The Dragon in the Stone (4 page)

If she was still dreaming—and
surely she had to be, because this was all too fucked up to be real, wasn’t
it—then she really must stop eating cheese before bed.

And if it wasn’t a dream, then
she was in deep shi
t
. The pounding in her head
increased in tune to the soft words spoken by this woman, and more waves of
pain assaulted her body.

“
There, sweet child, I know it hurts, but you will
heal. Try and eat something and then you can rest. You need to sleep to let
your body heal itself. You’ve been through quite an ordeal, it seems.”

A cool spoon placed on her bottom
lip, meant she opened her mouth instinctively, and the warm soothing
broth—chicken, unless her senses were completely off—slid down her bruised
throat. That, too, left a trail of fire behind, and Rhonda shook her head.

“
Too sore to eat? Poor thing. Drink this then… Yes,
you must.” The voice grew more urgent, demanding in its intensity, as something
cold and rather foul-tasting invaded her mouth.

“
Yes, I know it tastes awful, but it will not harm
you. Just make you sleep. There you are now, rest.”

Rhonda struggled against the
sluggishness coursing through her veins as her limbs grew heavy, but it was
useless. Whatever she had been given made it impossible to stay awake, and
Rhonda gave up trying to do anything other than what her body urged her to do.

Chapter
Four

“
It’s been three days. Surely she ought to be allowed
to wake up now.” Drorgan leaned against the door frame to his bedchamber, and
scowled at the hive of activity in what once had been his sanctuary.

Servants were carrying buckets of
water up to his antechamber where a hollowed out stone served as a bathing
chamber, and Magda was hovering around the pale woman in his bed like a mother
hen.

“
I told you she will, when she is ready, hence we’re
getting a bath ready for her. Stop glaring and make yourself useful and heat
that water. I think she’s coming ‘round.”

Sure enough a cock-hardening moan
came from the woman in his bed, and Drorgan couldn’t tear his gaze away from
the sight of her stretching like a cat. It made the sheet slip, exposing one
creamy shoulder. The thin night rail Magda had procured for their guest did
little to hide her assets from view, and Drorgan swallowed a groan of his own.

Magda shook his head at him, and
taking the hint, he stalked off to the little chamber now bathed in sunlight.
The servants scuttled away, having deposited the last bucket of water, and
Drorgan stuck his hand into the bath, allowing his dragon’s fire to transfer to
the liquid.

The murmur of female voices
carrying through the heavy stone walls made his shoulder blades itch. He
couldn’t quite hear the woman’s replies as the water bubbled up at the point of
boiling, obscuring his hearing, but he sensed her approach.

Drorgan
had just enough time to pull his hand out of the bathtub before he heard the
soft gasp behind him, and he crunched his jaw in disgust. That’s what he got
for caring. He should have stayed away, far away, but no matter how hard he
tried, his dragon had insisted time and time again to seek out the woman
slumbering in his bed.

The only rest Drorgan had managed
to get had been curled up in the overstuffed chair by the fire. Close enough to
her to keep an eye on her, yet far away enough to not give into the temptation
to touch her pale skin, or to slip in under the covers with her, when she had thrashed
about in her sleep, mumbling unintelligible sounds. More than once she had
murmured his name in that throaty voice of hers. It had meant sleep had eluded
him completely. She must have picked it up from the servant’s chatter around
her sleeping form when they came to tidy the room during the day, because she
couldn’t know who he was.

Drorgan always made sure he was
well away in the morning, though he knew Magda, at least, would have noticed
his presence. No matter how much he ruffled up the bedcovers in one of the
guest rooms, one sniff with Magda’s dragon enhanced senses would have told her
he hadn’t slept in that bed since the night it had been made.

Which no doubt explained why he
felt so out of sorts. Nothing he did soothed the churning in his gut, nothing
bar sitting and watching over the sleeping beauty.

And beautiful she most certainly
was, even with the bruises marring her skin.

“
Rhonda, really, you need to take it easy.” Magda’s
voice held a hint of humor as though she found this whole situation highly
amusing, whereas Drorgan doubted his hearing. Had his old nursemaid just called
the woman Rhonda?

The tentative touch of slender
fingertips on his shoulder made him freeze. It couldn’t be.

“
It seems Rhonda here knows you, Drorgan.”

He shook his head and forced a
denial past his lips.

“
That’s impossible.”

Another soft gasp brought with it
Rhonda’s scent, and he balled his hands into fists when she stepped so close
that the weight of her breasts rested against his back. Predictably his cock
took that as an invitation and roared to life with a speed that left him rather
lightheaded, as all his blood shot south.

“
The water is ready. I must go.”

Coward.

Magda’s voice in his head made him
spin round. He had every intention of sidestepping the wide eyed woman now in
front of him, but Rhonda swayed as though she was going to fall, and he grasped
her round the waist to steady her. The action meant that the entire length of
her delectable curves molded against his body, and there was no way on earth
she would miss how much he wanted her. Sure enough her toffee colored eyes
widened a fraction, the pupils dilating, and it took every ounce of willpower
Drorgan possessed to not reach out and pull her in with his magi
c
. To claim the sweet lips, to taste her, to take what
her body offered, and damn the consequences.

However, that’s how he had ended
up in this living nightmare that was his existence in the first place, and if
this woman really was the sweet little Rhonda he’d spent that memorable night
with, then he needed to stay far away from her.

Turning his head to the left on
purpose he exposed his scar to the sunlight streaming into the room, and Rhonda
stiffened.

There, that should put her off
for good. Just like she had done as a child, this woman surprised him, however.
She wriggled to bring her hand up, until her fingertips traced the scar. The
innocent action left his skin on fire, and he shut his eyes to stop one of his
senses at least.

“
Thank you for saving me, Drorgan.” Her whispered
words forced his eyes open, and he swallowed hard when his gaze connected with
hers. “I never got a chance to say that as a child. It bothered me.”

“
You said it plenty to the stone.”

Rhonda smiled up at him, and,
fuck him if her smile didn’t light up the room, and make his dragon want to
curl up at her feet. Why wasn’t she afraid of him, dammit? She was supposed to
be horrified, not look up at him as though the sun rose and set in his eyes.

“
You could hear me?” she asked.

Drorgan grunted in answer,
earning himself a snide remark in his head from Magda, who was watching his
interaction with Rhonda with a satisfied grin on her face.

“
He isn’t normally this shy in talking, Rhonda.”

Drorgan glared at Magda over Rhonda’s
head, and a giggle escaped the woman in his arms. Belatedly he realized he was
still holding onto her far too tightly, and stepping away he extricated
himself, while holding onto her elbow and steering her toward he bath tub.

“
Like I said I have somewhere to be. The water should
be at the right temperature now.”

With those words he took off as
though the hounds of hell were after him.

****

“
Thank you.” Rhonda’s words hung in the still air
where her rescuer had stood seconds before. Her hot as Hades, grumpy as hell,
and huge as a mountain
dragon
had stood. Her dragon, who clearly was
capable of shifting into a man, and…

Ronda’s brain refused to work,
and she sank down onto the side of the stone bath, grateful for the seat as her
legs gave up any pretense of holding her up anymore.

“
Holy shit, that did just happen, right?”

The elderly lady, under whose
care Rhonda had struggled awake mere minutes ago, smiled and nodded.

“
I’m not entirely sure that body function could ever
be described as holy, but if you mean to express your surprise at Lord Drorgan
being here, then I can assure you he was. This is his bedchamber, after all.”

Heat rose in Rhonda’s cheeks as
images of the two off them entangled in a sweaty heap immediately bombarded her
brain. He had definitely responded to her after all, if the massive erection that
had branded her lower belly was any indication. She barely resisted the urge to
touch her abdomen, all too aware of the way the other woman was studying her.

“
You mean he rescued me again, and then I turfed the
man out of his own bed. He is a man right?” Magda’s smile deepened when Rhonda
looked across to her, and when she nodded, Rhonda breathed a sigh of relief.

“
As well as a dragon, yes, dear, but don’t worry over
all of that now. He’ll tell you his story in good time, I’m sure, and if he
doesn’t…”

The woman’s smile grew impish,
and she winked at her.

“
You’ll find all the answers you need in the
library.”

Rhonda’s heart beat faster at the
mention of books, and she couldn’t keep her excitement out of her voice.

“
You have a library here?”

Magda laughed, and stepping up to
her, loosened the strings holding Rhonda’s night dress together. The material
slipped off her shoulders and fell into a heap around her hips.

“
Lord Drorgan’s castle is self-sufficient, as you
will find out. You’ll have plenty of time to explore it once you’ve had a good
soak to ease those muscles. You’ve been asleep for three days, aided by my
sleeping draught, as you needed to heal. The ordeal you went through was very
hard on your body. Humans are such fragile beings after all.”

A shiver of dread went down
Rhonda’s spine at the odd choice of words. Magda made it sound as though the
woman wasn’t human, and she looked perfectly normal to her. Even in her head
Rhonda winced at that choice of words. What was normal anyway?

Surely she had left normal behind
that night twenty-five years ago, when she’d witnessed a dragon emerge from a
stone in the river, just like she’d been rescued this time ‘round by the same
dragon. A dragon, which had the ability to morph into one of the most imposing
men she had ever met. A man who sent her pussy into spasms with just one look
from those piercing blue eyes, so that she had melted into his embrace like
some sort of wanton offering … oh God, what must he think of her?

“
I can sense your emotions jumping all over the
places, my dear. Stop worrying over all that now, and have a soak. Ring the
bell when you’re ready to come out, and I’ll send Miriam up to help you get
dressed. She’s one of the kitchen maids, but she’s rather got an eye for
ladies’ clothes, so she will do as your ladies’ maid while you stay at the
castle.”

Rhonda managed a grunt in
response, and Magda smiled.

“
I suspect you will want to relieve yourself, too.”
She pointed to another seat, seemingly carved out of stone at the opposite end
of the chamber. “If you lift the lid and just do what you have to, it will be
taken care of.”

“
Right.”

Magda’s smile deepened while
Rhoda inwardly rolled her eyes at her seeming inability to speak in anything
other than monosyllables.

“
I’ll leave you to it then.” Magda turned to leave
and then seeming to think better of it, looked at her. Rhonda was shocked to
the core to see the moisture lurking in the other woman’s eyes.

“
Don’t let him scare you away. He will try to do that
out of some misguided sense of honor, but he needs you. We all do, so whatever
happens, please keep an open mind, and try not to jump to conclusions.”

Rhonda nodded, more confused than
ever, and rather miffed that anyone would think that of her.

“
I’m not in the habit of jumping to anything,
conclusions or otherwise. I’ve always preferred to form my own opinions.”

She tried her best not to fidget
under Magda’s searching gaze, especially considering that she was sitting half
naked on the edge of a bath in what looked to be a medieval castle of sorts,
lord only knew where and when. That thought made her heart miss a beat.

“
Tell me what year is it, and where exactly am I,
Magda.”

The old woman sighed and shrugged
her shoulders.

“
I believe people in your time frame call this the
coast of Ireland. It had a different name when Lord Drorgan was a mere boy. As
to what year it is, I couldn’t rightfully say. Time moves differently in the
castle than elsewhere, and I have already said too much. I must go. Enjoy your
soak, my dear.”

With that, Magda left, the dull
thud of the massive oak doors shutting behind her in the bed chamber signaling
her departure.

Now that she was alone, the
urgent demands of her bladder took uppermost precedence in her mind, and it was
with a certain amount of trepidation that she approached the stone seat, and
lifted up the wooden cover.

Well, at least that looked
vaguely familiar, not unlike the toilets they had back home. Having taken care
of business, Rhonda sent a pitcher of water from her bath down into the abyss
for good measure. Heaven only knew where it led. For all she knew she might
have just splashed some unfortunate passerby in the courtyard. Then again, they
were on the wrong side of the castle, weren’t they?

A quick look out of the stained
glass window showed her nothing but sea as far as the eye could see. She was
too far up to hear the waves breaking against the cliffs the castle stood on,
but she recalled seeing them now, as they’d flown up the seemingly never ending
expanse of cliff side until the ruined castle had come into view.

Only it wasn’t a ruin, was it,
and Ireland sure made sense. While geography was certainly not her strong
point, it would match what she remembered of their flight away from home, and
Ireland had many ruined castles along its shore line, didn’t it?

The cymbals she had been fighting
in her head returned with a vengeance, and giving up on trying to place her
location, she sank into the surprisingly deep waters of her bath with a sigh. It
must have taken an army of servants to fill this cavernous stone to the brim
with water, and even longer to heat it.

Mind you, Drorgan was a dragon,
and he had had his hand in the bubbling water when she’d come into the room, so
maybe hot water wasn’t that hard to come by in this place.