Dragon Warrior (Midnight Bay) (13 page)

Chapter Nine

T
hanks to Mabel insisting that he take her out to lunch three times a week to learn how things worked in this century, William had become very comfortable eating in restaurants. And tonight he found he quite liked the concept of dating as well, as he couldn’t remember spending a more entertaining and enlightening meal with a lovelier woman. And a rather talkative one, too; the more Maddy drank the more she talked, and the more she talked the more enchanted William became. She’d even admitted that Eve had said she could only have one drink to calm her nerves—a little tidbit she’d thrown out after finishing her fourth glass of what she’d called a Long Island Iced Tea.

William had taken a sip at her insistence, and decided it wasn’t like any tea he’d ever tasted; the fumes alone could have brought down a bear. When he’d asked why she felt the need to calm her nerves, Maddy had explained how dating was like riding a horse, and that when a person repeatedly fell off, they sometimes needed a little liquid courage to climb back on again. Then she’d gone on to say she was limiting herself to only four drinks tonight, as five seemed to be her tipping point for outright stupidity.

William had followed the waiter to the bar when she’d obviously lost count and ordered her
fifth
drink, and he’d instructed the man to cut the liquor down to a quarter and replace it with more of the tea. He was pleased Maddy was comfortable enough to let her guard down with him, but he preferred his women
consciously
willing.

He’d limited himself to two drinks of warm straight whiskey, unwilling to let his own guard down as long as Maddy was in his care.

All in all, he felt the evening was a success thus far. In fact, he even got to drive. Maddy had handed him the keys as they’d stood up to leave—after gulping down her sixth drink—saying she certainly wasn’t drunk but maybe it would be better if he drove. And seeing how she appeared relaxed and rather agreeable, he figured she wouldn’t start screaming if the truck decided to stray off the pavement of its own accord.

It was his first experience driving at night, and he found that once he left the town of Oak Harbor and was traveling a dark road, the headlights were more of a hindrance than a help. He tried to turn them off, but no matter which button he pushed he couldn’t make them go out. Total darkness would have allowed his eyes to adjust, whereas the headlamps only shone a few hundred paces in front of the truck, so he had to go very slow for fear something would suddenly appear in front of him.

Maddy complimented him several times on the drive back to Midnight Bay, and said he should be able to get his license very soon.

William decided the more time he spent with the lass, the more he liked her.

He slowly made his way down the dirt road going into his land, stopped at the edge of the cove, and shut off the engine. And
still
the lights didn’t go out.

“Are the blasted lights going to stay on all night?” he muttered.

Maddy giggled. “They’re on a timer; they’ll go out in a minute or two. They stay on so you can walk to the house without tripping over anything.” She giggled again, only to end with a hiccup—which made her giggle
again
. “I haven’t been down this road since high school,” she said. “We used to come here to drink and go parking.”

“How does one
go
parking? If you’re parked, you aren’t going anywhere.”

The dash lights let him see her surprise. “You’ve never been
parking
?”

“I believe we’re parking right now, are we not?”

Her expression went from surprised to intense.

The headlights suddenly went out, plunging them into darkness, and Maddy hiccupped again—which was followed by another giggle. She blindly reached over and grabbed his arm. “We’re certainly not going to be able to park in this truck. The console is keeping you way over there.” There was enough moonlight that William could see her smiling somewhat expectantly as her fingers feathered over his forearm. “But I guess that’s why they make backseats,” she said huskily.

He glanced over his shoulder and would have laughed if he hadn’t known she was serious. Full-grown men and women made love in backseats? Christ, he’d get a leg cramp just trying to undress her.

Maddy hiccupped again, but no giggle followed as she pulled her hand away.

“Come on,” he said, opening his door—which brought on the
interior
lights this time, allowing him to see her cheeks had turned a lovely pink as she stared down at her hands in her lap. “Let’s head up to the bluff so I can show you my building site. Wait, stay there; I’ll walk around and get you, so ye don’t trip and fall.”

He held on to the truck to guide himself around to her side, as he couldn’t see the ground because apparently the interior lights were also on a timer. He took hold of her hand as she slid out, and immediately closed her door.

“Just stand here a minute until the lights go out and your eyes can adjust to the moonlight,” he suggested, lacing his fingers through hers. “Are ye cold, lass?” he asked when she hugged herself with her free arm. “Your long skirt might be warm, but your blouse is sleeveless. Here, I’ll give ye my shirt,” he said, letting her go to unbutton it.

“No! I mean, you should probably leave it on,” she said, her voice sounding even huskier as she stopped him by grabbing both of his wrists.

The interior lights suddenly shut off. William felt her fingers flex on his wrists, heard her breath hitch, and suddenly her hands were gone and she hiccupped again.

But no giggle.

His eyes having adjusted to the moonlight enough to see that she’d gone back to hugging herself, William unbuttoned his shirt, pulled the tails out of his pants and shrugged it off, and then wrapped it over her shoulders.

“Omigod,” he heard her whisper on an indrawn breath, which was quickly followed by a strangled hiccup.

“Slide your arms into the sleeves,” he told her. As soon as she did, he took her hand and started leading her up the new road the crew had carved through the trees. “I believe you’re going to have your stockings blown off, lass, once we reach the bluff.”

“Omigod,” he heard again, only this time it came out more as a squeak.

“Can ye see well enough?” he asked. He wrapped an arm around Maddy’s waist and tucked her against his side when they reached the uneven ground of the building site.

She hiccupped so violently that she stumbled anyway, and William stopped and turned to face her. “I believe I have a cure for what ails ye,” he said, threading his fingers through her hair to cup her face in his palms. He tilted her head and covered her mouth with his own just as her soft sweet lips parted in surprise.

Her hands gripped his wrists, her breath hitched, and she leaned into him. Aye, he knew exactly how to cure what ailed the lass.

And she seemed to like his medicine. In fact, she parted her lips even more, and her sweet, delicate tongue found his. She trailed her fingers down his forearms, then back up, then down again before moving them in a feathery path up his naked torso. She splayed her hands over his back and pulled herself into him, the entire length of her body melting against his.

She started making soft little sounds, her hands kneading his muscles. William tucked her head in the crook of his arm and deepened his kiss even as he reached down and cupped her bottom, her mewls turning to moans when he pulled her against his groin. She started trembling again, but William knew she wasn’t cold. Without breaking their kiss, he turned them both as he searched for a place to lay her down.

The moonlight shone off a thick cloth covering some building material, and he reluctantly tore his mouth from hers, smiling openly at her protest. “It’s just temporary, lass,” he said, leading her to the cloth. He tugged it free and dragged it—towing Maddy with him—to a patch of grass, and tossed it down, pulled her back into his arms, and settled his mouth back over hers.

The moment she melted into him again, he eased them both down onto the makeshift bed he’d made, settling beside her to wrap her in his arms.

Only the lass seemed to have another idea; she hiked up her billowy skirt to slide a leg over his hips, and swung up to straddle him. “I’m afraid it’s
your
stockings that are going to get blown off, Mr. Killkenny,” she said with a throaty giggle, her hands splaying across his naked chest as she pressed her womanhood against him. But when he tried to reach for her, she captured his wrists, leaned forward, and pinned his hands beside his head.

“Not so fast, big man. I’ve been waiting a rather long time for this. You just lie back and relax,” she whispered, her big dark eyes locked on his. “And enjoy the show.”

She thought
she’d
been waiting a long time? Hell, he’d been several centuries yearning to get his hands on a woman again!

She hesitated to see if he would obey, then straightened—which served to press her rather provocatively onto the growing bulge in his pants. Having absolutely no intention of just
watching
, William slowly slid his hands under her skirt—relishing every inch of her silky thighs—and grasped her hips.

She stilled in the act of unbuttoning her blouse. “I thought you weren’t a leg man,” she said as he worked his fingers beneath her underpants to palm her soft, wonderfully feminine bottom.

“Not a—what could have given ye that impression?” he asked, even as he used his grip to slide her along the length of his shaft.

“N-never mind,” she said with a breathless moan, squirming intimately against him. She hurriedly finished unbuttoning her blouse and shrugged it off along with his shirt, only to reveal a small lacy garment that looked to be strangling her bosom and causing an intriguing amount of flesh to spill over the top.

“Christ’s blood, can ye breathe in that thing?” he asked, every last bit of his blood shooting to his groin. He bolted upright with every intention of helping her out of the garment, eager to taste her sweet flesh.

But she reared away with a gasp of surprise. William lifted his hands to catch her from falling backward—which in turn lifted her billowy skirt up, exposing her bottom to the ocean air.

She immediately lurched forward and reached back to pull it down, driving her bosom into his face. He fell back with a muffled grunt of surprise when something hard and pointy nearly poked out his eye.

With a yelp of horror, she tried scrambling off him, driving the air from his lungs when she shoved herself off his chest, her knee damn near emasculating him. William bolted upright to protect himself and caught her flailing arms. He rolled them both over to pin her to the cloth as she continued to try to push her skirt—which was tangled up in his legs—back into place.

“Maddy, darling,” he whispered, working to keep the edge from his voice, “what say we just lie here for a while and enjoy the moonlight?”

She suddenly hiccupped, and William tucked her against his side with a sigh of defeat, guessing that if drink number five was her tipping point for stupidity, number four must be her point of calamity.

Either that or they were
both
out of practice.

Maddy couldn’t remember ever being so embarrassed.

But then, she’d never tried to make love while keeping most of her clothes on before, either. That’s why she’d worn this skirt; because it was full enough that she could just pull it up, slip off her panties, and straddle William. And the thin lace on the top half of her bra was supple enough that she could tuck it under to expose her nipples while still keeping her boobs jacked up. It was all part of her perfect plan of seduction; she could blow William’s mind with sexy underwear and a little mystery and show off her good assets while keeping her flaws hidden.

“Can I ask ye a question?” he said over the sound of the gentle surf washing against the rocks below.

“No.” She’d had to mutter her answer into his naked chest, because he was holding her plastered against him, apparently afraid she would attack him again. She took as deep a breath as his embrace would allow and let out a sigh. “Okay, what?”

“That tiny garment you’re wearing around your bosom; is there metal in it?” he asked, rubbing his eye with his free hand. But then she saw him hold it up in the moonlight and rub his fingers together as if they were wet.

Maddy popped up as far as his grip would allow. “Are you
bleeding
?” she asked, touching his cheek just below his eye. When she felt her own fingers come away wet, she shoved her hand down the front of her blouse to her bra. “Omigod, my underwire worked free and poked you in the eye!” she cried in dismay. Utterly humiliated now, she tried to get up so she could go jump in the ocean and drown herself.

He pulled her head back down to his chest with a chuckle. “It’s not a mortal wound, lass. So what’s an underwire?”

Maddy went still. He hadn’t really just asked that, had he? “It’s a wire, or rather a set of wires, sewn into a bra to shape a woman’s breasts and . . . jack them up.”

“Why?”

“So we don’t trip over them,” she snapped, trying to wiggle free again.