by Mina Khan
“Why?” Lynn sipped some coke, waiting for his answer.
“He’s a stubborn old fool.”
An image of Amos and Elsie floated into her mind. Lynn blinked back the moisture stinging her eyes. “Why did you approach Tom Jarvis again? He’s already turned you down too, right?”
Henry leaned back his chair and studied her. “You following me?”
Inane laughter bubbled out of her. “Nope. Just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
His gaze shuttered as he played with a gold ring on his right ring finger. “Yeah, I approached him again thinking the fire at his house might have changed his mind, but I was wrong.”
Something whispered through her mind and a strange languor grasped Lynn, weighing her down. Lynn leaned back her head, making her hair dance around her shoulders and gazed at Henry under heavy-lidded eyes. “And you’re still plan to go back again. Why?” Her tongue seemed to trip on itself.
With a bemused smile, Henry propped his head with a fisted hand. The shiny gold band glinted and gleamed at her, inviting her to touch. “Life’s taught me to go after what I want.”
Not sure how to respond, she glanced away. A glint of gold caught her attention.
“Nice ring.”
Henry stilled, a red flush spreading across his cheeks. Looking down at his hands, he shrugged. “Just a memento of my mother’s.”
“Somehow I’d have never figured you for a sentimental sort.” She giggled and leaned forward.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” He flicked an errant curl that’d tumbled across her face. A finger brushed her cheek, the touch echoed deep inside, a stroke against her thoughts. “So are we here to talk about me or Hope Development?”
Lynn pushed herself straight. “How would the development impact the local economy?”
Henry washed his food down with some beer. “First of all this is a $120 million project but that’s just the beginning.” He shot her a practiced smile. “We’ll be hiring all local firms and labor to build it, we’ll purchase a large amount of the materials locally and then we’ll be selling these ranchettes to people with great spending potential.” His smile widened. “The county’s tax revenues are going to rocket.”
She jotted down his answer, but her writing resembled bird tracks in the dirt. The letters swam in front of her eyes. What was wrong with her?
Henry pointed at her plate. “All work and no food will make Lynn starve.” He stood and grabbed her empty glass. “I’ll get you a refill.”
That’s it— she needed to eat. Lynn finished jotting her notes and set the notebook aside. She picked up her chicken leg, took a bite, and almost moaned. Juicy meat with a smoky mesquite aroma. She tried the coleslaw. Cool and sweet with a bite of horseradish. Mmmmm.
Henry returned to the table as she licked her fingers. “Finger lickin’ good?”
She giggled. “My faith in your ability to choose a restaurant is restored. This is good.”
Henry grinned. “Glad to hear that. So, how about dinner tomorrow?”
Lynn choked on her bite. Coughing and sputtering, she stared at him. Finally, after a drink, she cleared her throat. “Are you asking me out on a date?”
Say yes. Say yes.
“No, I just like to eat.” His gray eyes danced with mischief. “Especially, with beautiful women.”
She rolled her eyes. “Like I said, I don’t mix business with pleasure.”
“When’s the story coming out?” He leaned forward, his gaze boring into hers.
“Wednesday.”
“Let’s have dinner Wednesday night.”
Her heart twisted as Rob, then Jack came to mind. “I-I can’t.”
“Thursday then.”
Geez. “You weren’t kidding about being persistent.”
“I don’t mind being patient at all, as long as I get what I want in the end.” He stared into her eyes and leaned closer.
Warmth shivered through her. Give this a chance. Jack’s words —I suggest you make it the next guy’s business— echoed in her head. She dropped her gaze to the peanut littered floor. “I really shouldn’t, I’m not ready for a relationship.” She sighed and wiggled the fingers of her left hand at him. “In fact, I ended an engagement not too long ago.”
“Then there’s Jack.”
Lynn’s head shot up so fast that the room spun a few times. Her gaze locked with Henry. Was she that transparent? “Then there’s Jack.”
Henry’s face hardened. For a moment something cold and cruel peeked out. Lynn suppressed a shudder. Then it was gone, replaced with his usual amused expression. “Well.” He leaned back in his chair and swigged his beer. “I was asking you to dinner, not for your hand in marriage.”
She searched his gaze for any hint of anger, but only found amusement. Maybe she’d imagined the menace? Her recent experiences had her spooked. “I know.” She shrugged. “I, I just wanted us to be on the same page.”
He nodded and drank some more beer. “No reason we can’t be friendly.” He smiled. “Hey, we Houstonites need to stick together.” He raised his beer bottle. “To friendship.”
After a few attempts, Lynn clinked the bottle with her Diet Coke. She took a gulp, enjoying the sweet, fizzy taste. Henry really was a nice guy.
The soulful strains of “Silver Wings” emanated from the jukebox. Henry’s warm hand covered hers. “How about a dance?”
Dance? She could barely stay awake. “Don thin so.”
He stood, pulling her. “Come on, we know you can dance. Be nice.”
Nice. It’d be nice to dance with a nice guy like Henry. Lynn stumbled to her feet and followed his lead. He wrapped one arm around her waist and the other around her shoulders, pulling her close against the line of his body. She sank into his steady, strong solidity. They began moving. Her head throbbed as the room swayed, the lights flared and dimmed, and the other dancing couples blurred together. She cushioned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes, losing herself into the slow, sensuous rhythm.
His lips grazed an ear, a wet flick of the tongue. Her eyes flew open as she jerked away from him or tried to. A reptilian chill permeated her thoughts and set her shivering. Lynn’s legs had turned to rubber and vertigo gripped her. Within seconds, she’d slumped in his arms.
“Are you okay?”
The room bucked and her stomach heaved. “I don’t feel so good,” she muttered into his shoulder.
His grip tightened on her. “Come on, maybe some fresh air will help.” He gathered up her things, cuddled her close and half-carried her through the crowd and out the door. He was so strong. Lynn ran an appreciative hand over the arm she clung to. “Shanks.”
“My pleasure.”
The night air caressed her face with soothing coolness. The playground song Henry and Lynn sitting in a tree popped into her head. Lynn glanced at Henry.
Shadows darkened his face and hid all expression. He leaned her against his truck and opened the door. His arms tightened around Lynn as he tried to lift her into the cab.
Lynn batted at his shoulder. “My car…”
“I don’t think you should be driving,” he said while he struggled with her flopping arms
The damn lyrics of the song circled inside her head. Lynn slumped in the seat, gazing at Henry. He smiled and closed in. K-I-S-S-I-N-G! Where’d that thought come from? A memory of the searing kiss she’d shared with Jack earlier razed the moment. Lynn turned her face away, eyes closed. “No.”
A cool gentle caress crossed her face, ran along her neck and seeped inside, until she felt it deep within herself. “You know you want it,” a soft whisper in her ear. The smell of dragon musk built until it laced every breath. The dragon inside arched and stretched, panting. Lynn shuddered.
“Oh my God, you smell,” she whispered. “You smell like a dragon.”
He stilled.
She focused on him as horror flooded her insides. Her tongue lay thick inside her mouth, refusing to form words. How come I did
n’t smell you earlier?
A dark flush tinged his sharp cheekbones. I’m usually better controlled, but around you sometimes not so much.
Oh God. Mindspeak. All those telltale hints rushed to her. She should have listened to her intuition. She should have stayed the hell away from him. She lay still, passive, in his arms.
Do you like smelling my need for you?
Ghost fingers stroked her inside out. He was inside her…no, no, that wasn’t possible. The dragon pushed close to the skin as forced desire quaked through its coils. Woman and dragon burned up with a hungry heat. A soft growl rumbled from her throat.
His eyes glittered in the dim cab. His head lowered again and soon Henry’s mouth grazed her neck, the soft roughness of his lips broken by gentle nips. In her mind’s eye, she saw Jack holding her, kissing her, driving her wild. Desire flooded through her veins. A groan escaped her as her body buckled upwards, to press against him. The spicy tang of exotic aftershave overrode the musk, pushed through her dreaminess. Not Jack. She put up her hands, flat against a muscled chest, and pushed— only to find herself clinched tighter. “No.”
He was holding her too tight. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. Damn her head hurt as if clenched by an unseen hand. A wail of pain tore from her. He pushed his face into the nape, taking a deep breath. “You’re mine.”
Mine. Mine. Mine. The dragon’s enraged roar drowned Henry’s voice as it thrashed inside, caught in that invisible grip. She needed to do something, she didn’t know what. All she wanted to do was curl up and sleep. But the dragon persisted with an angry roar. Her head flopped forward, resting on Henry’s shoulder.
What the hell did you drug me with?
A soft chuckle bounced around in the nooks and crannies of her brain. Oh a little something to make things easier. A smile tugged at his lips. I don’t usually use drugs, I’m the dragon master. I can control dragons, I can control you.
His words chilled her, forced her to muster the many frayed threads of her being and pull together. Breath sawed out of her as she focused on curling her fingers into a fist and strike at her him. The wimpy blow glanced off the side of his head, but a blow nevertheless.
Lynn gasped as Henry shoved her against the seat and grasped her face with one hand, cold fingers pressed skin to bone. The pressure, the pain cleared some of the fog in her head.
Henry smiled lazily at her. “Stop fighting me little girl. You want me, desire me,” he said, staring into her eyes. “Tell me you want me.”
Fear whispered down her spine. Recognition flooded her. Henry’s voice, dark and seductive, thick and sticky. Familiar. Little girl. Oh God. It was him. Henry had called her the night of the Tavistock fire. He’d whispered to Elsie. Henry had called to her the night Obaa-chan died.
No, life wouldn’t make it that easy for her to find redemption. Was her mind playing tricks on her like everyone believed? Or had her shadowy nemesis been real? But why the hell couldn’t she move? Drugs and…could Henry really control her? Or was he delusional and crazy? Either way, she was in trouble.
Her gaze darted around. For the first time she realized how vulnerable she was. The parking lot was dark and empty. They were quite a ways from the bar and the trees hid them from view.
“I -I thought you wanted to be my friend,” she said.
He laughed. “I want to be more, much more.”
“No.” The word shot out as soon as it formed in her head. Lynn couldn’t stop the shakes shuddering through her body.
Fury darkened his gaze. “What do you mean, no?” he said. “You can’t say no.”
The viselike grip tightened. Pain and cold wracked her body, making her shake as if jolted by continuous volts of electricity. Fight back for God’s sake. But she couldn’t move, couldn’t call the dragon, even thinking was becoming hard. Cold, so damn cold. She didn’t know how, but he seemed to be freezing her inch by inch.
“Say you want me.” Spittle landed on her throbbing face. “You want me.”
“I-I want you.” Waves of desire washed through her. She blinked and stared at Henry. Why the hell had she been resisting him? He smelled like a dragon, a virile, male dragon ready to mate. Her breath came in short pants as she spread her legs apart.
He pressed his mouth down on hers. Hard. Lynn tasted blood where his teeth bit down on her lips. Desire receded from her, until all she felt was the physical kiss. Wet and hungry. All teeth and tongue. She closed her eyes and desperately tried to remember the self-defense moves she ought to know by heart since Obaa-chan had spent years drilling her, training her, but her mind still wasn’t completely free. Gagging as his tongue burrowed deeper into her and the smell of stale cigarettes overwhelmed her senses, she pushed futilely against Henry’s hard, unmoving chest.
When he finally broke the kiss, Lynn gulped a lungful of air and pushed herself back against the passenger door.
“Tell me you love me.”
Anger with an underbelly of dread lay heavy inside her. The dragon reared back unhappy with the manhandling. A rare agreement between woman and beast. Lynn drew strength from her dragon’s ire and raised her head, met his gaze. “You can’t force love.”
His hand shot forward, imprisoning her neck. He gazed into her eyes as he slowly squeezed air out of her. Something dark and lethal fisted in her head. “I can.”
Chapter 21
The support against her back vanished and she found herself falling, only to be stopped by another body. Hands grabbed her, pulled her out of the truck, shoved her out of the way.
Darkness swarmed her vision as she landed against something hard and flat. Her palm grazed the rough pavement and pain shot up her arm. She lay limp, waiting for, almost welcoming, oblivion.
A rush of cool sweet air washed over Lynn. Her eyes fluttered open and slowly focused on the glittering night sky framed by the windshield. Curses and grunts seeped into her awareness.
Moments later an inferno blazed through her as the dragon screamed in rage and tore its way out of her. Free at last. Claws erupted as scales rippled across her skin, her jaw ached as teeth elongated and sharpened. Muscles, joints, bones trembled with strain as they stretched and bulked. Heat built up until the pressure inside her head threatened to smash her skull into a million pieces. Wrenched and disoriented by the rushing shift of molecules and matter, she stumbled forward, shot out a breath of fire. The two figures rolling around on the asphalt stilled.
Lynn could only make out dark silhouettes, locked in a frozen embrace. Henry. Hot fury boiled through her as she remembered how he’d toyed with her just moments before. Reduced her to utter helplessness. A plume of fire flashed from her mouth.
With a cry, the figures broke apart, stumbled and ran in the same direction, trying to get away from her. With a hiss, she swung back the entire muscled and plated length of her tail and lashed at them. Her tail connected with thick, heavy slap to a body, lifted it up in the air. Like a straw doll, the man bounced onto the asphalt and cracked his head on a concrete barrier. As he lay there, blood ran from his head and stained the concrete, the other broke into a run. Lynn blinked, shuffled forward, then lowered her head to the still figure. She breathed in a familiar warm, musky scent laced with a clean, soapy smell. One breath and the fog in her mind cleared. Jack. Oh shit. She’d hurt Jack. Lynn’s head swiveled between Henry’s disappearing back and Jack’s still form.
A bitter taste filled her mouth as her dragon shuddered and receded. She’d given in to her beast and hurt an innocent man. Drenched in sweat, she dropped to her knees and hung her head low. Lynn reached inward for the beast. Found it curled into a ball, trembling. Her anger gave way to concern. For the first time, her dragon was afraid. She’d never encountered something like Henry. He smelled like a dragon, but he called himself a dragon master. He got inside her head and wrecked havoc. What was he? All she could call him right now was crazy, beyond crazy, frightening. She didn’t want to chase him into the night.
Shivering in the chilly night,
Lynn stared at Jack’s still form. A warning echoed in her head. Must get out of here. A half-naked woman and a bloody man would raise questions. Lots of questions. Nausea and nerves tangoed inside her. Lynn turned to her side and vomited her guts out onto the asphalt. She looked away from the smelly mess and wiped her mouth on a tattered sleeve. A tremble raced through her. While not exactly a fan of puking, it did make her less sluggish, cleared her head.
She gazed at Jim Bob’s. No one had come running out to investigate yet. Probably the jukebox and the general level of inebriation drowned the commotion in the parking lot. However, somebody had to come out at some point. She staggered to her feet and grabbed Jack’s collar. Wincing and cursing, she dragged him to the mustang, and loaded him up in the passenger seat. Her backpack lay abandoned on the pavement. She ran back to it and found her spare clothes.
Music and laughter peppered the night as a couple emerged from the bar. Lynn crouched in the shadows, behind the trunk. The man drunkenly serenaded his companion. The woman giggled. They swayed and stumbled to their truck, never even glancing at her corner of the parking lot. Breathing easier, Lynn opened the trunk and quickly changed. The baby powder scent of the clean t-shirt soothed her nerves. She balled up the soiled remains of her former outfit and stuffed them into a plastic bag, planning to dispose of them later. Shutting the trunk, she ran to the driver’s side, slid into her seat and started the car.
“Where to?” She muttered, pulling out of the parking space. She glanced at Jack, relieved by the regular rise and fall of his chest. “Something tells me, I’ll have a lot of explaining to do once you come around.”
Would he freak out? Most likely. Her glance lingered on the blue shadows on his still face. The real question remained would he fight or flee? Either way, she needed to control the situation and make him understand that something worse than her roamed Paradise Valley. Her first impulse was to drive him home, lock him into a room and force him to listen. She gnawed on her lower lip and cast a quick glance at Jack. The blood and his being unconscious worried her. She ought take him to the Emergency Room and let doctors check him out. West Texas Regional, the nearest hospital, was a fifteen minute drive.