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position and reached for her crutches. “He may be annoying, but I can handle that.”

She hobbled toward the door and turned to make sure the dragon was out of sight

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before she opened it.

He brushed past her before she could speak. “Why didn‟t you tell me you were in

the hospital?” he asked as he strode to the middle of the room and turned around, glaring at her. “I called the clinic several times and Janie always said you were out.”

Bless Janie. She might be a man-crazy twenty-something, but she was also a

good hedge. Sophie made her slow way back to the couch. Last night, Michael had been

at her side every time she moved, but Robert just stood there, looking annoyed.

“I wasn‟t aware that I needed to report in to you, Robert.”

“You were in a car accident with broken bones. I certainly should have been

informed.”

“Why? And how did you find out anyway?”

“I just came from the clinic. Your new girl, Morgan, told me. Of course, I had to

flirt a little to get it out of her, but that didn‟t mean anything.”

Just like old times. “Flirting never means anything to you, does it?”

“Oh, come on, baby. Let‟s not fight.” Robert sat down beside her, giving her the

confident smile he used in the courtroom. “She‟s a hot, little number, but she‟s been

around the block a few times, I think. She‟s definitely not you.” He moved closer and

put his hand on her good thigh. “Let me make you feel better.”

Before she could brush his hand away, Pendragon roared and flew across the

room to land squarely on the coffee table in front of them. His spikes rose along his

spine as he prepared to shoot a fiery flame at Robert.

“Stop!” Sophie shouted.

Pendragon growled and extended his claws like a cat.

Robert had jumped back, but quickly recovered. “Well, well, well. What have

we here?” he asked.

Sophie sighed. How in the world was she going to explain a dragon? If only

Pendragon had let her handle this! Dear Lord, don‟t let him speak!

Pendragon growled again, but settled on his haunches, thankfully silent.

“You know I sometimes take in exotic species,” Sophie said, her mind racing for

a really good explanation. “This is…um, a very rare Gila monster. He was scaring the

cats and dogs at the kennel so I brought him home.”

Pendragon blinked at her.

“Gila‟s are orange and black,” Robert said suspiciously.

“Yes. That‟s what makes this one so rare.”

“And they are also poisonous,” he added.

Pendragon drew back his lips to expose his sharp teeth. Tiny tendrils of smoke

drifted from his nostrils.

Robert sidled away from Sophie, keeping an eye on Pendragon, and then stood,

moving slowly toward the door. Sophie almost smiled. It actually felt good to see

Robert unnerved for once. She motioned for the dragon to return to the office. He

rumbled, but jumped off the table and ambled away, his claws clicking on the floor.

Robert sharpened his gaze. “I don‟t know what‟s going on here, Sophie, but I

think you‟re lying.”

“I‟m not a liar!”

“You‟re not a
good
liar. I deal with them everyday.” He studied her for a

moment, bolder now that the dragon had retreated. “There is no logical explanation for

SWORD OF FIRE Cynthia Breeding 80

it, but I think that thing I just saw is the dragon that the media has been in a frenzy

about.”

“You‟re right on one count, Robert. That certainly is not a logical explanation.”

He shrugged. “The big dragon lighting up the night sky isn‟t logical either. But

Air Traffic Control at DFW sighted something on their radar that wasn‟t a plane. That

data has been sent to NOAA and the FBI.”

Sophie groaned inwardly. She should have known this craziness wouldn‟t stop

simply with the media. “I have no idea what that was.”

“Liar,” he said again, “and, unless you want the media to somehow “find out”

you‟re harboring that dragon in small form, I suggest you think twice about us getting

back together again.”

“The divorce has been final for a year. Let‟s not rehash old problems. Go back to

Amber.”

“I‟m not taking that whore back.” Robert gave her a look that was just short of

menacing. “And I don‟t appreciate another man messing with my wife, either.”

“I‟m not your wife and what are you talking about?”

“Morgan told me how that guy, Michael, has been sniffing around your skirts. No

doubt he wants to get between your legs…”

“That‟s enough. You keep Michael out of this.”

Robert‟s eyebrows rose. “So. I have competition, I see.”

“You don‟t have competition! What I do is my own business. You no longer

have any claim to me!”

“We‟ll see about that,” Robert said, his eyes narrowing a bit. “I‟m sure the

authorities might be very interested in knowing what you harbor here.”

Sophie stared at him, feeling her blood chill. “You‟d turn me in?”

He gave her his confident, attorney smile. “In a heartbeat, baby. I‟ll call you

tomorrow and see what you decision is. Hope you make the right one. We used to be so

good together. Remember?”

Sophie watched him walk to his car. If there had been even one tiny drop of

doubt in her blood, it was gone now. Robert was a cold, self-centered man only

concerned with his own interests. And somehow, that “interest” had refocused on her.

The last thing she wanted to do was spend more time with Robert, but she

couldn‟t let the media—and certainly not the authorities—discover the dragon either. If he returned to full size, breathing fire, they wouldn‟t hesitate to kill him.

Nor did she want Robert dragging Michael‟s name through the mud. Or worse,

concocting some foolproof accusation against Michael that would land him in jail.

Robert was capable of it.

She‟d have to find some way to keep Michael away from her.

SWORD OF FIRE Cynthia Breeding 81

“What do you mean, she isn‟t here? The woman has a broken leg!” Michael ran

his hand through his wind-blown hair and glared at Pendragon. “You were supposed to

protect her!”

The dragon snorted. “That woman is more wily that Gwenhwyfar ever thought of

being!”

“What do you mean by that?” Michael demanded.

“She told me she was really tired and needed a nap, but I guess she was

conspiring with that ex-husband of hers.”

“Ex—was Robert here?”

“He arrived shortly after you left this morning. At first, she didn‟t seem too

happy to see him, but then he sat beside her on the sofa. I tried to intervene, but she sent me back to the office.”

Michael groaned. “This just keeps getting worse. Now that bastard knows you

are here. He‟s seen you.”

Pendragon rattled his scales and huffed. “Well, he was touching her. Tanio‟s

orders were for me to protect her. Of course,” he said as he cast a baleful eye at Michael,

“I could do that much better in my correct form. The man would be nothing but ashes on

the rug right now.”

“Great. Then Sophie would be a suspect in her ex‟s disappearance, if not arrested

for murder. There will be no fire-breathing at mortals!” Michael began to pace around

the empty living room. “I‟m going to have to get you out of here before he returns with the police. There have been APB‟s out for you ever since the first sighting.”

“Humph,” Pendragon said grumpily. “I could handle the police too.” He sighed

resignedly. “She told him I was a rare Gila monster. Do you know how humiliating that

is? I am not a lizard!”

Michael paused in his pacing. At least Sophie had the quick sense to come up

with something half- way believable. It might buy them some time to get away. But

where in the hell could Sophie have gone with a still- mending leg?

“She didn‟t leave with him, did she?”

The dragon shook his head. “They were standing by the door, talking too low for

me to understand since my hearing has been affected by this puny, little body I‟m

inhabiting. Maybe he came back for her. I don‟t know. Like I told you, she said she

wanted privacy while she slept and closed the door to the bedroom. I remember Ygraine

was the same way, wanting to spend time in her chambers, although Uther usually joined

her there.” He stared unblinkingly at Michael. “I didn‟t think you would want me to

intrude.”

Michael swept his hand through his hair again. “You‟re right. Who would

suspect that she‟d leave in her condition? But where could she have gone?” He pulled

out his cell and hit Smith‟s contact number. A brief conversation ensued and he slid the phone back into his pocket. “The butler said he didn‟t know anything about her

SWORD OF FIRE Cynthia Breeding 82

disappearance,” Michael said.

He didn‟t want to think that she‟d go off with her ex, but the guy was persistent.

Michael had done some research on Robert and found that he won nearly all of his cases.

That made him a shrewd and persuasive opponent. Had Sophie succumbed to some offer

to take care of her? Michael‟s aura flashed red at the thought of the bastard even

touching her. Pendragon‟s head snapped up, his spikes rising. Michael drew his power

back in. He needed to think logically. Inciting the dragon certainly wouldn‟t help.

“There‟s no sign of a forced entry,” he said as an afterthought.

“I would have heard that or any sound of a struggle,” Pendragon said. “I was

napping in the office across the hall.”

“Napping? Why weren‟t you on watch?”

The dragon gave him a disgusted look. “What was I supposed to watch for?

You‟d warded the windows. The doors were locked and woman was asleep in her

bedroom.” He managed to look indignant. “Dragons like to doze you know.”

Michael shook his head and moved past him to the bedroom. The coverlet on the

bed was smooth and showed no signs of anyone even lying down. Nothing else in the

room seemed disturbed either. He opened a closet door. Items hung neatly side-by-side, color-coordinated. How like Sophie to be that organized. He couldn‟t tell, though, if

anything was missing. Shutting the door, he glanced at the dresser where a few toiletries sat along with a figurine of a prancing horse. And propped up beside it was a small

envelope with his name on it.

He hurried over to it and ripped it open. Quick ly, he scanned the short note and

raced back to the living room.

“She left,” he said waving the paper at Pendragon. “Says she had a kind offer for

complete care during her recovery and she‟ll be in touch when she‟s well.” He glanced

down at it. “We‟re not to worry.” He crushed the paper in a wad in his fist.

Damnation. She must have returned to her ex. He had money and servants to

care for her no doubt. The feeling of betrayal struck sharp as a blade in Michael‟s back.

The wily one in the debacle was not Sophie, but that conniving bastard, Robert.

Michael tossed the paper down. Robert may have won this round, but he

certainly had not won the war. The battle hadn‟t even begun.

* * * *

Balor leaned back from the computer screen and chuckled. It was the first truly

good laugh he‟d had since that manuscript had been found.

Morgan sidled up behind him, pressing her breasts against the back of his head as

she slid her arms around him to stroke his chest. “What amuses you?” she asked.

„This is just too rich,” he answered, clicking on the mouse to rerun the video he

had just watched. “I knew it was a good idea to have Caldwell get that webcam inside

the Cameron woman‟s house. Look.”

Morgan squinted at the frozen screen. “That looks like a large, red dog.

No…wait. It‟s a huge lizard.”

Balor laughed again. “That is the red dragon.”

She leaned closer over his shoulder. “Do you mean the one that got the media all

stirred up? How did it get reduced in size?”

“Not sure. Probably some diety‟s work.” For a moment, his mouth tightened,

remembering that he had once had that status. Damn those Avalon bitches. He pulled

SWORD OF FIRE Cynthia Breeding 83

Morgan around to sit on his lap and placed her hand on his cock. She stroked him

expertly through the silk of his dressing robe and he smiled again. “One thing‟s for sure.

Pendragon would not have given up his size willingly.”

“Is it permanent?” Morgan asked as she pushed aside the robe to fondle his bare

skin.

“Probably not. Being shrunk ...." He grinned as his prick grew larger with

Morgan‟s ministrations— “keeps him under the radar from the media. Most likely it was

the warlock‟s idea. He‟s going to need the press to go away before he and the vet can

take off searching for the sword. Too bad she had to get into that wreck, though. Now

we‟ll have to wait as well.” He gave Morgan a quick glance when her hand froze in

place. “Why did you stop?”

“Huh…nothing.” She resumed pumping him with her hand. “Do you like it like

this?”

“You know I do, pet,” he answered. “It‟s just a good thing I happened to be