Impulse (Isola dei Sogni) (9 page)

"Mia," he said gently." May I call you by your name?"

She nodded.

"Thank you. Mia, you must eat. I can only apologize for my son and staff, but . . ." He rolled his eyes, and handed her a glass of wine. "Maybe not the best thing on an empty stomach, but I think you need it."

"Your son?" Mia interrupted him. "So, Dylan is your son, Blaine your nephew and stupid Marloth works for you? You poor thing, how on earth do you cope? You have my deepest sympathy."

Christophe laughed, and streaks of lightening flashed in his eyes. "I can assure you there are times when I need it. But seriously, Mia, they are good men, just a little—"

She raised her finger to her lips. "I can fill in the rest, Christophe, but the words really shouldn't be spoken by a lady. Not that I'm a lady, but you know what I mean?"

"Oh, yes." He shook his head in amazement. "Sometimes I wonder what they think with. Well, no, I know what they think with, and that's the trouble. And believe me, Mia, you are a lady. Don't sell yourself short."

Mia studied him. What a nice thing to say. Not the selling herself short bit—she knew that was something she needed to sort out—but the lady bit. That was nice. "So what happens next? Should I stay or should I go?" she said, quoting a song she remembered from years before.

"The Clash," Christophe said.

She looked at him in amazement.

"You were wondering who sang that song."

"Did I wonder out loud again?"

He laughed. "Something like that. Food?"

Mia sighed. "I guess so. What do you suggest?"

* * * * *

Dylan looked at the grandfather clock as it chimed the half hour and decided enough was enough. She'd had a day to get over her snit. Time to move on. He'd sorted out several issues, and had a chat with Faran, who, as far as he could see, had more problems than the rest of them put together. It seemed even tiger shifters could have problems, not the least of which was lovesick staff. Blaine was still immersed in his snit over someone and Marloth was in despair and wouldn't say why. Except he had a 'how to win Meryl over' scenario and could think of nothing else.

Whatever he was going to do, Dylan decided he didn't want to know. Then he could tell Mia in all honesty, that he didn't have a clue. If Mia ever gave him the chance, that was. He appealed to his father for help.

Christophe advised waiting a while. "If you're really serious about her, then woo her. If not?" He'd shrugged.

"Oh, I'm serious, sir. And that's a good idea. Can I have the cottage for a few days?"

"Of course. It is yours."

Dylan nodded his thanks. The cottage had been his since they'd bought the island. But disapproving of what went on there, he had never used it. For all he knew, Blaine could have commandeered it to use for the guests' fantasies.

"No," Christophe read his mind and rebuked him. "The cottage is yours. Not to be used by the business. I'm saddened you'd think otherwise."

"Oh hell, Papa. I forgot about that blasted gift of yours. Which is strange seeing as you passed it on to me. Bloody hell, I'm glad you weren't around the other night."

Christophe laughed. "I didn't need to be. I have faith in you and your abilities, even when you chose not to use them knowingly. Now, do you need any help?"

"Nope, I'll have it under control." He hoped he would, anyhow. Truth to tell, Dylan wasn't at all sure of anything. He daren't even think what Christophe meant, but his father didn't need his gift to know what Dylan meant. The thought of his father knowing what he was thinking, and even worse, what he was getting up to, was scary.

There was a knock on the door. Faran put his head around it.

"Hey, D? I need to shift, and I'm off for a run. I'll do a security check whilst I'm at it." He winked. "Marloth is away in the clouds. He said he'd do the reverse direction, but I'm not holding my breath. I only told him to try and get his senses working again. It's pitiful. Never let me be swayed by a woman."

 
Dylan nodded, even as he wondered why Faran had told him, not Christophe, before realizing what the wink meant. That part he didn't envy Faran at all. From what he gathered, shifting was uncomfortable, and fraught with problems, not the least was how you told a lover that you just needed to become a tiger and go off into the night for an hour or two. Although, in this case, his help would be invaluable to Dylan, if everything went according to plan.

He wandered around the control room, and checked the spotlights were all on. What he really wanted to do was to go to Mia and love her senseless. Instead, he was stuck in this boring bland room waiting for someone who really wanted to be there, and knew what they were doing, to come and relieve him.

'
Damn that man. Why couldn't he just have gone all Rudolph Valentino and whisked me away on his horse?'

Mia's thoughts filled him as clearly as if she'd been speaking to him. Dylan grinned, ignored all the tenets of polite magic he'd ever been taught and listened in.

He listened as Mia muttered to herself. She couldn't sleep, didn't want to read, hadn't really wanted the fluffy omelet Christophe had brought her, but managed a few bites to satisfy him. She had absolutely no idea where her sister was or how to contact her, and she was worried. She felt Meryl was fragile enough without Marloth annoying her. To her disgust, even Christophe had been unable—or unwilling—to help when she asked him. And shit, Blaine was another asshole.

Dylan grinned at her thoughts on the way Christophe had simply answered he 'wasn't at liberty to say'. It seemed his Mia was frustrated, in more ways than one. And to his delight, she wanted him. His cock hardened, and he imagined just what they could do together.

'Here. Now. Under me! Over me! Actually, I don't care how, I just want him. First to ask what the hell he is up to and then . . . well, shoot, I didn't think he'd give up without a fight or whatever.'

 
It was getting harder with every word he heard for Dylan not to high five. Only the thought of how ridiculous he'd look if someone came in and saw him stopped him. Along with the thought that he'd been bloody annoyed if someone came in and
knew
why he was acting like a hormone driven teen.
Instead of a hormone driven thirty-something.

' Hell, he could even have read my stupid fantasy page where I ticked the romantic kidnapping bit or something. So he obviously didn't care enough to check that out.'

 
That cheered Dylan up even more. Little did she know . . . .

'Oh my god, what's that whooshing noise? Shit, I can hear a bloody snarl. A snarl for goodness sake, and I'm sure there's something outside the window. Hell, my heart's doing its jackhammer impression. Shall I be brave and look?'

Damn, Faran. Couldn't he have made Marloth wait a few minutes? No matter, he was doing as Dylan asked him; Dylan wished for once he'd be a few minutes late.

He heard her heart beat faster and had to grip the table to stop himself from going to her. Where was someone to take over? He didn't much care who it was as long as they turned up soon.

'Ye gods! I really am hallucinating. What the
hell
is going on? I could have sworn I
saw a tiger in the curtains.
I'm definitely going gaga. Now I'm imagining a voice telling me this is a fantasy Island. Well, duh, it
said so in the brochure blurb. But tigers, with eyes like that security guy, and come to think of it, voices that sound like Dylan. What
were
those mushrooms in the omelet?'

The door opened and Blaine entered. "Sorry, Dyl, to leave you in the lurch like that, but I'm here now." He looked old and tired. Dylan felt like crap for asking him to take over, but he had things of his own to sort out. And he needed to eavesdrop.

Mia opened her mouth to scream, but barely managed a croak. That was a tiger—
a bloody tiger, for fuck's sake—
in her room. Spots danced in front of her eyes, and there was a roaring noise in her ears. She rubbed her eyes and shut them rapidly several times in a way she'd have giggled about in any other circumstances. When she looked up, the animal was still standing, unblinking and staring at her.

A deep rumble came from his throat and he swished his head from side to side. Mia decided it was a threat, not a hi-pleased-to-meet-you growl. Pleased to
eat
you, maybe.

Oh shit, surely I'm not going to faint. I'll be a tiger's dinner, no doubt about it. Oh shit.

 
The tiger moved, and Mia experienced the surreal feeling of being lifted by the jaws of a big cat.
I bet not many people can say that and live to tell the tale. I hope I'm one of them.
She shrieked as the room spun.

This has to be a nightmare. I'm in a fucking tiger's mouth and he's sodding carrying me. That's got to be bullshit, it can't be happening. It has to be those flipping mushrooms. And, oh bollocks, he's jumping outside. This is so not the fantasy I wanted. I don't like wildlife. Not even in a zoo
.
I didn't mean literally kidnapped by an
animal
. Not an
animal
animal, I meant a hot-bod-six-pack animal, not a furry, four-pawed one. And I'm damned sure I didn't write that dream down anyway.

The
animal
jumped over a rose bush and loped across the lawn. Mia reckoned she had to be dreaming or she would've passed out. She was the first one to admit she was a wuss in a lot of things and the thought of flying without the comforting surrounds of a business class cabin was high up on her list of wussiness.

That aside, where the heck was she being taken? What would Meryl do when her sister was nowhere to be found? It wasn't as if anyone would know, or if they did, who would believe it? Abducted by a tiger? Yet another romance book title in her life. Why couldn't it be something like A Charmed Life, or A Week at the Beach? All of a sudden, Mia saw the funny side. After all, she couldn't actually do anything about it, so she might as well relax and enjoy the ride—if that was possible.
How on earth can he manage to do it, anyway? I'm no lightweight.

'Magic'.

Who on earth said that?
There was no answer.

 
As long as he didn't spin around too much, she'd be fine; otherwise, she might throw up on his pelt. If only she hadn't eaten that omelet.

'Good girl'.

The words filled her mind. Where on earth had they come from? And who in their right mind would call her a girl, anyway? She lifted her head, and the tiger turned and ran sideways. Oh-oh, not good. Mia felt sick on a kiddies' roundabout. She shut her eyes in a hurry. There was a damned cliff in front of them. How they were going to navigate that, she didn't think she needed to know. She had a hysterical thought—
I want my mum—
before the tiger slowed and pawed the ground. She sighed. Like she knew what
that
meant.