Kiss of the Dragon (32 page)

“Hush, my love, hush. The pain will fade, never fear.” He
held himself still, not moving as he gave her time to adjust to his size. He
kissed her lips tenderly as he murmured soft, comforting words. When she began
to relax, he moved his mouth to her breast and suckled first one and then the
other, hard and deep, until she moaned with passion once again. When Draco
finally raised his head to look at her, she opened her eyes and smiled
tremulously. With a tentative movement of her hips beneath him, her smile widened
at the groan of pleasure that rumbled in his chest beneath her hands.

“I am assuming that there is more, my lord. Pray, do not
tell me that we are finished. You are still inside me.”

His lips twitched with humor as he realized that she had
completely recovered from his rough invasion. They were as fully connected at
that moment as they ever would be and she was teasing him.

“Yea. There is more, sweeting. Much more.” His voice was
deep and warm as the summer night, and Bianca swore that she could see a thousand
stars shining there as he gazed down at her. She knew then that he but waited
for her, waited for the discomfort to dissolve. She reached up and brought his
head down as she raised her lips to touch his mouth.

“Love me, my lord.” Even as he opened his mouth to cover
hers, he moved within her drawing a sharp gasp of pleasure from her. Draco
smiled then, a slight movement against her lips. Her answering moan was all he
needed to spur him on. He moved then thrusting in and withdrawing as his lips
ravaged hers. At one point, he pulled back nearly leaving the warmth of her
tight sheath.

“Do not!” Bianca cried in protest.

He stilled, thinking that he had somehow hurt her again.
“What is it? Are you in pain, sweeting?”

“Do not leave me,” she begged as she clutched at his hips to
hold him close.

“Never, Bianca. Never,” he vowed hoarsely, his face taut
from the strain of holding back his full passions. To prove his words, he
thrust into her again and again until her cries echoed through the room.

Her slender hands wrapped around his muscular neck, her
fingers digging into his flesh as she clung to him. She lifted her hips to
match his rhythm as each forceful stroke brought them closer and closer to the
heavens.

The small moans of pleasure that escaped her lips spurred
him on and he moved deeper and faster taking everything she offered.

When Bianca climaxed, a thousand stars seemed to explode
around her. The earth fell away as she soared into the very heavens above only
to float slowly, sweetly back to earth breathless and sated.

When Draco felt the muscles of her tight sheath grip his
throbbing member, he lost his fight for control and followed her. Clasping her
about the waist to hold her tight to him, he thrust one, two, three times
before he climaxed. His back arched and he threw his head back bellowing his
release as he poured his seed deep within her womb. And then Draco collapsed on
top of her gasping for breath. He had only enough strength left to roll onto
his side taking her with him. He snagged the bed covers with one hand and
pulled it up over them.

In the aftermath of their passion, he lay panting for
breath, his heart thundering in his chest. He didn’t have the energy to speak
for a good while.

When Bianca finally opened her eyes, her gaze flew to Draco’s
rugged face, which was flushed from their lovemaking. His eyes were closed as
he slept and she took the opportunity to study him closely.

In the flicking light of the hearth fire, her Dragon looked
more beautiful to her than she ever thought possible. He had given her the
greatest pleasure a woman could ever experience. Never in her entire life could
she remember feeling so right. Did he feel the same, she wondered? Did she dare
to believe he felt something akin to what she felt?

For a long moment, her eyes moved over his firm jaw, his
full, masculine lips, the long, straight nose and his black lashes fanned out
over his high, broad cheeks. A sigh escaped her lips and she found that she
wanted him awake now, so that she could tell him how much she loved him.

As she lay watching him sleep, his eyes suddenly flickered
open and before she could take her next breath, he captured her upturned lips
beneath his opened mouth in a searing, passionate kiss.

When he released her mouth, she was pleasantly limp in his
arms. Even as she gasped for her next breath, an arrogant smile tipped up the
corners of his mouth and he hugged her close. Her love for him was there on her
face for the world to see, but only Draco witnessed it and he was humbled by it
and at the same time he rejoiced in it. She loved him best. A low rumble of
triumphant laughter filled his chest and worked its way to his throat. He
lowered his mouth to her lips and kissed her quick. She blushed rosily from
just that small touch.

“I know a secret, my lord.” Her first words were not what he
had expected and his black slanted brows rose questioningly as he waited for
her to continue. A smile curved her lips.

“What do you know, my sweetling?”

Instead of answering him, she merely smiled a secret smile
and closed her eyes. Within moments, she was fast asleep, curled against his
chest like a contented cat.

As the time moved into the early hours of the morning and
the pair slept peacefully, contentedly in each other’s arms, something broke
into Bianca’s slumbering mind rousing her enough that she sighed and then
frowned at the intrusion. She turned in Draco’s arms and wriggled her hips
against his warmth and then sighed again and succumbed to sleep. A short time
later Draco’s large body bumped against her back as it twisted and turned to
find a comfortable position. This time she came wide-awake. Her eyes flew open
only to find the room dark as the fire in the hearth had died out. For a
moment, she had no notion of where she was. Then she felt the warm, heavy body
at her back and Draco’s hand caressing her side, trying to ease her back into
her sated slumber. It soothed her somewhat, but still she found that she could
not go back to sleep so she lay perfectly still, not wanting her wakefulness to
bother him.

It did not seem any time at all before Draco began turning
and twisting once again as he sought a more comfortable position. It was his
restlessness that woke her the first time and now his movements kept her from
going back to sleep.

“What is wrong?” She turned to face him, resting her hand on
his arm.

“Tis nothing of consequence.” But his shifting form spoke
differently.

“Indeed? Then why are you so restless?”

“This bed is anything but comfortable. The mattress is lumpy
and when I roll over, something keeps jabbing me.”

“I must disagree with you, my lord. I know for a certainty
that this is the most comfortable bed in the entire castle. I know this because
it was made for me.” Then a sudden look of guilt swept across her face and she
blushed. With an embarrassed glance at his face, she proceeded to crawl over
him until she sprawled wantonly over his chest as she reached beneath the
mattress on his side of the bed.

The suggestive display of her naked body spread out over his
chest gave Draco several notions as to how he might spend the rest of the early
morning hours, since he could not sleep. But as soon as she pulled out the lump
that had been bothering him since he had lain down in that spot, his lusty
thoughts fled out of his mind.

Truly he had never seen such a graceful weapon of death in
his entire life. It was a woman’s blade, long and slender with an elegant curve
to the steel that shimmered in the firelight. And fatally sharp.

“What is that doing beneath your mattress?”

“It was my mother’s dagger, a gift from her mother. It has
been passed down from one daughter to the next for many generations.”

“Yea, but that does not answer my question. What is it doing
under your bed?”

“I feel safer knowing that I have some means by which to
defend myself from overly zealous suitors. I placed the dagger there this
morning. A man will think twice about trying to seduce me if I pull out my
dagger and threaten his manhood.”

A devilish smile curved one side of Draco’s mouth as he
envisioned his little hellcat unmanning one of the sniveling idiots who had
come to court her. Thinking about the Russian prince who had arrived this
morning, he was pleased that she had the courage to wield such a sharp weapon.
That man looked to be dangerous in more ways than one.

“Well, my sweetling, any man foolish enough to even think
about searching you out in your bedchambers will find my fist smashed through
his face.”

“Yea, that should stop them.”

“Then let us keep the blade in a different place. This bed
is so soft, I could surely feel a pea if it lay under your mattress, let alone
weaponry.” With a deft hand, Draco flipped the knife so that he held the blade
by the point, and then with a quick flick of his wrist threw the dagger so that
it lodged into the bedpost at the foot of her bed. The blade quivered from the
impact.

His eyes snapped open to find darkness surrounding him. He
lay very still, listening. Draco was not sure what had disturbed his sleep but
he knew immediately that something was out of place.

Bianca slept soundly, her warm body nestled against him,
secure in his embrace. Her head was beneath his chin, one slender arm wrapped
about his waist, her knee tucked snugly between his thighs as she sought the
heat of his body.

And then the rhythm of her breathing changed and she moved
in his arms, tightening her hold on him.

“Draco?” she murmured sleepily. It seemed that whatever woke
him had aroused her slumbers as well.

“Hush, love. Everything is fine.”

And then he became distracted as her lips moved against his
neck while her thigh moved deliberately against his groin. He groaned in
response. As giggle escaped and she shifted in his arms and placed soft kisses
across the bare expanse of his chest.

The wench thought to tempt him and after the exhausting night
they had already spent making love, he should not have been so easy to arouse.
With deft skill, he rolled Bianca beneath him, smothering her gay laughter with
his hot kisses as he proceeded to make love to her until they both found their
release again and had fallen asleep in an exhausted but sated state.

For a while Draco lay half asleep. Then a small sound broke
through the sweet quiet of his thoughts. He strained his ears to determine from
whence the disturbance came. And then he heard it again. He turned his head to
the window. An odd, intermittent scraping noise came from beyond. It sounded as
if something or someone was climbing up the stones of the outer wall.

Carefully extracting himself from the warm comfort of the
slumbering form at his side, Draco eased himself off the bed. On silent feet,
he moved around the bed, dislodging the dagger from the bedpost, weighing it
deftly in his hand as he moved across the room as silent as a great cat. He
reached the window and slowly pulled the drapery aside.

The late summer night was bright under the glow of the full
silver moon that hung high in the heavens. The ground below was deserted as he
scanned the area for intruders. It was still too early for the servants to be
up and about their morning chores. In the distance, on the outer bailey wall,
he could make out the dark forms of the night guards as they moved slowly along
the top of the battlements.

Whatever roused him from his sleep had not disturbed the
castle defenses. Draco turned his head to glance into the darkness behind him.
It suddenly occurred to him that the threat, if there was one, came from within
the castle itself. The memory of young Theron’s torn, bloody body filled his
mind. The fiend that had committed the atrocity had yet to be apprehended and
could even now be somewhere within the confines of the walls of the estate.

A slight scraping sound drew his attention to his left and
above his head. He turned his head and was able to make out the silhouette of a
heavy rope beside him swinging madly, slapping the stone wall. As his eyes
followed the length of the rope up, he found the intruder. He was climbing up
the rope past Bianca’s new chambers to the window of her old chambers above.
The initial disturbance, which had awakened him, must have been the sound of
the iron hook hitting the window ledge above, skittering across the stone until
it found its anchor.

Draco studied the stealthy movements of the intruder and
almost snarled aloud his contempt. As he stood watching the dishonorable rogue
make an attempt to gain access to Bianca’s chambers in the middle of the night,
his blood boiled, pounding furiously through his veins. His fingers clenched
tightly on the edge of the windowsill as he bit back a vulgar curse. There
could be only one conclusion to this. The chance to relieve some of his
frustrations had come calling. He would have the opportunity to take out some
of his furor on a deserving target.

Turning from the window, Draco made his way across to where
his clothes lay on the floor. Bianca sighed as she moved restlessly in her
sleep. He paused only a moment to make sure that she did not wake up. When no
further sounds came from that direction, he slipped into his clothes and pulled
on his boots. He would not take any longer than necessary. Bianca would never
know that he was gone. He moved quietly to the side of the bed and bent to
place a kiss of promise on her forehead.

“I shall return, my sweet.”

* * * * *

The room was mostly in shadows, the hearth cold, but Evgenii
Sokolov did not let that deter him as he silently eased his large body through
the window. Carefully, he lowered one foot and then the other to the floor,
standing still before the opened window, letting his eyes become accustomed to
the darkness. After a moment or two, he moved forward, feeling his way with
careful steps and outstretched hands as he crept across the darkened room in
the direction of the bed.

The key to his future lay on that bed, sleeping peacefully,
never suspecting that her life was about to change for all time, her fortune
his to control. And that luscious little body! Even at the thought of this
night’s seduction, a cruel smile flickered across his face and his already
rising manhood clenched in anticipation. He was about to make Bianca de Neige
the happiest woman in the kingdom; what more could a woman desire?

After a night in his arms, she would be spoiled for any
other man. After all, did Evgenii not have a reputation of pleasuring a woman
until she moaned with passion as she writhed in his arms?

Evgenii smiled at the lustful thought and his anticipation
mounted. Not only would he have the most beautiful woman in the kingdom in his
power, he would finally attain the high position in society that had been
denied him for so many years. He would finally receive his rightful portion,
and after tonight, no one could deny it.

As Evgenii touched the edge of the bed, he could just make
out the small lump beneath the bedclothes. He leaned over and patted the soft
form.

“Come to me, my little babushka. Let me show you what it is
like to be with a real man.” He reached for the upper edge of the bedcovers and
slowly pulled them back. But what he found beneath the covers was not the warm,
curvaceous woman he had anticipated but a stack of pillows that had been molded
into a woman’s form.

“‘Tis not what you expected, Prince?”

The deadly soft voice came from the shadows behind him.
Before Evgenii could react, a spark flared and a lit taper was thrust in his
face as he whirled around. He took a defensive step back, his hand whipped up
to shade his eyes, and the other went to the dagger sheathed at his waist. When
his offended eyes adjusted to the glare he found himself facing the one man he
would rather have avoided.

The King’s champion—the great Black Dragon of Normandy.

The face of the huge knight behind the small, lit taper was
twisted into a cold mask of fury. Icy black eyes pierced Evgenii and to his
dismay, he found the fingers that rested on the hilt of his dagger trembling as
he fought the urge to take a step back. But even as fear threatened to turn him
into a sweating, quivering coward, his crafty mind worked furiously to come up
with a plausible explanation for being in the bedchamber of the duke’s
daughter.

“I…I…beg your pardon, what are you doing here? Where is the
Lady Bianca?” Try as he may, Evgenii could not keep the stutter of fear from
his voice. He swallowed quickly before continuing. “I fear that your presence
here will be most unwelcome as the lady and I have a previously arranged
appointment.”

As his words poured from his mouth, his courage grew until
he was actually motioning with his hand for Draco to leave. “This does not
concern you, my lord. If you leave now I will not feel obliged to inform the
duke that his daughter has been entertaining suitors in her chambers.” Even as
the last of his little spiel left his mouth, Evgenii realized that he had just
insulted the Lady Bianca to a man who was most likely her lover and possibly
the greatest warrior and swordsman in France.

A deep chuckle that was far from amicable rose as a deep
rumble in the throat of the huge baron-knight to echo around the stone walls of
the darkened room.

“Do not think that you can distract me with your
absurdities. You have made a serious mistake, Prince.” The ludicrous title fell
from his tongue like a vile curse. “This does concern me. Neither you nor I
will be leaving this room until I am satisfied that the lady in question will
not have to live with the fear of you sneaking up the castle wall and
attempting to compromise her good name. I am here to make sure that such a
thing does not happen again. Do you understand what I mean?” His last words
were bellowed.

The threat was more than understood and Evgenii barely
controlled his urge to turn tail and run in the face of this huge man’s fury.
He could do nothing but glare at the bastard who had become an unexpected
obstacle in his scheme to obtain the rich prize he had gone to such great
lengths to secure.

Evgenii kicked himself mentally for not following through
with his original plans. It would have been so much simpler to kidnap the rich
little bitch when she persisted on taking her unescorted morning rides.
Instead, he now found himself in a very precarious position because he had let
himself be swayed by the crazed ramblings of the jealous Heloise de Neige. His
only chance to win this contest was to make a strategic retreat and make a play
for Bianca de Neige at a later date. Evgenii was certainly no fool. If he did
not withdraw swiftly and deftly, he would find himself facing this mighty
warrior on the practice field and he had no plans to die any time soon. And
that would surely be the outcome of a duel between him and the Black Dragon of
Normandy.

“Please, m’lord, I meant no insult. This is a great
misunderstanding. I was told that the Beauty de Neige wished for me to come to
her. It is obvious that I was misinformed. A dreadful ruse has been played on
us both. I am grateful that this charade turned out as it has and no one has
come to harm.” Evgenii stressed the last bit of his entreaty hoping to
penetrate the raw fury that emanated off the man who stared him down as if he
were no better than a kitchen rodent. He resented Draco for that, but was smart
enough to keep his emotions skillfully hidden behind his mask of embarrassment.

“Do you take me for a fool? Your very presence here tells me
what kind of a man you are. Unscrupulous, amoral, dishonorable. You came here
with every intention of destroying the good name of the Lady Bianca. You
intended to put her in the unenviable position being disgraced if she did not
agree to marriage with you.” Draco shook his head slowly form side to side, his
eyes never leaving the intruder’s face. “For this sin against the fair Bianca,
you will deal with the consequences. Me.” Even as he stepped forward, Evgenii
threw up his hands to ward him off.

“Baron, please. Accept my sincere apology. This has all been
an unfortunate mistake. What else can you expect of me? What can I do to make
this up to the good lady and you?”

“You can climb.”

“What?”

Draco indicated the opened window. “You can leave by the
same route you arrived.”

“Are you mad? I damn near killed myself climbing up that
wall. You cannot really expect me to go back down that way. I would break my
neck attempting such a feat.” Evgenii glanced at the only other exit and
wondered if he could make it to the door without getting a dagger in his back.

“Perhaps. But then, that would save me the trouble later.”
Draco almost smiled when he saw the Russian’s throat convulse as he swallowed
hard.

“I…but…you are a demon.”

“No, Prince, it is you who are the demon.” Draco took one
step closer to the man, meaning to intimidate him. The Russian was a well-built
man, handsome even, not as tall as Draco was, nor as broad, but he was not a
puny man either. He was a man any woman would have found attractive, thought
Draco. Any woman but his Bianca. Awareness of what could have happened this
night if circumstances had been different, caused his wrath to rise to a new
and hotter magnitude.

“Proposing to climb into an innocent noblewoman’s bed in the
middle of the night to rape her so that you can claim her as your betrothed and
gain her fortune, makes you the demon.” Even as the words were out of his
mouth, Draco raised the tip of his sword to the Russian’s throat, prodding him
to move backward. “I think that it would be prudent for you to begin the climb
down, now, before I run you through and then pick you up and toss you out the
window.” Step by menacing step, the giant warrior forced the intruder to the
window. Evgenii backed away from the menacing sword pricking at his neck until
he stood before the window opening.

“You will regret this, Baron d’Ensoleille. I will see to
it.”

With the growled threat and a look of pure hatred, Evgenii
climbed out the window and disappeared into the darkness below. When he was
nearly to the ground the rope above him jerked once then twice and suddenly he
found himself free-falling the last few yards to the hard ground below.

Only a muffled cry of terror was heard before he hit the
ground with a thud and then a curse.

“Damn you, Draco. Damn you to hell!”

Draco snorted in disgust as he closed the shutters and made
his way to the chamber door. He walked down the corridor, his mind on the woman
he had left warming the bed he meant to return to.

* * * * *

“My God! What happened to you?”

Heloise opened her door to find Evgenii leaning heavily
against the doorjamb, scratched and bruised, his garments ripped and soiled. He
looked like he had been trampled under the hooves of a herd of pigs.