She was in such trouble. Hugo Sarkany was so not a guy to give her heart to.
She moved away from Hugo's too potent presence. He made her forget reality. He made her dream like a foolish adolescent who believed love could conquer all. Men like Hugo, born to wealth and power, married into their own circles. They didn't marry their secretaries, they married jet setting princesses of decayed royal houses. Or heiresses. Not girls who worked for their livings.
Her head slithered down the slope of his shoulder. Slithered? She raised her head and screamed in terror at what she saw. Flames shot out of her open mouth and flashed across the room to lick the wall. In the light of the fire she glimpsed more fully the long, sinuous, green monster she was lying next to.
Hugo woke. He was in dragon form. His mate was curled up with him and they lay nestled in blissful harmony. She stirred against him and filled his heart with happiness. Until she blew fire, narrowly missing him.
The stench of singed paint hung in the atmosphere. Hugo swiftly backed to the other side of the bed contemplating his options. Light. They needed light. He groped for the switches on the bedside table with clumsy talon-encumbered paws. Halogens popped on.
Beside the bed a slim and beautiful female was swishing her long tail angrily, each stroke imperiling his furnishings. Her long, deep golden snout moved from side to side, her forked tongue flicked the air tasting, testing. Smoke puffed from her wide nostrils. Her blue eyes flashed. He inhaled. This was Leah all right. A confused and angry Leah. A beautiful and desirable and frightened dragoness.
How was this even possible? And what the hell was he to do with a newly turned dragon bent on burning the house down? What he wanted to do was admire her lovely gold and black scales and the gold streaked beauties of her ridge and deep red tail dart. Tail dart? Leah needed to be taught to control her dragon, and she needed to be taught right this minute, before she poisoned him. Why had no one mentioned that a newly turned dragoness was a menace?
Horrified he gazed at his mate as she advanced upon him. She stalked around the bed, open mouthed, breathing fire and smoke, and although he stood his ground, he was afraid. He could not harm her—violence to his mate was unthinkable, but she in her ignorance might immolate him.
But she was a very inexperienced dragon. Virtually a dragonette. Half-way through her waddling progress towards him, Leah fell over and lay helplessly writhing on the carpet. She slowly morphed into her human form, squirming in pain. This was all so new to her, Hugo thought. He transformed himself at speed. This was no time to linger over a shift. He rushed to pick Leah up.
“Are you all right?” he asked tenderly, holding her high against his chest.
“I've lost my mind,” she said, looking around in bewilderment. Her eyes fastened on the black marks on the wall. “Oh. My. God. It wasn't a dream!”
“Indeed not,” he told her proudly. “But it will be okay. Better than okay. I promise.” He kissed the top of her head. And laid her gently on the bed.
She rolled away from him only to sit up in consternation. “Ouch!” The sheets were full of pearls. When she had transformed she had burst the string of pearls he had placed over her neck, and they had rolled everywhere and lay like hard bullets in the bed. “What the hell is going on?” she demanded heatedly.
“You are now a dragon shifter,” Hugo told her. “We are mated now. Forever.” Smug masculine pride rang in his words. He felt utterly triumphant and joyful.
“Mated?” she shouted. “What the hell do you mean mated?”
Hugo felt at something of a disadvantage. A proposal of marriage was not supposed to be a hastily made utterance to be issued in the nude to your equally naked and outraged mate. There was a certain amount of decorum and, yes, romance called for. But needs must when the devil drove.
“We will be married as soon as it is possible,” he assured Leah grandly. “Together we will rule my house. I as the Count Sarkany, and you, my darling, as my Countess.”
“The hell I will. I'm an American. We don't do counts and countesses. And I didn't ask to become a fricking dragon. Or whatever the hell I am. Make it stop,” Leah demanded angrily folding her arms across her jiggling breasts.
The sight of those delicious mounds distracted Hugo. His throat dried.
“Make it stop,” Leah repeated even louder.
“Um. It's irreversible.” Hugo spread his arms wide. It might have infuriated his mate less if his cock had not extended up to his shining abs in a rampant curve.
“And you didn't think that was the kind of thing you should ask me about before you turned me into a damned reptile?” Leah placed her hands on her hips and her eyes glared fiercely at his favorite organ. She seemed to have forgotten she was nude. She was magnificent in her fury. His mate was a beauty in or out of dragon.
“I had no idea this would happen.” Hugo shrugged elegantly. “It's not supposed to happen unless,” his eyes widened. “Unless you were a virgin,” his voice petered out at the implications.
Leah blushed like the sunrise over Isle Balaur. “What of it? You didn't ask if I had done this before.”
“It never occurred to me that a woman—an American woman—would be a virgin at twenty-seven.”
“Well, I was. Now what the hell am I supposed to do?”
“Marry me, my darling, and give me many sons!”
“Sons! What about daughters? Oh, why am I even asking?” She clutched at her hair with distraught hands and finally realized she was fighting with Hugo without a stitch to cover her nakedness.
Hugo was treated to another lovely flush before she grabbed the sheet and pulled it around herself. Pearls flew through the air. Hugo winced as a king's ransom rained down and rolled into corners. But it did not seem exactly the right moment to complain about his priceless pearls.
“If we ever had the great good fortune to have a daughter, I would be more than pleased,” he informed her solemnly, “But there is no record of one being born in our house in a thousand years.”
“You guys have been killing the girls haven't you?”
He blinked at her. And thought. “I don't think so,” he said slowly. “But of course I don't actually know.”
“You're not killing my daughters!” Leah clutched her belly protectively.
This was ridiculous. They had no child, male or female. “Calm yourself,” he said repressively.
Flames leapt from her open mouth. Fortunately this side effect of her wrath frightened Leah as much as it alarmed him. She sat down, pulled the sheet tightly around her and began to weep. The drops rolled down her cheeks and turned into diamonds that plinked onto the bed. They were rough and uncut diamonds, but diamonds nevertheless. The sight of them stopped her crying and she stuffed a hand into her mouth to hold back further sobs.
Hugo tried to put his arms around his distraught mate, but she was inconsolable—or she didn't want to be consoled by him. She got up and retreated to an armchair, dragging the enormous sheet, and trailing pearls and diamonds behind her.
“Why am I crying stones?” she asked in despair, huddling into the concealing sheet.
“They're diamonds. It's a dragon thing. Lack of control. But you'll soon get the hang of it.” Hugo meant to be reassuring, but by the look on Leah's face, he had delivered more bad news. It was very little comfort to know that he had been right about the old stories. His troubles had just begun.
* * *
“Sweetheart.” Hugo knelt before his weeping mate. “Do not cry,” he implored her. “ All will be well. We will be happy, I promise you.”
Diamonds rained down harder. Leah stuffed the edge of the sheet into her mouth to stop herself from wailing. Hugo put his hands on her thighs and gave her a gentle squeeze. Even distraught she was beguiling. He wanted her again. But first he had to get her to see reason.
“Dearest,” Hugo tried again. “Look at me. We will be married. I will fulfill your heart's desire.”
Leah's red and blotched face emerged from the sheet. She narr
owed her eyes at him. “My heart's desire is not to be a dragon,” she said sniffling. “I just want to be a human being. It's not too much to ask.”
“Being a dragon shifter is a gift,” he said stiffly. “Together we will soar and conquer the skies!”
“You are nuts. Do you know that? N. U. T. S. I have news for you Mr. Dragon Shifter. Turning into a dragon is not a gift it's a fricking curse. I want you to figure out how to reverse it. Don't you make plans for my life.
“You caused this. You damned well make it stop! And put some clothes on!” She was shouting even louder now.
Thankfully, he thought, the domestic staff were all off-island by now.
Hugo stood up. He bowed formally, which brandished his little dragon maker in Leah's offended face. She snarled at him and flames flickered around her nose.
“I will dress, if that is your wish,” he said with hauteur, and stalked off to his closet. He returned in a dark blue bathrobe.
Leah glared at him. His robe was tented by his cock. Here she was crying and the bastard wanted to have sex. He was an inconsiderate, arrogant jerk. She had no idea why the sight of him walking around in his golden skin should still be turning her on. She now knew that he could become a gigantic scaly lizard. And still she was sitting here throbbing and wanting the great prick.
Hugo had a little chamois bag in one hand. As he came towards her he kept bending over and picking up pearls and diamonds from the carpet.
“What the heck are you doing?” she demanded.
Hugo looked pissed. “I am collecting your tears and the pearls. We cannot leave them for the maids to find.” His voice sounded strangled as if his throat was tight. A muscle ticced beside the hard line of his mouth.
“And why not?” she asked in a roar that surprised her. Surely she had never had that sort of lung capacity before?
“As you must be aware,” Hugo said patronizingly, “The staff does not know that I am a dragon shifter. And they must never know. About either of us. Besides, the pearls are valuable. And your tears are a treasure in their own right. They should be kept safe.”
He bared his teeth in what he fondly imagined was a tender smile. Leah's eyes got very big and she cowered in her chair. Great. Now his little mate was afraid of him. Hugo felt distraught himself. His mate did not seem in the least to appreciate her great good fortune. He was going to marry the wench and give her his name. He was going to bestow untold wealth on her. And how did she respond—by becoming hysterical.
He sought for inspiration. “I will have your tears cut and set for you to wear. They will become an heirloom of our house,” he told her. That should please her and stop all this weeping and sniffling which was lashing his soul. Why her tears should distress him, he was at a loss to understand.
Sadly, his words increased the flow of diamonds.
* * *
Hugo contemplated his weeping mate in frustration. “I would think you would be grateful to be the bride of Sarkany,” he said impatiently. “My House goes back a thousand years. We are descended from the Magyar warriors who fought with King Stephen against the Turks.”
“Are you bragging that your ancestors have been destroying the lives of women for a thousand years? Because really my life was okay before. I never had a hankering to be turned into a scaly monster.”
“As the Countess Sarkany, you will have all your heart desires.”
“I have a newsflash for you: Nothing will compensate me for becoming a reptile.”
Goaded, Hugo retorted, “Dragons are not reptiles. We are warm blooded. We are more closely related to birds. It is believed our scales are modified feathers.” His stiff explanation dried up when Leah rolled her eyes.
“Telling me I have turned into a big, plucked chicken isn't any sort of improvement,” she declared infuriated.
“I am a very rich man,” Hugo told her a little desperately. “As Count Sarkany I control fabulous wealth. Whatever you wish will be yours.” What in the name of all that flew did this female want of him? Hundreds of women had tried and failed to capture him. How had he wound up with one that wanted no part of him?
“The things I want, money can't buy,” Leah told him with quiet dignity. “I want love and trust and respect.”
“I can give you all that and more. You will have all that is mine. Together we will enjoy the Treasures of the House of Sarkany.”
Leah looked at him in horror and more diamonds rolled down her cheeks to join the others. Leah sat up straight. She dashed her tears away and looked even more furious. “I want to go to my room,” she announced.
Hugo bowed. “I will escort you, Beloved,” he told her.
She stood up and pulled the sheet around her until the edges cleared the floor. “I have two feet, and I know the way. I think I can manage,” she said frigidly.
“And yet I will escort you,” he informed her. When had she become so stubborn? She would have to be taught to obey his lightest command. He strode forward and lifted her into his arms. She struggled but she was hampered by the sheet. Besides he was much taller and stronger than this defiant blossom. She would soon learn not to challenge her lord.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
When Hugo seized her and pulled her into his hot arms, Leah forgot her anger. The elemental passion that had always simmered between them seemed to have been permanently brought to a rolling boil. He had no sooner picked her up than he was kissing her. As his mouth claimed hers she could think of nothing but sating her desires on his hard body.
Her mouth fought his fiercely for dominance. Had she but realized it, she was responding as a dragon does to her bonded mate. But that knowledge lay in her future. All she could feel had come down to the surging desire she felt for this hard muscled man.
His masculine beauty called to her softest flesh. She wanted to spread herself before him for his pleasure and hers. Her hands grappled with his robe as she sought his golden body. Hugo covered her questing hands with his and growled into her mouth. “Let me.”
Thank the stars his mate was as passionate as he. But her inexperience showed. She had no more idea of how to pleasure a man than the babe unborn. And why that sent his arousal spinning into overdrive was another mystery of life. Because he had always selected his women from the ranks of the seriously experienced. The idea of tutoring ignorance had always seemed deeply creepy and downright boring.
That was before he had tasted his Treasure! Nothing about his luscious Leah was boring. Her satiny skin, the generous swell of her breasts and thighs, and butt and belly promised bliss. Her scent was ambrosial even when she was not aroused. When she was, she made him dizzy with a matching desire. He no longer wondered at all those stories of eternal bonding. He would never tire of his Leah. It was impossible.
He carried her back to the bed and unwound the sheet from her and flung it aside so he could fondle the abundant glories of her breasts. They gleamed palely against his bronzed hands and he plumped them so they overflowed his broad palms.
He couldn't wait. He needed another taste of those succulent berries that crowned the mounds of pale flesh. His mouth made the tight nipples stiffen even more. He sucked them hard and felt Leah wriggle beneath him, needy and desirous. He swept his tongue lower to the sensitive undersides and was rewarded with a gasping murmur.
Leah grabbed Hugo's shoulders to hold him even closer. She had never known that her nipples were directly connected to her pussy. But it seemed as if electric jolts shot directly from one to the other. The delicate muscles of her passage were contracting in time to his suckling kisses.
When he kissed his way lower and yet lower, over the gentle swell of her belly pausing only to dip a sensuous tongue into her navel she gripped his hair with ardent fingers and urged him on. She had never thought she would enjoy so intimate a caress. It had always struck her as far too insanitary for pleasure. She had been wrong. This was turning out to be her favorite thing.
Nothing had ever felt as right as Hugo's mouth on her most private fles
h. His tongue lapped up her juices from her open pussy with growling murmurs that spoke of his pleasure. His tongue darted in and out of the entrance to her passage and then swept up to the little nubbin and took it into his mouth. It was better than the first time he had introduced her to this pleasure.
Her climax rippled through her in long waves of delight. When he set his purple headed cock to her soaking sheath and rammed home she held him as closely as she could with legs that grasped him with sinews of iron. She thrust as vigorously as he did and when he roared his pleasure in her ears, she came again with a series of intense contractions more acute than the first.
They fell asleep in the tumbled bedclothes, bound together by clinging arms and the immutable bond of dragon mates. While outside the moon laughed at the frisking waves and tried to peep in at the shutters.
Hugo woke to the blaze of overhead lights and the lingering smells of sex and smoke. He raised his head, aware that for a second time they had taken dragon form in each other's arms. Weird and weirder. Leah slept on and he was able to admire her beauties for the first time.
She was smaller than him—normal for a female. Less bulky too. Again normal for a female. But he suspected it was early days yet and her dragon had some growing still to do. Under the halogens, she was gold colored from pretty snout to arrow tipped tale, shading to palest cream on her underparts, and darkening almost to black on her extremities.
Only her dart was wine colored. Her golden scales held a hint of iridescence that he suspected would deepen as she matured. Her teeth were sharp, so were her talons and her ridge spines. Her budding horns delighted him. She was adorable.
It was a good thing that he had had his bed specially made to withstand his dragon morph. But the sheets and pillows would never be the same. Big holes were visible where the fabric had been cut by their claws or spine ridges. The staff would be talking about that for years.
Dragon's Treasure (BBW/Dragon Shifter Romance) (Lords of the Dragon Islands Book 1) Page 10