Tropical Leopard's Longing (Shifting Sands Resort Book 8)

by Zoe Chant

  The hard-won moment of privacy was interrupted by footsteps, and Darla turned to see the only person she wanted to see less than her mother.

  “Eugene,” she said, completely neutral in tone.

  “Don’t you look… lovely,” he said. “All ruby and ruin.”

  Though Jubilee had been utterly tight-lipped about Darla’s indiscretion, he clearly knew what had happened. Had her mother told him? It didn’t seem like she would, but here he was.

  “What do you want?” she asked wearily, making herself not hurry to close the last of the ruby buttons.

  “I have an offer for you,” Eugene said, voice suspiciously silky.

  “I’m not interested,” Darla said.

  “I think you may be,” Eugene said, and his smile put cold chills down Darla’s spine. “I’m offering you Breck.”

  Darla’s suddenly-numb fingers fumbled the final button. She made herself draw in a breath. “What do you mean?” she said as neutrally as she could.

  “It’s true, isn’t it,” Eugene said, his smile widening. “It wasn’t just that you slept with the waiter, you’re actually in love with him. You think he’s your mate.”

  Darla let herself think about Breck for one brief, happy moment. Her mate. She remembered his smiling face beneath the van, his face so unbelievably handsome and dear, lit by the flashlight, as he gave her something no one could take away. Her smile in Eugene’s direction was accidentally soft and he took it as an invitation to step closer and settle one of the necklaces over her neck.

  “Marry me,” he said near her ear. “Tell Liam to step aside and let me challenge. Your mother will have to approve the marriage and I’ll let you have your little something on the side. He can work in the kitchen, or the garden, or wherever the hell you want, and keep your bed warm on weekends, I get your hand, and your hoard. You can spend your half on Liam and his old people, if you want.”

  “That’s not how dragon contracts work,” Darla reminded him, shuddering away from his touch. “You know I wouldn’t be able to cheat on my husband.”

  “I could get the contract changed,” Eugene promised. “Maybe one that allowed divorce…”

  Darla looked at Eugene in confusion. Did he think she was so naive that she thought that would be possible?

  “You couldn’t do that,” she said in disbelief.

  “I could,” Eugene said confidently. “But only if you marry me. You marry Liam, and you’re trapped forever.”

  Darla stared at him. He believed what he was saying. He somehow thought he had the power to make her mother amend the contract. And he thought that Darla would conclude that it was worth marrying him for that chance.

  It only hardened her resolve.

  She would marry Liam.

  She would protect the rest home, and the resort. She would marry her friend and say goodbye to her true love, and it would be worth it.

  She’d had more than she could ever have asked for; three nights of love, three nights of perfect happiness with her mate.

  She could not quite keep the smile of satisfaction that spread out over her face. “Thank you,” she said with all of her practiced serenity. “But I’m afraid I have a better offer.” She turned back to the mirror and adjusted one of the necklaces so that it weighed at her neck a little less.

  Eugene’s expression in the mirror was briefly unguarded and ugly. “You’ll regret that choice,” he threatened quietly as there was a clatter of people returning at the door to the spa. “I will get everything I want anyway, and you’ll wish you’d said yes when you had the chance.”

  “I did say yes when I had the chance,” Darla replied with a smirk, equally quiet. “Just not to you.”

  Chapter 36

  Breck skidded into the Den. “Where’s Graham?”

  Jenny and Laura, in perfect twin unison, pointed to where Graham was coming out of the kitchen carrying a plate loaded with leftovers for breakfast.

  Graham scowled at Breck as he went to sit at the kitchen bar that separated the living area from the kitchen. “Which flower bed have you destroyed this time?” he asked crossly.

  Breck ignored the gibe. “I need you to teach me how to fight.”

  That got him the attention of everyone in common area. Tex, Travis, Bastian, and Wrench had been playing poker with chore IOUs, and they all folded their cards and put them down in unison.

  “What did you do?” demanded Laura.

  “Shouldn’t that be who did you do?” Travis teased.

  Tex was shaking his head. “Jealous husband?” he guessed.

  “Jealous wife?” Bastian speculated.

  Graham gave Breck a long, knowing look. “What are you doing?” he asked gruffly.

  “I’m getting hitched,” Breck said merrily. “If I can avoid getting killed.” He gave Jenny a crooked grin. “You might want to go talk to Scarlet — there could be a big lawsuit pending, but we’re hoping not. There’s a loophole.”

  Stunned silence answered him.

  “You’re crashing the Trayvor-Grant wedding?” Jenny finally said in disbelief.

  “You’re getting married?” Bastian exclaimed.

  “You’re going to fight someone to get married?” Tex said incredulously.

  “You’re gunna die,” Wrench said grimly.

  Everyone turned to look at him, and the big, tattooed panther shifter shrugged uncomfortably at the attention. “Assuming it’s a fight to the death. Otherwise I guess he’s just gunna get beat to a bloody pulp.”

  “I’d prefer to stay in one piece,” Breck said, trying to convince himself this was still a good idea. “And I’m hoping you can help me do that.”

  “Darla’s your mate,” Laura finally guessed. “That’s why you’ve been so weird the last few days.”

  Everyone made noises of mixed sympathy, surprise, and congratulations. No one seemed sure which was most appropriate.

  Several moments later, Breck was standing on the back lawn, stark naked, with Tex, in bear form, demonstrating his charge.

  “He’s a lot bigger than me,” Breck said, frowning at Tex’s dramatically snarling face. The grizzly was probably ten times the weight of his leopard form.

  “Cave bears are bigger yet,” Graham reminded him grimly. “But you’re a lot faster. And hopefully a lot smarter.” He and Wrench were sitting on the picnic bench. Apparently, the imminent death of a fellow staffer excused having a beer with breakfast; they were both holding bottles and looked like nothing so much as the grumpy old critics from the Muppets.

  “You gotta be meaner,” Wrench advised sagely. “Go for his nose. Won’t actually damage much, but it hurts like a sonnuvabitch.”

  “Might give you a chance to get through to something critical,” Graham agreed.

  “Don’t waste time on the shoulders,” Bastian advised. “Too much fat and fur to get through there.”

  Tex shook himself with a harrumph that sounded proud.

  “Well, get out there,” Graham said, waving the beer bottle. “Show us what we’ve got to work with.”

  Breck sighed and shifted, then, knowing that speed was his only real hope, darted forward and hit Tex’s nose with sheathed paws like a boxer.

  Tex reared up out of reach and casually back-handed him across the lawn.

  Breck rolled back to his feet and circled around behind the big bear, trying to find any part that might be vulnerable. He considered hamstringing him, but even with unsheathed claws, doubted that he would be able to get through the thick fur. Would his jaws work? He didn’t want to actually hurt Tex.

  While he was wondering if he even could, Tex turned, a slow, ambling turn, and then gave an unexpected burst of speed for such a big animal, bowling him over and giving an odd little four-legged pounce at the end that completely flattened Breck.

  While Breck was still wheezing and trying to catch his breath, Tex shifted back to human. “You okay? I… thought you’d get out of the way faster. Sorry.”

  He offered a hand to Breck as he shi
fted to human and helped pull him back to his feet.

  “I’m more of a lover than a fighter,” Breck gasped.

  Wrench took another long swig of his beer. “He’s gunna die.”

  Chapter 37

  Midnight in the tropics was like a kiss; dark and damp and full of secrets that wanted to be told.

  The ocean made a droning rumble on the shore below them, and the night insects and frogs sang their songs of longing in endless rounds.

  The vigil had been prepared for the usual overnight rain, and there was a canopy above them that whispered with the intermittent drizzle. Twists of flowers and embroidered ribbons adorned each corner, reflecting the golden light of the circle of candles.

  Darla sat cross-legged in her black dress across from Liam. A single candle sat between them, already half burnt down. Her mother and Alison were seated a short distance away, outside the flickering circle. Alison had sensibly brought a tablet, and was reading an ebook that reflected cool light onto her face.

  Jubilee had protested, but not strenuously; there was no language in the wedding description that prohibited such an item directly, and Alison had pointed out that six hours of sitting out in the middle of the night wasn’t going to be a whole lot of fun. Jubilee’s restlessness suggested that she wished she’d had the same forethought.

  After an hour or so, Jubilee stilled in her chair, and a series of quiet snores made Darla put her hands over her mouth to stifle her giggles.

  “You laugh so much more than you used to,” Liam observed quietly.

  “I had a good teacher,” Darla said, with a wry smile.

  “Are you sure you still want to do this?” Liam asked. “It’s not too late yet. And I don’t want you to regret all the things I can’t give you. Don’t do this out of worry for me, or for the home. That’s not a good enough reason to trap yourself forever.”

  Darla smiled at him over the candle. “I’m sure,” she said with unexpected serenity. “I’ve never been more sure. It isn’t ideal, and it isn’t fair, because life isn’t ideal, and it isn’t fair. But this is the best I’m going to do with the cards I was dealt, and it isn’t like marrying you is any kind of… torture. Things could be better, but they could be a lot worse.”

  Liam smiled back. “As long as it isn’t torture,” he teased.

  Darla might have teased him back, but her mother stirred, and they were quiet until she settled back into a new position and her snores resumed.

  “I can change my own tire now,” Darla said with satisfaction. “And no one can take my memories away.”

  Chapter 38

  Breck rubbed his arm ruefully as he walked through the dark resort, trying not to watch the spot of bright candlelight at the point where Darla’s wedding was starting.

  Tex had sworn he’d been easy on Breck, but the leopard shifter didn’t need Graham’s scowl, or Travis’ worry, or Wrench’s dire predictions to let him know that he hadn’t showered himself in glory. He probably had a black eye, though the scratches had at least scabbed over now.

  Eugene, he reminded himself, was also a cave bear, an extinct kind of giant bear, not just a brown bear like Tex, and an experienced fighter on top of that.

  Breck had no chance of winning a challenge against him.

  He was going to have to switch tactics, if he was going to make this work, and he had his jaw set now. He wasn’t going to let Darla go. He couldn’t do it.

  And if he couldn’t do it with claws, maybe he could do it with his tongue, so to speak.

  Eugene’s cottage was just past the one Darla had shared with her mother, and Breck gave the dark windows one wry glance as he passed.

  Eugene opened the door at Breck’s knock and greeted him with a smirk. “You look a little worse for the wear. I hear you got canned for banging the bride.”

  Breck reminded himself that he was there to try to avoid a fight, not start one. “Darla’s my mate,” he said frankly.

  “So I’ve heard,” Eugene said thoughtfully.

  “I love her, and I want to challenge for her hand.”

  Eugene’s face twitched and he didn’t say anything.

  “Promise not to challenge me,” Breck said firmly. “And I’ll give you half the hoard.” Half the hoard was enough to fund a small nation for decades, based on the descriptions he’d heard.

  Eugene leaned against the doorframe of his cottage, arms crossed. “Or I could challenge you and have the whole hoard, and Darla.”

  Neither of them had to say out loud that Breck had no chance of winning the challenge.

  “It’s a dragon contract,” Breck reminded him. “You’d have Darla and no one else for the rest of your life. And she despises you.”

  He’d hit a sore spot, Breck realized, at Eugene’s narrow expression. Eugene didn’t want to be shackled to one person the rest of his life. He wanted all the prizes, and none of the responsibilities. Eugene must not have figured a way out of that part of the contract.

  Breck almost smiled. There had been a time not long ago that he’d believed that being restricted to one person would be some kind of imprisonment. Then he’d met Darla, and now he wanted nothing more in the world. Settling down had stopped feeling like settling.

  “The whole hoard,” Eugene countered. “I want the whole thing.”

  Breck hesitated, thinking about the retirement home and Jubilee Grant’s unpaid bill. Scarlet had offered to house the elderly shifters, but he didn’t want her footing the expense or losing the resort. And he knew that Darla would forgive him for bargaining away the hoard for their happiness, but not at the expense of the people she loved.

  “Darla still has a standard inheritance, outside of the hoard,” Eugene explained, voice silky. “Human riches, enough to run a dozen nursing homes and buy a big house on a tropical island. Enough to keep a failing resort afloat. Her mother releases it to her with the wedding.”

  “But would she release it if Darla marries me?” Breck pointed out.

  “I can see that she does,” Eugene promised.

  “How?” Breck knew that Eugene had pull with Mrs. Grant, but that seemed like a tall order.

  “I’ve got her psychic in my pocket,” Eugene said smugly, as if he could not help bragging about it. “I’ll go make a phone call, and Madame Nadine will have a convenient vision that you were the perfect son-in-law all along. Some messages from the crystals or whatever. She’s very convincing.”

  Breck blinked at him. “That sounds… handy,” he said neutrally.

  Eugene had clearly expected more praise for his cleverness. “Well, can we make a deal?”

  “Yes,” Breck said promptly. “The whole hoard. It’s yours. I promise.”

  Eugene smiled slowly. “Then I promise not to challenge,” he said. “And I’ll give Madame Nadine a call, right now.”

  Breck extended a hand, ignoring his leopard’s instinctive hesitation; the big cat still considered this man their enemy. Eugene shook it.

  “Well, you’d best get your beauty rest,” Eugene suggested slyly. “You’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

  He was going to marry Darla, Breck realized, and Eugene no longer mattered in the slightest.

  He walked back to his room in a daze.

  He was going to marry Darla and he didn’t have to ask her to sacrifice Liam’s home or put Shifting Sands in jeopardy. He could get word to Liam, if not to Darla, and tomorrow would be the happiest day of his life.

  Everything was falling perfectly into place.

  Chapter 39

  The litany of ancestors was the part of the ceremony that Darla had originally been most afraid of, and it was, when the time came, the easiest. The hours of practice meant they fell from her tongue easily, both of the noble dragon lines that she descended from. She said them slowly, very carefully and clearly, and was conscious of the audience that was avidly watching.

  The most prestigious of the guests had arrived last; dragon nobility wearing riches and airs that would have made any other bride pale by
comparison.

  But Darla knew — mostly by her mother’s look of smug satisfaction — that by appearance at least, she held her own. She was wearing all seventeen necklaces, an army of bracelets, and a tiara that would bankrupt a minor museum simply to insure. Her designer dress was alive with tiny crystal beads that made her gleam in the sunlight like an ice sculpture.

  At the end of the recitation, there was a murmur of appreciation and the officiant, a gargoyle clergy from Rome, stepped forward and introduced Liam.

  Liam’s recitation was much shorter and simpler, and elicited no approval at all.

  There was a moment of silence.

  Darla looked across to Liam, who was looking back at her with a very peculiar expression indeed. One of his eyebrows waggled up and down.

  She was still trying to puzzle out what he was trying to communicate when the pompous officiant announced, “Now is the opportunity for challenge!”

  A terrible idea occurred to Darla.

  She did not realize she was holding her breath until it left her in a rush when the audience behind her began to murmur in surprise and she heard Breck’s voice, half-anticipated, half-dreaded.

  “I will challenge.”

  Jubilee gave a muffled squeak of horror, but Eugene pulled her back into her seat when she might have stood in protest.

  “You knew,” Darla hissed at Liam as she turned in her twenty pounds of jewelry to watch Breck march down the flower-lined aisle towards her.

  Her heart gave a lurch at the sight of him, so handsome and so graceful… and so dear. She wanted this more than anything in the entire world.

  And she knew she couldn’t have it.

  “How could you let him do this?” she murmured to Liam.

  Liam gave half a shrug. “How could I stop him?”

  “You could refuse to concede,” Darla whispered frantically. “You don’t have to hurt him, just… step on him a little.”

  “I’ve got to give him a chance,” Liam said quietly. “He said there was a plan.”