Dragon's Curse (Harlequin Nocturne) (17 page)

She’d known that she wouldn’t be able to deal with the
conflicting emotions a relationship and subsequent breakup would bring.

“It would have been easier if I’d never met you to begin
with.”

“Probably.” He opened the door and held it for her. As she
strode past him, he suggested, “Just pretend nothing ever happened.”

“I wish I could just forget.”

“That is an option.”

She came to a dead stop in the foyer. “You’re right. It is,
isn’t it?”

He was directly behind her. “Yes, Ariel, it is.”

His voice sounded choked. She turned around and looked up at
him. “Will I forget the taste of your kisses? The feel of your caresses? Will I
go to sleep at night and not dream of you—or dragons?”

“If that’s what you want, yes.”

She grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the stairs. “Then do
it.”

Cam’s dragon broke out in a fit of rage that nearly dropped him
to his knees. The mark on his shoulder blade felt as if it was trying to pull
free of his flesh. He stiffened his spine, clenched his jaw and followed her up
the stairs.

As crazy as the idea sounded, it would be easier for both of
them if she believed they’d never shared a kiss, or a bed.

Since she seemed to want to forget so badly, he was certain
that he could convince her that the grimoire, the dragon—everything—was nothing
more than strange dreams and nightmares she’d had while working at the Lair.

They would become employer and employee in every sense. At
least until he found the items she needed for Renalde. He’d find a way to sneak
them under her nose for her to discover. Then she’d be gone.

It would all be so easy.

And far too much of a coward’s choice for him to live with.

Ariel shoved the door to her bedroom open so hard that it
crashed against the wall. She tossed his jacket onto an occasional chair, then
sat down on the bed. “Okay, I’m ready. Get it over with.”

He sauntered in behind her, deliberately taking his time. “Get
it over with?”

“Just do whatever you have to do.”

Cam glanced at the desk. He swore he heard the grimoire
laughing at him. Intentionally ignoring the imagined laughter, he sat down next
to her. “You’re sure?”

“Yes!” She grabbed his hand and held his palm against the side
of her head. “Do it.”

Cam nearly choked on his own laugh. She watched far too much
television—specifically science-fiction movies—if she believed he could perform
this magic with some type of alien mind meld.

He gently pulled his hand free and waved toward the pillows on
the bed. “Lie down. Get comfortable.”

She didn’t need to know that he wasn’t going to do anything
more than put her to sleep. Tomorrow morning would be soon enough to have this
argument.

“I’m ready.”

Cam stretched out alongside her and pulled her into his
embrace. It felt as if he held an unyielding piece of lumber against his chest.
“What are you ready for, Ariel?”

“For all this to go away.”

He traced lazy circles on her back, hoping she’d relax beneath
his touch. “Really? There’s nothing of the last few weeks you’d like to
remember?”

“No. Nothing.”

The hot wetness seeping through his shirt claimed her a very
bad liar. He reached up to brush the telltale tears from her cheek.
“Nothing?”

She shook her head against his chest.

For some reason, knowing that there was nothing she wished to
remember cut like a razor against his heart. He closed his eyes against the
emotions tugging at him, fighting to not act upon the hurt that her revelation
caused his beast—and him.

He would get over this temporary pain, but what about his
beast? How could she so carelessly, callously touch the dragon’s soul only to
leave him wanting in vain?

Cam gritted his teeth. This wasn’t her fault. She didn’t know.
How could she know when he’d said nothing to make her believe he truly
cared?

Forcing himself to ignore everything whirling inside, he calmed
the tumult with a slow, deep breath, and then tipped his head to rest his
forehead against hers.

His beast roared, rearing up in stunned amazement. Cam froze at
the sudden certainty that he’d been wrong. So very wrong.

This creature, this person now resting comfortably in his arms,
was far from human. At her core, at the very depths of her soul lived a shadowy
beast.

He probed deeper, needing to know if this beast had been sent
to him for some nefarious purpose by the Learneds. What he found was a dragon
newly born. It was taking shape, fighting to be free, to be given the chance to
fully form.

Relief flowed through him like a mountain stream, sweeping away
his hurt in its path and giving him a glimmer of hope that he was not alone.
Even though she had yet to realize it herself, she was as much a changeling as
he.

“What are you doing?”

Her question startled him from his thoughts. “Nothing, go to
sleep.”

She halfheartedly pushed against him, complaining, “You aren’t
going to make me forget anything, are you?”

“No, Ariel. I’m not. Go to sleep.”

His mind was too busy to deal with her anger or disappointment.
“Just go to sleep. The next two days will be busy. You won’t have time to go
searching for pendants or boxes, so don’t waste your time making any plans.”

“And what if I’m not tired?”

A thousand different ways of killing time until she was tired
flooded his mind. Each idea more erotic than the last. But the slowness of her
words said she’d fall asleep the moment she closed her eyes. “Just go to sleep,
Ariel.”

She tried to shrug off his arm and push him away. “Go away,
Cameron. I’d like to be alone.”

And he’d like to be on a deserted tropical island without a
care in the world. He kicked off his shoes, letting them fall to the floor.
There was one way to make sure he’d get some sleep tonight.

He lifted an eyebrow at her curses as their clothing joined his
shoes.

She lifted her head to glare at him through sleepy, bloodshot
eyes. “This isn’t your room. Leave.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, that isn’t going to happen, so
stop arguing.”

The quilt at the end of the bed unfurled over them. Cam slid
his arm from beneath her, flipped over onto his stomach and then draped an arm
securely across her. “Now, either go to sleep on your own, or I’ll see to it
myself.”

She pounded a fist on the mattress. “God, I despise you.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Chapter 16

A
riel watched from her seat in the far
corner of the ballroom as the inhabitants of Mirabilus poured into the room. She
was out of place in this crowd of mourners.

Brightworthe had been nothing more to her than a name she’d
heard once or twice. From the number of people at his funeral, it appeared she
was the only person on this entire island who hadn’t known him.

Young or old didn’t matter, everyone she talked to had had a
story to tell her about the man. If just half the stories were true,
Brightworthe had been a good person—one who shouldn’t have died because of
her.

Knowledge that she was responsible for Brightworthe’s death and
the pain these mourners were suffering fueled her guilt. Renalde had taken care
of two objectives with this one horrendous move. He’d made good his threat of
making her pay by killing Brightworthe, and that move had guaranteed she’d end
up back at Mirabilus.

Although, how she was supposed to find anything here was beyond
her comprehension. Between Cam and his goons this was the first time since
yesterday morning when she felt as if eyeballs weren’t boring into her back.

They’d watched her every move. Going so far as to stand outside
her bedroom door while she’d changed clothes for the funeral service.

When confronted, Cam had claimed the guards were posted for her
own safety. She only partly believed that explanation. The only danger to her
physical safety was Danielle Drake.

Sean and Harold had seen to it that Ms. Drake was never within
striking distance. Cam was keeping close tabs on her for some other reason, too.
Her guess was that he didn’t want her snooping around the keep.

A woman nearly tripped over her, snapping Ariel’s attention
back to the crowd. She pushed her chair farther back into the corner.

“Ariel?”

She didn’t need to look up to recognize Cam’s voice. What was
he bugging her for now? Didn’t he have other things to keep him busy?

Without taking her focus from the pink-hued veins crisscrossing
the marble floor, she said, “I’m not doing anything. I’m just sitting here like
an obedient little serf.”

She gasped at the strangled chuckle that met her response.
Quickly jumping to her feet, she stared up and frowned. This wasn’t Cam. From
his identical looks, this must be his twin, Braeden Drake. “I apologize. I am
really sorry. I—“

“Stop.” He touched her shoulder. “It’s a common mistake people
make the first time they see both of us.”

A common mistake? Granted, Cam and Braeden were nearly
identical twins—if one didn’t take in the different eye color. However, it was a
little hard to mistake Braeden’s mesmerizing amethyst gaze for Cam’s sapphire
one. He must think she was a complete idiot.

“No. Misguided on some things perhaps. But not a complete
idiot.”

Ariel groaned. Another one like Danielle. “Please, don’t do
that.”

“I forgot. Cam doesn’t like to drop into people’s minds, so you
probably aren’t used to it.”

She wasn’t about to tell him how far off the mark he was on
that assumption. “No, he doesn’t intrude on my thoughts. But he has other
talents.”

Braeden clenched his jaw and swallowed visibly. “Unfortunately,
it’d be inappropriate for me to laugh right now.”

She didn’t know what to say to her faux pas, she hadn’t meant
his talents in the bedroom, but it was obvious that’s what Braeden thought.

“Braeden, don’t harass the guests.” His wife, Alexia, linked
her hand around his arm. “Whatever you do, Ariel, do not let him bully you.”

Swallowing a moment of embarrassment, Ariel tore her stare from
Alexia’s stomach. She knew Braeden’s wife was pregnant. But she didn’t know how
many babies the woman carried. From the looks of it, there had to be more than
one—maybe three?

Cameron joined them. “Private discussion, or can anyone
participate?”

The sight of the twins standing next to each other was
breathtaking. Even Alexia’s eyes widened briefly as she moved to stand next to
Ariel.

Both were decked out in black tuxes—including the shirts and
ties. The only spot of color were the sashes at their waists. Braeden’s in
purple. Cam’s in sapphire. Even the scabbards of their dress swords were etched
with identical dragons.

Braeden winked at the women before answering his brother. “We
were just talking about you. Feel free to leave.”

Before Cam could respond, a commotion broke out across the
room. Ariel watched in shock as a plume of red smoke curled up toward the
vaulted ceiling.

Both brothers turned toward the ruckus at the same time.
Braeden said, “It’s just a group of rowdy kids showing off. I’ll deal with
it.”

Cam hung back. He pulled a chair forward. “Alexia, here, get
off your feet.”

“No, but thank you.” She shook her head, sighing with apparent
exasperation. “His
lordship
just ordered me to go
take a nap, so if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be heading upstairs like a good
wife.”

Ariel had to smile at Alexia’s good-natured sarcasm. It seemed
the brothers had at least one other thing in common besides their looks—they
shared a commanding arrogance that wore rather thin at times.

“I don’t have to be a mind reader to know exactly what you’re
thinking.”

“Oh, really?” She turned toward Cam. “And what might that
be?”

“You’re wondering how Braeden trained her so well.”

The man was obtuse at times. She tapped his chest. “You really
need to practice that mind-reading thing a little more.”

He grasped her wrist before she could lower her arm. “I was
just teasing you, Ariel.”

“Isn’t such familiarity normally reserved for family and
friends?” Easily pulling free, she added, “As your enemy I don’t fit either
category. So, I would appreciate it if you would drop the bantering.”

“Alexia complies because she knows that Braeden would never
force her to do anything she really didn’t want to do.” Cam totally ignored
anything she’d just said. His unblinking gaze never left hers, and Ariel found
herself concentrating solely on the way his hair fell across his forehead as he
looked down at her.

“I would go so far as to say that Alexia most likely asked him
to get her out of here because she really was tired.” His voice was so deep, so
steady, yet it sent shivers down her spine.

“That’s the way the two of them work together most of the
time.”

A cool, mist-laden breeze rushed against her neck. Ariel tore
her attention away from Cam long enough to see that he’d somehow led her
outside.

“You did that on purpose.”

“I wanted to show you something.”

“And you couldn’t have done so inside?”

The ends of his sash flapped behind him in the wind like some
sapphire tail as he walked toward the workshop. The sight would have been
comical had she not known the color of his scales.

“Coming?”

As much as she wanted to turn around and go back inside
Mirabilus, her curiosity got the better of her. Ariel followed him into the
shed.

“We’re going to get filthy in there…”

Before she could complete the sentence, a brief flash of cool
air rushed against her suddenly naked limbs. “Cameron!”

“Nice.” He touched the lace trimming her bra, his knuckles
grazed the curve of her breast. “Lace bra and matching thong.” He moved closer.
“Standard attire for funerals?”

She had to tear her stare away from his heated gaze—otherwise
the warmth already chasing away the chill from her arms would spread like
wildfire. “Next time I’ll be sure to get your approval first.”

Instantly, jeans and a sweatshirt—clothing more appropriate to
rooting around in an ancient workshop, not to mention protect her from herself,
covered her body. He, however, was still attired in his tux.

Nervously, she asked, “Aren’t you coming in, too?”

“You’ll be fine. Nobody will bother you.” In a much deeper,
raspier tone he added, “Not even a dragon.” His eyes shimmered, his pupils
elongated for a moment before settling back into a more human shape. “I’ll be
standing guard.”

She pitied anyone who decided to visit the workshop uninvited.
“So, what am I supposed to see?”

“I finished chipping away at your block. You guessed right, it
was a hiding place. I thought you might want to retrieve what’s inside.”

Could it be? Had he found the box, or
another dragon pendant?

He slid the panel open and pushed her into the corridor. “Go,
Ariel.”

“But, why—”

“We can discuss why, what, and how, later. Go see what’s there
first.”

It was all she could do not to run the length of the corridor.
But she didn’t want to risk a tumble on the uneven floor.

Finally, her heart racing with renewed hope, she stepped into
the chamber. The chandelier and half a dozen candelabras were lit, setting the
room aglow.

True to his word, the mortar around the block had been chipped
away. But there wasn’t enough room for her fingers to simply pull the block
free.

A metal file tapped against wall alongside her head. Ariel
silently thanked Cam, then used the tool to pry the block from the wall.

After dropping the block and the file to the floor, she reached
inside the opening and pulled out a small leather pouch.

Ariel moved into the brighter light at the center of the
chamber. Her fingers shook as she flicked the rotted tie from the pouch and
emptied the contents into her palm.

She gasped, clutching a dragon pendant to her chest. Surely he
wasn’t going to let her give this to Renalde?

This had to be a trick. He was torturing her by giving her hope
that she really could save Carl’s life. In the end, he would just take the
pendant from her and laugh.

Ariel frowned. While that might be something she would expect
Renalde to do, Cam wasn’t like that.

She held the pendant up to study it in the light. Instead of
emerald, it was sapphirelike. A shimmering, near-iridescent mix of blue, green
and purple.

Just like Cam’s beast.

She stroked a finger gently over its head, down the back and
traced the length of the curled tail before running the tip of a fingernail up
the scaled belly.

She would have expected the gemstone to be cold, but
surprisingly, the pendant was warm beneath her touch—again, just like Cam’s
beast.

And when she held it up, the light twinkled off the eyes as if
it looked back at her.

Giving something this intricate to Renalde would hurt, but not
as much as Carl’s death.

Ariel slipped the pendant back into the pouch and turned to
leave the chamber.

She jumped in surprise at finding Cam in the doorway.

“I thought you were going to stand guard.”

He leaned against the doorway. “I sealed the door shut. Nobody
is getting in.”

She blinked at the deep huskiness of his voice. “Is something
wrong?”

Slowly he came toward her. “Wrong? What could possibly be
wrong?”

He stalked over to her. Steady, unwavering. Muscles clenched.
Jaw tight. Nostrils flared. His piercing gaze riveted solely on her. Ariel
suddenly felt like small helpless prey.

“Cam?” She backed away until she slammed against the far
wall.

But he kept moving steadily forward until the hard plane of his
chest pinned her to the solid wall. “You found the pendant.”

“Yes, I did.” She swallowed, hoping to chase away the shakiness
from her voice.

He reached down and uncurled her fingers from around the pouch.
“And you…inspected it?”

“Of course.”

Cam pulled the pendant from the bag and held it up by the
chain. The small dragon twirled in the air before her. “Touch it.”

“What?”

His breaths were a little more stable than they had been a
moment ago. “I said, touch it.” He grasped her wrist to lift her hand and placed
the pendant in her palm. “With a fingertip, touch it.”

Confused, but oddly afraid not to do as he asked, she kept her
stare on him as she once again gently stroked her finger along the gem.

Cam shivered. He could physically feel the warmth of her touch
as it trailed down his back. The same thing had happened while he had been
standing guard. But he’d brushed it off as some strange fantasy.

Until he’d felt one manicured fingernail trace slowly up his
stomach, driving him wild with desire, leaving him near panting with lust. Then
he’d realized that the sapphire dragon pendant he’d found last night was more
like a spelled voodoo doll than a piece of jewelry.

Ariel’s eyes widened. She curled her finger and grazed the tip
of her nail along the belly. When he gasped, she asked, “Do you
feel
that?”

He clamped his hand around hers, stopping her from tormenting
him further. “Yes. And if you don’t want to be ravished right here, right now, I
suggest you stop.”

He leaned closer. With his lips brushing the soft skin beneath
her ear, he invited, “Unless the idea turns you on as much as it does me.”

Ariel wasn’t certain what possessed her—but something had. She
couldn’t have stopped herself had she wanted to. She turned her head and lifted
the pendant to her lips, whispering, “Tell me, do you feel this, too?”

She exhaled on the pendant, then ever so slowly drew the tip of
her tongue along the beast’s spine.

Her touch drew a guttural roar from Cameron. In the back of her
logical mind, Ariel knew it would be wiser to back down, to be afraid.

But it wasn’t fear coursing through her veins. And it most
certainly wasn’t anything logical that uncoiled deep in her belly.

Even if she had decided to pull back, to change her mind, it
was too late. Need, hunger, near-wild desire drove her body to find the
fulfillment it required. Her mind had no say.

Cam pulled her roughly into his arms and lifted her from the
floor. Instantly the barrier of clothing fell away, flesh pressed against heated
flesh. The hard plane of his chest in perfect opposition to the softness of her
breasts.