all out. I know you’re dying to.”
“I can’t believe this,” Teresa stormed at Kelly. “This has got to be the worst fiasco in…in the history of fiascos!”
“There’s a history of fiascos?” Kelly wondered. “Is it in encyclopedia form? Is our father in there?”
“Don’t you dare make light of this,” Teresa hissed. “I told you it was a bad idea from the very beginning, and now look where we are.” She glanced around wildly, gesturing with her hand at the enormous room. “Here.”
Kelly glanced around. True, things hadn’t gone as planned, but it was hardly a dungeon.
The antique furniture was all re-upholstered and immaculately polished. There were crystal vases of fresh flowers everywhere. The room was lit with electric torches set on the walls, and a massive chandelier which sprinkled light like diamonds on the flagstone floor. Servants glided noiselessly through the room, dusting and sweeping, and several younger dragonlings flapped through the air, chased by their scolding mothers.
Neither of them had ever been in a dragon’s castle before; Kelly was actually finding it fascinating. Granted, she would have greatly preferred it if everything had gone to plan, but she still had a fair shot at accomplishing her mission.
Teresa might be going with the “woe is me” thing, but Kelly had long ago figured out that panicking got you exactly nowhere. It just made you hyperventilate and get dizzy.
After all, this wasn’t the first time she’d had to think on her feet. “Oh, I don’t know. It might still turn out all right.”
“Are you crazy? First of all, I got arrested. Me! I don’t even jaywalk, I don’t have so much as a parking ticket on my record, and I got arrested. And I had to sit in a jail cell with criminals.” She glared at Kelly. “Chad better never hear of this. His family will lose their minds. I’m lucky they’re willing to forgive my past history.”
Bride Of The Dragon Page 4
