Page 46 of Dragon His Heels
Chapter 14
Well, this escalated quickly.
First, Gabe laughed. “Yeah, right. Who the hell do you think is your daughter?”
“Ruby,” the Rojo dragon said. “Her name is Ruby Redd.”
Gabe snorted. “Not her surname. She’s mine, asshole.”
That’s when the Rojo dragon laughed. It was one of thosejoke’s on youlaughs. “You’re a fool,” he said. “Do you believe everything women tell you?”
Only one woman.
“She lied to you.”
No, she didn’t. Talia would never. Okay, maybe she lied about who Jasmine was—but no, she really didn’t. She just didn’t tell him the entire truth. But outright lying? He couldn’t see Talia doing it. She was the Goody-Two-Shoes in this relationship, for the love of the gods.
What relationship, precisely, remained to be seen.
“Have you looked at Ruby? Really looked?” The Rojo dragon indicated his own face. “What do you see here? Do you seeher?”
No. No. Talia wouldn’t do this to him. Not telling him Ruby’s mother was her sister was one thing. But lying about the child’s paternity? No.
Why would she? She literally had nothing to gain. And Gabe had everything.
And just as much to lose.
“No.” He shook his head. This guy was lying.
“She never even slept with you,” the Rojo dragon continued, laughing again. “Do you get so drunk when you fuck that you can’t even remember them? What sort of reeve are you?”
A lousy one. This pompous asshole was right in his implication. Gabe had let down his colony by not cleaning up his act when he became reeve. How many times had Talia tried to tell him? Just this morning he admitted he’d never listened to her before.
Then again, if this guy was telling the truth, she’d lied about Ruby’s paternity. But why?
“Jasmine left this colony because of her sister. Little Miss Perfect. She couldn’t ever live up to whatever expectations her sister set, so she quit trying. Came to us because we don’t have such high standards. She was a pretty young thing, too. Fresh-faced, innocent.” The Rojo dragon smacked his lips. “I enjoyed knowing I was her first.”
No way. Jasmine was a virgin when she left? She and Gabe never—?
“And then she gave me my daughter. Who you took from me. And I want her back.”
She’s ours, Gabe’s dragon said.You claimed her. You love her. We love her.
Gabe dropped his hands to his sides and squeezed his fists. Talk about 180 degrees from his own childhood. Neither of his parents wanted him, and Ruby had too damn many who wanted her.
You promised you’d never send her back to that life, his dragon reminded him.
But he’s her father.
You were raised by someone other than your own father. Sometimes that’s better.
“Why does she call me Dad?” Gabe suddenly asked. “How come she’s never mentioned you?”
The guy curled his lip and snarled.
“You never acknowledged her.” Realization smacked him in the face. “Because her mother is a drug whore. No one even knew she was yours until she was taken from you. The only reason you want her back is because we took her. That’s it. You don’t care about her. She’s just another fucking treasure to you. Something to add to your hoard. You’re probably going to toss her aside as soon as you get back.”
The look on the guy’s face grew darker and darker, but he didn’t deny what Gabe said.
