Her Druid Desire (The Amber Druid Series) (3 page)

           
The phrase was scalding and came from across the room. With his Druid ability,
the statement cut through the room like a knife with deadly accuracy. Drake
could feel the tension rise. Even with every other conversation going on at the
moment, the drone of whispers from across the room was amazingly accurate, and
Drake didn’t have to look to see where the women were sitting.

           
“I heard from Tammy the other day that she walked in on Donavan with Suzanne
Harrows. They were going at it like rabbits on his office desk in his house.
When she noticed, she ran, and no one has seen her since.”

           
“Do you blame her? I wouldn’t show my face either. Everyone knows he was only
with her for the money, and she couldn’t keep him happy one bit.” This was
whispered by another woman in the group. Drake could taste their excitement
over the juicy gossip that was being shared.

           
 “Ever since Linda Browning died a little over a year ago, Donavan had
been sniffing around the new protégé’s tail hoping against hope that she might
give in and let him inside. Well, he was let in, and was just getting his hands
all up in that particular cookie jar, when little Ms. Upstart caught onto what
he was doing.”

           
Drake continued to glance around the ballroom, make small talk with Laura and a
few other guests, but the conversation across the room was giving him more
answers than anyone else had over the past week. He usually wouldn’t take
anything they said at face value, but for some reason this particular gossip
fest felt true, especially when he knew Donavan to be an ass already.

           
The appearance of Nadia on his doorstep late last Friday night had jarred him a
bit. After examining the animal and gleaning a bit more from being in her
presence, he could now see what should have been more than apparent to him when
he first opened the door. She’d been extremely upset, and not just because of
what happened to the animal. Something else caused the anger, hurt, and
betrayal to seep from her pores, shimmering above her in luminescent waves.

           
The new, young protégé of the deceased Linda Browning was a twenty five year
old newcomer into the world of horrendously wealthy, diabolically smug
socialites. In Texas, wealth was only frowned on when you were newly minted by
its clutches. But along those same lines, it was forgivable if you were thrown
headlong into the fray. In Nadia’s position, Drake knew that it was pure
jealousy and back biting arrogance that was giving her nothing but hell ever
since she had taken over the reigns of Linda’s business.

           
Apparently Linda had seen something-some bright, focused light inside the young
woman that cemented the decision in her mind to move her up in the world. At
twenty-four, Nadia became president,
numero
uno
, over the brain center of The Browning Corporation. She
worked her way up since the age of eighteen, and now, in turn, ran a huge
corporation that managed three magazines; two boutiques, one in Beaumont, the
other in Houston; and numerous charity organizations. Not to mention, it kept
her in a state of luxury that continued to amaze the young woman that came from
a lower class working family.

           
The will hadn’t been that shocking, at least not in Drake’s estimation, and he
knew that the job was more than a handful. But the ever resourceful and
determined Nadia could make anything run smoothly.

           
When they first moved to Texas, back when Nadia was twelve,
her father, Matt Morales, worked for him until the day of his and his wife’s
death when Nadia was a green sixteen year old.
Matt had been one of the
best accountants that Drake ever employed, and upon his death, Drake had kept
an eye on the young and impressionable girl that was left all alone then
shipped off to a foster home, but he never forced himself in her life.

           
At the age of eighteen, right out of high school, Drake pulled a few strings with
Linda, promising her that he would find someone perfect to be the assistant to
Linda’s personal secretary. He’d gotten Nadia the interview, without her
knowledge, and from then on anything that caught Linda’s eye had been all
Nadia.

           
Now sitting here, suffering through this fanfare event, Drake listened to the
gossipy hens on the far side of the ballroom, and was sick to his stomach at
what had surely caused that hurt, painful stamp around Nadia’s aura the other
night. She was a lovely young woman, brimming with drive and fire, and he only
hoped she could come back from that pain and move beyond it.

           
Now he would just have to contain the urge to rip Donavan Hamilton’s limbs from
his body the next time he saw the bastard.

           
The hot Texas sun beat down on Nadia’s uncovered head as she sat beside a
clearly upset Franco Magana in the outside corner of a trendy downtown
restaurant. The establishment’s high walls halfway protected the wealthy
clientele from the press, but just twenty minutes ago their waiter had to call
the police to pull a photographer from the tree beside Nadia’s table.

           
The madness was already beginning.

           
The man was raving about trying to get a picture of the elusive “ice princess,”
as Nadia was being called now.

           
She sunk her fingers into the muscles around her neck, trying to ease the
tension away. The model she used for high profile shoots like these hadn’t
shown up this morning, which was the last thing she wanted to happen since she
was trying to make Mr. Magana happy.

           
“Darling, I need models that show up on time. With no models, we have no
picture taking. I know you realize this, no?” Franco’s head tipped slightly
sideways, as his accented voice
poured
over Nadia’s
stretched out nerve endings.

           
“Mr. Magana, I’m so sorry. I will call in two other models for tomorrow. How is
that?” Nadia questioned, hoping to soothe the irate Italian photographer. She
needed him for the new spread. THE TREND was on pace to join the ranks of
exalted magazines everywhere, and when you were being compared with the likes
of VOGUE, COSMOPOLITAN, and VANITY FAIR,  every department needed to be
running like a ship in top notch performance. This was the first time since
she’d come on board as the new president that they were this close to matching
those fine journals. She was determined to do everything to make that happen,
without losing her vision or her mind along the way.

           
“Call me Franco, love, and of course that will work. I love you and what you
are doing with this company. I know Linda would have loved it too. That is why
I work with you, no?” Franco said with surprising honesty.

The
middle-aged photographer to the stars was on everyone’s list. For Nadia, she
pulled the coup of the decade getting him to shoot a spread for her magazine.
So far he was acting totally out of character. She’d heard very bad things
about this man, how he was vainer than ten supermodels, an extreme perfectionist
and numerous other things, but looking at him now Nadia was just damn glad she
could placate him enough to have him come back and try this all over again.

           
“Darling,” his voice deep with an Italian accent, “you need to let these
worries you have pass you by. It is not good for you or for your business.”

           
Nadia shook her head “I know.”
God,
did she ever.

           
She looked up over the table to the handsome Franco and sent him a gracious
smile. “Please, let me apologize once more, and like I said, we will be back
where we need to be tomorrow with more models than you can shake a finger at.”

           
A smile full of Italian charm slipped over his features. “Good, I cannot wait
to capture the beauty and fire of this great city for your magazine.”

           
 Two hours later, Nadia was beginning to cool off in her downtown office
in Beaumont, when Renee opened the door.

           
“Here are the messages from yesterday that I forgot to hand you, sorry, and
also you have an enormously sexy man waiting for you,” Renee told her with a
wide smile. The woman was the same age as Nadia, but a little more outspoken
with her sexuality than Nadia would ever be. With her dark red-gold curls and
an hourglass figure, it was hard for men to have a decent conversation with
her, but for Nadia it was Renee’s sharp mind that kept her in this office. She
was a shark-ruthless when she wanted information and downright mean when
crossed. Nadia was more sedate, but loved Renee’s outlandish moments. The office
place was never boring with her around.

           
“I just got here,” Nadia whined, sitting back in her swivel chair and rubbing
those muscles again. She swore she could feel the tension ebbing back into
them. The day was never going to end.

           
“Please tell me that you aren’t going to make me turn him away.” Renee’s blue
eyes practically begged Nadia, “If not for the sake of him needing to see you,
at least let me tell him that you are busy so that I can keep him occupied in
the front.”

           
 He must really be something for Renee to get all worked up. Usually her
eccentric secretary knew her worth, but kept the men to a distance, not caring
one way or the other if they found her attractive or not. It seemed to Nadia
that she really wanted to get her hands on this one.

           
“I couldn’t care less what you tell him, but allow me to grab something for my
head before you send him in,” Nadia murmured, as she went through her top
drawer searching for the bottle of aspirin she usually kept there.

           
“I’ll give you a few moments to unwind before sending him in,
kay
?” Renee gave Nadia a wink then turned and walked out,
closing the door behind her.

           
After taking the aspirin, Nadia leaned her head back on the headrest and tried,
unsuccessfully, to relax. The past week had been hellish and like she assumed,
the ugly rumors spread, fueling gossip and more gossip. She wanted nothing more
than to crawl under a rock and sleep the next year away. Hopefully, by that
time the gossip mongers would find something else to sink their teeth into.

           
Without giving a thought to what she looked like, she pulled the clip from her
hair in the back. The tension eased ever so slowly. Usually she didn’t have to
travel to Houston all that much. Her company headquarters were here, in
Beaumont, and with Derek running her large office in Houston, she was lucky to
stay close to home. Today’s visit was specifically to placate Franco, and she
managed to do so.

           
The afternoon sunlight slipped through her office windows highlighting the
beautiful green walls and numerous bookshelves that lined them. Nadia got up
and took off her light business jacket, hanging it on the coat rack beside the
door. She pulled on her shirt, making sure the edges were still tucked in to
her trousers, and then went and sat back down, determined to see what her
mysterious “sexy guest” wanted. Then she could send him on his way and finally
relax.

           
Right before Renee buzzed him in to allow him entrance into her office, there
was a slight charge in the air, almost as if a jolt snagged through the air and
into her body. With some alarm she watched the door open, and not surprisingly,
Drake Thompson walked in.

           
The tingles gave him away. It was always like this for her, even when she had
been a young twelve year old girl, new to Beaumont. Back then the tingles had
scared the
bejesus
out of her. Now, she knew deep
down inside her body, where she let no emotion reach, that this strong, deeply
masculine man touched something far inside of her that had never been visible
to anyone else.

           
His body, massive and honed to hard perfection, paused inside her office
doorway. Testosterone oozed from him, stifling the air around him and letting
her know that he was a bit more dominant than any other man would ever be.
Nadia realized that no matter how persuasive he could be, how tactile and
convincing, he was still the suave Texas gentleman, not entering her office
until she deemed him able.

           
“Drake,” Nadia greeted him with a slight nodding of her head, telling him
without words that he was welcome. She moved back to her chair and sat behind
her desk, hoping the monstrous piece of wood would help her feel a bit more
balanced and in command with him nearby. So far it wasn’t working.

           
“Nadia,” he murmured her name with all the rich vagaries of an exotic slur. To
her it seemed to take him forever before he finished. His voice rippled like
slow molasses warming in the hot sun. Tipping his head, he moved farther into
the office and then lowered his body into one of the two chairs across from her
desk.

           
She admired the ease in which he crossed one booted ankle over the opposite
knee, sprawling in her chair as if it were a recliner, his body deceptively
lazy looking in a half slouch. An older, snap front western shirt covered the
broad expanse of his chest, while tattered denim hugged his long legs. Large,
worn leather boots covered his feet. The dark warm chocolate of his hair was a
bit long around his ears, but what really drew Nadia’s attention were his eyes.
A decadent, sinful caramel color, warmed to a rich golden brown. Dark, heavy
lashes fanned out around those scorching eyes and Nadia felt her body rise ten
degrees hotter.