Page 18 of Seducing the Dragon
His tone became more distant. “Old enough.”
Hmph.Dragon-shifters had lifespans similar to humans, so it wasn’t as if she was really insulting him. He couldn’t be more than thirty-five or so. She must’ve touched on a sore spotwithout even trying. She should drop it, but she added it to her lists of things to find out about Bram.
She frowned. Wait a second, since when had she started a list? It wasn’t like she was really still doing her DDA inspector job. Any information she sent back now would be promptly dismissed as tainted the instant her mating to Bram happened. Well, she hoped the mating would happen. And the dragon-shifter hadn’t even agreed to mate her yet. It would be dangerous if she became too interested in him too soon. She’d just have to be careful.
Bram shifted his hold on her and soon her feet were on the ground. The dragonman opened the door, leaned around her, and flipped on a light. They had arrived at her temporary cottage.
While she might’ve protested earlier, she already missed the heat and safety she’d felt in Bram’s arms. However, she kept her face brave and confident, not wanting to let on that little tidbit or the dragonman might use it against her. She looked up. “I’ll change my shoes and fetch my things. Then you can carry them back instead of me.”
Judging by Bram’s expressionless face, whatever camaraderie they’d shared on the way here had cooled. That bothered her more than she liked.
Rather than focus too long on that fact, she stepped inside the door, kicked off her heels, and went inside the cottage. She had a feeling their walk back would be mostly in silence.
Chapter Seven
Bram poured his second cup of black coffee and took a sip. He preferred tea to the nasty black brew, but he needed something to help wake him up and make him more alert for his meeting in thirty minutes with Finn Stewart.
It was all Evie Marshall’s fault. He should’ve been able to nab five hours of sleep, but he’d spent the first two of those imagining her soft, warm body next to his. Or, rather, under his.
And even when he’d finally chased away the sexual fantasies created by both him and his dragon, he’d had a restless three hours of sleep. Evie’s comment about age had brought back memories best forgotten. He very much wanted to get the surliness out of his system with the human female, but she slept like a log and was still asleep. Not even banging on the door had woken her.
So much for the female being on edge because her life was in danger.
His dragon chimed in.She feels safe with us. That is a good sign.
In no mood to argue with his stubborn beast, Bram pushed the dragon to the back of his mind and went out of the kitchen tohis desk. Kai had given the green light for him to borrow Nikki, so he dialed the young dragonwoman. When she answered, he said without preamble, “Nikki, your new assignment starts this morning. You’re to be Evie Marshall’s full-time guard. I need you here in five minutes to get the female up and out of my cottage before Finn Stewart shows up.”
He could hear the confusion in her voice. “Can’t you wake her up while I make my way there? It would make things easier.”
“I tried. Now, hurry up.”
Clicking off his phone, he took another sip of coffee. With Nikki’s assignment out of the way, he only had about twenty-five more things to take care of in the next twenty-eight minutes. Melanie always badgered him about hiring an assistant, but Bram liked the work. However, dealing with Evie’s situation was going to take more time than he’d like and he might just have to find some help.
His dragon decided to poke his head out again.Show her around. Bond with her. She’s brave but still scared.
Deep down, Bram knew that too. If he took her as his mate, her whole life would turn upside down. He knew nothing of her family or friends, and getting them onto his land was a problem. He’d been trying for months to get the okay for Melanie’s parents and brother to visit, but the British government was being cranky and bureaucratic about the law. Humans weren’t supposed to visit, end of story.
Maybe Evie could help us find a way.
His dragon had a point. To placate the beast, he said,Okay, I’ll ask her later. For now, I need to work. Go back to sleep. You need to be alert when Finlay Stewart is here. I need your intuition.
In response, his dragon hummed and faded to the back of his mind.
Right.Now, he could put things into play without any interruptions. If the meeting went well with Finn, he should start having regular teleconference meetings with the other leader within the next month or two to strategize against the dragon hunters. And if so, he needed Arabella to be ready to talk with the other leader about secure communication channels before Finn returned to Scotland.
He’d just finished sending an email to Arabella when there was a knock on the door that had to be Nikki. Not wasting time, he strode to the door and opened it. “She’s upstairs. There’s a pitcher in the kitchen you can fill with water and dump on her to wake her up. Get to it.”
Trained solder that she was, Nikki nodded and went about her task. It was only when he heard a shriek a few minutes later that he knew she’d succeeded.
And he couldn’t help but laugh. What would Evie look like all wet and angry in the morning?
Focus, Bram, focus.Right. Pushing aside his distracting thoughts about a wet, angry Evie, Bram went to work on his list of things to do. His clan came first, no matter how much he wanted to see what Evie looked like right this second.
Evie had beenwarm and enjoying a dream about flying on a dragon’s back when a blast of ice hit her face. She shrieked and jumped out of bed. Looking around, she saw a female with a dragon-shifter tattoo peeking out of the sleeve of her shirt. She was short for a dragon-shifter and she had black hair, dark almond eyes, and skin with a yellow undertone. She also had her arm in a sling.
She had no idea who this person was.
Evie growled. “Who the fuck are you and why the bloody hell did you feel the need to dump ice water on a sleeping woman?”
