Her Druid Desire (The Amber Druid Series) (7 page)

           
“I’m glad that you caught on to the truth before he was able to strip your
wealth away or hurt you indefinitely.” He left the edge of the portico and
slowly walked towards her.
Her heart kick-started into a
dangerous tempo.
Something was different tonight. Something was causing
Drake to act even more territorial towards her. Nadia wasn’t sure how to feel
about that.

           
She could barely breathe whenever he stopped in front of her. His tall, massive
frame made her feel ultra feminine. Her forehead came to his breastbone, and
that was only because she was wearing high heels. The breeze turned, and Nadia
could smell the tinges of some spicy, woodsy cologne that he wore. She inhaled,
taking in the smell, recording it to her memory for the months to come. He was
so warm. And it took every ounce of her conscience not to give into the notion
to walk up to him and beg him to hold her. Just to feel those arms cradling
her, protecting her, caressing her…

           
The air stirred near her head, and instinctively she knew he had brushed his
fingers there. She almost moaned low in her throat, but killed the noise
instantly. There was the slight tug on her loose hair, and then she felt his
finger trace her jaw line. Nadia almost dropped to the ground at his feet. Her
breath crystallized in her lungs, and she knew in the back of her mind that
this was affecting her more than him.

           
“I don’t think you realize the kind of hurt he could have given you, Nadia.”

           
She tried to swallow, but her mouth was too dry. The moment was so acute that
she was able to feel the calloused skin on his fingers when he brushed her jaw
again.

           
“You are too small, too delicate, and so much more than that, to allow him to
mess with your life like he was doing.”

           
The words touched something deep inside of her, and Nadia clenched her teeth
from screaming out,
but you don’t understand! This was all to keep me away
from you. To keep the temptation of reaching out to touch you away from my
hands, away from me!

           
The
threat of tears returned. Oh dear God, what was she going to do? This was too
dangerous. She knew better than to dwell on anything he was doing or saying.
But it was so hard when he was saying all the right things, and touching her in
all the right ways.

           
You can’t have him Nadia. You knew that years ago, and you still know it
now.

           
Listening to her conscience warring inside her head, she pulled her chin from
his hold then locked the memory of his fingers on her skin in the vault of her
mind. Slowly stepping away from him, she put space between them, even as her
insides screamed at her not to do so.

           
“Whatever danger I was in with him around is no longer apparent,” the words
came out low, and deep. Nadia cleared her throat and continued, without looking
directly at Drake. “He will never be welcome in my life again.”

           
Without giving him a chance to say anything, she turned and left him standing
out in the moonlight, with only the sounds of night as company.

***

           
What in the hell just happened?

           
Drake clinched his fists, ground his molars together, and literally stopped
himself from breaking the top of the stone portico ledge in half. After a few
seconds the need to change had passed, but as a defensive mechanism, his fangs
were scraping his bottom lip.

           
“Fuck.”

           
The word was murmured low. Even humans couldn’t hear it, but just saying it
eased the tension coiling tight inside his body.

           
Movement jostled the small bush next to him on the outer perimeter of the
portico. His enhanced vision could see clearly in the night, and as he peered
into the bushes a small nighthawk gazed back at him coolly, her yellow eyes
warm and friendly. The bird let out a soft trill, a short hoot that fell on
Drake’s ears warmly. To any other human it would only be the sound of a bird
squawking. To Drake, he understood the emotion behind it. The hawk felt sorry
for him. Apparently the bird sensed his tension.

           
“Believe me, I don’t even understand it, friend.”

           
The hawk tipped her head curiously to the side, peering fiercely at Drake, then
flew off to find more interesting company.

           
The barrage of emotions from Nadia left Drake feeling as if the floor had been
scraped out from under him. It wasn’t often he was left standing around with
his thumb up his ass and nothing to say. Actually it was a very rare
occurrence. Usually he was able to cut through the bullshit and get to the
point. With Nadia, he couldn’t do so. He had the horrible feeling that he would
hurt her feelings if he did, so he never pushed her too far.

           
Brushing his hands through his hair he let out a growl, shook whatever tension
from his body that he could, and pushed the confusing thoughts away. He only came
out here to make sure Donavan, the ass, didn’t try something stupid.
Something that might warrant Drake kicking him into the next
century.
Of course that hadn’t happened, much to Drake’s dismay. But
damn, it would have been fun to take out his frustration for the dumb bastard
on the very man that caused Nadia’s pain in the first place. Just thinking of
that particular form of exercise got him all worked up again.

           
Remembering the pain, hesitation, and confusion that warred around and mixed in
her aura minutes ago was what had made him so confused. He hadn’t known whether
to console her, hug her, or leave her the hell alone. The blood inside her body
had also been at full alert, zinging around, rushing through her veins and
calling out to Drake, which told him that there was something happening here
that he wasn’t quite too sure of.

           
At first he sensed her depressed emotions, then tinges of wanting, of needing
something badly had come to the fore. When she walked away, the total
adjustment back to the real Nadia, the one that held her cards close to her and
never allowed anyone to see, was final. He knew better than to try and dissect
what he felt all at once. It would take awhile for the essence of her true
feelings to be signaled out.

           
After a few minutes of settling down, he managed to go back inside. Within
minutes he had zeroed in on his date and was about to leave, when Nadia’s small
frame plucked at the edge of his radar.

           
He couldn’t remember ever seeing her look so damn enticing. The wicked blue
gown suited her far better than those other, oversized frocks that she wore in
society. Well, the dresses weren’t that bad, but they sure as hell were nothing
compared to what she was wearing right now.

           
Dark blue clung to every curve of her body. Drake had never seen
that
much of her before. Now that he was, he was admitting that she was curved in
all the right places. The bare patch of shoulder led to her long, elegant neck,
and as he looked back down his eyes caught on the silver arm cuff that she was
wearing. For some reason that little extra jewelry made all the difference. She
looked pagan, dangerous, and fey-something not entirely of this world, and that
added to the mix of chameleon like fronts that had him so confused tonight.

           
He was just about to tear his eyes away when they lit and stayed on the long
length of one leg extended from the daring little split in that delicious
dress. Long, shapely and so damn beautiful. Before Drake could blink to take it
all in again, it was gone, back under the folds of the long gown. His gums
burned, so did his eyes. How in the world did such a short woman have such long
legs? How was it possible?

           
Why in the world does it matter to you? It took you this long to notice she
is a nicely put together woman. Leave it at that and don’t worry about how the
rest of her looks under that dress.

           
Nadia was almost like a daughter to him, not a woman that deserved to be
drooled over. Shaking those thoughts from his mind, he found Natalie and made
for the exit as if flames were licking behind his heels.

***

           
Nadia fingered the delicate silver chain of the necklace that her parents had
given her for their last Christmas together. The tears she hadn’t shed yet,
even after tonight’s emotional battlefield, still didn’t fall. They merely
rimmed along the lower lids of her eyes, causing everything to blur and basically
drive Nadia crazy.

           
The soft, but still fragile edges of the silver covered feather pricked her
finger. The feather came from a small hawk that Nadia had taken a liking to
after she’d noticed it at the Haven. The victim of a random vehicle accident,
the hawk had been picked up and taken to the Haven. The beautiful, regal
looking bird touched something deep inside her, causing her heart to stutter
every time she saw it. After doing what they could for the bird, it still
passed after dying from internal injuries.

           
Unbeknownst to Nadia, her father mentioned to Drake her feelings for the bird,
and Drake in turn had acquired one of the small feathers from the animal,
gotten it plated in silver, attached it to a delicate necklace, and Nadia’s
parents gave it to her as a Christmas present.

           
Now with the light from a few candles burning in her living area, Nadia let her
fingers trail over the frail edges of the feather. She always felt that even
though the gift came from her parents, Drake instead gifted her with something
from his world of animals, something full of healing and mystery. He held that
inexplicable air of understanding and knowledge about animals that she would
never comprehend. Watching him work with them was something unexplainable and
beautiful, and if a person watched too long, the connection between animal and
man took on a respectable and strong alliance.

           
One afternoon while waiting for her father to get off, she saw Drake and a few
men out in the paddocks working with an abused horse. Just the simple act of
trust, of allowing one small touch between human and animal, was something that
was instantly met with hostility from the sadly abused equine. That first
afternoon Nadia saw Drake enter the paddock and simply stand there, about
twenty-five feet away, as he watched the animal while humming something low
beneath his breath. He never really approached the animal. It was more along
the lines of a gentle seduction of the horse’s emotions. His long, tall body
would walk side to side, while his hands worked with a small lead rope, and his
eyes tracked the animal at all times. To Nadia it was like poetry. Something
incomprehensible with mere words, but she knew that Drake would sooner or later
overcome the issue of trust and the horse would accept him. Within weeks the
animal had.

           
She shook her head and looked at the tiny flame of the candle nearest to her.
The way she felt for him was similar to that flickering flame. She knew better,
but would her feelings for him ever be extinguished?

           
For the sake of her sanity she hoped it would happen soon.

           
“I’m getting a dog.”

           
Renee’s blue eyes peered over the lenses of her chic glasses, straight at
Nadia.
“A dog?
Since when have you started feeling
maternal and wanting to nest?”

           
Nadia shook her head as she answered, “I’m not nesting, or feeling maternal,
but the dog needs a home and I’m open for a change of scenery.” She slung a
questioning look over at Renee, “Why would
getting
a
dog mean that I’m nesting?” Did she project her loneliness that much?

           
Renee rolled her eyes and ignored the question, “
Ahh
…this
must be the dog you mentioned injuring the night you found out about Donavan. I
remember you saying something about the dog being at the Haven,” she told
Nadia, as her fingers slipped over the edges of a ton of papers on Nadia’s
desk.

           
Nadia joined in the search for the one paper that they couldn’t find. “Yeah,
Drake offered her to me before he put her up for adoption. After thinking about
it, I have decided to go ahead and accept his offer.”

           
Renee’s blue eyes slid over to her again.
“Drake?
Is
that the same Drake from a couple of weeks ago that came into the office
looking all delicious and much too
Texan
for me to handle?”

           
Nadia couldn’t help but smile at Renee as her fingers continued flipping
through papers. “That’s him, although I’m not too sure he would like to hear
you talking about him like he was the new flavor of the month.”

           
Renee huffed.
“Flavor of the month?
Honey,
try flavor of the year.
That man oozes so much sex appeal that my
beloved great grandmother, Esther, would claw her way out of the grave to just
look at him.”

           
“Well, I have decided to go ahead and adopt the dog. Hopefully I won’t live to
regret it,” Nadia told Renee, even as she was still smiling over Renee’s
statement about her great grandmother.