Kiss of the Dragon (23 page)

He cuddled her close until she quieted. Cradling her
trembling body against his hard chest, Draco carried her from the darkened,
unused bedchamber up the stairs to her own chambers. It had been a stroke of
luck that he had noticed this door as he flew down the staircase. The fates
must have been watching over them this night.

“What were you doing out there?” he asked her. His anger
grew as he carried her up the stairs. It had taken the forefront of his emotions
as his anxiety subsided.

“I have a splinter.”

“A splinter?” Her answer was not what he had expected. In
fact, it made no sense whatsoever. “I will attend to it momentarily. Now tell
me, why did you attempt such an idiotic act, Bianca? Were you trying to escape
me? I was not holding you hostage by guarding your door. I was protecting you.
You could have simply opened the door and asked for whatever you needed and it
would have been yours.”

“It was because of the splinter that I went out the window.”
Her sobs had long since subsided; she still hid her face in the crook of his
neck, muffling her words.

“That is such a minor excuse for putting your life in
danger, lady. I hope you can think up a better story than that.” It was
abundantly clear that Draco’s patience was at an end. He would not believe her
ridiculous tale that a splinter would send her out the window. “Now tell me.
What was the true purpose that had you dangling from your bed covers out the
window?” He walked through what was left of her door. After hearing her muffled
cries, he had kicked it in while attempting to gain entrance.

“If you would but listen, I have explained why I was out
there.” Her sharp words of reprimand did not set well with Draco in his present
state of mind.

“I would remind you, lady, I have just saved you from
certain death. You owe me more than an explanation. You owe me a little
respect. Do not give me sharp words.”

“I apologize, my lord, but I have given you my explanation
and you are not listening to me. The reason I was out my window was because I
was too embarrassed to come to you and ask for your help to remove the large
splinter I managed to get in my …in my…backside. I slid down the door, you see.
So I decided to go to my cousin for help…” Her words trailed off as she looked
up to find him looking at her strangely. The hot desire that she saw in his
eyes as they moved over her nude body was tempered with the crooked smile that
moved his lips at her obvious embarrassment at having to admit her quandary.

“A splinter, in your…backside?” The small twitch became a
crooked grin and his eyes twinkled brightly at the heightened color of her face
and neck and shoulders. His eyes dropped lower and Bianca watched as the
twinkle turned to a hot, hungry expression before his gaze came up to meet hers
once again. “You need to turn around so that I can examine the…offended area.”
The sensuality of his words nearly melted her. His voice was thick and smooth,
as warm honey, low and seductive. He wanted her, it was obvious and as she gazed
into his lust-glazed eyes, hope flared in her heart.

Abruptly he stopped next to her bed and set her on her feet.
He stooped to pick up a discarded blanket from the floor and draped it over her
shoulders, slowly bringing the edges together as he looked his fill right to
the last. The temptation was great but he had a delicate task to perform before
he could let his heart dictate to his head and body. Her nudity was too great a
temptation.

“I do not think it necessary to disturb your cousin,
especially as it is the middle of the night. I am quite capable of removing the
offending sliver of wood from your lovely…your buttocks, Bianca.”

“No.” Bianca pulled away from him, appalled that he would
suggest such a thing. She backed away, slowly edging her way around the bed
until she bumped into the bedpost, wincing when her offended nether cheek was
jounced painfully.

A slow knowing smile spread across his face, a black brow
arched wickedly.

“You dare to laugh at my pain?”

“Was I laughing?” he asked innocently, his hands spread in a
conciliatory manner as he slowly, steadily approached her.

“Stop! Not a step closer!”

But he did not stop until her hands were splayed against his
well-muscled chest. The heat of his hard body burned through his wool tunic.
Unconsciously her tongue darted out to moisten her suddenly dry lips. Images of
what lay beneath her hands filled her mind and she found that she wanted to
push his clothing aside and run her hands over his hard muscles, to explore
every inch of him to her heart’s content. But his next words shocked her back
to reality.

“I need to see the…wound if I am to help.”

“I have not asked for your help, my lord. It would be far
too embarrassing to have a strange man viewing that part of me. I can still go
to Modesta.”

“Now that would be just plain selfish of you. Waking your
cousin in the middle of the night for such a minor injury when I am here and
able to offer my assistance. Do not be so stubborn, Bianca. And I am no strange
man. I think what we have experienced together over the past few days qualifies
me as your best friend.” His gaze dropped to her lips and then to the thin
blanket that covered her breasts as if to emphasize his words. “Perhaps much
more.” At her gasp of outrage, he relented. “Did you not ply your needle to my
hide just this morning? It will be my pleasure to reciprocate your…kindness.”

His words made her realize that her show of outrage at his
offer was unwarranted. It would be no different than what she had done for him,
would it not? She took a deep breath and released it and reluctantly she
accepted his offer.

“Fine. But there will be no pleasure in it.”

“Perhaps only for one of us, my lady,” Draco murmured under
his breath as he watched her turn and climb upon the bed to position herself
across the flat surface onto her stomach. The thin blanket she still wore did
little to hide the curves and hollows of her back and buttocks. Draco stood
looking down at her for several moments before he turned away to cross the room
where he gathered every candle he could find. By the time he finished lighting
the tapers and setting them on the small bedside table, the area around the bed
was illuminated with a bright glow.

Then he turned his attention back to the woman laid out so
helplessly, so seductively across the large bed. As he moved to her side, she
tensed but remained silent. She watched him closely as he placed the supplies
he had gathered at her side.

To warm his hands he rubbed them together vigorously.
Slowly, carefully, Draco pulled the edge of the blanket up over her long,
slender legs and shapely bottom, until it was gathered at her waist. She
reached back to pull it down to a more modest position.

“Huh, uh. Leave it alone.” And he pushed the blanket back up
to her waist. The lovely white skin that he viewed was enough to stall his
breath. There was so much satiny white skin, the curve of her buttocks and the
deep crevice between her nether cheeks where a hint of black curls peeked out.
It was enough to make a lusty man cry for more, much, much more.

Tearing his gaze from the forbidden fruit, Draco forced
himself to look upon Bianca as a casualty of war who needed his help. He tried
to ignore her womanly assets, her soft white skin, and her heart-shaped
derriere. When his eyes perused the angry red skin around the large splinter
embedded in her cheek, he winced with empathy at the pain she must be
suffering.

He knelt on the floor behind her, leaned over her and
tentatively touched the area around the offending piece of wood with gentle
fingers, reasoning out the best method of removing it. Finally he came to a
decision and drew his dagger from its sheath.

“This will take but a moment,” he warned as he placed the
lethal point on her tender skin. He hesitated, beads of perspiration forming on
his brow. He had gone to battle and hacked men to pieces but that had been
nothing compared to making a tiny slit in Bianca’s lovely backside to extract a
tiny piece of wood. To steady his hands, Draco took a deep breath and then
proceeded to make the small slash in her soft flesh.

It took only a fraction of a moment to make the small cut
and remove the splinter, but Draco was sweating as if he had fought a major
battle. As soon as the sliver was extracted, he wiped the small amount of blood
away and soothed the wound with some warm water before pressing a piece of
clean cloth to the area. He held it there for several moments until the wound
ceased to bleed.

During the entire time, Bianca was so quiet that Draco would
have thought her sleeping but he noticed that she had her fists clenched around
the edge of the blanket just before his attention was concentrated on removing
her splinter. He gave her credit for her bravery. He knew grown men who would
have fainted at the sight of a dagger cutting into their skin. Bianca, however,
did not make so much as a sound and that fact made him inordinately proud of
her.

“That should take care of it. Are you feeling a little
better? Do you need anything?” The gentleness in his voice was met with an
obstinate shake of her head.

“Look at me, Bianca.” Again his only reply was a jerky
movement of her head.

Carefully he eased up onto the bed beside her. He took her
by the shoulders and turned her into his arms, he held her close, firmly
imprisoning her in his steely arms.

“What is it, my sweet?”

“Tis nothing,” she murmured, still refusing to lift her gaze
higher than his chin.

“Now Bianca, do not lie to me. Tell me what troubles you?”
He lifted her chin with his fingers, but her eyelids drifted closed as she
still refused to look at him.

He smiled at her stubbornness and leaned forward until his
lips were but a breath away. “Tell me,” he whispered.

“‘Tis just….” she began and then wet her suddenly dry lips,
a motion that brought a groan of desire rumbling in his chest and certain
notions to his mind.

“What?”

“I never suspected that the first time I found myself naked
in bed with a man, it would be to have him cutting a damn splinter out of my
ass.” She did not know what she expected of him at her admission of
embarrassment and frustration, but she did not expect his ear-splitting
laughter, that was for certain.

Anger flared in her eyes as she lifted her head to look at
him. The dolt actually laughed at her and by the looks of it, he was nearly
incapacitated in his amusement. Bianca became so outraged by his reaction to
her heartfelt confession that she tried to free herself from his embrace, from
his very presence, but his strong, muscular arms were like bands of steel and
he was not about to release her.

The built-up emotions that Draco managed to keep under
control over the last few days burst from him in that roar of laughter. He was
so lost in the relief of it that he could not stop long enough to tell her that
her predicament was only a small part of his spirited outburst. In truth, he was
not laughing at her. But until he managed to collect himself, he could not
explain that to her. Instead, he collapsed back upon the bed, taking her with
him. She landed sprawled across his broad chest as he held her close, fighting
for self-control.

It was not until his hands moved down over her bare hip that
realization dawned on them both, sobering Draco instantly. They lay together on
the bed and he was the only one clothed. The light blanket had fallen away from
Bianca’s body when they had shifted on the bed.

They found themselves in a most provocative position. And if
either were to admit it, they found no objection to being there. Bianca gazed
down into dark, hungry eyes as she waited breathlessly for his next move. She
wanted him to kiss her.

Draco moved his hand slowly down the indention of her back
to caress the nether cheek that had been damaged. His touch drew a moan for
her. “Forgive me, sweetling.”

“Whatever for?” Bianca’s voice hitched with sudden
apprehension that with his next words he would put an end to their embrace. She
was not certain that she could live through such rejection and in
self-preservation, she closed her eyes and waited with bated breath. But his
gentle stroking over her sensitive bare skin did not cease and the caresses became
bolder, moving lower and more intimate, doing strange things to her
concentration.

“For having to take my blade to your lovely little
derriere,” he whispered against her ear as his hands cupped her offended cheek
gently. He smiled against her skin as she gasped at his boldness. He blazed a
slow trail of fire down the side of her slender neck with his lips and teeth
and tongue. He placed hot, wet kisses along her jaw to her chin as his hands
moved, exploring every part of her. Soon Bianca found it difficult to breathe
under his tender assault.

It was only when his movements stilled that she opened her
eyes. She found him staring up at her with such a look of hopelessness in his
eyes that it left her breath stalling within her chest.

“You did not hurt me too badly. It was a necessary measure.”
Her gaze dropped to his mouth and she found that his firm, sculptured lips were
too tantalizing, so near and so inviting. She touched her trembling mouth to
his in response to the torment that she detected. His response was
instantaneous.

With a deep groan, he clasped her head as his mouth moved
over her lips, his teeth nipping, his tongue licking until Bianca’s lips felt
bee-stung. But he wanted more from her.

“Open for me, dearling. Open your mouth.”

When she complied, she found her mouth filled with his
tongue as he explored the moist cavity. His fierce passion threatened to
consume her. His mighty arms enveloped her slight body and crushed her against
his massive chest as his mouth ravaged hers, leaving them both breathless,
yearning for more.