Dragon's Pleasure (BBW / Dragon Shifter Romance) (Lords of the Dragon Islands Book 3)

by Isadora Montrose

  He didn’t have the faintest idea how he could make a life for himself up here in the Kittitas. He was rich enough that he never had to work again, but idleness didn’t suit him — never had. Even this sitting around with the juiciest, loveliest woman he had ever met was making him twitchy.

  Jenna was knitting away on another pair of socks. Dark grey this time. He wondered if they were for him or another pair for her brother. Just went to show what kind of a low down skunk he was, wanting to steal the socks from off the feet of a serving soldier.

  He tried to imagine holding out funding for the clinic to persuade Jenna to marry him. She probably would box his ears. Making a baby seemed like the best grasp he could get on her. Underhanded, of course, but he would do whatever it took to keep his angel. Because being around her felt like salvation.

  They both heard the sound of the snow plow at the same moment. Jenna put down her knitting and looked at him with a laugh in her eyes. “I better go flag the driver down and get the news,” she said. “Maybe he’ll have a spare suit or something you can wear.”

  She headed to the back door and put on her boots and snowsuit. “I’ll wait for him at the end of the drive.”

  Zeke watched from the front window as their splendid isolation ended and heaven leached away and the world returned. The big, yellow snow plow had an enormous blade but it was little more than a big tractor. One guy sat solo in the closed cab. He drove slowly down the narrow road towards Jenna’s drive pushing snow to either side. He returned her grin and wave with equal enthusiasm.

  The big guy in the cab stopped his rig just past Jenna’s drive and turned it around and jumped down. He waded through the snow bank towards her. Zeke couldn’t hear what they were saying. But when the driver had navigated the windrow that the plow had left, he picked Jenna up and spun in a circle with her before kissing her on both cheeks. She slipped an arm around his middle and walked up to her cabin and around to the back.

  They came in laughing and talking over one another like old friends — or lovers. Was this the big son-of-a-fricking-bear he was going to have to kill to keep his angel?

  “Joey’s still in Idaho with Caitlyn’s family. Although their engagement party is just around the corner.” The deep voice was cheerful. But as soon as the visitor caught sight of Zeke lounging in the kitchen doorway, the big broad face so like his own looked narrow eyed and unwelcoming.

  “You didn’t tell me that you had company, Jen,” he said in the hard flat voice of command.

  Jenna didn’t seem to hear the note of warning in her companion’s tone, for she laughed merrily. “You didn’t give me a chance, Lenny. This is Zeke Bascom. Zeke, this is your cousin and mine, Lenny Benoit.”

  Zeke stuck out a hand and found his clasped firmly by one nearly as big as his own.

  “Major Bascom?” Lenny asked with an even more severe look.

  “Yeah, that’s me. How did you know?”

  Lenny Benoit was a large man known for his pleasant, good-natured ways but he was favoring Zeke with the squinty-eyed look of a seriously pissed off bear. “Your wife wants to know where you are.”

  “Not married,” said Zeke flatly, looking straight at Jenna. “Word of honor. Dunno why you think I might be married.” He returned Benoit’s hard look with one of his own.

  “Some woman has been calling the Ranger Station for two days, demanding to know where you’ve got to. Said her name was Bascom. Wanted us to mount a search and rescue for an Army Ranger.” Lenny sounded derisive.

  “Jesus.” Zeke flushed.

  “We don’t have a working phone between us and the internet is still down,” said Jenna apologetically.

  “Tell me about it,” said Lenny. “That is on my list. And it’s a long list. You can use the Fire Department satellite phone for two minutes, Major.” He handed it to Zeke, who put his boots on and added the old coat from Jen’s lean-to to his outfit of blanket and cut down vest. He went outside to stand in the brisk wind to call Colorado.

  Patrick answered on the third ring. “Bascom,” he snapped.

  “And a happy new year to you too, bro,” Zeke said.

  “Zeke! Where the hell are you?” Patrick’s voice faded and then he could be heard shouting. “He’s turned up.”

  “Where the hell are you?” demanded another voice, just as deep, laced with the same mixture of anger and relief.

  “Washington State, Dad. I’m on Yakima Ridge, staying with a relative,” Zeke said calmly.

  “I’ll be jiggered. Told Pat you’d show up like a bad penny. Take more than a blizzard to kill you, son.” Jeremy Bascom replied proudly.

  “I got lucky and found some shelter before I passed out. Who’s been calling the Forest Rangers demanding a search and rescue?” Zeke asked.

  “That’d be Laura,” said Patrick taking the phone from their father. “She’s been in a state since you stopped checking in after Christmas.”

  “Well I’m fine. Haven’t had a phone in days. Lost my satellite and the truck in a mudslide. No charger for my mobile. Probably no service anyway. Wallet’s gone too. Can you send me some clothes and a charger a.s.a.p.? Like yesterday. I’m wearing a blanket and socks.”

  “You okay, Zeke? Really?” Patrick asked worriedly.

  “Yeah, I’m pretty good.” Zeke realized it was true.

  “You got a letter from the Army waiting for you. Looks like orders. Been here two weeks.”

  Zeke swallowed. Time to take his punishment. “You better read it to me,” he said quietly and waited for the ax to fall. He could hear Pat slitting an envelope and a muffled noise. “What?” he asked.

  “Col. Rivera has put you up for another Distinguished Service Medal for actions related to your last mission. You’re going to get your silver cluster, boy. He wants you back in time for the ceremonies.” Pat sounded a little awestruck. “Jeez, Zeke, you sort of made it seem like your last job was a total cluster fuck.”

  “It was. That’s it?

  “Well there’s a whole lot more. Hang on, I’ll read it to you.”

  “This isn’t my phone. Gotta go. Stick it in with my clothes and charger and courier it. Tell Laura I’m okay.” Zeke ended the call and went back inside. Len had taken off his parka and was sitting in Jen’s kitchen drinking coffee. His boots were making puddles on the floor.

  “Thanks,” Zeke said handing the phone back. “My people were worried. My cousin Laura has been calling asking for me. I’m good for the charges,” he added. “Don’t have a wallet. But I’ll make arrangements.”

  Lenny grunted and drank coffee. “Jen, honey,” he said, “Mom’s out of double A batteries. Can we bum a half dozen off you? I gotta turn around and go plow out half the Ridge yet. I’ll be past closing time before I make French Town.”

  “Sure,” she said. “I’ve got some somewhere.”

  As soon as Jen had disappeared through the door of the kitchen Len turned on Zeke. “Jenna is by way of being my favorite cousin,” he said in a deadly cold voice. “We take family seriously here on the Ridge. If you’ve knocked her up, I’ll only be the first one in line to take you apart, soldier.”

  “You think she’s pregnant?” Zeke asked hopefully.

  Len narrowed his eyes. “You don’t seem put out by the notion.”

  “I’d be just as pleased. If you think she’d marry me because she was.”

  “She might at that. But I’ll tell you for nothing, women prefer a little romance to a shotgun wedding.”

  Zeke swallowed his angry retort. “I’ve only known her three days,” he admitted.

  Len raised his brows. “Took me but a minute to know when I met my mate.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Think she’ll have me?” Zeke asked.

  “Only one way to find out. And you keep in mind that our Jenna doesn’t want to leave the Ridge.”

  “I know. She belongs here.”

  “Damn straight. If she does agree to marry you – and it beats me why she would
– you make sure you don’t change your mind. Our cousin Asher is a Forest Ranger. He took that first call from your cousin and looked you up on the internet.

  “You may have more money than Trump, but your whole damn family is a disgrace. I never yet heard of bears marrying and divorcing and carrying on with women young enough to be their daughters like your father does. You marry Jenna and you stick. You break her heart, I’ll make sure your life ain’t worth living.”

  “Fair enough. What if she breaks my heart?”

  “Your problem, soldier.” Len looked Zeke up and down and shook his head. “I was you, I’d wait to do my courting till I was dressed decent.” He stood up as Jen came back into the kitchen. “I gotta be running along.”

  Jen handed Len a package of batteries. “Give Aunt Debbie my love. I don’t suppose you have a spare pair of pants in your cab?” she asked hopefully.

  “I do not. But I guess I could run you over some spare duds this evening — or more likely tomorrow. I said I’d give the power guys a hand, when I got the plowing done. And Hilda Miller got a burst pipe. And we gotta get the microwave towers cleaned up. Nobody’s had a signal since the storm.” Len rattled off a list of chores.

  “Zeke here is an expert,” Jenna said.

  “Expert what?”

  “Telecommunications. But I can handle power lines,” said Zeke. “I can lend a hand if I have clothes.”

  “That mean you can get our internet up?”

  Zeke shrugged. “It’s what I do. I’ve got towers working in worse conditions than a little ice and snow.” It did seem unlikely that here in the deep woods, snipers would be aiming at a repair crew.

  Len looked him over and nodded once as if satisfied. “We’ll get you some gear and add you to the crew. We can always use a willing worker.” He held out a hand to Zeke and smiled for the first time. “I’ll pass the word along to the Ranger Station that you’ve been found. They got more to worry about this week than one missing soldier.”

  The two men shook. Zeke’s commitment understood without words.

  Zeke watched with Jen from the front windows as Lenny drove off in the snow plow with the blade held high above the cleared road.

  “So why is a firefighter clearing snow?” Zeke asked.

  “Lenny has a contract with the county,” Jen said. “He is the Captain of the French Town Fire Department, but it’s all volunteers. He doesn’t get paid. He has a bunch of other jobs. Some pay, some don’t.

  “Life’s good here on the Ridge, but most people are like Lenny and they make a living a bunch of different ways. Len and his brother Joey work at Enright Lumber during the summer. Winters they do renovations and make overs — mostly for cottagers. They make good money too.” Her blue eyes were looking significantly at him.

  “And dealing with the internet service is just another job?” Zeke asked curiously. Was she hinting he could get a job at the mill? Did she want him to stay around?

  “Unpaid,” Jen answered. “The Yakima Ridge Internet Service is a non-profit. Everyone paid a little bit to get it set up. And there’s a group of volunteers who run it. Lenny is on the crew because he’s just that kind of a guy. Pulls his weight and then some. Trouble is every single volunteer is an amateur. But hey, it’s way better than no internet.”

  “I see. Well, maybe I can make some suggestions,” Zeke said. “My brother is going to courier me some clothes and stuff. But I’m not sure where to.”

  “French Town Post Office would be the best bet,” Jenna said. “But it really doesn’t matter where it gets to, we’ll hear. Word gets around in a small town. Someone will pass on the message. Besides, once Lenny spreads the news, you’ll find yourself volunteered for more things than there are hours in a day.”

  “Sounds like the Army!”

  She thought about it. “Yeah, for sure we got each other’s backs on the Ridge.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  He had as good as told Lenny Benoit that he planned to marry Jenna. If the Ridge was anything like Success, Colorado, population one hundred and fourteen — not including cows — that news would be spreading like wildfire. Jenna might be the last one to find out.

  What was the worst that could happen if he asked her? She might laugh in his face. No, Jenna was too kind to do that. She would be gentle when she said no. Be a helluva blow whatever.

  “Why did Lenny get rid of me?” asked Jenna as they returned to the sitting room.

  “Your cousin wanted to tell me that I had to treat you right. Otherwise, I have to deal with a whole lot of angry bears,” said Zeke happily.

  “You seem delighted by the idea.”

  “Know something? I realized that if your cousin had come here to claim you, that I would happily lay him out and skin him alive.” He caught her face in his hands. “See, that’s not civilized. But I don’t feel civilized about you. You’re mine. My mate. I want you forever. I want kids. I want growing old together. Is that this bear bond you told me about?”

  Jenna nodded. “Sure sounds like it.”

  “Then we are bonded. Forever. I will never love anyone the way I love you,” Zeke vowed.

  “Me too.”

  He put his hands on her shoulders. “Are the men around here idiots? What about Lenny Benoit? He thinks the sun shines out of you.”

  Jen met his eyes directly. “Lenny just got married! Besides he’s my first cousin. We love each other dearly, but kissing Len would be totally creepy. Marriage would be a non-starter. And I didn’t meet anyone when I went away to school. So here I am on the shelf. What about you?”

  Zeke swallowed. “I never, ever, met anyone like you. No one ever felt so right. I want you to marry me. Will you?”

  Jenna looked at his desperate face. That proposal would win no prizes for romantic. But she didn’t get the feeling that his bluntness demonstrated lack of feeling or sincerity. Just how articulate did she think Matt or Nick would be in a similar situation? Her brothers were good, decent men, but glib they were not.

  She didn’t have the smallest hesitation. Her heart had known from the first that this bear was her destiny. Maybe they would have their struggles. Probably two hard-headed bears would fight from time to time. But she had no doubt that he would conquer his demons as he had conquered her heart. But how to make him see?

  “Do you love me?” she asked softly.

  “I don’t know. I just know that you feel necessary to me. Like air or water.” He stopped, looking baffled. She looked to sweet, so beautiful, so hot. How could he say what was in his heart? “You’re my future,” he ground out.

  “Sounds like love to me,” she said. “If I marry you it’s for life, you do understand that? No wandering, no divorce, just good old fashioned till death do us part. Life mates. Bear bond. The whole nine yards.”

  “I can do that,” he said. “I give you my word.”

  “Good enough. Okay.”

  Zeke looked worried. “What’s okay?”

  “If you ask, I’ll say yes.”

  Oh, he got a do over. He knelt down before her and took her hands in his. And there in her living room, wearing his tom fool plaid blanket, with his hairy chest poking out of her old blue fleece, looking like an idiot, he said, “Jenna will you marry me and be mine forever?”

  “I will.”

  “Forever,” he demanded, still on his knees.

  “Forever, and ever, my love,” she said softly cupping his face in her hands.

  “Nightmares and all,” he checked.

  She smiled gently. “Nightmares, babies, wolf at the door — in sickness and in health, for better or worse until death do us part.”

  His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Thank you,” he said prayerfully. Though he was pretty sure that there wouldn’t be any wolves at their door. Sooner or later, he was going to have to confess to his wealth.

  Because now that she had said yes he wanted to get the biggest honking diamond ring he could and glue it to her hand. Something big enough to brand her to keep other men from co
veting her. But small enough that she would wear it all the time. Because he didn’t think she was going to stop making pastry or birthing babies just because she was rich.

  Zeke rose to his feet and kissed her. A claiming kiss. The kiss of a newly returned lover re-establishing his bond with his woman. He picked her up in his arms and headed for her bedroom.

  “This time I want to be on top,” she announced.

  What did that mean? “Okay,” he said, hoping she didn’t mean he hadn’t pleased her before. He had been rough in the shower.

  “Cool.” She began to take off her clothes. “Race you.”

  But untucking his blanket was all he had to do to be ready for action. He caught sight of himself in her dressing table mirror and shrugged the vest off too. Might as well remove his socks, he had a feeling that they weren’t exactly sexy all on their own.

  Jenna was still in her bra and panties grinning at him. “Hey,” he said. “Let me help.”

  Her breasts were so beautiful and so bountiful. He cupped them in worshipful hands when he had stripped away her bra. They spilled over his big palms and the pretty dark pink nipples puckered when he rubbed them with his thumbs. He bent to taste the sweet berries he had made.

  They stayed like that for a long time until she giggled and pulled away. “I’m getting cold,” she said.

  He bent and peeled away her panties to reveal her trimmed dark brown bush. He pulled them down her legs and flung them aside

  “On top, huh?”

  “I never have,” she was a little pink, but cheerful.

  He lay down and drew her on top of him. “Your butt is going to get cold.”

  “I expect you to keep me warm, Major,” she said playfully. She came up onto her knees so she could run her fingers through his chest hair. She hunted down the flat brown nipples and leaned forward to kiss them, making an appreciative hum deep in her throat.

  Zeke thought it just about the sexiest noise he had ever heard. “You are so beautiful,” he said hoarsely.