Kiss of the Dragon (6 page)

And then in the next moment, her whole world came crashing
down as she remembered who Charles Servais had come to Castle de Neige to
marry. It was Bianca he truly wanted. The famous beauty and wealthy heiress was
the only woman he would have. All color drained from her face as Modesta
glanced around to see if her cousin caught the bold actions of this handsome
warrior-baron. She was so mortified at being trapped between two such dangerous
men and, even worse, scared to death that they would discover her deception.
She glanced at her cousin furtively, trying to catch her eye, wanting the
moment to be over.

Dark orbs like black ice watched her from the head table.
Bianca met his stare with boldness. She momentarily forgot about Modesta. She
was mesmerized by his dark gaze. It was not until he acknowledged her with a
slight nod that she realized she had been caught staring. That snapped her
attention back to Modesta. The young lord gave her cousin exceptional
attention. Bianca became aware that her cousin had reached her breaking point.
Bianca grabbed a full pitcher of cider from a servant girl who happened to be
passing by. She would deliver the pitcher to the high table herself. She would
pretend to trip and spill a little cider on Modesta so her cousin would have an
excuse to leave. But she did not take into consideration the bulk of the dark
baron or the position of his chair and upended the entire pitcher of cider. A
shriek of shock and a curse of outrage filled the air and everyone in the hall
turned their attention to the high table.

Bianca stared in wide-eyed horror. Modesta’s shocked
expression as she looked down at her ruined gown was nothing compared to the
angry curse that left the snarling lips of Baron Draco. He shoved back his
chair to escape the drenching from the cider she had spilt on him and knocked
into her.

She would have fallen if he had not caught her and pulled
her on to his lap.

Bianca found her soft body plastered to the front of his
rock-hard chest. Her hands rested on his broad shoulders. Behind her, an eerie
silence fell over the servants. She took a deep breath. Bianca slowly looked up
and was stunned by what she found. The raw sensuality in his dark eyes left her
breathless. As she recognized the unguarded desire, a slow burn moved over her
body, dropping to a warm, melting feeling low in her belly. He eased her closer
so she could feel his hard arousal against her round bottom. She gasped and a
ghost of a smile appeared on his lips.

“It is not every day I find a lovely young maiden perched so
temptingly on my lap. Not that I am complaining, mind you.” His breath warmed
her neck.

A shiver of delight raced across her skin. She leaned away
to see him. His eyes looked even hotter gazing down into hers. In the last few
months, as noble after noble arrived at Castle de Neige to court and hope to
win her hand in marriage, Bianca had learned to deflect more than her share of
amorous advances. She had learned the art of flirtation and knew when to
retreat gracefully from any intimacy. It had been a game of which she soon
tired. But this man left her confused and she was uncertain about how to
proceed. And then noise from the hall intruded on her thoughts and she realized
she’d sat on his lap a little too long.

“Forgive me, my lord, please forgive me!” she whispered,
finding her voice a bit breathless, her face, hot with embarrassment and she
wriggled to get free. “I did not mean to fall on you.”

“But you did mean to drown me?” His deep voice held
amusement.

Bianca blushed even rosier and made a greater effort to push
her way off his lap. But his arms tightened about her like bands of steel for a
moment and then reluctantly, fell away, letting her slide away to make good her
escape.

“No, that is not what happened, I assure you, my lord. I am
sorry that you were doused, however. The servants will, of course, see to the
cleaning of your clothing right away, my lord.”

“And what of your mistress?”

“My lord?”

At his indication, Bianca rushed to her cousin’s side. “Oh,
my lady. I am truly sorry. You must go immediately and change your gown. It
will need to be cleaned as well.”

Modesta rose to her feet and made a hasty retreat from the
hall.

Bianca caught sight of Jabulani who had just entered the
hall and was making his way in her direction. She knew his sudden appearance
could only bode bad tidings. She moved across the floor to intercept him a
short distance from the head table.

“Your stepmother approaches, Beauty. She will be most
displeased to see you so attired.” He frowned at her dowdy gown and ratty
kerchief.

“Thank you, Jabulani. You have, once again, saved my ears
from a sound scolding.”

But even as she turned to make her way out of the room, she
was cut off by the arrival of Heloise de Neige at the doorway. Bianca froze.
She looked around frantically for another way out. Fortunately, Jabulani
stepped forward using his considerable bulk to hide Bianca from her stepmother.
She used the distraction to slip out of the hall without being seen.

Bianca fled up the stairs to her room. She wanted to get to
her cousin and learn her opinion about the two warrior-barons. She had to admit
that Baron Charles was handsome and courteous with beautiful manners, but she
knew she could never marry him. It was a pity it had not been his handsome
companion, Baron Draco, who came to court her.

But it was the Black Dragon who piqued her interest as no
other man ever had. She was oddly fascinated with the man. Something drew her
to him like a moth to a flame and she knew that if she were not careful, she
would indeed get her wings singed.

* * * * *

The Duchess de Neige swept into the Great Hall with great
pomp and circumstance. Though she carried herself with dignity and grace, the
woman had no sense of fashion. She looked like a great, beautiful bird
strutting through the room in her colorful gown, her head held high as the
feathers in her outrageous headdress fluttered in the breeze as she moved.

“My lords!” Heloise intoned importantly. “My husband, the
duke, only just enlightened me of your arrival. If I had known such magnificent
guests awaited, I would have come down sooner to greet you.” Her hand was
proffered to each in turn as Sir Gregory formally introduced them to the
Duchess de Neige.

“Do not fret, Your Grace. We have enjoyed breaking our fast
with your stepdaughter. She is a lovely young woman, beautiful even, as bright
as the sun.” Charles smiled, but the warmth did not quite reach his eyes.

The gaudily dressed, well-endowed, Duchess de Neige realized
that she had not made the impression she had intended. Her back stiffened and
she swallowed back the bitter taste of disappointment. At one time, she had
been as beautiful as her stepdaughter, Bianca de Neige, but the years had taken
their toll. Now she was middle-aged, fighting a thickening waistline and hiding
the frost in her once lovely chestnut hair under the cumbersome weight of her
fashionable headdresses. Thoughts of her young stepdaughter with her long
gleaming black tresses left her burning with blinding jealousy. Since she had
married the duke but a year ago, she had taken it for granted that the world
would be her oyster and everyone in it would go out of his way to please her
because of her high station. But things had not worked out the way she had
envisioned. Richard was a kind, caring husband but she had to work hard at
keeping his attentions to herself. It was a shame he had proven to be such a
devoted father as well. She refused to share him with another woman even if
that woman was his only daughter. Heloise de Neige had made up her mind to
remove the one person who threatened her teetering relationship with her new
husband.

Bianca de Neige

In truth, that was why she had arrived late in the hall. She
had been to the kitchen taking care of a small task. If all turned out as
planned, her efforts would be rewarded when her stepdaughter was finally gone
from her life.

Every male who showed up at the gate with the object of
marrying her stepdaughter was welcome, no matter what his personage or fortune.
Getting the girl out of her hair was her only goal. But this morning, she was
feeling her age and the green-eyed monster nipped at her most fiercely. Her
husband had come to bed late last night and this morning he had not bothered to
kiss her, as was his habit upon rising. He was distracted by the report of the
small army approaching his gate. He dressed hastily and hurried away to attend
to his new guests.

Her practiced smile never faltered as she reflected on the
past couple of frustrating hours. When she realized that her thoughts kept her
from concentrating on the conversation, she made an effort to clear her mind of
all else and entertain Baron Charles and Baron Draco. What was it Baron Charles
said? What had he meant by the strange facsimile about the sun in reference to
her stepdaughter? She mentally shook her head and decided that she must have
misunderstood.

“I have never heard Bianca compared to the sun before, my
lord, but it is a great compliment and I thank you in her stead.”

“I cannot imagine none other than myself would make such a
comparison.”

“Well, my lord, with her black-as-sin hair and skin as white
as snow, it would make more sense to equate her looks to the night and the
moon. Perhaps you are referring to my step-niece, Modesta. With her golden
hair, she could definitely be likened to the sun. But you have not yet met her,
have you?”

Charles faltered for a moment, a slip only Draco caught. His
cousin’s inbred manners dictated that he show this woman a measure of respect
even as Draco’s instincts warned him that she was not to be trusted.

A wolfish smile lifted the corners of Draco’s lips for the
first time since they had arrived. And he was not one prone to smiling. It made
the scar that ran down the length of his left cheek became more prominent when
he did so.

“I fear, my friend, that we find ourselves in an
embarrassing situation,” Draco murmured as he stepped around his cousin.

He noticed that Charles stiffened at the comment but
displayed no other sign of displeasure. Draco knew that what Charles presented
to the world was only what he wanted it to see. He hid his most private
thoughts beneath a veneer of sophistication and gentility. No one would ever
guess what he truly thought. Draco possessed the same abilities, yet he
generally cared not how the world viewed him. He never attempted to hide his
hard, cynical interior. He was a battle-hardened warrior and he had no time for
mundane chatter and niceties.

He should have felt anger at being played the fool by the
little chit, but Draco actually felt relieved that the little jewel Charles had
fallen head over heels for was, in fact, not the woman he had come to claim.
She was not Bianca de Neige, but rather her lovely little cousin. It was
evident that Charles had taken no notice of the insignificant little
maidservant with the black hair and milky white skin.

A diamond in the rough!

She had attempted to make fools out of them with her little
charade, but Draco would make sure she paid for her tricks. The little maiden
would rue the day she set herself against a battle-hardened knight who had seen
everything.

“My lords, your presence does us a great honor. I have heard
many tales of your feats of strength in battle. Please be free to request
anything you wish; anything.”

Her gaze left him and focused on the puddle of cider in the
middle of the table and the obvious wet spot on the hem of his tunic. “Dear
Lord. You are covered in cider, Baron. This is dreadful! How can this be?”

“Yea, well, that tends to happen when a pitcher is
overturned on the table by a careless servant.”

Latching onto Draco’s thick forearm with her claw-like
fingers, Heloise led him toward the door. “Come, my lord, I will show you to a
guest chamber and have a bath brought up immediately. I am so embarrassed that
you have been treated in such a poor manner. Just point out the servant and I
will see that she is properly punished.”

“No, Duchess de Neige. That will not be necessary. No harm
was done.”

“There must be something that I can do to make up for this
incident.” Her hand moved up his arm to the bulging muscle of his biceps, which
she squeezed and patted, the idea of what she offered clear.

Draco hid his repulsion at the older woman’s wantonness as
he carefully drew away from her touch. It was not unusual for the lady of the
keep to bathe male guests personally, but he had no intention of being the same
chamber with this one, even if it meant he ended up bathing in the nearby
river. It was then that he came up with a more favorable solution.

“Yea, there is something that I require. I noticed a
dark-haired maidservant with the young Lady de Neige. I would appreciate her
assistance with my bath.” His insinuation, though unsaid, was clear.

Frost filled the older woman’s blue gaze, but her smile
stayed firmly fixed upon her painted lips. “As you desire, my lord.”

* * * * *

“I am so thankful that you contrived to rescue me.” Modesta
collapsed upon the bed in a fit of giggles. It was obvious to Bianca that even
with her painfully shy behavior below stairs, her cousin had in fact enjoyed
meeting Baron Charles.

“You did brilliantly, Modesta. But I am afraid we will have
to give up our little charade and appear below as ourselves. It would be
impossible to carry on our pretense when we join my father and stepmother at
this evening’s festivities. The duchess has spent weeks organizing this dinner
and entertainment for the many nobles who have arrived with the purpose of
courting the Beauty de Neige. And then there is the upcoming Autumn Ball.
Heloise would never forgive me if the event were ruined by my foolish devices.
It will soon be obvious we were less than honest.”