“Was your great-grandfather’s name Bart T. Hardstone?” Harold asked.
“Yes, it was.”
“I came across his name in some research into the bootlegging days of the Prohibition,” Harold went on with a broad smile. “Was he involved in distilling alcohol here?”
Natalie nodded slowly. “While I can’t say he was heavily involved,” she answered, “family gossip does say he did some distilling and selling of grain liquor.” She chuckled, though it made her head pound. “He was never busted for it, however.”
“I think it remarkable how much history is in places like this,” he commented. “Local lore and legends. Running bootleg whiskey.”
Harold went on to ask a few more questions about Bart, the logging days, whether the Buck’s Head was haunted, which made Natalie laugh. “We may have a few ghosts rattling around the place,” she admitted. “But no one has run screaming from here.”
Harold and Mildred laughed with her. “Ah, the fortunes that were made back then,” Harold said, looking around the place. “We’re staying the night here; may we inquire again if we have other questions?”
“Of course. I will see you soon.”
As she turned to head back to her office, Natalie caught sight of a picture of her great-grandfather that hung on the wall behind the reception desk. As it had hung there since before she was born, she passed it by every day without ever truly seeing it.
Now she studied the black and white vintage photo closely, as though for the first time. Bart was a handsome man with strong features, large eyes, and a stern countenance. “Didn’t they ever smile for pictures back then?” she muttered.
Something about Harold and Mildred’s questions nagged at her, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what bugged her. Bart may have committed crimes during Prohibition, but he’d been dead for over fifty years and could hardly be prosecuted for them. Nor was there a stain on her family name because of it.
So why is it bothering me now?
“Something wrong?”
Natalie turned from the picture toward Jude. “No. Those people wanted to ask about my great-grandfather. This is him. But I can’t help but feel I should know something more.”
Jude examined the picture as much as she had, frowning in puzzlement. “Such as?”
“Something about him I heard once.” Natalie gazed at the photo, then went on. “When I get a little time, I’ll do some research on the internet about him.”
Lying in her bed the next morning, sunlight streaming through the window, Natalie knew she needed to get up and start the day. Too comfortable to move, she drowsed in contentment, trying not to think of Peterson out there with his murderous intentions. She heard nothing and had no idea how she suddenly knew she was not alone.
“You shouldn’t watch people while they sleep.”
Jude laughed. “But you’re so beautiful when you sleep. You’re beautiful when you’re awake, too.”
Rolling over, she gazed at him standing in her doorway, as gorgeous as a Greek god. Shirtless, his black hair tousled, his grin set her heart to beating faster. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
“It’s the dragon in me,” he replied, sauntering forward. “Sheer animal magnetism.”
“Is that what it is? I thought you were cute.”
“Cute?”
He reached her bed and sat down on the edge, bending to kiss her. “Dragons aren’t cute,” he muttered against her lips. “Dragons are big and bad.”
“Your dragon might be big and bad.” Natalie smiled slowly into his eyes. “But you’re cute.”
He kissed her again. “You are describing something small, fuzzy, and playful. I am none of those.”
“Mmm. We’ll see.”
His tongue slipped between her lips, gently teasing, arousing, the clean, manly odor of him tickling her nostrils. She loved how he smelled, how he made her feel when he kissed her, and even how attracted he was to her. She had loved Jimmy with everything she had, yet he never told her she was beautiful.
He never made her feel beautiful.
“I think we’re going to be late for work,” she murmured as Jude slid into bed with her.
“Will the boss be mad?”
Natalie giggled as he took her into his arms and nuzzled her throat. “She might be.”
Jude’s lips and tongue sent her senses into whirling, his hand on her naked breasts making her shiver with pleasure. “Then she can punish me.”
Pausing long enough to gaze into her eyes, he asked, with a wicked grin, “Think she’ll spank me?”
“She might.”
“Oooh, that sounds deliciously erotic.”
He went back to turning Natalie into a wild mess of hot desire, her body his to play with. His hands and mouth turned her every previous conception of intimacy into chaos, and she wondered how she could have ever lived without these wonderful sensations.
Jude rose from her side long enough to remove his jeans, Natalie watching the play of his muscles under his sleek skin. Her nest leaked her wet juices from between her thighs and seeing his huge erection freed from constraint nearly gave her an instant orgasm.
Lying on top of her, Jude’s thick shaft slipped into her with ease, gliding in with his every smooth thrust. His arms under her shoulders kept her firmly in place as he pounded into her, her body on fire, her climax building, growing.
Natalie cried aloud as she exploded, convulsing, shivering under the force of her orgasm. She knew she dug her nails into his shoulders, but Jude never slowed his pace until he blasted his come deep inside her. He groaned loud and long, his thrusts slowing, stopping as he relaxed.
Holding him to her in the glorious aftermath, the sweet languor, Natalie felt him stir enough to plant soft kisses to her face, her throat, her closed eyes. “I am falling hard for you,” he whispered.
Lifting her hands to cup his cheeks, Natalie stared deep into the blue fire of his eyes. “Are you?”
“Indeed. Could you love a dragon?”
“I already do.”
His smile warmed her through and through. “You need to get to know the other part of me.”
“I will. How about we go to the clearing tonight?”
Chapter Ten
Nearly midnight, Jude led Natalie through the forest, his hand in hers. Once again, he sensed the presence of the wild things that eyed him from afar or fled from him in panic. Natalie came with him with no reservations, and no fear, nor did she break the pristine silence with questions, though he knew they filled her.
In the clearing, deer bounded away to vanish among the trees, and the young moon cast down a dim golden glow over the long grass. Jude released her hand and lightly caressed her cheek. “You have no need to be afraid.”
“I’m not.”
“Good. Not many people can face a fire-breathing dragon.”
Natalie laughed, her teeth gleaming in the dim light. “You’re not just any dragon.”
“Nor are you just any human.”
Jude strode away to give himself room, then willed his body to change. Stretching his wings, he felt the sky calling to him, the nearly ecstatic craving to fly a sweet, wonderful torment. His heightened sense of hearing, smell, and eyesight brought information about the area around him and informed him of any potential danger.
Swiveling his head on his long neck, he gazed down at Natalie. He could not communicate with her through any means she would understand, but he lowered his face close to hers. Tentative, she reached out to caress his muzzle, her expression one of awe, of wonder, and of delight. Without a trace of fear, she wrapped her arms around his jaws and rested her cheek against him.
Slowly, carefully, he clasped her with his talons and picked her up. Resting her within his folded forearms, Jude tested her weight, as he had never carried anyone in flight before. Deciding not to fly with her in that fashion, he curved his neck around to view her.
“You are magnificent, Jude,” she said, relaxing within her cradle, grinnin
g up at him. “This seems so unreal.”
Plucking her up with his talons around her waist, Jude twisted around to settled her on his shoulders. “You better not fly,” she warned him. “I know I’ll come off.”
For an answer, he blew out a small gust of flame and ambled around the clearing, speculating about a harness that might allow Natalie to ride on his back as he flew without endangering her. Her weight back there was almost negligible. Spreading his wings, he jumped up to soar only a few feet off the top of the grass.
Natalie whooped with a combination of delight and fear, he thought, and experimented by rising a few more feet. Natalie shrieked, and he felt her slipping off his shoulders toward the right.
“No, stop, Jude, I know I’ll come off.”
He dropped to the ground instantly and felt her straighten herself. “You’re not a horse with a saddle or a mane to hold onto,” she told him. “In fact, your scales are too smooth.”
She only panicked when she started to fall. Walking around, Jude pondered a system of straps that might enable her to stay aboard when he flew. His neck was too thick to wrap her legs around, nor could he fly with her there. Maybe right where my neck and shoulders meet.
“Try it again,” Natalie urged him. “Maybe I can keep my balance this time.”
Jude beat his wings to rise several feet off the ground, soaring in a wide circle. Natalie kept herself fairly steady, and he dared to rise a few more feet. “This is so great,” she crowed, clearly excited.
Keeping himself absolutely level, Jude soared higher still, now perhaps a dozen feet from the grass. Not high by any stretch, but a fall from that height could seriously injure Natalie if she came off and landed wrong. Too worried about that happening, Jude floated serenely to the grass and furled his wings.
Natalie slid down his shoulder to the ground. Striding up to his face, she hugged him again. “Go. I can feel how much you want to fly. And I want to see you fly.”
Wishing he could speak to her while in his dragon body, Jude lifted his curled fist and gently caressed her cheek with his huge knuckle. Leaping skyward, he unfurled his wings and caught the wind. Circling higher and higher, he gazed down, seeing her watching him. Flaming would easily be seen, so he contented himself with a soft roar, then banked over the forest.
Freedom. The freedom to fly wherever, and whenever I want. Surely there are places on earth where I can be myself and fly without regard, without the fear of being seen. Jude soared higher, yet didn’t stray far from the small meadow. He could still see her, tiny so far below him.
Folding his wings, he grinned to himself as he dropped like a stone. As a falcon stoops upon a mouse, he fell straight down. Mere feet from a deathly crash, he snapped his wings open and swooped up and over the trees again. Listening to Natalie’s delighted laughter behind him, he banked hard around.
Landing on all fours beside her, Jude shifted into two legs. Natalie slammed into his arms, laughing, crying, almost incoherent with her excitement. “That was incredible,” she half screamed. “You looked like a jet fighter, you were going so fast; you came within a hair of hitting the ground, then up and gone. Oh, my God. You were fantastic.”
Laughing, Jude kissed her. “Now you know why I have to fly. It’s an addiction, and I constantly need my fix.”
“Yeah, I can see it.” Her eyes shone in the moon and starlight. “I have never seen such a stunning sight in all my life. You make me wish I were born a dragon.”
“With you beside me,” he said softly, “I’d never come down from the sky.”
Natalie’s smile faltered. “I’d never want to keep you grounded, or get in the way of your flying, Jude. Never.”
“How could you? You understand me, accept me.”
“I do. But I could never fly beside you as a dragon wife would.”
Jude pulled her into his arms. “I love you the way you are, Natalie. I don’t want to change anything about you.”
She laughed again. “I did enjoy the short flight, though. Have you ever flown while carrying someone?”
“No. And I wasn’t sure I could until I tried it. You’re light enough, but dragon wings aren’t built for carrying any extra weight.”
His arm around her shoulders, Jude guided her along the path toward the lodge. “But, I’m thinking of designing a system of straps that might enable you to stay on.”
“Really?”
“Sort of like a saddle, but not. Again, we can’t add much more weight, or I’d not get off the ground.”
“I don’t want to hold you back.”
“And I want you to fly with me.”
Natalie leaned her head against him as they walked. “Then we’ll make it work.”
The next morning brought Dave with bad news. He accepted Natalie’s offer of a cup of coffee but refused breakfast. “Austen posted bail, Natalie,” he told her, his expression solemn and angry. “A fancy lawyer from New York arrived and paid nearly half a million dollars, cash, and got him out.”
“Peterson.”
“That’s what we figure. We think that had Peterson left him to rot, who knows what the man might say to get himself a lighter sentence.”
Jude drank his orange juice, watching the play of emotions across Natalie’s face. Anger, dread, resignation. “Is the man still in town?” he asked.
Dave shrugged. “I have no idea. I saw them leave in a fancy, rented limo, but I haven’t seen it around anywhere.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Peterson paid him off, gave him a new identity, and told him to get to California,” Natalie said with some heat.
“If that’s the case, then he ain’t gonna bother you from there,” Dave replied.
“But we should also consider he’s around and still working for Peterson,” Jude added.
“That, too.”
Dave eyed Jude over the rim of his cup. “You gonna keep an eye on her?”
“Both eyes.”
“Good. That’s more’n what we cops can do right now.”
“Dave,” Natalie said slowly, “did you and my dad ever talk about Bart, his granddad?”
“Ayuh, sure. Why?”
“Did he ever talk about the bootlegging business?”
Dave set his cup down and looked at her with seriousness. “I think the statute of limitations has run out on that crime.”
She chuckled. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Ole Bart was one of the biggest moonshiners in New England back then,” Dave told her. “You didn’t know?”
“No. I heard a long time ago that he was involved, but not to such an extent. How did you know?”
“When we ain’t busting drunks or cleaning up road accidents,” Dave said with a small grin, “we cops like to talk about crime. Rob’s grandad was a youngster back then and heard it all. It was not much of a secret, but the law could never touch ole Bart. He was as slippery as a naked possum and too smart for the cops. He never let any bit of proof of his doings get about where the law might drag him to jail.”
“Did he build this lodge with the money he made running moonshine?” she asked, her face clouded.
“Nawp. This here was built before Prohibition,” Dave answered. “He was a respectable businessman, and from what Rob’s grandad told him, he used it not just to stay respectable, but to use it as his cover.”
Natalie nodded slowly. “I’m glad to hear that. I’d hate to think of this place as being built on the gains of a crime.”
“Don’t have to worry on that score, Natalie.” Dave stood and put his hat back on with a wink in her direction. “I best be getting back. You have more questions, go talk to Rob. Or even better, the town historian, Old Man Harris. He’s in the nursing home, but he still has all his faculties.”
Natalie gaped. “He has to be close to a hundred years old.”
“Ninety-eight. But as I said, he has all his faculties. Later, folks.”
Jude watched him amble from the dining room and out the door, mystified by Natalie’s n
ew obsession with her great-grandfather. “What’s on your mind?” he asked. “Why all this wondering about what he did? What is bootlegging, and moonshine, and all that?”
Shrugging, Natalie continued to eat her breakfast but explained. “A long time ago, the government made drinking alcohol illegal. But we humans love our drink. Thus, some people created their own in secret stills in the woods and swamps, then sold it through the back doors of taverns and bars.”
“Ah.”
“That was a bad time back then,” she continued, “the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl. Prohibition gave rise to crime gangs in the big cities, and they still operate there now.”
“So your great-grandfather made this moonshine, and sold it?”
“All illegal.” Natalie’s voice turned thoughtful. “If Bart was as big into selling shine all over New England, what did he do with the money?”
“He didn’t pass it down to the family?”
“Nope.”
Something clicked in Jude’s head. “You think he hid it somewhere and Peterson knows about it?”
“For a dragon,” she answered, “you’re pretty smart.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” he replied. “If Bart’s family doesn’t know about it, how can he?”
“That’s what I’d like to know,” she said. “Maybe Bart gambled it all away, but family lore says that after Prohibition was repealed, he settled down to run this lodge. There was no rumor of him being a gambler.”
“And if he had all this wealth, how could the family not see it?”
“All part of the puzzle.” Natalie gazed out over the happy, contented diners. “Whether or not Bart really did have huge wealth, I bet Peterson thinks he did. And that’s why he wants this lodge so badly.”
Jude chewed his now cold bacon. “Could it be hidden here somewhere?”
“I grew up here,” Natalie replied. “I have been in every corner, every closet, tangled into every spiderweb. If it was here, I’d have found it.”
Jude grinned. “Maybe you weren’t looking in the right places.”
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