Dragon Lord

by Dragon Lord (NCP) (lit)

  Rising when Mrs. Higgenbottom had departed, she headed into the bathroom for a shower. When she emerged, she realized she had a problem. She had her jeans and panties and nothing else. It took her a little while to remember that Simon had stripped her of her blouse and bra before he’d decided to haul her to his room. He’d grabbed her jeans and panties from the floor when he’d grabbed her, but he hadn’t bothered to look for the blouse he’d flung across the room.

  She had two choices. She could borrow something of Simon’s or stroll topless down the hall to the room where her suitcases were--because nobody had brought them to her.

  She wasn’t going to stroll topless, not with six men in the house. Moving to Simon’s closet, she took out one of his shirts and put it on, staring down at herself wryly. The shirt tails came to her knees. She would’ve been decently covered without the jeans.

  Not that it mattered, except there was no way anybody meeting up with her would be in any doubt that she was wearing Simon’s clothes and if she met up with Higgenbottom she’d probably shit a brick.

  Thankfully, Simon’s sitting room was empty. Obviously, he’d left the house while the house keeper rousted her out of his room.

  It was harder to be philosophical about that.

  She jolted to halt, though, completely forgetting her feelings of misuse when she discovered the portrait was missing from above the fireplace mantel. Frowning, she glanced around, but she’d already realized it hadn’t simply been moved. It had been removed completely.

  Simon probably hadn’t felt comfortable cavorting with her and then having to ‘face’ his wife, she decided.

  Shaking off her depression, she hurried down the hall to Audric’s room and went in. Audric had one foot in his pants when she sailed in the door. “Oh shit!” Raina exclaimed, coming to a screeching halt and throwing up her hands. “God, Audric! I am so sorry! I should’ve knocked.”

  He said nothing and after a moment she realized he’d returned his attention to dressing. Discomfort moved through her. She’d been so disconcerted when she’d come in on him dressing she’d completely forgotten the first encounter after Simon was probably going to be an uncomfortable one.

  She studied him a moment, but what could she say?

  She was just sorry that she’d been trying to seduce him in the garden just before. He might have felt the rejection anyway, but that had to have made it worse, because she was the one who’d tried to cross the line between friends and lovers.

  He must think she was a slut of the worse kind, she thought guiltily.

  Trying to shrug that off as she had the depression that had settled over her because she had been rejected, she looked around for her suitcases and finally got down on her knees to see if they’d been shoved further under the bed.

  “They were moved to the garage apartment.”

  Raina would have been a lot more favorably impressed with his progress on his English if not for the content of the sentence he’d just uttered.

  “Moved?” she echoed in disbelief. “You have got to be fucking kidding me! Well! I guess I should just be grateful he didn’t pitch me in the yard naked when he got done, the arrogant asshole!”

  Whirling, she stalked from the room and headed down the backstairs, angry enough to blast anybody that happened to step unwarily in her path. Fortunately, she didn’t run in to anybody, because she was in no state of mind, at the moment, to consider the inadvisability of it. She’d been dumped by her boss. The next step was the boot, and she hadn’t saved up enough money yet to get her an apartment, even a crummy one, in town.

  She remembered that when she got to the garage apartment and it cooled her temper right down. It didn’t make the sense of misuse disappear, but she could handle that--and smile. God knew she’d been dumped on enough in her life she ought to be able to handle it.

  She threw Simon’s shirt in the laundry when she came down again. She’d intended to return it to his room, but then it occurred to her that she might run in to him and she wasn’t ready--lunch would be soon enough.

  She didn’t get the chance to eat. Higgenbottom had cleaned everything up and put it away by the time she made it back to the main house. She wasn’t hungry anyway. Her stomach was coiled into a nauseating knot of dread as she headed to the parlor to clean.

  She couldn’t act angry, she coached herself as she settled to work. That wouldn’t do at all. In the first place, there was a good chance that she was on the way out and she had a better chance of sticking around a while longer if she behaved herself. In the second, she actually had no right to be mad. He hadn’t made her any promises. She hadn’t asked for any, and she certainly couldn’t claim that she hadn’t been a willing soul in the seduction.

  Cold wouldn’t do, either. That was just mad inside out.

  She was going to have to try to figure out how to behave as if nothing at all had happened.

  That was just going to be lovely, of course, because there wasn’t a damned soul in the house that didn’t know.

  It didn’t dawn on her until she was ready to serve lunch that, under the circumstances, the other men might decide to have a go at her. She wished it hadn’t occurred to her then because she could’ve served their luncheon without feeling so tense. On the other hand, she was a domestic, she thought wryly, and they were supposed to ignore her existence.

  It wasn’t as bad as she’d feared it would be. She had to focus on what she was doing anyway and that made it a lot easier not to look at anyone, which meant if they were giving her knowing looks they were wasting their time.

  She was still relieved when she’d finished and could retreat to the kitchen where she didn’t have to be worried about anyone except Higgenbottom. Her own lunch was miserable. She hadn’t gotten breakfast, so her stomach was trying to eat her alive, and she was so tense and upset she could hardly swallow her food without choking on it. She managed to swallow enough to appease the beast and not look as if she was moping, but it sat like lead in the bottom of her stomach when she went back to work.

  She was so exhausted from romping with Simon for days and having little sleep, that she was barely dragging by the end of the day. With gratitude, she climbed the stairs to the loft apartment and sprawled on the bed for a nap before she had to serve dinner. It seemed to her that she’d barely dozed off when a loud, extremely annoying buzzer went off. She came off the bed as if she’d had a jolt of electricity up the ass, staggering as she whipped her head around in search of the source. It stopped before she found it. She stared at the bed again. Just as she put her knee on the mattress to climb back in, the buzzer sounded again. This time, though, it dawned on her that it must be a summons.

  Sighing, she went to the bathroom to wash her face, combed her hair and headed to the main house. It was hard even trying to look alert while she passed out the plates, which was a blessing in disguise. She didn’t even think about being uncomfortable.

  She was more than half asleep by the time she’d eaten.

  Audric cornered her before she managed to make back to her apartment. She really, really didn’t feel like a confrontation, but she stopped and looked at him questioningly.

  “You are ok?”

  She stared at him, feeling the sense of misuse from earlier descend upon her like a clap of thunder on a sunny day. She hadn’t expected sympathy, especially not from Audric. Her chin wobbled threateningly. She bolstered it. “I’m just tired,” she said and then reddened when she realized he would immediately know why. She cleared her throat, studying her shoes. “But thank you for asking. That’s really sweet of you. Especially after … after ….”

  “Hush,” he said, grabbing her hand and hauling her quickly across the garden and into the garage.

  She thought she’d mastered the urge to cry but when Audric pulled her into the apartment and into his arms, she burst into noisy sobs. He stood holding her for a few minutes, rocking her slightly and finally scooped her up and carried her to the bed. Settling her on the mattress, he l
ay down beside her and pulled her close again.

  “I can’t,” she said tearfully. “I’m so sorry, Audric, but I can’t do this.”

  He ignored her efforts to push him away, holding her tighter until she gave up and wilted against him. But, contrary to her fears, he didn’t attempt to do anything more than hold her. He was still holding her when she woke up.

  That went badly, because she was too disoriented at first to realize she wasn’t snuggling next to Simon and it gave her a jolt when she finally realized it wasn’t him.

  And he knew.

  She looked up at him guiltily for a moment and finally averted her gaze and climbed out of the bed. By the time she emerged from the bathroom, he was gone.

  The rest and the catharsis of tears had helped her tremendously, she discovered.

  One more reason to be grateful for Audric.

  One more reason to feel like shit for not treating him as he deserved.

  The worse of it, she thought, was that it wasn’t even as if she didn’t find him attractive. She did, and she appreciated his other qualities, as well. If she’d never seen anyone but Audric, she would’ve thought he was the most wonderful man she’d ever met--strong, handsome, protective--but Simon eclipsed him. Simon was more in every way. She couldn’t help it that she felt that way or that she had been drawn in as much by Simon’s neediness as his powerful charisma.

  If she hadn’t felt that Simon needed her, she would still have followed him off at the crook of his finger.

  She wasn’t actually sorry that she had. She was just sorry if it had hurt Audric that she had.

  She tried to tell herself that it probably hadn’t. It was probably just his kind nature that had made him feel compelled to be so protective of her. She thought he’d probably been hopeful of getting laid, too, but he didn’t seem to have taken it in bad part that she’d picked Simon instead.

  Maybe he still thought he had a chance of getting laid?

  And maybe he did at that.

  She was very fond of Audric, and there was really no reason at all not to give in to him.

  If he was interested.

  Even if he wasn’t, the very fact that he was willing to spend time with her should discourage any of the others from deciding to have a go at hitting ‘it’. Which was awful of her, of course, but she didn’t see it as using Audric when she was willing to have sex with him if he wanted her to.

  Chapter Twelve

  “I consoled her, nothing more,” Audric said, keeping his voice even with an effort.

  “I have no doubt of that,” Simon shot back at him, his eyes blazing with his own barely contained rage.

  Audric studied him angrily for several moments while he wrestled with his temper. “She is no tavern wench, Simon, no whore, who performs for coins for her efforts and no thought of anything more. She was wounded by your carelessness.”

  Simon reddened and looked away. “I gave her no promises. I would not promise what I can not give! She had no reason to be wounded.”

  “You are not that dense!” Audric snarled, loosing his temper. “She would not have given herself to you at all if she had not cared, at least a little. It does not matter that you did not say what you would or would not give. You gave her reason to think that you wanted her.”

  “I did … and now I am done,” Simon snarled. “She has needs--clearly since she had already offered herself to you. I have needs. We consoled one another’s needs!”

  “Well if you are done then you have no reason to rage at me! And it is not your concern how I console her, is it, brother?”

  “I knew you had fucked her!” Simon bellowed, punching Audric in the jaw before he could duck.

  Jorell and Rama launched themselves from their seats and grabbed Audric before he could retaliate. Elden and Haig were a little slower catching Simon. He pulled his punch, however, when he saw Jorell and Rama had grabbed Audric’s arms. Shrugging Elden and Haig off, he stalked to the window, staring out at the night.

  “If you are done with the woman,” Jorell said, “I will take her back into the city.”

  Simon pivoted on his heel and fixed Jorell with a narrow eyed glared. “Did I give you leave to make decisions for me?”

  Jorell reddened and then turned white. “Nay, my lord.”

  “If you have need of a woman,” Elden offered, “we can all go into the city and find one. There has been no attempt on you in months.”

  Simon swung his glare to encompass Elden.

  “Or not,” Elden muttered, returning to his seat.

  Simon turned to look at Audric again. “Stay away from Rainie,” he said coldly. “She is mine.” He waited. When Audric did not respond, he strode from the room and down the hall.

  “Where do you think he is going?” Elden asked uneasily.

  “Where do you think?” Audric growled. “Unless you want a taste of his temper I would not advise following him.”

  “But what if that is not where he is headed? He has been so unpredictable of late I never know if I should follow or not,” Haig said.

  Audric dropped his hand from his jaw, which he’d been massaging. “Go. See that he is headed to her. If not, summon the rest of us and we will catch up.”

  * * * *

  As angry as Simon was as he stalked across the walk, into the garage, and up the stairs to Raina’s apartment, he was well aware that he was making a mistake. At the very least, he should’ve turned away and walked off the brunt of his anger before even considering approaching Raina.

  He shouldn’t be approaching her at all. He had fucked her already until his cock was raw and his balls felt like they were filled with dust. He was going to be spitting blood if he kept it up.

  But as certain as he had been that he had had his fill, appeased the need, the hunger for her was still with him--had dogged him from the moment he had left the house like a coward after informing Tedra that she was to put Raina back to work.

  He didn’t know why he hadn’t simply told Raina himself that he didn’t need her anymore.

  Actually, he did.

  He’d been afraid she would look at him with those big green eyes of hers and he wouldn’t have the balls to say it himself … and he would know he was lying to himself. He had not worked her out of his system and he was very much afraid that the complete opposite was true, that the more he was with her the more he would want to stay.

  And he couldn’t.

  There was only one way that he was ever going to be free of his past and that was by putting it to rest once and for all. He had to give Evangeline justice so that she could rest in peace. He had to go home and do what he’d been born to do--free his homeland from the tyrant who had butchered his way to power. His people needed justice. They needed someone to guide them who cared about them, not someone to crush them into the dirt and bleed them dry into the bargain.

  He should not be standing at her door now like a beggar hoping for a few more crumbs of food. It had been hard enough to separate himself from her before. If he was wrong and he could not work her out of her system at all ….

  He was on the point of turning around and leaving again when he heard her approach the door, no doubt alerted to his presence when he’d stomped up the stairs.

  “Audri… uh oh.”

  He narrowed his eyes at her as the tide of rage shifted abruptly and rolled back in. “Faithless wench!” he snarled. “I know that he slept here last eve! Elden has never learned to guard his tongue. You could not wait a day or two to fuck him?”

  Outrage displaced Raina’s shock, making her throw caution to the wind. “How dare you! As if it’s any of your damned business who I fuck or when I fuck them!” she growled at him instead of informing him that she hadn’t done anything.

  “You are mine … until or unless I say otherwise, damn you!”

  “The hell I am!”

  “The hell you are not!”

  He caught her then--completely by surprise, tossing her over his shoulder like he was …
some barbaric king of the universe and stalking down the stairs with her. Shock held her tongue at first, and then the fear of falling as he jogged down the stairs, and the struggle to catch her breath. “What are you doing? Where the hell do you think you’re taking me?” she demanded finally.

  “To my room. Our room. And you will stay there until I say otherwise. I will not have Audric … poaching on my preserves!”

  “Who the hell died and made you god! I am not your preserves!”

  “Aye, you are, and I mean to fuck you until you will not look twice at my brother!”

  “Put me down!”

  “No!”

  “I’m warning you, Simon!”

  “I am warned.”

  She bit him on the back.

  “Ow! Damn it to hell woman!” he ground out, popping her on the ass.

  She let go of the patch of flesh she’d managed to latch on to, rearing upward.

  “Watch your head!” he warned, throwing the front door open.

  “Asshole!” she screamed at him.

  * * * *

  Jorell moved to the window, staring at the window of the garage apartment as he realized Simon had been before. “He is there,” he announced to no one in particular. “Will he stay, do you think, Audric?”

  “I am to read his mind?” Audric demanded angrily, moving to a chair and settling in it.

  Jorell turned to look at him. “I was only wondering if we should form a perimeter there, or wait to see if he returns to the house.”

  “Haig is outside watching. If he does not come back in an hour, you will join him and you and he can take first watch. Rama, Elden, and I will take second.”

  Jorell turned to stare out the window again. “You should have waited,” he said presently. “If you had not instantly gone to her, it would not have aroused his possessive streak.”

  “Mayhap,” Audric responded.

  Jorell frowned. “You believe I am wrong?”

  “Yes.”

  “It will take longer than we thought to work her out of his system,” Elden said, nodding.

  “Or he will not work her out of his system at all!” Jorell responded tartly. “He fucked her for three days straight. It can not be need. His balls will have dried up by now. I am surprised either one could walk when they came out. If he can not hold out one day without running back to her, we are in trouble.”