Her Druid Desire (The Amber Druid Series)

by Trish F Leger

  The Drossier family was one of the chief benefactors of the Browning Corporation. Nadia had been putting together this event for over six months, and now it was finally here. The wealthy family gave generously to the arts and humanities. And for over ten years, they held a yearly ball/charity function that drew numerous faces. The crowd ranged from business sharks to Wall Street types, and as Nadia looked around she even saw a few Hollywood icons in the mix. It was a lavish affair and a large feather in the hat of Nadia’s company to be able to pull it off without a hitch. This was one of the many ‘large’ projects that her company handled during the year. Nadia usually loved every single moment of it, but now she wasn’t so sure she could keep it together for the rest of the night.

  Donavan was here, with Suzanne. It was as if he was flaunting what society had guessed at for the past three weeks. He hadn’t made it around to her yet, but Nadia knew before the night was over, he would find her. They would have to meet face to face, in front of everyone in the ballroom.

  The hurt that she managed to live with for the past weeks slithered through her veins, reminding her of what happened. She still felt bruised, battered, and left out in harsh elements, after what she had seen.

  That’s what you get for allowing yourself to care about a man that you never wanted to begin with.

  She had known what kind of person he was. She’d just refused to let her mind dwell on that. And what had started out as a business relationship, turned into a small bit of contented placement on Nadia’s part. She allowed herself to feel at ease and comfortable in thinking that even though she didn’t love Donavan, he would never leave her side and go to another. The whole pseudo-relationship had been a front. They’d been more friends than anything else. That was all that Nadia had been able to give.

  So why had finding him with another woman hurt so much? Why did she feel like the wounded party in this scene out of a horrible play?

  Hell, she cried over a man that she wasn’t even sure she cared deeply for. Sure, she had trusted him, to some degree, and there were many evenings where she knew if she had been able to give more, things could have turned into something totally different. But she hadn’t, and things stayed the same. When she’d seen him pounding into Suzanne as if he couldn’t get enough of her, Nadia felt the world shift, and her balance had been screwed ever since.

  As she walked amid the throngs of people, she allowed the music from the band to try and calm those stretched out nerves. Nadia had to admit that the place was decorated specifically by her directions. Sheer, dark blue silk hung from a center point on the ceiling, while beneath the silk twinkling white lights blinked, creating a hazy, outside feel deep inside the ballroom. Blinding white tablecloths covered every table, and long, tapered silver candelabras held candles which emitted soft, wavy light in the large ballroom. The large chandeliers were dimmed, and the atmosphere was soft, comfortable, romantic, and hopefully inductive to writing large checks.

  She made her way to the ladies room, then stopped at the sitting area and checked her appearance out in the long, tall mirrors that took up one wall.

  Her dress mode was never flashy, more understated and elegant. She didn’t care for the flesh revealing designs that most of Texas society women bought; instead, she leaned more towards clean lines and classic looks. The only boldness she allowed in her clothes was the color. The deep, midnight blue of her gown tonight was what drew Nadia in the first place. The dress was formal, floor length, and was stunning in its simplicity. So far, her appearances in public hadn’t put her on the worst dressed list, which surprised her because of all the cattiness that surrounded this culture. She still got a feminine thrill whenever she opened the paper and saw her own image looking back at her from the best dressed section.

  An hour later, after eating a small bit of food, and holding a few conversations with some donators, a small charge lifted the hairs on Nadia’s arm and neck. Warmth flowed deep into her body, and she grew hot even as a chill skated upon her skin. Looking up from the table where she sat with Renee, and a few other office workers, Nadia searched the area knowing that Drake was nearby.

  Seconds later, she spotted his tall, dangerously sexy body across the way. His dark, rumpled hair gleamed mahogany in the candlelight, while the wavering shadows highlighted his rugged, sharp bladed nose, and beautiful, all seeing eyes. Firm, sensual lips smiled at something his date said. Nadia felt her thighs tighten in anticipation.

  His body was draped in a black tux, and instead of a bowtie, he wore a white dress shirt with silver vest on under his tux jacket. The stark colors made him look dangerous, and jealousy twisted deep in her gut. He was every dream, every wish, of a man that she had ever wanted. After years of hoping, it was still a forgone conclusion that she would never have a chance with him. But damn, a woman could dream, couldn’t she?

  The darkness suited him. With his sinister good looks, scorching sensuality and seductive Texas drawl, Nadia understood how every woman felt when she was introduced to him. He was a devastating man.

  “Ah, I see your lovely ex-boyfriend made it to the festivities,” Renee drawled as she looked at Donavan over the rim of her wineglass. “And of course he brought a date. What a surprise to see it is Suzanne.”

  Nadia didn’t even look in their direction. “It was bound to happen, Renee. We both knew that.” The words felt like dust in her throat.

  “Yeah, honey, I know you are right, but there is something called subtlety and Donavan doesn’t know the meaning of it.” The other woman licked her lips, and Nadia could clearly see the bloodthirsty gleam in her eyes. “Or, he just didn’t care one way or another.”

  “It doesn’t matter anymore. It was all a mistake to begin with.”

  Blue eyes leveled on Nadia with speed and accuracy. “Don’t you dare put all the blame on you. He’s a man and if he wanted out, for any reason what so ever, he should have ended things before deciding that he was going to screw some other woman while you were still considered to be his. Doesn’t matter how the relationship was going,” Renee said with a cutting motion of her hand.

  Nadia listened to what Renee was saying, knowing that her secretary cared for her like a friend, but still she felt alone in this full ballroom even with her friend at her side. Her eyes unerringly searched out the area across the ballroom, once again landing where Drake was sitting with his date, and a full table. The woman was Natalie Ramos, a well known author, and society darling. Tall, blonde, and stunningly beautiful, she sat beside Drake as if she belonged there. In Nadia’s estimation, she did.

  Drake’s arm was around the back of Natalie’s chair, and every once in awhile he would send the woman a crooked grin, one that made Nadia’s heart beat faster and her palms sweat. Nadia could see the flow of conversation at the table, mostly between Drake and Natalie, and felt the old familiar need pulse low in her body. She’d wanted that man before she’d even known what wanting meant. Now that she was older, and you would think wiser, the need hadn’t changed. The pain was the same.

  He smiled that one sided grin again. Nadia shivered. The backs of her eyes felt like they were on fire, and ever so slightly, she felt the threat of tears. Damn. Why? Why did she have this burning, all consuming feeling for a man she would never be able to touch, much less have for herself?

  No one else had ever made her feel like this. And now, after a year of her emotions being dulled by the presence of Donavan, he was out of the picture, and her old wants were making her remember exactly why she had allowed Donavan so close. She needed someone, a man, to be a buffer between her and Drake. She would never have a chance, and probably end up making an ass of herself over him, if she didn’t have some damage control. Donavan had been her damage control. Now he was gone.

  Nadia blinked out of her thoughts and instantly felt speared by heat. From across the ballroom Drake was staring at her. Stilling instantly, she blinked, thoroughly caught in the snare of warm brown eyes, and an instinctual maleness that made her tremble. Her fi
ngers caught the soft fabric of her dress and clenched.

  This wasn’t the same look that he had given her when she had allowed him entrance to her office weeks ago. It certainly wasn’t the look that he threw her when she’d shown up on his doorstep with the injured dog. It was scorching. Hot. Raw. And it made Nadia’s mouth go dry. While a sharp, painful blush climbed up and over her cheeks.

  She tore her eyes from his and took a deep, calming breath, just as Renee cursed softly.

  Nadia looked up from the table, and met the green gaze of Donavan standing by the table.

  As if her night couldn’t get any worse.

  “Nadia,” he nodded in her direction, not even saying hello to Renee. Thank God he had come alone, leaving Suzanne somewhere in the ballroom. “I was wondering if I could speak to you alone.”

  Renee scoffed at him under her breath, while sending out signals that said she would be more the willing to peel his skin from his body. Nadia held her calm composure. The other members of the table were now dancing, leaving only Renee and Nadia to greet Donavan. “You can say whatever you need to say right here. Renee is a close friend of mine, as you already know.”

  And besides, Nadia knew if she left the table with him, the raw hurt she felt every time she saw Drake nowadays might lead her to accept his apology-and whatever else he wanted the minute they were alone.

  He chided her with his eyes and tried again. “Dia, honey, we don’t need to talk with her around. This needs to be said in private.” His tone was slightly pleading, and it grated on Nadia’s nerves.

  “Hmph, I see no reason to say what you need to say in private. You sure as hell weren’t thinking about Dia’s welfare whenever you were doing Suzanne, were you?” Renee spoke out, much to Nadia’s dismay.

  “Renee, hush now,” she told her friend, hoping to calm down her bulldog attitude before Renee decided to do harm to Donavan.

  “You know he doesn’t deserve any breaks, hon. He is only trying to ‘pretty up’ what he did wrong,” Renee told her, sending killing glances towards the man in question.

  “You need to stay out of this, Renee. This is none of your business,” Donavan glared right back at Renee.

  Well, that certainly wasn’t the right thing to say.

  Renee jumped from her seat, pointing her finger in his face. “It became my business whenever I had to console her after she found you humping Suzanne on your desk, asshole.”

  “Renee! Sit down!” Nadia furiously whispered, hoping to calm her friend into some kind of order. They were starting to draw curious stares. Thank God the music was loud enough to drown out their argument.

  Blue eyes flashed to her, and Nadia could feel her friend’s anger. “I will handle this, okay?”

  Renee snorted, but kept her gaze trained on Donavan as Nadia grabbed his arm and pulled him away from her table and around the ballroom. She found one of many French doors and pulled it open, leading Donavan out into the warm, balmy Texas evening.

  “Say what you need to say to make yourself feel better and then leave,” she told him, as she whirled around and stood before him.

  “Dia, honey, you know I’m sorry. You know I never meant to hurt you.” He brought his hands up to her shoulders, and for one insane moment Nadia wanted to lean into him, to allow him to console her, to make the emptiness go away, even though she knew he wouldn’t be able to. That depressed her, knowing that she was so starved for human emotion, for another person’s touch, that she would allow it from the man that caused some of the pain in the first place.

  “I don’t know anything anymore.” Was that her? That woman that sounded wounded, hurt, and confused?

  “Ah, my Dia, you are too sweet, too gentle to be in this cutthroat world of society. Suzanne is just sex to me darling. She could never take your place in my world.”

  Nadia could hear him talking, but curiously enough she didn’t feel anything but emptiness. She felt dead, to him, and every other emotion. He was still going on, rattling about how he had needed sex and Suzanne was an easy lay, nothing more. Nadia just continued to stare at his bowtie, feeling as if the world had ceased to exist. She had somewhat trusted this man and he had taken that and cleaved it in two. But the pain, the hurt from weeks ago numbed, and now she just felt disgusted with men in general. This is what she got from trying to do the right thing. She should have known it wouldn’t work.

  New sounds came from behind Donavan and he, thankfully, halted his voice in midsentence. Nadia looked beyond his shoulder, disinterestedly, and could barely make out the tall shadow of a man standing there. The minute he spoke, she knew immediately who it was.

  “I see you are still trying to worm your way under Nadia’s radar, Donavan. Don’t you think that by now she has realized what a bastard you really are?”

  And that easily she felt awake, every nerve ending alive and thrumming. Donavan exhaled an indignant scoff, and tried to peer through the darkness at who would dare insult him, but once Nadia had heard his voice, she didn’t need to see who it was. What really surprised her was that Drake would take it upon himself to come out here and confront Donavan. By his words, he wanted him gone. That pissed Nadia off. As if she couldn’t handle Donavan herself.

  “Thompson, you go too far,” Donavan told him. Nadia could clearly sense his anger.

  Drake slid out from under the shadows and Nadia suppressed a shudder at how eerie he looked standing there. Never before had she noticed how attuned this man was to the darkness. “Clearly Donavan, I don’t go far enough. For the past year you have made her the laughingstock of Texas society. Seems like you keep doing a bang up job month after month.”

  Donavan bristled again, but Nadia calmed him a bit by placing her hand on his arm. She turned him to her. “Ignore him, and let me tell you this, whatever happened, happened. Don’t think that I will welcome your attentions now. Please, go back inside and go to Suzanne.” She hoped he would take the hint and leave. She was through with him, and didn’t want him around her again.

  Instead of saying anything, he sent Drake a disgusted look, and turned to go back in the ballroom. Even as he left, Nadia realized this wouldn’t be the last time that she would have to lay down some rules between them.

  The minute he was gone, Nadia whirled on Drake, furious.

  “What in the hell were you thinking coming out here and baiting him like that? This is none of your business, Drake. None! I could have easily handled him.” She tried not to yell, but it was hard. She took deep breaths and focused on his dark silhouette against the stone of the building. The words he just said rolled around inside of her brain. He’d called her a laughingstock.

  “Handle him? The man needs more than just words spoken to him. He needs a good boot up his ass.” There was enough venom in those words to make Nadia’s skin crawl. Drake sounded furious, which was a first for her.

  He shifted away from the building, causing more shadows to fall upon his tall frame. Darkness slithered around him like a living thing, wrapping his body in swatches of moonlight and obscurity. Nadia noticed he looked more menacing in the dark too. Shivering slightly, she tried to hide her anger and find a nice way to leave him and go back to the security of the ballroom. It wasn’t as if she was frightened of him. She was more wary than anything else.

  “I still don’t understand why you came out here.” She sounded as if she cared that he came to her rescue. Damn. Clearing her throat, she looked anywhere but at him. Not that it helped. She could be blind and still know he was around. His smell, his presence, just him breathing was enough to make her body stand up and take notice.

  Instead of answering her statement, he sauntered closer to the edge of the small portico where they were standing. The play of muscles in his shoulders was highlighted by moonlight. Nadia clenched her fingers against the material of her dress.

  “I knew what I was getting when I allowed Donavan close to me.” Now why in the hell had she admitted that? That was none of Drake’s concern.

  Shut up,
Nadia!

  “Did you really, little Dia?” The endearment sounded condescending when he said it. Donavan had been the one to start calling her that. Many other society members picked up on it also. “The man gambles most of everything he has away. He barely has money for his own business to stay afloat. He loves rich women, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you why, and among other things, his taste runs towards rough sex.”

  Those words went through Nadia like a shockwave. She knew some of it, and a few other things that he hadn’t mentioned, but it was still wicked to hear him talk so base to her like that. She looked towards him in the dark, and could barely make out his facial features. Strong emotion wafted off of him.

  “He is scum, Nadia. Filth. So far beneath the purity of you that I’m surprised you didn’t turn brown when you touched him.” He turned to look in her direction, and Nadia swore she saw a flash of golden light where his eyes were. She shivered and wrapped her arms around her upper body, not able to deal with this new side of Drake so easily. Exactly what had she just seen?

  “I’m glad that you caught on to the truth before he was able to strip your wealth away or hurt you indefinitely.” He left the edge of the portico and slowly walked towards her. Her heart kick-started into a dangerous tempo. Something was different tonight. Something was causing Drake to act even more territorial towards her. Nadia wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

  She could barely breathe whenever he stopped in front of her. His tall, massive frame made her feel ultra feminine. Her forehead came to his breastbone, and that was only because she was wearing high heels. The breeze turned, and Nadia could smell the tinges of some spicy, woodsy cologne that he wore. She inhaled, taking in the smell, recording it to her memory for the months to come. He was so warm. And it took every ounce of her conscience not to give into the notion to walk up to him and beg him to hold her. Just to feel those arms cradling her, protecting her, caressing her…