She whimpered softly when he started to end the kiss. Tangling her hands in his long hair, she kept him from pulling away. She could feel his surprise when she deepened the kiss, teasing his tongue with her own. It wasn’t until she felt the shudder run through his body that she relaxed her hold on his hair.
Drawing in a deep breath, Carly gazed into his dark blue eyes. “Okay, I concede. I’m not dreaming, but I’m still not ruling out being dead,” she replied with a stubborn pout and a mischievous glint in her eyes.
He returned her gaze. His eyes glittered with an emotion she wasn’t sure how to interpret. Then he chuckled again and released her slowly to slide down his body. Her breath caught when she felt his obvious arousal. She now had an answer to the emotion in his eyes – somebody was horny and she was the reason for it.
“Trust me, you are not dead,” Drago remarked.
“How can you be sure?” Carly asked.
“You smell of forest, rain, and dirt. Dead things don’t smell – or taste – this good,” Drago commented before releasing a chuckle when a large flock of birds swept by the balcony and startled Carly. “The birds will not harm you. They feast on the fruit that grows from the vines,” Drago murmured when she backed into him.
Carly nodded and grabbed his arm to pull it around her. She wasn’t completely convinced that these birds were fruit eaters. They had long, narrow beaks that looked more like spears. She swallowed and watched the birds fly off into the forest. Some of them had a wing span that made her think of the Pterodactyls from the picture books and movies she had seen.
A shiver ran through her body when Drago wrapped his right arm around her waist and pulled her against him. Carly didn’t bother trying to contain the grin that lit her face. She was thankful he couldn’t see her face, just in case she was misreading his actions. In the back of her mind she knew that she could really get used to this – having a hot sexy man who turned into a dragon, lived in a magical world, and loved full figured women – for the rest of eternity. Hell, who would have thought being dead could be so wonderful?
“This is… incredible,” Carly whispered, looking down over the castle far below and out over the mist covered sea.
“This kingdom was once one of the most majestic of all the Seven Kingdoms. Now, I am the only inhabitant that remains,” Drago stated.
Carly heard the grief in his voice. Compassion filled her. Something bad must have happened. Something had brought her here for whatever crazy reason. What she couldn’t understand was how all of this was possible.
“What happened?” Carly asked.
Drago’s arm slid from around her waist. She immediately felt the loss of his heat when he stepped away from her. She watched him walk over to the stone railing. The breeze coming off the ocean blew his hair back, revealing the steely line of his jaw. His fingers curved around the stone and he leaned forward.
“The Sea Witch.”
His body shimmered and the powerful dragon was once again in front of her. Carly stumbled back against the double doors behind her when Drago released a terrifying roar and launched into the air. She watched in awe as the mythical creature she had somehow awakened swept down from the castle.
Carly hurried over to the balcony, trying to keep Drago within sight. He released a fine stream of blue flames that burned large sections of the tangled vines from along the castle walls. It had to be close to an hour later before he disappeared into the vast forest.
Swallowing, Carly finally pushed away from the balcony and turned. She walked to the double doors, and paused just outside the doorway, trying to see in. The glass was covered with a thick layer of grime.
She reached for the door handle and slowly turned it. Pushing the door open, Carly discovered a beautiful but very dark and dusty living room on the other side. She turned and pulled the other door open so the brilliant early morning light could stream inside.
“Jumping bullfrogs! I’ve fallen into a fairy tale!” Carly whispered, turning back to gaze around the room.
Hours later, Drago turned back toward the palace. He had searched every corner of the isle for other intruders. The only things he had found were the long ago bleached white bones of those unfortunate enough to have been shipwrecked along the Isle’s treacherous shores. There was nothing else but the animals that made the Isle of the Dragon their home.
“How did she come to be in the treasure room?” he growled out loud.
There were no entrances to the cavern except through the castle. He had checked that first and the door was sealed. The only other way to enter would have required a very powerful magic. The wards he had placed throughout the passageway would have killed even the most skilled thief, and Carly did not strike him as being very skilled.
Drago shook his massive head and snapped at several birds that flew too close. They quickly scattered. Folding his wings, he plunged down into the forest, swerving back and forth through the thick branches and snapping those that got in his way. He grimaced and snarled with impatience when a branch cut a long, thin line across his shoulder.
He broke through the forest just east of the wide road. There was a small, open meadow near the front gates of the castle. With a whisper, the magic sealing the great doors released, the drawbridge lowered and the gates opened. Drago landed with a ground-shaking thump.
He snapped his tail back and forth as he walked forward, gazing around him. In his mind, he could still see the sentinels standing on the platforms above the gates and hear the laughter of the young dragons learning to fly. The streets would have been filled with people going to the markets, entertaining, and visiting with each other.
Instead, the only sound he heard was the noise of his claws against the cobblestone street. He slowly walked along the winding roads until he reached the front steps of the palace. They were covered with a thick coating of dead leaves.
Drago bent his head and breathed a fine line of super-heated flames at the cover. The leaves caught fire. The flames were so intense that they quickly disintegrated. With a swipe of his tail, he scattered the ashes and walked up the staircase, transforming back into his two-legged form as he moved.
The massive doors opened with a wave of his hand. Dragons were not as powerful with their magic as the witches and wizards on the Isle of Magic, but they were still powerful enough to cast protective wards and spells. Drago was the most powerful of the dragons and could create a vast number of spells when needed.
Torches ignited as he climbed the long staircase off the great hall. He grimaced when he saw cobwebs draping the tall statues. It shamed him to think of the years of neglect the castle had seen over the last decade.
Drago didn’t understand why he cared if Carly saw his home in such a state of disrepair, but he did. He reached the top of the stairs and strode down the long corridor to the far end where a set of intricately carved wooden doors sealed his private living quarters.
His footsteps slowed as he drew closer. Stopping outside of the doors, Drago raised his hands and gripped the handles to the doors. He paused, trying to think of what he would say. It had been a long time since he’d had a conversation with another person.
“Perhaps I will just kiss her. That does not require talking,” he muttered before drawing in a deep breath and pulling the doors open.
Drago stepped through the doors. He frowned when he saw the closed balcony doors and empty living quarters. He started forward, a low rumble escaping him as he glanced around the room. A faint sound caught his attention when he was halfway across the room.
Turning his head, he listened. The faint sound of a feminine voice singing could be heard coming from down the hallway where his bedroom was located. The frown on his face changed to a satisfied smile. His little thief had not disappeared.
Drago pivoted on his heel, changing his direction. He walked down the hall, listening to Carly. She was singing an unfamiliar tune. His eyebrows rose in surprise – she had a very pleasant voice.
Stepping into his
bedroom, he saw the bed covers stripped off the bed, the balcony doors open, and a small pile of leaves. Drago followed the sound of Carly’s voice to the large bathing chamber adjoining his bedroom.
Carly’s voice rose. “It’s a pirate’s life for me….” she was saying.
“Pirates? You are a pirate?” Drago demanded.
Sudden, intense physical pain, unlike anything Drago had experienced in centuries, flooded him. His low, choked groan mixed with Carly’s startled scream. His gaze dropped down at the same time as her eyes dropped to the broom in her hand that had made contact with his groin.
He stumbled back a step. Unfortunately, she stepped forward with him. Looking up, he saw her eyes were rounded and her lips parted into what would have been a delightful ‘O’ if he hadn’t been in so much pain. He reached down and grabbed the end of the broom. She immediately released the handle.
“I… You startled me. Did that hurt?” she asked in a slightly squeaky tone.
“Yes…. It hurts,” Drago responded, dropping the broom which made a loud clattering sound on the marble floors.
“Oh. I’m so sorry.”
Drago would have responded that he was alright, but Carly had bent over to pick up the broom again. At the same time, a small rodent ran out of the bathing chamber. Her loud scream and the upward movement of the broom echoed through his brain even as the end connected once more with his groin. His knees buckled at the second assault and he dropped to the floor in agony. The frightened rodent scurried up his thigh. Carly swung the broom at the poor creature – and missed. The broom struck Drago instead.
Pain exploded along the right side of Drago’s face. The rough bristles of the broom dragged a dirty path along his cheek, catching in the light beard covering his face, and depositing bits of dust, dirt, and leaves along the way. He fell to the side, his head connecting with a resounding thud against the marble floor.
Darkness colored his vision, and briefly he thought that at least if he was unconscious, the pain in his groin and now along his face wouldn’t matter. The rodent, realizing that it still wasn’t safe, abandoned him and scurried off with Carly, still squealing, chasing after it with the broom.
Who would have thought a broom could be such a dangerous weapon, he thought, watching Carly disappear out of the balcony doors before he closed his eyes.
Chapter 4
“I’m so sorry,” Carly whispered about an hour later as they sat across from each other in the living area of his rooms.
Drago lowered the cold, damp cloth he was holding against his cheek and glared at her. She gazed back at him with wide, contrite eyes. Her bottom lip was slightly rosy from biting on it.
He had never lost consciousness. Instead, he had lain there breathing deeply and waited for the pain to subside. He had also been trying to keep as low a profile as he could from Carly.
After she scared the first rodent out of the room, she had searched the rest of the room to make sure there were no other creatures lying in wait to cause him grief. All the while, she had begged for his forgiveness and asked him continuously if he was ‘okay’. He wasn’t sure what the word meant, but he suspected from her tone that she was asking him if he would live.
He instinctively flinched when she lifted her hand to touch his face. With a loud sigh, she dropped it back to her lap, adding to his feelings of guilt. He shouldn’t have growled at her. When he did, her bottom lip trembled and her eyes filled with unshed tears.
“You did not mean to hurt me – did you?” he responded.
“No, I didn’t mean to hurt you. Now you are just being mean,” she pouted, sitting back in the seat across from him and crossing her arms.
Drago’s gaze immediately dropped to her cleavage. The scooped neck of her blouse combined with her movements lifted her breasts. He wrenched his gaze back to her face when she emitted a soft snort and uncrossed her arms.
“You never did answer my question,” he said, lifting the damp cloth back to his cheek.
“What question?” she asked with a confused look.
“You were singing. You said it was a pirate’s life for you. Are you a pirate?” Drago asked, tossing the damp cloth onto the table next to him.
“Pirate? Who me? Of course not! Do I look like a pirate to you?” Carly asked.
Drago studied Carly’s incredulous expression. He studied her slightly rounded face, flushed cheeks, and curvy figure clothed in a low cut sweater with stained blue trousers.
“No, you don’t,” he finally replied.
No, she looked nothing like the pirates that he remembered, and she wore no weapons, though she didn’t need anything more than a broom from what he’d seen and felt.
And the tears in her eyes, he couldn’t help adding.
The tears had struck him more sharply than any blade. Normally, Drago would be the first to argue that a woman’s tears did little to move him. Tears were not something that a dragon shed. Yet, seeing them in Carly’s eyes had tugged at an emotion that he was unaware he possessed.
“Listen, I don’t know what happened. I was hiking on the trail in Yachats State Park. I’ve lived there my whole life and never had anything this crazy happen. Granted, I’ve only been hiking the trails for three days, but I’ve been to the park hundreds of times over the years. Shoot, more than half the town has been all over this place including my best friend, Jenny. She’s like this hiking-jogging-swimming guru from another planet. I don’t know why she thinks any of this is fun or exciting. I practically killed myself just trying to go to the bathroom – and don’t get me started on bugs and animals! I was terrified I’d get eaten by a bear or a mountain lion or Big Foot. When that rat-like creature came out from under the cabinet….”
Drago watched Carly shudder and draw her legs up off the floor. A wry smile curved his lips. He knew all too well what happened when a poor, defenseless animal met Carly – it escaped and he got beaten up.
“I will make sure that all such creatures are banned from the castle,” Drago promised with dry amusement.
Carly’s eyes widened and she leaned forward, almost falling out of her chair. “Can you do that? Sort of like the Pied Piper, only you’d be the Dragon Piper,” she mused.
“I do not know who this Pied Piper is, but the answer to your question is yes, I can send away the creatures that have made their home here,” Drago replied, wincing when his cheek protested his amused smile.
“Great! You can do that while I finish cleaning up in here. Do you have a washing machine? I swear there has to be an inch of dust on everything. With a little elbow grease and some water, we can have this place sparkling in no time,” Carly said eagerly.
Drago watched Carly slide her legs back down to the floor and stand up. His hand automatically reached out when she started to tilt. He stood up to steady her when she hopped on one foot.
“What is wrong? You have hurt yourself?” he demanded.
Carly grimaced. “My foot went to sleep. Ugh… It tingles,” she groaned, holding on to him and wiggling her right foot.
“You are dangerous even to yourself,” Drago retorted in a low voice laced with exasperation when she almost fell.
She shot him a heated glare. “I can’t help that I’m not very graceful. It’s hereditary. My mom was always running into stuff. The Tate women were not made for sports,” she informed him, carefully placing her foot on the floor again.
“I shudder to think of you playing any type of game,” he agreed.
Carly stared at him with a suspicious look. Drago did his best to keep his expression neutral. It was much more difficult than he had expected when her eyes narrowed and her lips twisted. It wasn’t until she glanced away that his lips twitched. He had to quickly press them together when she turned to glare at him again, as if she knew he was laughing at her.
“Why don’t you go make sure all the mice and bugs are out of here while I finish cleaning?” she suggested.
“Are you trying to get rid of me?” Drago asked with a raise
d eyebrow.
Carly’s gaze flashed over his bruised cheek and she nodded. “It might be safer for you,” she admitted with a rueful expression. “I get kind-of wild when I’m cleaning. Jenny’s learned to disappear when I get on a roll. Besides, I figure cleaning is exercise. I’ve got to be burning calories and exercising muscles when I’m doing that, right? It will cover the last two miles I missed on my hike.”
Drago shook his head. “You are a very strange woman, Carly Tate. Do not try to escape. I have strengthened the wards and protection spells around the castle. If you try to escape, I will know,” he warned.
“Escape? Are you kidding? This is like….” She paused, waved her hands, and glanced around the room with wide eyes.
“It is like what?” Drago asked.
Carly looked up at him again. He swore he could feel the threads of their connection pulling him toward her. He shook his head trying to stay focused on their conversation.
“This is magical,” she whispered, gazing up at him with huge eyes. “I don’t want to wake up yet.”
“If it means you will stay, I hope you do not wake up either,” Drago replied without thinking.
“Really?” Carly excitedly asked.
An exasperated sigh escaped Drago. “Yes, really,” he growled before cupping her chin and pressing a hard kiss to her lips. “I will return shortly.”
He turned before Carly could respond. A swift glance over his shoulder showed that Carly hadn’t moved. Her eyes were closed, her head tilted back, and a bemused smile curved her lips. If she was here to steal from him, she was doing a pretty good job – she was quickly worming her way under the wall he had built around his heart.
With another shake of his head, he strode out of his living quarters. He would try his hand at a cleaning spell – something told him it would be safer to create one than to have Carly do the cleaning. His hand lifted to his cheek, the bruise would be healed in a few hours. Thank the Goddess, his other pain had also subsided, he thought with a shudder. He never wanted to feel that kind of agony again.