The Knight of Her Dreams (Dragons and Dreamphasers)

by Jen Robyn

  Her last clothing melted away as Dominick kissed her deeply, just before he pulled away to take care of his own. Nearly breathless, she smiled as the sight of him, watching the muscles flex in his bare back.

  Casting patience aside, she reached out to put her arms around him, giving a laugh when he started at her touch.

  He turned to her with a mischievous smile. “Can’t wait half a moment?” he chuckled.

  Julianna shook her head. “Not when it’s you,” she replied, kissing his shoulder before resting her head upon it, her arms reaching about to hug his waist. “Wake me when you’re done,” she murmured teasingly.

  Dominick turned to face her, shaking his head with a laugh. “Oh no, my lady. You’re not going to sleep on me yet.”

  “And how am I supposed to stay awake while you make me wait forever?” she asked in mock protest.

  “Because, my love, your waiting is over,” he said huskily, swiftly lowering her back against the pillows while looming above her with a most roguish smile. “And as to your staying awake, I assure you, I’ll help you manage that now, my impatient little temptress.”

  To prove his words, Dominick proceeded to do just that, pressing searing kisses down her neck, as her hands reached up to hold him there possessively. He merely chuckled at the attempt, his mouth moving downward to kiss her breasts again while his hands traveled lower.

  She nearly jumped at his touch, her fingers clutching at his hair. “Oh, what are you doing, Dominick,” she breathed, “You’re making me feel so...”

  “Restless?” he murmured. “Lost to desire...”

  Her attempt at a reply trailed off with glazed eyes.

  He chuckled again quietly when Julianna began to tug at his hair, softly pleading for him to return beside her, and he acquiesced, his mouth capturing hers once more.

  She decided to see about teasing him back. Her mouth escaped his to press heated kisses to his chest, distracting him as her hands slid past his waist. Her light caresses had full effect on him, as his eyes flew open to stare into her own devious ones, his hands grasping her shoulders tightly.

  “You seem a bit restless yourself,” she whispered, her hands still teasing him where they remained. He tried to protest, but the words didn’t have a chance as her caresses became more intense.

  “Julianna, you’ll drive me mad,” he groaned against her mouth, swiftly clasping her hands to draw them away as he shifted to cover her body completely with his.

  Their senses were so heightened, it was the most natural thing in the world when he slid the warmth of his desire deep within the hot depths of her own yearning body, stealing exhilarated cries of pleasure from both. In moments, the undeniable heat of passion caught them. Julianna’s hands clutched Dominick’s back as he slowly stroked deeper within her, crying out softly as her legs tightened about him.

  Their sounds of desire mingled as they kissed each other fiercely, while they sought sweet heaven. They glided on a wave of bliss, while the world disappeared around them, their passion building ever higher.

  “Dear heaven, love,” he breathed as her arms tightened about him. “Julianna... you feel so wonderful.”

  “So do you,” she whispered. “Oh, Dominick, please...”

  “Yes… Come with me... now, sweetheart.”

  His soft words inspired her to pull him closer, yielding sweetly as his deep thrusts sent them over the edge. Both cried out, their bodies exploding together as they soared through the warm mists of mindless ecstasy. Shuddering with pleasure, they kissed passionately anew, sharing the encompassing warmth of a most heavenly afterglow.

  When Dominick finally relaxed against his companion, he brushed a hand across her passion-dampened forehead, kissing her tenderly once before cuddling her close in their desire’s sweet aftermath.

  “Did I mention before how much I liked your choice of a new dress?” he murmured, stroking her back.

  A mischievous smile curled across her mouth in remembrance of how said dress had ended up on the floor. “You mean my ‘lady in red’ look?” she asked. He nodded with a seductive growl. “I thought it might keep you from thinking me too businesslike.”

  He gave a low laugh. “As long as all our business is conducted here, I don’t mind,” he informed her, twining a finger around her curls before kissing the reddish strands. “You realize that even if you wore nothing, you’d still be a lady in red, thanks to your hair,” he added roguishly.

  “And I have a temper to match the color,” she said in mock warning. “You’d best remember that, my dream knight.”

  “How could I forget?” he murmured against her cheek. “I find it to be one of your most endearing traits.”

  “Really?” she laughed. “I do believe that’s one of the best compliments I’ve ever received. Probably since you’re the only one praising that particular trait of mine.”

  “I love all your others as well,” he decided, a devious smile crossing his face as his arms encircled her waist beneath the covers. “Although I must admit to finding this passionate nature of yours most intriguing.” Julianna smiled knowingly as he leaned forward to kiss her again. “Dear heaven, woman, it seems I’ll never be able to get this desire for you out of my system.”

  The brightness of her eyes dimmed slightly. “And would you leave if that ever happened?” she whispered.

  “Oh no, love,” Dominick replied seriously. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily. I love you for every moment we share, no matter what we do. I wouldn’t leave you now, even if you pushed celibacy on me.”

  “Hmmm...” she murmured in consideration.

  “But I hope you wouldn’t be that cruel to this poor man who adores you so much,” he continued, his eyes taking on an exaggerated look of melancholy.

  “I’d be punishing myself equally as much if I did,” she laughed. “Now please get that silly look off your face, before you complain of my laughing all night.”

  Resting his cheek against hers, he embraced her tightly. “Ah, Julianna, I love to hear your laughter, and you’re certainly the last woman I’d ever complain about. Just to hold you like this is like holding the sun, and I’ve always been most fond of sunny days.”

  “Mmmm, me too,” she murmured, apparently pleased, snuggling against him as she shut her eyes happily.

  The perfect time, Dominick thought.

  “Julianna?” he whispered, earning another quiet murmur from her. “We’ve been together for a while now, haven’t we?”

  Her eyes opened with puzzlement. “If you don’t know the answer, then I’d say you’ve been out in your sunny days too often,” she replied.

  “No, that’s not what I meant,” Dominick laughed. “I mean, we’ve been happy together, in all ways. And after giving our relationship serious thought, I was hoping we might make it permanent.”

  Julianna moved back to sit up, pulling the blanket up to her neck. “Permanent, how?”

  “Well… let me think,” he replied, shrugging once with a boyish grin. While she sat confused, Dominick reached back to withdraw something from the night table drawer behind him, keeping his hand tightly closed around the object. “Now, I know this might sound strange at first, but hear me out.”

  She nodded for him to continue, and he opened his hand, holding out a small velvet box to her. Julianna gasped as the implication sank in, even as he lifted the lid to reveal a beautiful gold ring with a brilliant emerald in the center, a circle of diamonds surrounding the sparkling gem protectively. Before she could blink, he took her hand in his, placing the ring upon it gently.

  “Dominick, it’s beautiful,” she whispered, touching the precious ring with shaking fingers.

  “I remember how you once said how much you love both diamonds and emeralds,” he said softly. “And since you’re most beautiful to me in many ways, I thought it right to grant you a ring that has the same added beauty. A ring to symbolize how much I love you, Julianna.” She smiled up at him with tear-filled eyes.

  “You�
��ve been so good to me. How can I ever thank you enough?”

  He took her hand in his, kissing it softly before caressing her fingers as he looked deeply into her eyes. “Would you do me the honor of marrying me?” he asked.

  Julianna’s eyes brimmed with new tears as she squeezed his hand. “Oh, yes...” she whispered. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Dominick.”

  Giving a short laugh of happiness as he embraced her, her heart raced with joy. So much that she nearly forgot the all-too-real distance and circumstances separating them.

  Almost.

  Upon remembering, she slowly stiffened and pulled back, earning a look of concern from him.

  “What’s wrong, love? Is it the ring?”

  “No,” Julianna replied quickly. “It’s wonderful. And I love you so much, Dominick. But for once, we have to face reality. How can I marry you? We can only be together when I’m asleep.”

  “So it seems,” he agreed. “But I’ve given it some thought, and since our two worlds are both undeniably real, there may be a solution to our dilemma. I’ve decided to see my grandfather about trying to find a way to bring us together in reality as well.”

  Hope surged through her. “Is that possible?”

  “I’m not sure, but if it is, I’m damn well going to find out. I’ll do everything in my power to find a way. Until which time, at the very least we’ll be engaged in reality, even though we can only share our dreams together at the moment.”

  Julianna shook her head in confusion. “I understand what you’re saying,” she replied, “but I don’t see how this is going to work. After all, even if your world’s dreamphasers can accept the truth to an engagement like this, I can’t prove your existence on Chavernos to those of Earth. They’d think I’d lost my mind.”

  “That would be a problem,” he agreed on a sigh. “In which case, I’m afraid the only thing you can do to prevent this, is to keep it a secret between us for now.”

  “But that’s just the point,” she argued regretfully. “Since there’s no proof so far that we can ever reach one another to be married, why pretend otherwise with an engagement?” At his silence, she stared down at her ring sadly. “Everything’s all been just a dream between us anyway. One that’s merely taken us awhile longer to wake up from. Why bother with mention of an engagement at all, when it’s only another illusion?”

  As her words trailed off, she saw Dominick clasp her hand, lifting her head to face him again. The warmth of his smile affected her so much that she nearly forgot her question. Fortunately, he didn’t.

  “What we have between us is certainly no illusion, love,” he whispered, kissing her palm. At her slight smile, he added gently, “Let me try to explain my reasons for wanting this engagement. In past times, I’d briefly thought I knew what love was, but always ended up confusing that emotion with something else. Yet with you, the feelings of love only grew stronger and clearer to me. Knowing you weren’t one to give your heart lightly, and still innocent to the ways of love, you can’t know what it meant to me for you to trust me that first night in our dream castle.”

  She blushed slightly, as he continued on a sigh. “When you granted me the blessing of your love that night, it was more than magic between us. You touched the depths of my soul.”

  His smile dimmed slightly as a wave of regret filled his eyes. “And yet... ever since that night, although our evenings together have been more than wonderful, there are times when I’ve felt sadness from you. As if you’ve felt guilty regarding the passion we’ve shared, and that ours was only a temporary affair.”

  Clasping her hands tighter, he shook his head. “It could never be that now, love. You’re the other half of my soul, and I need you with me always. That’s why I want us to be engaged now, even if we can’t be married immediately. I want you to know that my commitment to you is real, to ease your mind and heart, even though both our worlds can’t recognize it yet.”

  Seeing tears in her eyes, he brushed them away lightly. “Sweetheart, I wish I could marry you right now in reality, and carry you off to my homeworld this night. But for now, I can only promise that we will be married in truth one day as soon as possible. Can you understand, and would you accept this, until we can be together at last?”

  “I do understand, Dominick,” she whispered, loving him all the more, despite the sharp cut of reality raking across her heart. “And I’m not questioning your devotion, which you’ve proven time and again. But you’re overlooking something. What if there’s no way to bring us together in reality. Then what will we do? Keep pretending otherwise?”

  Dominick’s gaze lowered, and he sighed heavily.

  “I don’t know,” he said finally. “It’s certainly not my choice that our two worlds separate us, but it’s where our lives dictated us to be. I suppose if we can’t be together in the waking world, we’ll either have to settle for our time in the dream-state... or I’m not sure what.”

  That would put a snag in things, Julianna considered, biting her lip as another problem occurred to her.

  “What about children?” she asked. “Is it possible to create them in the dream-state?” It seemed a moot question, but due to their unconventional meetings, Julianna wouldn’t assume anything, until Dominick shook his head sadly.

  “No, it’s not,” he whispered, meeting her gaze again. “Even powerful magic has its limits. We can’t have children together unless we’re both on the same world in reality.” She looked away to consider this, as he expected her to, squeezing her hand once. “I know I’m asking a lot, with the future so uncertain.” He shut his eyes painfully. “But if we can’t reach each other... I’ll release you from our engagement, and sunder all ties between us, if that’s what you wish.”

  Julianna could hear the pain in his statement, but still had too many doubts which needed to be settled, even if they never affected them.

  “What if...” she began uneasily, “before we can find a way to each other, one of us found someone else while in either of our real worlds?” His eyes darkened slightly. “I’m not saying it would happen,” she continued quickly. “But if a great deal time of elapsed, and it did...”

  “Our souls are connected, so it wouldn’t,” he interrupted, but as her questioning gaze remained, Dominick relented with a sigh. “If that happened, which it won’t, I would think it only fair for the person in question to be honest with the other, and break off our engagement first. In regard to the honesty and fidelity that go with commitment, I think that’s only to be expected, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” she agreed absently, more worried that he’d be the one to break this commitment if too much time passed.

  He must have sensed her thoughts, for he suddenly gripped her shoulders tightly, locking eyes with her.

  “Julianna, there’s been no other woman in my life—either in reality or the dream-state—since the day I met you. I swear there never will be again. And in case you’re curious, you’re the only woman I’ve ever proposed to. After a decade of searching, I’ve finally found you, and I’m not about to let you go again without a fight.”

  “Oh, Dominick, I’d never leave you either,” she replied, leaning forward to hug him again. Tears stung her eyes as she continued. “Even if we can only be together at night, I’ll settle for anything we can have, children or no, and not let the shadows of reality come between us. And I promise, I’ll certainly never have an affair with anyone else. I love you too much for that.”

  “By Chavernos, Julianna, I love you too,” he murmured, with a smile. “And all that you’ve said holds true for me as well, since no other woman holds a candle to you.”

  Kissing her quickly, Dominick added, “Now, as far as this engagement of ours goes, maybe your world can’t recognize it yet, but I do know some people of my world who will. If it’s all right with you, I’d like to arrange for some of my dreamphasing friends to be present tomorrow night, so I can introduce you to them, as well as to announce our engagement. At least it’ll bring us one step clos
er towards our hopefully future marriage.”

  Julianna’s eyes shone at the determination she found in his. How could she have any doubts with a man like this in her life? she wondered, touching his cheek. “I’ll look forward to it,” she whispered, kissing him deeply.

  He responded in kind, rekindling their former desire. Gently easing her back against the pillows, his gaze met hers. “Since I know how you’ve felt lately regarding our nights together, if it makes any difference, we can wait on more of this until our engagement’s official tomorrow.”

  “Hmmm, give me a chance to think about it.” About five seconds passed before Julianna shook her head. “No, that’s all right,” she said finally. “With you, I don’t mind this wild abandon anymore.” She smiled knowingly. “Of course, if it’s all right with you.”

  Dominick laughed quietly. “Sweetheart, I do believe you’re gaining your own capability for reading minds.” His mischievous smile matched hers, as they embraced each other again passionately.

  Feeling the comfort of his arms around her, Julianna felt so much joy. Yet her unyielding thoughts couldn’t help wondering.

  “Dominick, do you really think it’s possible?” she murmured.

  He pulled back, never losing his smile as he gazed into her eyes with conviction.

  “I promise, love… We’ll find a way.”

  Chapter Eleven

  There was no denying it. His grandson was crazy.

  As Chaos paced about the large room, silently contemplating Dominick’s words, the younger man stood calmly awaiting his response. The older man’s piercing green eyes were calculating while his gaze appraised his grandson as if seeing him for the first time.

  So the boy had finally fallen in love, as incredible as it seemed.