by Judith Leger
got the cap’an’s smell on ye. Lovely as it is, I think ye’ll feel
much better cleaned up a bit.”
With this last comment, the woman flounced out, hips
swaying, banging the door closed behind her.
Seren fiddled with the coarse cloth of the blouse, trying to
keep the tears of embarrassment at bay. How many others
had heard them last night? She searched for the strength to
rise, clean up and go below to meet him. Strangers would
look at her. Would they know what they’d done? She stopped
moving and frowned. Why should she even care?
If what he said was true, a new world existed outside
these walls. She didn’t have to follow the same rules she
always had. There were new ones on this planet. She’d learn
to survive and be strong until she returned home.
Memories of Earth flittered in her mind. Her little girl
was buried in New Orleans. Tears filled her eyes, threatening
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Dragon Wish
to fall. Seren squeezed her eyes shut, allowing the tears to
roll down her cheeks. Somehow she had to find a way back
home.
Without fully comprehending what she did, her hands
cupped her lower belly. She frowned, hoping she hadn’t
conceived, yet she felt like a new life grew inside her. She
shook her head. That was all impossible. She hadn’t known
she was pregnant with Mandy until she had missed her first
period. But right now she sensed the joining of his sperm
with her egg.
She shoved the covers aside and slid her legs over the side
of the bed. Once on her feet, she tugged a sheet from the bed.
She wrapped it around her with the top edges tucked under
her arms, leaving her neck and shoulders bare.
Feeling dirty, she washed in the clean water he’d left for
her. Using a fresh cloth, she poured a few drops from the
pitcher to wipe her teeth and tongue. Re-wrapping the sheet
around her body, she gazed around the room. A heavy table,
the one she had noticed the night before, stood in the center.
Three carved wooden chairs, two pushed in while the one
he’d used still stood sideways to the others, were situated
around the scratched round surface. Dust gathered in the
corners of the room. The bureau’s counter and the table
carried a layer of dust. She wrinkled her nose, but continued
her scrutiny of her surroundings. Her survey stopped on a
satchel sitting on a faded cushion of the window seat.
The dark brown leather was worn with several crease
lines. She glanced at the door. He’d never know if she peeked
inside. Her curiosity propelled her forward until she reached
the bag.
Hands trembling, she unclasped the belted hooks and
raised the flap. A metallic blue shirt, exactly like the one he
put on this morning, lay wadded on top. She smiled. He
wasn’t perfect then. She had expected neatness, instead she’d
found disorder. Pulling the shirt free, she brought it to her
face and inhaled. His scent filled her mind.
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Dragon Wish
Unexpected desire flared. She wanted him again. She
longed to feel him joined with her, moving until she reached
the blinding pleasure she had experienced the night before.
She swallowed, lowering the shirt and eased down onto
the thin cushion of the window seat. With the side of her
head resting against the pane, she looked outside.
The sky and ocean met on the horizon, the varying blues
merging into one hazy color. The Inn had been built on a
high bluff overlooking a bustling city. To the right, the cliffs
dropped off. She tried to see the beach, but it lay hidden out
of sight. Cut from white stone, wide water channels sliced
through the streets rowed with two-story, some three level
houses along with businesses. The narrow canals emptied
over the edge of the cliffs. It seemed strange that the people
here had built above the water’s edge. She tried to find a
logical explanation, even searching her memory for a
resemblance of any place on Earth.
A noise below brought her stare down and she saw her
rescuer-kidnapper, the captain, walk from a doorway
somewhere beneath her window. She followed him with her
steady look until he stopped in the middle of the busy yard.
People dressed in out of period clothing hustled back and
forth. Some shouted instructions or welcomes while others
worked at loading and unloading barrels, baskets, and an
assortment of boxes from wooden wagons harnessed to
huge, long-haired beasts that reminded her of oxen. Their
clothing brought to mind those worn during the eighteenth
century.
The wind gusted, lifting the sides of the captain’s frock
coat. The shorter strands of his light gold hair fluttered over
his shoulders.
Her breath caught in her throat. He appeared so tall, so
easy to look at. Her body throbbed, igniting with need.
Wetness gathered between her legs. She craved his touch—
now. She squeezed her eyes shut, battling the
embarrassment in her mind and the passion growing
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Dragon Wish
throughout her body. How could she feel like this? What
kind of person was she? One she no longer knew, or did she?
Had a darker part of her soul been born last night?
She opened her eyes, hoping to stop her thoughts, and
found that he had turned and now stood staring at her. Their
gazes met. She refused to yield. Temptation reared its head.
She wanted to crook a finger at him, telling him to come to
her. Just as she was ready to give in to her desire, a broad-
chested man jogged from the doorway below her to the
captain’s side and said something. The captain half-smiled at
her then followed the other man inside. Relieved she hadn’t
given in to her baser sensibilities, she stuffed his shirt back
into the satchel without looking at anything else. With a flip
of her wrist, she closed the bag. Disappointment soon
followed, mingling with her relief.
Her thoughts wandered to how the inhabitants in this
new world would treat her once they learned she came from
another planet? She would have to work to fit in until she
returned home, but she didn’t know what this meant to these
people. Most of all, while she tried to acclimate herself to this
place, she would make sure she never had another child.
Which meant the intimate moments with him were at an
end.
She had learned a hard lesson with Mandy. One she
swore she’d never forget.
Alice swung the door wide, and flounced across the room.
“’ere ye go, mum.”
Seren jumped, her hands clutching the sheet tighter
around her. Heat rose to her cheeks at being caught near the
captain’s belongings.
“Ooo, goodness, ye are a tiny bit of t’ing. I’d say ye’d
barely reach the cap’an’s shoulder, ye would, iffin ye stood
side by side. Well, come on, let’s see ’ow ye look i
n t’eses.”
The woman held out a pair of pants similar to narrow-legged
capris in one hand. A white billowy shirt was draped over her
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Dragon Wish
other hand.
“Thank you,” Seren said, accepting the woman’s offering.
She pulled the shirt over her head and tugged it down. The
seam across the shoulders fit, but the length came to the top
of her thighs. A little too short for her tastes, but she had no
other choice.
Under the cover of the sheet, she slipped her feet into the
pants. Using one hand, she slid them up. They were a little
snug, but she could deal with that, she decided, buttoning
the double-sided front flaps. She raised the hem of the shirt
to study how she looked. Yes, they’d do.
“Do ye want a bindin’ for yer chest? I don’t t’ink ye need
one. Don’t ’ave much up t’ere to bind.”
Seren glared at the woman. Maybe she was small busted,
but the captain hadn’t minded last night. “No, I don’t need
any binding.”
Alice handed her a pair of thick wool socks along with a
black cap. “Well, now, ’ere’s ye a ’at. The cap’an’s down below
waitin’ for ya. ’E’s ordered ye a right ’effy morning repast, ’e
’as. Now, come along. Don’t wanna keep ’im waitin’.”
“Wait, I don’t have any shoes. I can’t go down in socks.”
Seren dug in her heels. Fear interlaced with uncertainty
rushed through her. She wasn’t ready to see him. Not again.
Not so soon.
“Come on wit’ ye. We’ll stop in my room. It’s just above
us. I t’ink t’ere might be a pair of clogs t’ere. It’s all I gots.”
The woman grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward the
door.
Realizing how useless it was to argue, Seren allowed Alice
to guide her down the paneled hall. At the landing, the
serving woman veered to the right, thumping up a short
flight of stairs. “Come on, up ’ere with ye.”
The slight detour took just a few minutes. Seren
reveled in the small delay. At the top of the stairs leading
below, she inhaled a deep breath, hoping to calm her nerves.
Once steady, she proceeded down the stairs. The time to face
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Dragon Wish
the captain had arrived.
34
Dragon Wish
Chapter Three
“So ye’re still determined to return her body to her
family?” Calis Mer asked.
Paladin glanced at the barrel-chested man sitting across
from him. Short dark hair stuck out from his head, and keen
gray eyes studied the contents inside his mug. A large, beefy
hand curved around the gray tankard. Eyes, similar in color
to the mug, rose to meet his look.
“It is my duty as her husband. My last duty,” Paladin
replied. He sliced a thin sliver of beef steak and ate. His first
mate would never understand. Paladin took his marriage-
bond duty seriously. His honor required it of him even
though the woman he’d married had broken those same
vows time and again. Calis understood the skies from all the
voyages they went a journeying on. The man comprehended
life and death, but honoring a woman who was also a wife
seemed impossible for him to comprehend.
Calis grunted before he took a long pull from his tankard,
straining the foam through his front teeth. The man had little
manners, but Paladin hadn’t hired him for his social
refinements.
His first mate arched a bushy black brow at him, his tone
teasing. “Heard ye had a bit of fluff during the night.
Where’d ye find her? I don’t recall any new faces in the place
last evening.”
Paladin half smiled. He refused to meet the other man’s
look. His ship was set to sail in less than an hour. If time had
permitted, he would have brought the strange woman the
clothes instead of asking the serving wench to do it. He
should have known she would have rattled her tongue to
others. “She isn’t anyone you know,” he commented. He cut
another slice. He took his time chewing it. The food carried
no taste to him. The texture was dry, even tough.
Last night still haunted him.
He had inquired of the innkeeper to see if anyone
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Dragon Wish
complained of any strange happenings in the night, but the
man had shaken his head. Satisfied none of the locals
suspected what had occurred, he had proceeded to order his
morning meal along with the bill for the room.
He chewed another bite, hiding the disgust floating in his
gut. He had taken a chance by touching her.
The night before, he had been unable to stop himself
from comforting her. Her lips had caressed his skin in a
soothing, gentle way which managed to dissolve all his
resolutions with the heat of his need. Her palms on his chest
had stirred the embers of his passion until they flared to a
white hot fervor, and rational thought no longer controlled
him. Just the memory of what they had shared during the
night caused the embers of desire to smolder within him.
He swallowed as he glanced around the room, hoping to
distract the renewed bud of warmth building between his
legs.
The Inn’s common room bustled with travelers who
mingled with vendors. Some roamed from table to table,
others sat on benches lined against the two side walls. Odors
of cooked food and body scents, some good—some not so
good, saturated the place. Laughter interspersed with
conversations swept across the room. Feet shuffled under
tables and across the room as the vendors vied with the
locals for a space to sit or stand so they might break their
morning fast. He ignored most of the noise, allowing the flow
of activity in the inn help him keep his mind away from
thoughts of the strange woman. When he looked around,
several females blushed and twittered to each other behind
their hands.
He frowned at the sight then lowered his focus to cutting
another piece off the steak. The attention he garnered was
the same everywhere he traveled. The women reacted like
they had never seen someone like him. Yet, in his homeland,
all of his clansmen were tall and light haired with light eyes.
They were much like him. The dragon blood ran strong in his
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Dragon Wish
clan. What would these dark-haired, rounded women say if
he told them that in his land, he was considered rather plain?
Wooden clogs clopped down the stairs, drawing his
attention. The off-worlder had arrived. Dressed like a young
male, her small frame went unobserved by the inhabitants of
the room, but he noticed. His heart skipped a beat. Dainty,
delicate, the soft lines of her heart-shaped face strengthened
the seed of desire she planted inside him last night until it
threatened to bud into a clinging vine, refusing to release
him. He gritted his teeth and unintentionally clenched t
he
handle of his tankard. No matter what, he had to maintain
controlled in her presence. Never again would he allow
weakness to rule his body. He mustn’t allow a repetition of
the previous evening. She made it clear she didn’t want him.
She stopped on the last step and looked around the room.
There, she glanced at his table, she turned away but her stare
returned immediately. He witnessed her swallow, and then
raise her chin to a higher degree. He tilted his head, smiled
and motioned her to the table.
She stepped away from the stairs, merging with the many
people roaming throughout the room. She was so small,
fragile even when compared to the others in the room. The
muscles in his back tightened, and he straightened in his
chair. Dressed in breeches and a white rough linen shirt, she
still stood out among the patrons. Her slender form served to
refresh his memories of her body, naked, supple, and pressed
against his while her soft cries entered his mouth when he
slid...he tensed, slamming the images to the back of his
mind.
“Good tidings.” He rose from his seat and gave her a tight
smile before holding out a chair. For the briefest moment,
their eyes met. She murmured a thank you as she slid onto
the seat.
Calis’ eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. “Now,
Cap’an, I’m not one to complain about yer preferences, but I
draw the line at bedding children.”
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Dragon Wish
Paladin laughed out loud. The woman gasped, her eyes
wide.
Not giving her time to respond, he slapped Calis on the
shoulder and grinned. His tension slid away under Calis’
comment. He would rather have her ire turned on him than
his first mate. “Well, my friend, I happen to agree with you,
but this is no child. A bit small, but she is indeed a grown
female. This I can attest to.”
She glared at him. Without remorse, he smiled wider.
Calis leaned over the table. He gave her a hard stare.
“Why is her hair so short? She’s not marked for a crime, is
she?”
“No, she isn’t marked. She was a gift to me from the
Cosmos. A shooting star brought her,” Paladin replied,
keeping his voice low.
Calis sat back, frowning at him. “Bah, ye and yer
mysticism. It’s enough to make me sick.”
“Do you mind? I’m hungry,” the woman said. Tension
