Dragon Fever: A Dark Kings Novella (10 page)

“Or should I say Rachel,” Ms. Engel said tightly.

So that was her real name. What was it Ryder said? Rachel Marek? Aye. That was the name. “She told me Rae was a nickname.”

“Did she also tell you what she does?” Ms. Engel asked, her chin lifting in anger.

He shook his head as disappointment rapidly filled him.

“She’s a journalist.”

The statement hung in the air. He didn’t want to believe it, but Ms. Engel had no reason to lie. Con trusted her explicitly, which meant Blossom had been thoroughly vetted by Ryder.

Her expression softened, as if she just realized how harsh her words had been. “I know you liked her.”

“She’s no’ asked for anything.”

“She’s been at the WWC.”

Then Asher knew. It broadsided him like a slap from a dragon’s tail. The woman with the thumb ring he kept seeing was Rae, or Rachel. No wonder he kept thinking he saw Rae everywhere. Because he had.

She lied to him, and he wanted to know why. A woman like Rae—Rachel—would never admit to anything if confronted. He would have to play it carefully.

“This stays between us, for now,” he told Ms. Engel. “You’ve done good work. Thank you.”

“That’s it?” she asked in disbelief.

He gave her a smile because she was acting like a mother hen. And somehow that endeared her to him even more. “No’ in the least. I’m going to get to the bottom of things with Rae.”

“Rachel,” Ms. Engel corrected.

“She’ll remain Rae for the moment until she admits everything. Doona fear, now that I know the truth, I’ll be guarding each word that falls from my lips.”

“You might want to think of guarding your body as well.”

He laughed when Ms. Engel looked him up and down with a brow raised knowingly. “I’ll be sure to.”

“This is for you,” she said and set down the file on the coffee table. “My room is here as well. If you need me, you know how to reach me.”

He had been given Ms. Engel’s mobile number, but she was always there so he hadn’t had a reason to contact her. “Thank you.”

She walked to the door and paused after she opened it. She turned her dark head to look at him. “I am sorry, sir.”

“I am, too, lass.”

A sigh escaped him when he was alone. He looked at the file, but he didn’t reach for it. Perhaps it was better if he didn’t know the particulars.

It didn’t sit well that Rae deceived him. He thought they’d had a connection, one that went beyond the physical and mental to become soulful. He didn’t need to wonder how she came to be in Paris the same time as him. It all would point back to Ulrik one way or another. It always did.

Unless…this had nothing to do with Ulrik and everything with her wanting to do a story on Dreagan. It was that small thread of hope that he clung to, even though he knew it might blow up in his face.

He walked to the sideboard and opened the bottle of Dreagan. He filled the glass more than half full and took it out on to the balcony. It was chilly with a chance of snow overnight. He didn’t feel the biting wind or see the city. His gaze was pointed inward as he went over everything he and Rae had spoken about.

Asher considered himself good at spotting those who might attempt to betray him. He hadn’t felt that with Rae. Was he such a sucker for a beautiful woman that he ignored such feelings? No. That wasn’t it.

There was more. And he was going to find out what it was.

Chapter Ten

Rachel looked at herself in the full-length mirror and nodded in approval. The form-fitting red dress was just the right amount of sensual and classy. It hit right at her knee, and the three-quarter length sleeves had black lace at the elbow. The boat-neck collar dipped low enough to show a hint of cleavage. The back of the dress pointed to a
V
halfway down before a row of black buttons stopped at the base of her spine.

Her favorite black Christian Louboutin’s with their famous red soles were the perfect additions. Choosing minimal jewelry with the diamond studs and her thumb ring, she grabbed the black clutch and headed downstairs to meet Asher.

On the elevator ride, she found she was nervous and impatient to see him again. It had been so difficult to watch him all day and not go up to him for a kiss. Now, she didn’t have to pretend not to know him or hide who she was. This was the time she could show him…what? What did she think she could show him? That she cared?

She closed her eyes and wanted to kick herself. She couldn’t care for Asher. He was her target. Nothing was going to stop her from writing her article once she garnered enough information. And after it released, he wouldn’t want to have anything to do with her.

But she could pretend. She was good at that. Except, for the first time in her life, she was pretending for herself and not her target.

The doors of the elevator opened and she walked out, her gaze immediately going to the bar. Her steps were light and quick as she made her way to the doorway of the bar. There was a smile in place as she expected to see him at any second.

As she walked into the bar, her eyes scanned each table and man for Asher’s face. But he was nowhere to be seen. She didn’t let that dampen her mood. She continued to the bar and perched upon one of the stools before ordering a glass of red wine.

As each minute ticked by, she began to fear that he wouldn’t come. Then she would admonish herself, because there was no reason for him not to. He didn’t know the truth about her or what her goal was. He only thought she was a woman who spent the night in his arms having amazing sex.

It was the first time she found herself sickened by what she was doing. Yes, she exposed truths, but what she was doing to herself and her targets was wrong.

“I hope that frown isna for me,” came a deep timbre behind her.

She turned with a smile, genuinely happy to see Asher. “Hi.”

“Hi,” he said and put his mouth on hers.

He lingered there, letting his tongue brush against her lips before he pulled back. “I’ve waited all day to see your beautiful face.”

“Another busy day?” Why did she feel as if she were floating upon pure happiness when he was near?

He shrugged and motioned to the bartender for his drink. “I’m just glad the business part of it is over, and I can have time with you.”

“I like the sound of that.” She told herself to ask him something about Dreagan, but the words wouldn’t make it past her lips.

“Let’s take our drinks up to my suite.”

More alone time? She was more than okay with that. “I guess that means you don’t want to take another walk through the streets,” she teased.

He leaned down until his mouth was next to her ear. “I doona want to waste another second sharing you with the world. And as good as that dress looks on you, I want you out of it.”

She actually shivered at his words, they affected her so. “Let’s go,” she said and slid off the stool.

Wine in hand, she walked to the lobby with Asher at her side. He smiled down at her in the elevator, but other than his hand on her back, he didn’t touch her.

Inside his suite, she marveled at the view of the city. She hadn’t remembered seeing it the night before. Then again, her attention had solely been on Asher. She turned to him as he took her hand and brought her to the sofa. There he removed his jacket and half-faced her as he sat.

“I like you, Rae.”

Her heart skipped a beat, because she hadn’t realized how much she wanted to hear those words until they’d been spoken. “I like you, too.”

“There are many women who attempt to gain my attention because of my affiliation to Dreagan.”

She sipped her wine, wondering where he was going with this.

“You doona seem to care what it is I do.”

Oh, God. Now she had to lie. And she didn’t want to. Then she realized there was a truth she could tell. “I don’t care what it is you do. I want to know you.”

“And I want to know you. Whatever this is between us is strong. Do you feel it?”

Did she ever. “Yes.”

“I doona know where this might lead, but I’d like to find out.”

“Yes.” The response was out of her mouth with no way to take it back. Her stomach fell to her feet. Why oh why hadn’t she stopped herself from answering?

But she knew the answer. She wanted to explore whatever this was with Asher. If only he wasn’t a job.

“You know more of me than I know of you,” he said. “Tell me about yourself.”

She looked down at her hands and spotted the thumb ring. It was a piece of jewelry she never took off, no matter what. That part of her life she didn’t speak of with anyone, and yet she found herself turning to Asher and saying, “My family is dead.”

“I’m so sorry,” he said, his face lined in a frown as he rested his arm on the back of the sofa.

“I’ve been on my own since I was seventeen.”

“What happened?”

She took a drink of wine, gathering the courage to say the awful words last spoken in her therapist’s office. “My parents were the typical strict parents. They wanted to know who we were with, their phone numbers, address, and names of their parents. We lived in a relatively small town, so my parents knew nearly all of the parents to mine and my sister’s friends.”

“Did you have a curfew?”

“Oh, yes. We weren’t allowed to date until we were sixteen. My sister was two years older than me, and it was torture watching her go out while I had to wait.”

Asher took a drink of his whisky. “I had an older sister and two younger brothers. I remember how that felt.”

She never imagined Asher having family. Now that he’d shared such information, he was moving further and further from being just a job. Making it even more difficult for her to do the task she’d come for.

She sipped her wine. “My sister, Rebecca, had a lot of admirers. She always followed the rules and never did anything that might go against what our parents wanted.

“When she brought Ted home, we thought he was perfect for her. He was a freshman in college, came from a large family, and knew what he wanted for his future.”

Asher’s brows drew together. “So what was the problem?”

“Nothing. At first.” She felt that same anxiety that once plagued her threaten to return. She drank deeply, letting the pinot noir settle in her stomach. “My once vibrant, outgoing sister began to retreat into herself. She stopped going to church, stopped being a part of conversations, and began failing subjects in school that she’d always maintained top grades.”

Rachel leaned forward and set aside her glass. After all these years it was still difficult for her to talk about it. Rebecca had been her best friend. They shared everything, but Rebecca hadn’t opened up to her.

She blew out a breath. “Nothing we said or did seemed to help. The more we tried, the more my sister would lash out at us. She wouldn’t eat and was losing weight rapidly. One night, I walked in on her undressing to take a shower. I saw the cigarette burns and bruises all over her. But it was the emotional abuse that had taken the most out of her.

“She finally broke down and confided everything to me. The image that Ted showed us wasn’t really him. It was a ploy to get Rebecca. And once he had her, he threatened to do to me what he was doing to her if she left.”

Rachel glanced over at Asher to find him sitting very still as he listened. There was no pity on his face, just anger and revulsion for what Ted had done.

She flattened her hands together, rubbing them to help bring back some warmth. “I convinced Rebecca to tell my parents everything, and we came together as a family again. I stood by as my sister called Ted and told him it was over, that we all knew what he really was. Meanwhile, my parents called the sheriff, who was a friend. He met us at the station where Rebecca filed a restraining order against Ted.”

“A piece of paper is nothing to men like him,” Asher stated.

“It was her only step to take. We thought it would give us time. And for two weeks, it did. Rebecca was slowly returning to her old self.” She turned the thumb ring over and over. “The night of my birthday, she gave me this ring. We celebrated as a family. It was a truly wonderful night. We had suffered and got through a horrendous time.

“In the early hours of that morning, our house caught fire. Rebecca dragged me from my room, but I passed out from smoke inhalation. I didn’t learn until I woke in the hospital that the fire started in my parents’ room. On their bed.”

She had to stop and close her eyes. It had been so long since she thought of the way that her parents had so brutally died, that her stomach rolled.

“You doona have to finish.”

She shook her head and continued. “Ted broke into our house and set my parents on fire. The house was soon ablaze. He went after Rebecca, but she managed to evade him long enough to get to me. Since I was unconscious, I slowed her down. Ted killed her with a shot to the back of the head. I think he expected me to die in the blaze, but the firefighters got there in time.”

“You saw Ted?”

“No, but I knew it was him. When the police told me how my parents and sister died, there could be no one else. He had probable cause and motivation.”

Asher nodded slowly.

“Thanks to the photos taken at the police station and Rebecca’s statement along with the restraining order, the police went after him. That’s when the truth of Ted Montgomery came out.” She turned her head to Asher. “You see, Rebecca and my parents weren’t his first victims. He’d done this before, but he came from money and his father managed to pay off people to cover his son’s crimes. Had someone exposed the truth of him from the beginning, Rebecca and my parents would still be alive.”

“I’m verra sorry for what you’ve endured. You’re right. It was a senseless tragedy.”

She drew in a shaky breath and took another drink of wine. The retelling had taken a lot out of her, but there was a small measure of triumph for knowing Ted was behind bars for the rest of his life. No other family would be hurt by him.

“That’s not a story I wanted to tell you tonight,” she said and forced a smile.

“It’s part of who you are, lass. Why wouldna I want to know?”

“We barely know each other.”