Page 23 of Stealing the Dragon's Heart (Dragon Lords 3)

She swallowed, wondering why her pulse reacted even more hectically to this gentle attention than his previous hostility. His touch shot tingles through her nerves. A shiver swept her body.

He hesitated for a moment as though he’d noticed her reaction, but made no comment. As he wrapped the bandage around her tender digit, he muttered, “I suppose you’re entertaining hopes that he’ll take you back to hisamazingpalace and make you his princess.”

She withdrew her hand. “I—wasn’t—flirting.”

“It doesn’t matter. You and your friend are off my ship as soon as we stop.”

“Fine with me.”

“Is it?” He leaned back in his chair. “You don’t even want to try that flirting act on me next?”

She cocked her head, not getting a clear read on him. “Would it work if I did?”

“Nope.” His gaze lit with cruel amusement.

Dick.“Then why waste my time? Unless…” She read him again, and again found it difficult. It was as if even he didn’t know what he was going to do from one moment to the next. “Unless that’s what you want.”

His body went stiff, and the humor left his eyes.

His actions told Onnika she’d struck a nerve. “Were you hoping that tending to me would make me want to flirt with you?”

“Don’t be daft.” He crossed his arms. “I only mean to warn you against playing your little games with the dragon prince in there.”

“Why? Are you afraid he might like me?”

“Well, he does have poor taste.”

Having been the recipient of worse insults, she easily shrugged that off. “I think you might be jealous. I think you’re dying for me to flirt with you.”

He pushed his seat back and then stood to gather the supplies. “Think what you like.”

“After all,” she continued, “You did see me first. Isn’t there some sort of unspoken rule amongst males about that?”

“You mean when you ripped me off like it was just another day?”

Finally she gleaned something from him: He wanted nothing more than to get away from her. Because she was right? She had him on the defensive, and that delighted her. “Did it bother you when I told him he was dashing?”

“You’re being ridiculous.”

She followed him across the room as he put the supplies back in their drawers, nettling him further. “Would you like it if I saidyouwere dashing?”It would even be true.

He didn’t respond as he went to the sink and washed his hands.

“Would it please you if I said you were the most handsome man I’d ever met?” She thought she caught a bob in his throat at that.

He grabbed a hand towel, practically ripping it off the hook. “I know you to be a liar, so no, it would only irritate me further.”

“You have me there. Iama good liar. I’m good at a lot of things…” She knew she shouldn’t be provoking him like this, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. She was having too much fun. But fun could easily turn disastrous.

Just as the thought surfaced, his arm whipped out and palmed her by the back of the neck, forcing her to look up at him. “Good at playing men, you mean.”

Her pulse thundered beyond comprehension, her breaths rushed in and out of her unevenly, yet she wasn’t afraid. She was…aroused. His gaze dipped to her lips, and she licked them for him. Would he kiss her like he’d wanted to before? Would she let him?

He hissed in a breath. “You act like this when I could have you at my mercy? Tempting me? You play a dangerous game.”

“Life is a dangerous game,” she remarked. “And no one gets out alive.”

His face twisted into something like grief before turning stony. Abruptly, he let her go, and she stumbled slightly backward. Then he turned and headed for the hatch. “That, Onnika, is one thing you’re right about.”

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