Dragons Prefer Blondes (4 page)

“Doesn’t he always need something?” Jake handed me the bowie knife, and I slipped it into the other side holster. I didn’t miss his sarcasm.

“You don’t like him very much, do you?” I turned to face him. Something in those eyes of his was indefinable.
What are you thinking, Jake?
Claire’s words came back to me: “I think he might be crushing on you.” Did Jake have a thing for me? Part of me liked the idea, but the other part refused to even contemplate it. I definitely had a thing for him.

“Do you? Like him, that is?” Jake watched me like I was some kind of leper. Claire’s crazy.
This guy thinks I’m so desperate I’d sleep with a murderous dragon.

Ginjin had tried to kill me more than once. We’d never been exactly what one would call close. And while he was kind of cute in a weird way, I didn’t do dragon. Killed them, but I had no desire to date one.

I shrugged. “Not really, but it’s my job to be the liaison. If he wants a meeting, I have to go. End of story. Why all the sudden interest? It’s not like I don’t do this every day of my life.” I raised an eyebrow and stared right back at him.

He glanced down at the floor and then back at me. “True. I’m sorry I lost my temper earlier. Maybe, in the future, before you move into an unknown area, you could use the comm to let us know. It helps me do the job you hired me to do.”

I smiled. “Fair enough.”

He handed me the watch designed to open portals between worlds. It focused our powers so that we could land on the other side unharmed. Before the portals, Guardians sometimes ended up floating around the universe instead of arriving where they wanted to go. Sometimes they ended up dead. Portals, though hard on the body, made landing in the right spot much easier.

Beings from other worlds used different types of devices, though many, including my sister Gilly’s boyfriend, Arath, didn’t need any sort of gadget at all and could use magic to travel from one world to the next.

“Later.” I gave him a wave.

Just as the whoosh of air opened the bluish portal in front of me, I thought I heard him say something, but when I turned to ask him what he’d said, he was gone.
Great, now I’m hearing things.

When I stepped through the haze, it felt like I was pulled apart in a million tiny pieces. It didn’t hurt, but it did make my stomach turn. Before I could think much about it, though, I had arrived in Ginjin’s lair, a large cave carved out of the side of a mountain. I’d wanted to land just outside his front door, but instead I’d ended up in his living room.

“What took you so long?” he roared. His long, silvery hair flung around his shoulders as he turned to look at me. In human form, he was quite a sight. Well over six foot three with rippling muscles, give him a patch on his eye and he could be one of the pirates on the covers of my not-so-secret stash of romance novels. My sisters ragged on me about them all the time, but I wasn’t about to give them up. Those novels kept me sane on the really bad days.

I turned my attention back to Ginjin. His nostrils were flared, and he was most definitely angry.
What is it with men and dragons tonight?
Everyone was in severe grump mode. It was enough to make a girl want to draw a crossbow and put an arrow through a dragon’s eye (which was one of the best ways to kill the tough-scaled buggers when they were in scaly form). “What can I do for you, Ginjin?” It wouldn’t pay to get angry with him. He didn’t respond well to females screaming at him. I had a scar on my back from his claws to prove it.

He just stared at me.

“Maybe we should begin again. Ginjin, how can I help you?”

His scowl reminded me of Jake, and I bit down on my lip to keep from smiling.
Men. Whatever.

“I must find a mate. I choose you.”

CHAPTER 4

The idea of mating with the dragon warrior was repulsive and hilarious. I snorted, and laughter bubbled out, only it didn’t do anything to cool down the situation. In fact, Ginjin turned a light shade of pink, which happened right before he went scaly.

“This is not a humorous situation. You told me a few weeks ago if I needed anything, you would be there for me. I need a wife.”

Be nice.
I waved a hand toward him. “Well, as romantic as that proposal may be, Ginjin . . .” I paused to collect my thoughts. It was important to get my point across without antagonizing him more. “I’m afraid I can’t help you with that particular problem. Maybe you’ve forgotten that you hate me and have tried to kill me on more than one occasion?”

I used my fingers to tick off reasons. “We happen to be from different species. We live on different worlds. And I’m not really ready to get married to you or anyone else, even though you’ve asked so nicely.” I tried hard to smile, but I had a feeling it looked more like a grimace. “Oh, and I really don’t like you—at all.”

I should have left that last part off, but I have this problem with my mouth. Gets me in trouble all the time. I don’t like it when people try to push me around, and I don’t take orders or ultimatums well.

My sister Gilly was the diplomat of the family. She had a temper but kept it in check. I never seemed to have that talent. I’m also darn good at holding a grudge.

“You must marry me.” He paced back and forth. “There are no other options.”

“Once again, very romantic. A girl really enjoys being told she’s the last choice. But I beg to differ on the options. There are thousands of Ahi chicks who would love to be your mate. There are probably a couple flying right outside your door.”

“You don’t understand. I must have an
important
wife tomorrow, or I am to be wed to Jene of the Lincsire Lair.”

I held up two hands. “Wait, all of this is because of some kind of arranged marriage? And what the hell do you mean by
important
?”

He continued to stomp around his living room. The furniture seemed to have been made out of some kind of animal. But it wasn’t scaly, so clearly no dragons had been harmed in the making of it.

“Maybe you should take me back to the beginning. I gather you’re supposed to marry this Jene because it was determined the day you were born.” To keep the gene pool clean, arranged marriages were the norm here. “You are of age and must take a wife. Right?”

“Yes. But I have a world to protect, and I can’t do that and be the mate of Jene.”

“Is she ugly or something?” I didn’t understand. This was the way his society had been for as long as it had existed.

“No!” He roared again and smoke came out of his mouth. My body temperature dropped in response.

I held up a hand. “I’m just trying to understand what it is about her you don’t like.”

“She is a distraction I don’t need right now. Jene is beautiful. I cannot keep up with her . . . demands, and do what must be done to protect Xerxes.”

I leaned against the large wooden table by the sofa. “What do you mean by demands? And if you mean sexually, I really, really don’t want to know the answer. If she’s halfway intelligent, she must understand your responsibilities.”

He stared up at the ceiling. “I do not wish to explain to you her demands, but it has nothing to do with sex. But if I marry you, then I will not have to deal with the situation.”

“You know, if you keep flattering me like this, I might just give in. Ginjin, I’m not some kind of escape clause to get you out of marrying this chick. She’s beautiful; I can tell by the way you talk about her that you respect her. So she’s a little demanding. You’re a big bad dragon. You can handle it. Sounds to me like you guys were made for one another.” In human form, he was a glorious being, but I’d seen him go full-out dragon with the silvery scales and fiery breath—again, glorious, but not my type.

“You must.” It was as close to a whine as I’d ever heard from the great warrior, a being that chose to live high above the clouds rather than in the castle he’d been given on the land below because he felt he could protect his world better while living above it. “I cannot trust that Jene won’t kill me.”

“Wow!” I shook my head. “That’s probably a big con on the getting married thing. She must really hate you. What did you do to her?”

He snarled. “I did nothing. She’s a female who enjoys power, sometimes too much. That is something I respect in a way, but if she found herself in a position where she could take over my world, I have a feeling she would.”

I clicked my tongue. “Ambitious, is she? Well, I’m sorry, but I still can’t help you.” A picture of Jake flashed in my head. I don’t know why, but his image gave me a brilliant idea. “I have a boyfriend at home, and I don’t think he’d understand.” It was a lie, but I needed all the ammunition I could get.

“He is your mate?”

I smirked. “Not in the way you understand the word, but yes, we are close.”

“I will fight him for you.” He gave me a determined look.

“Uh, no. Not going to happen. Look. Man up, or dragon up in your case, and handle the situation. You’re running a world. Just tell them the wedding is going to have to wait until the new government is installed. Any reasonable person will understand.” It dawned on me that dragons were about the least reasonable creatures that existed in our universe.

“You will not marry me?” He suddenly looked defeated.

“Hey, you’re a good-looking guy and all, but I’m going to marry for love. Or something close to it.” I wasn’t sure I believed in happily ever after. My relationship history was rocky at best. The last two romances I had been in were miserable toward the end, and I was beginning to wonder if maybe there was something wrong with me. But I wasn’t so desperate that I’d marry a dragon. And honestly, while I admired his muscle-toned body and beautiful silver hair in an aesthetic way, Ginjin didn’t do a damn thing for me otherwise. And if I were to marry someone, I had to at least be attracted to them sexually. “So that answer would be no.”

“I wish you to leave now.”

I shrugged. “Okay.”

“I will speak to your mother. Perhaps she can reason with you.”

My head snapped up. “What? No. I told you, I have someone.” Besides, my mother would never go along with it.
Would she?
God, she was always about the greater good and keeping the peace. No, no. Even she wouldn’t wish a dragon on me. Dread formed in the pit of my stomach.

If she even tried, I’d pull in my sisters and brother. They wouldn’t let it happen. What the hell was I saying?
I
wouldn’t let it happen.
Stop being an idiot.

“Ginjin. It’s a waste of time. I will not marry you for any reason. I’m outta here. Oh, and by the way. One of your dragons was trying to steal something out of a church in Montreal. I killed him. But his body was picked up by a large group of your people. Dragons that didn’t show up on our radar until after the fact. Maybe instead of trying to ruin my life, you could check into that.”

I pushed the button on the watch and stepped through the portal, but not before I heard him say, “We will see, Guardian.”

“He said what?” My sister Gillian howled with laughter. “That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in weeks.” She dabbed a tear with her napkin. She’d set up a tea tray with strudel for her and our sister Mira in the TV room. A big screen on the far wall played
Practical Magic
, which meant one of them had had a bad day. It was their favorite film. I liked it but preferred more violent old movies like
Wanted
. That movie is like one big adrenaline rush for me, and it didn’t hurt that James McAvoy was hot.

Gillian was in charge of demons. Though she has a slight conflict of interest since she started dating their king, Arath. A nice enough guy, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about all that. We’d discovered he was more mage than demon, but I didn’t trust him, even though he’d saved Gilly’s life more than once.

Mira had to deal with fairies. And I’m not talkin’ the Tinker Bell variety. There were all kinds of fairies, and she had some of the nastiest.

“I know. It’s like the most ridiculous thing ever.” I sighed. “Wouldn’t you know the one guy who is serious about marrying me has tried to kill me more than once? What does that say about my karma?”

Gillian had to put down her cup before she spilled her tea. “Your karma is just fine, Al. No one does more good for the universe—well, except for maybe us.” She started laughing again, and I rolled my eyes.

“Thanks for the sisterly support. I haven’t told you the best part. Since I told him absolutely not, he’s going to Mom.”

Mira’s cup clattered against her saucer. “What? No. She wouldn’t.” Mira eyes widened, and she and Gillian looked at each other.

Gillian shook her head. “No. No.” She said it as if she were trying to convince herself. “Even Mom wouldn’t wish a marriage of convenience on you. You know how she loved Dad. She barely approves of me dating Arath, and I love him. She would never agree to something like that.”

“Whatever happens, I need to make sure you have my back,” I begged them.

“You will marry a dragon over our dead bodies,” Mira chimed in. “I don’t even know why we are discussing this. It’s absolutely ridiculous. Mom will probably laugh. Okay, well, she won’t laugh, but she’ll get how crazy it is. You aren’t marrying Ginjin.”

I heard someone cough behind me and turned to see Jake there, his eyes wide and just a little concerned. “Penelope, your assistant in New York, is trying to get in touch with you. She called the hotline.”

I reached down to check for my phone and realized I’d left it on my bed. “Thank you. Sorry you had to come up for that. I’ll give her a call.”

He nodded but didn’t move.

I turned back to my sisters. “Don’t eat all the strudel. I’ll be back in a bit.” I knew it was useless to ask; with those two, it’d be gone in less than half an hour. I reached down and grabbed a small piece to take with me.

Jake waited just outside the door.

“You can’t do it,” he said as he followed me down the hall.

“What?” I took a bite of the pastry.

“Marry that dragon. He tried to kill you.”

I shrugged. “At least seven times. Thanks for your concern, but I don’t plan on marrying anyone for a really long time. And Ginjin is not going to bully me. I can promise you that.”