“I see. That is indeed unfortunate. I thought that you wanted her and Foster to pursue research on Ngaire Island?”
“Sadly, Mr. Voros, we still have not obtained funding for those projects. And in the meanwhile, we had nothing here at Auckland for Dr. Cooper. But I have hopes that my grant proposals will be successful.”
Roland took the hint. “Transkona is prepared to underwrite your research on Ngaire, Dr. Whitcomb,” he said. “Provided you can persuade Foster and Cooper to undertake it. And any other researchers you deem necessary.” He dangled the promise of an open checkbook.
“That shouldn’t be a problem.”
Roland hung up twenty minutes later, having created a job close to his own island for Kayla. Unfortunately, he still had to retrieve her from Whangaparoa Island. This was unacceptable. His bride was going to have to learn to stay put and train herself to please him.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The job at Whangaparoa Island Nature Preserve was only part time, but Dr. Gordon Wong was happy for her to use his facilities to mess around with her own projects in her free time so Kayla grabbed it thankfully. To supplement her pay, she found a job in a beach bar where the tips made up for the hassle of dealing with musclebound surfers. She even made friends with a couple of guys who needed a third person to help with the rent.
She probably would have turned Tyler and Nate’s offer down if they hadn’t been totally wrapped up in each other. Beach bums were really not her cup of tea. But they had eyes for no one but each other and she liked them at once. Their apartment wasn’t too bad. It was bright and the little balcony overlooked the beach. It was close to the nature preserve and the bar where she worked, so she didn’t need a vehicle — which was good, because she had no funds to buy a car.
Compared to living with the squabbling Cindy and Moira, Tyler and Nate’s uncomplicated relationship was paradise. They didn’t steal her food. When they cooked, they shared. They kept their mess to a minimum, and spent all the time they could riding the waves. In many ways it was like having her own place.
She felt so different after Roland. Stronger, more decisive. Less inclined to put up with rubbish like Aunt Audrey’s racism or customers’ sexist comments. She liked herself better too. Now when she looked in her mirror, instead of an overweight lump, she saw a tall and buxom woman with the opulent and desirable curves of a real woman. Anyone who favored twig women could stuff themselves.
She was so busy running between her two jobs and finding time to swim every day that the days slipped past unnoticed. It was a complete surprise when the tall, handsome piece of work who had turned her into a reptile showed up at the Sundowner Bar and Restaurant.
Kayla could not believe that her stupid heart still lurched when she saw that big jerk. Or that she blushed when Roland’s glacial green eyes warmed as they stripped away her clothes. But it just went to show that the smartest woman could be done in by her dumb hormones.
She could see that Roland was blazingly angry beneath his icy facade. Good. Because so was she. Kayla had a lot of ambitions in this life, but none of them had ever included becoming a giant lizard. And even if she had fallen head over heels in love with Voros, that was before he made it clear she was only good enough to screw. She wouldn’t have considered turning into any kind of a shifter for any man alive. It was a double insult that this dragon thought she would jump at the opportunity to marry him just because he was rich and she was poor.
Roland looked around disdainfully at the open air bar and instantly figured out which tables were hers. He sat down in the middle of her section and dared her to object. She marched right over with her rag and swiped at the table and looked him straight in the eye. “What the heck are you doing here?” she spat out.
“Looking for you,” he replied. He looked nonplussed — maybe at her attitude or maybe it was something else.
“I’m not allowed visitors during working hours,” she informed him curtly. “If you aren’t ordering, get out.”
Roland’s sensuous mouth was a hard line and a muscle jumped in his big, square jaw. “I’ll have whatever is on tap,” he ground out.
She felt his eyes on her rear as she flounced off to get him a lager. It wasn’t fair that he still made her feel like the sexiest woman on the planet. It really wasn’t.
“You’re pregnant,” he accused when she returned with his beer.
She was so astonished she nearly tipped the whole thing over his head. But she drew in a deep breath and returned his patronizing look with a bright smile of her own. “Not that it would be any of your business if I were,” she said with a coolness she didn’t feel. “But as it happens, I’m not.” She made him pay like all the other customers sitting by the beach. Running a tab was for trusted customers only. Pregnant indeed!
“I need to talk to you. When do you get off?”
“Seven p.m.—when the sun goes down.”
“I’ll pick you up and take you home,” he told her.
“I don’t think so.” She walked away, glad she had lots of other customers to serve.
* * *
Roland watched his mate’s round rump bounce off. He favored the beach bum who leered at it with a deadly glare that made the other man hastily swallow the last of his pint and leave. That outfit Kayla and the other waitresses were wearing was indecent. Skintight black Lycra leggings and a low cut tunic that left her legs and arms and bosom on display was no costume for the Baroness Voros.
Of course none of the other women had his mate’s lush curves and ample assets. But every time she bent to clear a table or wipe it, her rear end and breasts were on view for clowns — like that idiot he had had to warn off. There was no reason for her to be working in this down-market joint, serving the sort of riffraff who would ogle a waitress.
While he watched Kayla sway between the tables, laughing and joking with men who should never have been anywhere near his Baroness, he thought about his rehearsed speech. He acknowledged that he had botched his first attempt to explain that she had a glorious future as his dragon bride. But he had never expected a woman old enough to be completing her PhD to be a virgin. Never. He had been taken unawares and his fumbling explanation was due to his surprise.
He would be more successful this time. He had had two months to plan his proposal so that it would fulfill his mate’s romantic fantasies. Had he known she was only twenty-two he would have had more patience at the beach house. But if all else failed, the prospect of being an unmarried mother would tame his ungrateful bride. Because if she thought her aunt and uncle would welcome her back to Ara Ma with an illegitimate child, she was delusional.
Of course it was a bad sign that she had denied her pregnancy and that she was not happy to see him. He would have to make her understand that he would put up with no lies in future. Well, if necessary, he would bespell her. For she was his fated mate, and he was her lord. He let himself enjoy a rosy picture of his ecstatic future with his delicious, adoring wife and his fireling.
Kayla returned each time Roland emptied his glass, and each time she made him pay for his beer as if she feared he would run out on her. His fury grew, but he was a dragon lord and no snip of a girl was going to provoke him to bad manners. Still he was at simmering point when the sun went down and the evening shift arrived. Kayla was replaced by a long legged blonde who made sure he inspected her breasts when she wiped his table.
“Where’s Kayla?” he demanded.
“She went home,” the blonde told him huskily, running eyes over his chest. “Shall I bring you another?”
“Thank you. No.” He put a tip on the table and stalked out the door.
It took Waimarie an hour to locate Kayla’s apartment house. And when Roland banged on the door it was opened by yet another musclebound surfer dude with a bare chest and a beer in his hand.
“I’m sorry,” Roland said stiffly. “I have the wrong address.”
“Who are you looking for?”
“Kayla Cooper. Dr. Cooper.”
“
Oh, sure,” Surfer Dude opened the door wide. “Kayla,” he shouted cheerfully. “You’ve got company.”
Surfer Dude was joined by his hairier twin. The two muscular young men looked him over interestedly. Kayla emerged from the bedroom wearing cut-off shorts and a baggy, faded man’s tee-shirt. Better than her bar uniform, but still no outfit for his bride.
“You know this guy?” asked Hairy.
“Uh huh.”
“You want we should bounce him?” asked Surfer Dude, sensing something off.
“I don’t think that will be necessary, Tyler,” Kayla said. “Roland was just going.”
“I have to talk to you,” Roland said firmly. “Here or elsewhere.”
“We were going to go to the club for a bit anyway,” Hairy said slowly.
“Why don’t you do that?” suggested Roland.
“Nate, maybe Kayla doesn’t want us to leave her alone with Roland,” Tyler put in.
“It’s okay, Tyler,” Kayla said wearily. “You and Nate go have some fun.”
“You sure?” Tyler gave Roland the stink eye. “Kayla’s a good mate, you watch yourself with her.” He and Nate finally threw shirts on and departed.
Roland forgot his carefully planned speech. “What are you doing living with those beach bums?” he thundered.
Kayla sauntered over to the couch and sat down. “Won’t you have a seat?” she said graciously. “My living arrangements are none of your affair,” she continued calmly.
He was past thought or reasoned discussion. Roland seized his wayward mate and kissed her with two months’ worth of pent up feelings of rage and worry. As he had expected, she didn’t protest when he stripped her clothes from her body and let his mouth wander over her naked breasts. He drew one nipple and then the other into the fierce furnace of his mouth. Beneath his hard body Kayla writhed in passion.
She tore at his shirt and buttons flew. She peeled it down his arms and her fingers caressed his muscled torso and traced the tattoo that graced his bulging pecs. The feel of her fingers on that ink sent knives into his heart. The scent of her, the feel of her hands confirmed that this woman was the only female on the planet that could hold his interest now.
Roland stroked her curly delta and drew forth the delicious aroma that was his woman’s alone. Her pregnancy had added to her already ambrosial scent and the loveliness of her ample curves was even more enticing with the added glow of impending motherhood. His cock hardened even more and his senses went into overdrive in the presence of his one and only dragoness.
He tested her pulsing passage with a long forefinger and the tight sheath captured his probing digit and began to pulse. He drew it out and used her juices to dampen her straining bud. The hood was pulled back and when he pressed it with his thumb his darling exploded in his arms. He pushed two fingers into her and found the spot inside her silken depths where pressure would increase her pleasure.
Clearly, he had found the secret to satisfying her. She bucked and came and her cream wet his entire palm. Roland licked his hand and held her eyes. “You are mine,” he told her. “Mine.”
He set his engorged cock to her tender, swollen lips and pressed in to the hilt and withdrew. Her muscles clenched as she tried to hold him inside. He picked up her hips and holding those soft and malleable buttocks that so entranced him he began to thrust with vigor. Her eyes were closed, her head thrown back, her beautiful breasts mottled with the desirous flush of her first orgasms.
When he had ridden her to completion he flooded her with his semen. Let her try to deny that he was her lord and mate after she had twice taken his seed.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Kayla couldn’t believe the arrogance of this man. She pushed at his broad shoulders, but his tongue slipped into her mouth and she lost her head. In seconds she was kissing him back and fighting him for control of the fiery kiss. Her body had ached for this for weeks. As if their one night together had branded her untried body. Her body had mourned for him and her dreams had all been of their lovemaking.
The scent of her arrogant dragon lord intensified and ramped up her own arousal. Within moments she was lost to sense and reveling in his possession. She joined with him in not one but two reckless bouts of passion, so lost to good sense that she uttered not one word of protest.
She drifted out of a sensual fog to find herself lying cradled in Roland Voros’ strong arms. The mingled aroma of their coupling hung heavy in the air. She stroked his broad shoulders, her heart flooded with love and her desire renewing itself just from proximity to his rock hard masculinity.
Roland’s green eyes opened. “You are mine,” he repeated. “There will be no more of this foolishness. You are my mate and my fireling moves inside you.”
That brought her common sense rushing back. Kayla wriggled out from under him her eyes wide in horror. They had gone at it like animals in the living room, when Tyler or Nate could just walk in at any moment. There was no guarantee her roommates wouldn’t return to fetch something — or just find their local devoid of mates tonight and come back to watch TV.
She picked up her torn tee-shirt and clutched it to herself. “You are nuts,” she declared stoutly. “And you make me nuts.” She dashed into her bedroom and found jeans and a clean shirt and crammed them onto her shaking body before she went back out to Roland.
He looked like perfection itself. Despite tussling with her on the couch, despite the torn buttons, he looked as elegant as usual. His blond hair hung in its sleek page boy, his clothes might have been designed by some fashion maven to have no buttons. No creases afflicted his slacks. Whereas she knew she looked like a frowzy, wanton wreck.
“You might as well go,” she said. “This was a big mistake. It should never have happened.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said imperiously. “You are my destined mate. You are transformed into a dragoness. Even now you are with child — my child. You must marry me and at once.” He looked around the modest flat disdainfully as he spoke. “This is no fit place for the Baroness Voros.”
“What part of ‘No’ don’t you get?” she asked angrily. “And I don’t know why you think I’m pregnant or that if I am the baby’s yours.” She paused a beat. “It could just as easily be Tyler or Nate’s,” she lied.
Roland’s well-groomed head was suddenly enveloped in smoke and flames. The scent of sulfur and gunpowder filled the room. Kayla backed away from him, frightened for the first time. Her hazel eyes were full of horror as the dragon shifter lost control of his talent and revealed his fury.
“Get, a-w-way from me,” she stammered.
Roland was equally appalled by his lack of self-control. Dragon lords did not release fire and brimstone unless they intended to. He fought to suppress his angry response but puffs of smoke still emerged from his flaring nostrils.
“You go. Tyler and Nate could come back any minute and I have to clean up the mess we made on the couch,” she waved one hand at the large wet spot.
Mentioning the names of the two surfers was the last straw. As little else could have done, it convinced him that Kayla had run from his arms to those of the two men. He drew himself to his full height and stared her down.
But Kayla had indeed been transformed. She glared back and folded her arms. “I can do better than a guy who thinks I’m only good for one thing.” Again she waved at the couch.
Roland grabbed her arms in his hands and demanded, “Are those two your lovers?”
“Why do you suppose I’m living here?”
He was gone in moments with only the echo of the slamming door to demonstrate just how irate he was.
* * *
Kayla had no regrets about telling Roland to go until she realized he had been correct about her pregnancy. But that was not for another month when her jeans wouldn’t zip and her bras were all too small and tight. She went to the doctor.
The physician who examined her explained that spotting in the first trimester was not unusual. Many women just assumed they we
re having lighter than normal periods, when they were actually pregnant. Kayla left her appointment with her head in a whirl. If Roland had returned at that moment, he might have found her more amenable, but he was still nursing his anger elsewhere.
“I’m going to have a baby,” she confided to Tyler and Nate later that day as they sat at the table eating the curry she had made.
“Hey, that’s great,” Nate said with a huge grin. Tyler glared at his lover and shook his head at him.
“Is it that big bruiser?” Tyler asked her sympathetically.
Kayla nodded glumly.
“What are you going to do?” Tyler asked gently.
Kayla’s plump hands covered her belly protectively. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “We’ll manage somehow.”
“He looked rich — had a driver and a stretch limo just to visit you,” Nate put in. “You going to tell him?”
Kayla shook her head in denial. Did she want Roland Voros stomping all over her life, interfering with her and her child? No she did not. “Absolutely not,” she said decisively. “That bastard has nothing I want.”
“Okay,” Tyler said placidly. “When are you due?”
Her pregnancy created more changes in Kayla. Not just the overt signs of carrying a child, but her character too. Gone for all time was the diffident girl who had deferred to authority and doubted herself. She now had a deep inner confidence. And an uncanny sense when someone lied to her. It was all quite remarkable, and yet it felt utterly natural.
She felt incredibly well all through her pregnancy. Strong, vital, capable. She took on extra shifts at the bar in order to build up a nest egg. When the manager suggested that his clientele did not come to the Sundowner to be waited on by a pregnant woman, Kayla stared the older man down.
“The Ministry of Labor might be interested in this conversation,” she remarked flatly. Bob Gilmore was so intimidated that he gave her the extra hours she demanded and never mentioned her baby again.
Tyler and Nate proved to be good mates, they acted as if having a pregnant roommate fulfilled their deepest ambitions. When their mates teased them about Kayla, they accepted the remarks graciously.
Dragon's Successor (BBW/Dragon Shifter Romance) (Lords of the Dragon Islands Book 2) Page 10
