The Drake Restrained Collection: Part 1 and 2 (The Drake Series Book 3) (8 page)

"Calves and knees look
great
." I bit my lip to keep from grinning widely and left her on the bed, going to the en-suite bathroom to look for some supplies. I checked in the cabinets and drawers for something to clean her wounds and found a bottle of peroxide and some cotton balls, gauze and bandages. I wet a washcloth and brought everything back to the bed, using the cloth to clean off the dirt, the hydrogen peroxide to clean the wounds.

"What kind of doctor are you?" she asked, her voice light.

"Neurosurgeon."

"So you cut up brains?"

I laughed. "Something like that," I said, amused at the way the public thought of neurosurgeons. "I don’t cut them up as much as fix them. Robotically-assisted electrophysiology is my specialty. Using electrodes to treat disorders like Parkinson's and epilepsy. You're thinking pathologist. But don’t worry," I said as I washed her cuts. "We also learned to look after superficial wounds. And I have a truckload of insurance, just in case you're wondering…"

I finished tending her, conscious of her gaze on me, and when I glanced up, she looked away, her cheeks reddening once more. She was a shy little thing but so pretty with the soft golden brown hair, full lips, small youthful features. She bent forward to hold her dress and coat over her lap and I couldn’t help but notice her ample cleavage once more.

Delicious
.

I wished once more that she were submissive…

"You'll be fine," I said finally, as I finished taping up her cuts. "Don't need stitches. Just a bit of antibiotic ointment and a few bandages. But you should rest your ankle." I stood up and regarded her. "Are you going to stay or do you need a ride home?"

"I better stay," she said, her voice soft. "Do you know who Elaine is? Can you ask her to come and speak to me?"

I nodded. "Sure. If that ankle doesn't get markedly better in a couple of days, you might want to get an x-ray. Can't do anything for a broken bone in your foot but rest it. You could probably use some crutches."

I smiled and left her on the bed, but what I really wanted to do was push her down on it and run my hands over every inch of her from head to foot, slipping one beneath her skirt to feel the garters, and her panties. I wanted to pull down her bodice and push my face between her breasts, bite her nipples softly to hardness and suck on them until she moaned with delight.

But discretion is the better part of valor…

CHAPTER SIX

I ran a hand over my groin to ensure that my semi was flagging before returning to the party. I found Elaine, Ethan’s wife, standing with a small group of donors by the huge window in the living room. She was a decade or more younger than Ethan and pretty in an elegant way, everything perfectly in place and expensive. Ethan was a lucky man.

"There's a young woman in the back bedroom who asked for you. She fell outside and hurt her knees."

"Who?" Elaine said, frowning.

"I didn't catch her name," I said. "Sorry."

I was surprised that I'd been so unprofessional, but I was caught between being a physician and a man and she was such a delicious morsel of a woman, I'd been thrown off my game. That was completely unlike me, but the compromising position I'd found her in and her obvious embarrassment made me reluctant to pry any  deeper.

I found Dave Mills, the manager of my father’s foundation, standing in the living room with a couple of men and joined his group. We shook hands and he introduced me to two donors from some tech company. I barely caught their names, still thinking of the pretty young woman with garters and nice breasts, wondering who she was.

When she entered the room, I was aware of her right away.

She stood just inside the doorway, her arm on Elaine’s shoulder, as if she was reluctant to be there. Once more, I was struck with how pretty she was in an innocent way. Long straight golden brown hair. Light green eyes fringed with thick dark lashes. Clear fair skin. A little sleeveless black lace dress to her knee. She was wearing black slippers and bare legs, her bandages obvious.

"There you are my girl," Nigel said, his voice booming above the chatter, so that everyone in the room turned at the sound. He pushed through the people standing around him to get to her. She blushed, her cheeks reddening but she smiled when she saw him. She opened her arms wide and Nigel picked her up, holding her up in the air as if she were weightless.

The contrast between the two was amusing. Nigel was close to three hundred pounds and six foot six, and she was all of five foot three, and probably one hundred and twenty. He placed her back down on the ground and kissed both her cheeks in the Continental manner before putting a huge arm around her shoulder, escorting her into the crowd. I watched with envy as he introduced her to all the lawyer-types and businessmen in several-thousand dollar suits.

Dave stood beside me.

"Hey, Drake. Did you meet Nathaniel Graham?"

I was too busy watching Nigel with the pretty young woman to care.

"Who?"

"I told you about him. His agency works with relief organizations to outfit field hospitals in war zones. You should come over and say hello."

"Sure," I said, watching as Peter, Ethan McDermott's chief of staff pulled the pretty woman away from Nigel, escorting her around the room. She smiled at one of the men she was speaking to and her smile transformed her face from merely sweet to full out lovely. She looked wistful when she smiled like that.

Innocent.

That innocent look did something to me and inside of me, two forces collided. I loved how young she looked, how fresh. Part of me wanted to protect her. To be her champion. The other part of me – the darker part – longed to see her on her knees before me, waiting on my every word, completely under my control. How much I'd like to be the one to corrupt her and turn her into a wanton woman for my personal use. How much I'd love to see that sweet face filled with lust, her eyes heavy with desire.

Peter turned to us and brought her over before Dave could drag me away.

When Dave saw them approach, he stood straighter, adjusting his jacket.

I put my drink down and watched her expectantly. I was glad to meet her formally, having felt an immediate and intense attraction to her. There was just something in her bearing that brought out the Dom in me. Despite my usual reluctance to seduce a vanilla woman, I was already thinking of ways to approach her, become her lover, and then, when I felt secure in her openness to it, introduce her to D/s and bondage.

"Drake, Dave, may I introduce—"

Before Peter could introduce her, Dave stepped forward. "Ahh, the lovely Miss
Bennet
," he said in an affected British accent. "Um, I mean the lovely
Kate
needs no introduction."

Kate
. The pretty young woman I wanted to eat like a delicacy finally had a name.

She glanced at Dave and then to me. When our eyes met briefly, she smiled. Then she turned back to Dave.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possession of a good fortune must write out a check and make a donation to the cause," she said in an equally affected British accent, keeping with the
Pride and Prejudice
reference.

Dave laughed. "Well played, Ms. McDermott, well played."

It was then I made the connection. Kate.

Katherine
…

A shock went through me. The pretty young woman I had imagined ravishing only moments earlier was none other than Ethan's beloved daughter.

"You're
Katherine
…" I blurted out like a smitten schoolboy.

"Oh, this is Kate McDermott," Dave said, gesturing to Kate.  "Kate, this is Dr. Drake Morgan, brain surgeon, bass player, philanthropist. I assumed you already knew each other."

"I met, but didn’t really formally
meet
, Ms. McDermott," I said, a surge of something indescribable flowing through me. "I've known you by reputation for years. My apologies for not introducing myself."

"By reputation?"

"Your father told me about you, and I read your articles on Mangaize."

She smiled briefly, and then turned away as if still embarrassed by our encounter.

Dave turned to her. "Dr. Morgan's father Liam fought with your father in Vietnam. Drake volunteers with Doctors Without Borders," he said, sounding officious. "I run his foundation, which donates surgical equipment. Drake goes to war zones where civilians have experienced brain trauma and fixes them up."

She turned to me and her pretty green eyes widened. "My father's spoken of you before. It was Dr. Morgan this, Dr. Morgan that. He thinks you're practically a saint."

I smiled, enjoying how easily she blushed. She couldn't hide her emotions and that was something I highly valued in a sexual partner. So Ethan thought I was a saint?  Little did he know… And if he knew how I was lusting after his baby girl, how I wanted to blindfold and gag her, tie her up and fuck her over and over again, he'd probably hire a hit man to take me out.

"Sorry, I didn't introduce myself earlier," she said, her cheeks and neck covered in a flush. "I was in
kind of injured
mode."

"Nice to finally meet Ethan's beloved daughter."  I extended my hand. "Your father told me so much about you. I should have known it was you by your eyes, but I was in
slightly caddish
doctor with bad bedside manner
mode and not my
charming and gracious guest
mode."

I kissed her knuckles and glanced in her eyes as I did, noting how once more she blushed, her cheeks red.

I
had
to have her. It was that simple.

"I'll leave her with you then," Peter. Then, Dave stepped forward as if trying to get in between us.

"So, Ms. Bennet, how have you been since our last meeting?"

They made some small talk about Jane Austen, and I watched as Dave tried to push himself on her, standing very close to her, shaking her hand and smiling at her in an attempt to monopolize her. She smiled, but I could tell by how she stiffened that she didn’t enjoy his overly-obvious attention. She pulled her hand out of his and stepped back.

"My father warned me about men like you, Mr. Mills," she said, sneaking a glance at me. "Suave. Charming. Devastatingly handsome…"

"Oh, that's
riiight
. Your father
The Hangin' Judge
… Does he keep a shotgun under his bed to keep away your suitors? I take it you only go for the nerds? The dorks? The ones who don’t have a clue what to say or how to treat a woman? Some of us do know."

"I don't know why I'd be of much interest to you," she said, as if trying to change the subject. "I'm looking for donations. Care to donate to Nigel's foundation?"

Dave smiled at her and they locked eyes for a moment as if in battle.

She was shy, but she wasn't a pushover. She was just as witty as Dave and wasn't intimidated by him.

"Kate was with Nigel in West Africa during the famine," Dave said to me. 

"I'm well aware of her work in Africa," I said, not taking my eyes off her. "The Judge talks about you a lot."

"He does?" Katherine frowned as if she was surprised.

"It was always, Katherine this and Katherine that. He's very proud but he's kept you pretty well hidden."

"I've been really busy with school and work…"

I nodded, aware of how she'd had a breakdown after returning from Africa. How concerned Ethan was about his beloved daughter. How fragile she had been for a while, but how she was coming back slowly.

"Your father told me you got a job with
Geist
. What are you writing about now?" I said, wanting to focus on her as a person rather than as a woman, the way Dave was.

"Philanthropy in the age of social media."