Page 2 of Dragon His Heels
“And you’re mine—apparently. How come I’m just now finding out about you?”
Ruby shrugged.
“Her mother left the colony before she knew she was pregnant,” Talia jumped in to explain. “It was right in the middle of Blake dying and you becoming reeve.”
Fucking lucky break that’d been. Otherwise the old geezers in the colony probably would’ve found some loophole to force him to mate with Ruby’s mom, a woman he couldn’t recollect no matter how hard he tried. But gods, there’d been so many, and especially at that point in his life, he’d been pretty damn fucked up more often than not.
“So where’s she been these past five years?”
He arched one brow when she opened her mouth, then snapped it shut again. Talia never hesitated to speak her mind. Ever.
“There’s this colony, down in New Orleans…”
“Rojo dragons.” Gabe swore, ignoring Talia’s sour look when he did so. But damn it, no child, his or otherwise, should get caught up in that colony’s lifestyle. Those guys took human processed drugs and laced them with dragon blood, making that shit ten times more potent—and deadly. Especially to humans—their biggest clients.
Talia nodded and now he felt like a heel, even though he hadn’t a clue his kid had been shoved into a lifestyle like that.
“So where’s her mom now?”
“She’s pretty messed up right now. She needs to get herself straightened out, and she can’t do that if she’s worried about Ruby.”
“If the kid’s been hanging out with the Rojo dragons, it doesn’t sound like her mom’s been much concerned for her welfare.”
Again with the disapproving look. Sometimes it felt like Talia didn’t like a damn thing he ever did or said.
“Which is why I stepped in and brought her here. The reeve of this colony will certainly be able to provide her with the tools she needs to succeed in this world. Keep her from following in her mom’s footsteps.”
Gabe eyed the little girl with the dark curls. Actually, if he claimed her, she could follow in herdad’sfootsteps. Who happened to be a reeve, whether he wanted the position or not. And if he had an heir, maybe the biddies in his colony would finally get off his back about taking a mate. Not to mention, if he trained Ruby—rather, convinced Talia to train her—she could take over as reeve sooner rather than later. Sure, he might have to wait fifteen years or so, but that was better than fifty, or however long it took some other wannabe to topple him off a throne he didn’t even want in the first place.
This idea had serious merit.
“Why are alarm bells suddenly going off in my head?” Talia asked, narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms.
Gabe chuckled and flung his arm around her shoulders. “No idea. I’m actually really happy you brought her to me. Glad to see my prodigy is so cute, too. And you’re right; she will be better off here instead of wherever the hell her mom’s at now. But listen. I’m gonna need a favor from you.”
“What’s that?” Green eyes swirled with trepidation.
“I need you to help raise her. Which means you’re gonna have to move in with me.”
“Uh-uh,” Talia responded immediately, shaking her head so hard her hair whipped her in the face.
One more reason he knew he could trust her to take on this job: any other woman in his acquaintance would have leapt at the opportunity, thinking it was a chance to audition to be the reeve’s mate or something.
“You’re my PR manager,” he reminded her.
“There is nothing in my job description that states I have to help you take care of your illegitimate child.”
“You’re the one who brought her to me in the first place.”
“That wasn’t because I’m your PR manager. That’s because I care about her welfare.”
Well, hell. He raked a hand through his overlong dark hair. “Talia, come on. I…”
She arched her brow, a damn near perfect imitation of him. It was on the tip of his tongue to say, “I need you,” which was, well, totally out of character for him. Another one of Gabe’s missions in life: rely only on himself. Every other choice only got a person screwed in the end. And not the good, sweaty kind, either.
On the other hand, he really, kind of, sort of did need Talia. He didn’t have a clue what to do with a five-year-old child.
“I…shit, Talia, are you really going to make me say it?”
She blinked owlishly, like she really didn’t know what the hell he was thinking at the moment.
Son of a bitch.
“I need your help.”
