Page 42 of Dragon Fire

She felt very naughty defying her father, but it couldn’t be helped. He insisted on seeing her as a child, when she hadn’t truly been a child since her mother’s death.

Gowan reached behind her as he held her gaze, and she heard the click of the lock catching on the door. “As you say then, just in case, we’ll throw the latch so we won’t be disturbed.”

She smiled up at him in total breathless, eager agreement. His head dipped lower, and he was kissing her again, taking his time with her. This promised to be a thorough loving, where neither of them would have to rush. They had hours to spend together, and the stresses of the day to work through.

She needed to be held so desperately. She needed to feel alive after all the death and danger that had been visited on this island today. And she’d heard about how soldiers got keyed up during a fight and needed the release of sex after.

She felt the same tension in her own body. The need to be close to someone special. To reaffirm life in the most basic way. To enjoy the time they had together, for life—as had been proven over and over today—was uncertain, at best.

Gowan continued to kiss her as her head spun, and then, she realized he’d lifted her up and turned with her in his arms, giving the appearance of the room rotating around her. She felt a moment of giddy dizziness, brought on by the combination of Gowan’s most excellent drugging kisses and the unexpected motion.

Then, he began walking, slowly, toward the large bed on the other side of the room. Livia rubbed her palms over the hard muscles in Gowan’s chest and arms. He was built like a god from some ancient pagan cult. His body had been honed, like the sword he’d been working on, until it, too, was a fine-edged weapon of war, but it could also be used to protect and defend, not just attack.

Gowan, for all his warrior-like ways, was a man of peace, and that part of his complex personality appealed to her. He trained and kept himself in optimal condition so he could protect the people of Draconia, and—as he had done today—allies and innocents who suffered an unprovoked attack. He had a noble streak a mile wide, and she admired him as well as desired him.

Gowan placed her gently on the bed and helped her remove her clothing, placing her garments carefully aside as each piece came free. Once again, he was showing his care for her, knowing she might be seen in the hallway when she left in a few hours and making sure her things would be presentable.

He was such a sweet man. So protective of her. And if he’d known she was thinking of him assweet, she knew he’d scoff, but it was true nonetheless.

He lowered her blouse and freed her breasts, his large hands covering her, his calluses rasping against her soft skin in a way that made her shiver. He played with her nipples, watching them, then watching her expression as he squeezed and tugged, as if gauging her reaction and learning what she liked.

They’d never really had the opportunity to make love at such a leisurely pace. Not alone, without Seth. And though Livia felt Seth’s absence, she also relished this time alone with Gowan. She loved them both, strange as it seemed. Livia thought maybe she understood how the Lair families made such a different arrangement work. If love bound the triad, then it felt like nothing was odd or wrong with it.

But she knew her own little trio was missing a very key ingredient. In her case, the dragons were not part of it. She assumed the dragons were what bound the whole thing together, but she didn’t really understand how or in what way. It seemed—judging by Hrardorr’s refusal to take another knight so soon after being blinded and losing his previous knight—that she would never find out. At least not with Seth.

For in her heart, she knew that if Hrardorr was going to choose anyone as his partner, it would most likely be Seth. It didn’t matter that Seth had consciously chosen to follow the healer’s path. In his heart, he carried everything noble and necessary to being a knight. He would be a fine knight. A credit to his family and his land. But Livia couldn’t see him partnered with anyone other than Hrardorr, which they all knew was improbable if not impossible.

“What are you thinking about?” Gowan whispered, his gaze boring deep into hers.

She knew honesty between them was the only way, which is why she told him. “Seth.”

Gowan stilled, removing his hands from her body. His knees lay on either side of her hips, straddling her, but he still wore his trousers. She was the one who was almost completely naked.

“Do you miss him? Do you want him here?”

“Yes and yes, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to be here, making love to you, Gowan. I just…” She rolled away and he let her go, moving off her to sit on the wide bed while she clutched her petticoat to her bare body. “I was thinking about Seth and Hrardorr and how it would be so perfect, if only—”

“If only Hrardorr were Genlitha’s mate and Seth his knight,” Gowan finished her thought for her. She looked up at him in shock. Had he really been thinking the same things? Gowan gave a short bark of laughter at her expression. “It’s fairly obvious, isn’t it? I mean, that would be the perfect solution for us all, but I have to be honest. I just don’t see it happening. Hrardorr’s got too much to work through, and I don’t even know if Genlitha thinks of him as a potential mate.”

“You don’t?” Livia was surprised.

She’d thought a knight would know everything about his dragon partner. She’d heard they shared minds at times. Wouldn’t that mean he’d know if Genlitha was attracted to Hrardorr as a mate?

“In my experience, most females are inscrutable. Dragon females even more so than human ones.” He laughed, and she realized he was sort of joking, but also somewhat serious. He didn’t seem to understand Genlitha as well as Livia had thought he would. “It would have been nice, though, wouldn’t it?” he went on, musing as he looked away from her.

“It would have solved a few problems for me,” she admitted. “Particularly with my father. He couldn’t object to our relationship if it was sanctioned by the crown, and we could go live in the Lair. He wouldn’t have any say in the matter at all since the needs of dragons and their knights overrule almost any objection he could’ve made. Especially since, in the eyes of the law, I’m an adult entitled to make my own decisions.”

Gowan sighed. “I think your father will always see you as his child. He’ll want to protect you. I mean, if a man sets sail with a fleet of ships ready to do battle at great cost to himself and his business, simply because he knows his daughter is in danger… Well, that says a lot about him.”

She hadn’t thought of it quite that way. Gowan had just opened her eyes a bit. “Yeah. You know? I think you may have something there.” She moved closer to Gowan, wrapping her arms around him from behind. “You almost sound as if you admire him.”

Gowan covered her hands with his, over his heart. “After today, I think I do. At least a little. I don’t like hiding our relationship from him—or from anyone—but I can’t do the noble thing here and leave you alone, Livia.” He turned, taking her in his arms, her petticoat slipping away to the floor.

“I don’t want you to leave me alone, Gowan.” She smiled at him, looking into his eyes. “I want quite the contrary.”

He kissed her then, and it wasn’t the polite, gentle foray of before. No, this was raw need. Bare emotion. Sizzling attraction.

This was more like it. An honest, open need that raged between them. She realized then that he’d been holding back before, trying to give her a different sort of experience. While she was touched by his gesture, now was not the time for such gentility.

---