Dragon's Pleasure (BBW / Dragon Shifter Romance) (Lords of the Dragon Islands Book 3) Read online

  Chrissy stopped dead and turned to look at Theo. His broad, handsome face was wrathful and his long, damp, blond hair curled around his head like so many snakes. His big hands were fisted, but she was not afraid he would strike her. Theo would never hit his sister. She put her hands on her hips and glared back at him.

  “Who died and made you the Boss?” she demanded. Even to her own ears, her protest sounded more childish than not. She winced.

  “I am Papa’s lieutenant,” Örlogskapten Lindorm reminded her as curtly as if she were one of his insubordinate sailors. “And that is a direct order, Christina Lindorm. One more word out of you and you will be grounded.”

  Christina shut up. If Theo asked Papa to forbid her to fly, it would make it impossible for her to do so. She had never ever, disobeyed Papa, and she didn’t want to discover if it was even possible to defy him.

  “You have to start thinking before you act,” Theo continued in a softer voice. “You’re twenty-six, not sixteen. You can’t just think of yourself, you have to start thinking of the family!”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Lord Ivan Sarkany sat cross legged beside his friend Roland, Lord Voros in the house of the Maori dragon lord Watatoni Te Kanewa. Judging by the ferocious carvings of his ancestors that decorated every beam and post of Te Kanewa’s house, Watatoni was just as warlike as his ancestors. He had received them in his house, bare chested and wearing only the traditional flax kilt of a Maori warrior. Ivan had begun to suspect they had been treated not to a traditional Maori welcome but a declaration of hostilities.

  He should have known that flying out to New Zealand to ask this fierce old dragon for a bride was a futile endeavor. But ever since his brother Hugo had nearly died, Ivan had known he must marry and have little Sarkanys. If Hugo had died after he was stung by that traitor, Maximilian of Landor, Ivan would have been the last of their thousand-year dynasty.

  Fortunately, Hugo had recovered from the injuries he had received while defending his mate. He was now safely married. And Leah was expecting. But that was still too few Sarkanys. For nearly a year, Ivan had justified his bachelorhood with the pretense that, since he had not actually promised his great-grandfather to seek a bride, he was not bound to start his search for his destined mate.

  But the truth was, that if Ivan had not slipped out of the Old One’s bedroom, he would have been present when Stephan Sarkany had made Hugo promise to marry. Ivan would have been included in that deathbed demand. But like a child covering its eyes in a game of make-believe, he had deceived himself. Pretending that he was not equally bound to wed, even though the House of Sarkany had dwindled to two.

  When Ivan had made his decision to begin his Mate Hunt, Roland Voros had told him of the House of Voros’s longstanding relationship with the New Zealand dragons. It had struck Ivan that obtaining a Maori maiden might solve the problem of locating a suitable virgin. But he had not expected to be greeted by a wrathful host. Nor for the tirade which had followed their reception.

  Lord Te Kanewa was affronted and not afraid to show his anger. For hours, Ivan and Roland had been sitting before Watatoni’s stool like two whipped puppies, while he chewed them out as if they were striplings. “You dare,” Watatoni thundered. “You dare demand brides of me?”

  “We demand nothing of you, Grandfather,” Roland hastened to assure the bristling chieftain. “We only plead with you for a maiden of your House. Not as a right, but as the hope of friendship.”

  Te Kanewa was not in the least placated by Ro’s soft words. His bare chest visibly heaved. His incised blue tattoos bulged and twisted like living beings as he continued his rant. “For over a hundred years the Guild of Dragons has tried to draw our Maori dragons into its fold. For a hundred and sixty years we have kept ourselves apart. And why? Because we could see with our own eyes the decadence of European dragons.”

  Roland had told him that the Maori dragons were straitlaced and puritanical, but Ivan had not really understood. But something about that fierce warrior’s open contempt shamed him to his soul. Ivan had known that asking Lord Te Kanewa for a bride had been a long shot. Roland had suggested it when Ivan had told him he had decided it was time for him to find a mate. He can only say, ‘No,’ Roland had said. Ha.

  Te Kanewa had not only said a resounding ‘No’, he had made it plain he considered Ivan a weak fool unworthy to marry any of his precious granddaughters. He had added a blistering indictment of European dragons in general, and of Roland and Ivan in particular. Despite not having left his village in many years, Watatoni possessed an uncanny knowledge of Ivan’s love life. This lecture was proving more mortifying even than any of Ivan’s late great-grandfather’s had been.

  “If we needed proof that our ways are not yours,” Te Kanewa’s boomed on, “The decline in your numbers would be sufficient. You come to me, Roland, as your great-grandfather did, and I say to you what I said to him: Our maidens are the promised brides of men of valor and self-control.

  “When our young men are given their mates, they have to earn them with many proofs of self-denial and many deeds of courage. They are tested until their sinews strain and the burden lashes their souls. Not till they are joined in marriage do they dare so much as touch a fingertip to their women. Our reward for keeping ourselves pure has been to see our race increase.

  “Twelve sons have I. And ten daughters. And ten times that many grandchildren. Where are your brothers, Voros of Tarakona and Dreki? Where are your sons, Ivan Sarkany? You lack discipline,” Te Kanewa continued contemptuously. “You, Sarkany, have lain with maidens so numerous they cannot be counted. You have wasted your seed on women who could never bear you firelings.”

  Like a fool, Ivan attempted to interject some polite words. “I would esteem the courtesy of being joined to a woman of your family.”

  The old dragon lord impatiently raised his large and imperious hand for silence. “It is out of the question. Our maidens are promised to their mates. They are bonded before they are women made. You will have to seek a wife elsewhere, son of the House of Sarkany.”

  There was more in this vein. Watatoni, for all that he had adopted Roland into his house, was sorely displeased with the Lord Voros. To Ivan’s astonishment he claimed Roland had found his mate and abandoned her and their fireling, which had scarcely seemed credible to Ivan.

  But the old chieftain wasn’t done. “Ivan Sarkany, your bride is to be found within the Severn Isles.”

  Which was all very well and good. But Ivan had never heard of the Severn Isles. And it was very clear that Lord Te Kanewa had no intention of elaborating on his prophecy. Ivan and Roland were forced to take their dismissal like chastened schoolboys.

  Roland had to go to France to stand for election as High Marshal of the Grand Council, and Ivan had business in Germany. When that was concluded, he would go home to the Schloss Sarkany and try to figure out where in the wide world the Severn Isles and his bride were located.

  * * *

  “As if I ever have a chance to do otherwise than put the family first, Theo Lindorm,” Christina snapped. “Ever since I was born I have been expected to do just that.” She stumbled a little and Theo put out a hand and steadied her feet on the uneven floor of the tunnel. “Thanks. These must be Papa’s boots I borrowed. They’re so big.”

  Her brother ignored her thanks. “Putting the family first is what we do. That is what makes the House of Lindorm the most resilient as well as the richest in the Guild. We all do what is best for our House.”

  Christina rolled her eyes. “Which is why you and Victor joined the Navy as soon as you were old enough?”

  Theo shrugged. “It’s traditional for Lindorms to join the services. The Eldest would have been surprised if I had not. I have merely stayed a little longer than most. It would be different if I had a mate.” The Eldest of their House was their uncle Thorvald, the twentieth Thane of Lindorm, that ancient title which preceded that of Earl by centuries.

  “Have you even looked?” she asked angri
ly.

  “Yes, Chrissy,” he said very softly. “Yes, I have looked.”

  She put a hand on his arm and squeezed gently. “Sorry,” she whispered. “I lost my temper.” Despite his bossiness, she loved Theo. She felt ashamed to have thrown his matelessness in his face, even in the heat of argument. Ten years ago, Theo had declared his Mate Hunt and, as far as she knew, had never even come close to meeting his destined bride.

  He shrugged off her words and his heavy, ribbed sweater rippled across his muscular back. “I will find her one day,” he said with grim finality. “The issue today is your behavior, Chris. You have good brains, you just have to start using them. Taking Gunnar out in a Category Three storm is just the latest example of your heedlessness.”

  “What else is there for me to do besides flying — while I hang around waiting to start my life?”

  “What do you mean?” he asked surprised.

  Christina stared in disbelief at her older brother. “When you were twenty-six, Theo, you were already a highly decorated Captain in the Royal Navy, with a vessel under your command. And if I am not mistaken, that was the year when the king gave you a gold medal normally reserved for members of the Swedish royal family and promoted you.”

  Her big tough brother turned scarlet before her eyes. “We only did our duty, Chrissy. My whole team should have been honored with me.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Your whole team! That’s just my point. While you were leading a team to rescue the crew of an oil rig in high seas, in a Category Five storm I might add, I’m expected to get my jollies from making a few buys and sells for the Lindorm portfolio. I get to stay here on Severn Island with occasional excursions under armed guard. You and Victor come and go as you please, but I’m pretty much on lockdown.”

  “Chrissy, Victor and I are subject to the authority of the Navy.” Theo returned. “The Eldest permitted you to study in America. He let you go off to Stanford and then to Harvard. Without a security detail. I’d say you’d been given quite sufficient freedom for a dragoness born.”

  “Really? That’s why you are now on an assignment so secret that none of us know where you are half the time? Because you don’t enjoy a little adventure, Örlogskapten Lindorm?”

  “You know that I cannot talk about my work,” he rejoined stiffly.

  “Yeah, I know. You and Victor can’t talk about your work. He’s married with a child and another on the way, and he still gets to go be a hero. No one tells him to stay home and save himself to make more dragons.”

  “We serve our country,” Theo said stiffly. “We cannot pick and choose our missions.”

  “Theo, no one forces Victor to stay in the Navy. Now that he is married, he could resign. But I know damned well you have both volunteered for dangerous positions.”

  Theo rolled his massive shoulders in obvious discomfort. “When you are the best man for the job, you have to step up, even if there is danger. Especially when there is danger.”

  “Which you enjoy. You can’t fool me, Theodor Lindorm. I know, because I get the same thrill from downhill skiing. Or sailing in foul weather. Or flying in a storm. It’s part and parcel of being a dragon. But good little Christina is expected to stay in the house and amuse herself with girlish pastimes. I’m not that girl, Theo. I never have been. I’m a dragon too.”

  “You enjoyed yourself in the States, going to school,” Theo protested.

  “What I actually wanted was to accept the place I was offered on the Olympic Ski team,” Christina said incensed. “Or to join the Navy like you and Victor. Studying business admin was not my first choice. And now I’m back in my cage, waiting for the day Felipe decides he’s ready to marry me. I have to stay here on Severn Island, I can’t even get a damned job, or go skiing when I want.”

  “With the internet, it’s just as easy to manage the family investments from Severn Island as it would be in Oslo. You’re safer here with all the unrest in the Guild,” Theo said flatly. “I’m not surprised the Eldest clipped your wings, Chrissy. Twice in the last year, rogue dragons have tried to capture dragonesses made. As a dragoness born, until you are married, you are doubly at risk.”

  “Have you ever thought how tiresome it is for me, hanging around here with no friends, marking time until Felipe feels ready to marry me?” she asked.

  “Believe me, Felipe is ready,” Theo said dryly. He rubbed her back gently and his voice softened. “You’re a prize, Chris, any dragon would want to marry you. Felipe has been waiting for sixteen long years for you to grow up.”

  “In case you hadn’t noticed, Theo, I’ve been a grown woman for a number of years now. He’s had lots of time to broach the subject. Do you realize that since I graduated last spring, he has visited me precisely twice? This last visit was the first time in months. And he stayed only one day. Mamma invited him for Christmas through New Year’s, but he couldn’t make it. And when he did show up, on the twenty-seventh, he stayed for just thirty-six hours. Only two of which he spent with me.” She stopped. “Oh, what’s the use?”

  “You can’t break it off, Chrissy. The poor bugger has been waiting around for you for sixteen years.” Theo sounded more outraged than sympathetic.

  “Felipe hasn’t exactly been hanging around with his legs crossed,” she said cynically. “I bet he took off to spend New Year’s with his latest mistress.”

  “You’ve had your share of fun, Chris,” Theo pointed out. “And it wasn’t reasonable to expect a grown man to be celibate all these years. I think Felipe was pretty stoic to let you have your amusements while you were at school.”

  “Talk about a double standard!”

  “Sorry.” Theo said wryly. “I guess knowing we have to marry virgins, makes dragons care about chastity in a way that isn’t exactly modern. But we’re not talking about my hidebound dragonish attitude. Felipe has turned a blind eye to your exploits. What more do you want?”

  “I’m already a dragoness,” she pointed out furiously. “That’s the whole point of this dynastic match. I can have firelings with any dragon — maybe even with a mortal. I don’t have to be turned first. Why the heck should I have waited for Felipe?”

  “True love?”

  “Felipe and I are friends, Theo, but not lovers. There is no spark between us. Just lots and lots of pledges between the Houses of Estremaura and Lindorm. And lately, he hasn’t even been interested in being my friend.” She kicked a pebble and sent it skittering down the tunnel. “Did you see what he brought for my Christmas gift?”

  Theo pressed his lips together tightly but Christina could see he was struggling not to laugh.

  “I was sort of expecting a ring instead of an ugly ruby thingy,” she said sadly.

  Theo made a choking noise. “Felipe hasn’t declared his Mate Hunt yet. I don’t think it would be proper to bestow an engagement ring on you, before he does that.”

  “And why hasn’t he?” asked Christina. “He’s almost fifty! He should have declared years ago.”

  “And then he would have had to explain that he was almost-betrothed to Christina of Severn. He had to wait until you were old enough to marry.” Despite the logic of his words, Theo’s voice was still filled with suppressed mirth. “You can wear that brooch on your wedding dress,” he cackled bending double.

  She punched him in a brawny arm. “Shut up. Felipe has no eye for gems. I think he believes that stone is lovely. And that the setting is antique.”

  “He should have given you some treasure of his House,” Theo said disapprovingly. “Not some trinket he picked up on his travels.”

  “He should have known better than to buy a filled ruby, and tell me it was an heirloom,” Christina said chuckling despite her best intentions not to laugh at Felipe. “Do you suppose the Eldest knows he’s marrying me off to a dragon who can’t tell good stones from bad?”

  “Probably not. It is odd for a dragon to be so clueless. But he is the heir to a dukedom. Will it be so hard to be a duchess, Chris?”

  She kicked at
another pebble with her too-big boots. “I guess not. I mean, I’ve grown up expecting to marry Felipe, and I know he is the eldest son of the present duke. Yada, yada, yada. I just thought that Felipe would, I don’t know, be keener or something.” Her voice trailed off.

  “The Eldest had a vision,” Theo said carefully. “When you were born. He saw you wearing a duchess’s coronet, surrounded by firelings. Female firelings. He believes that when you and Felipe marry, you will have daughters, Chrissy. Think of it. Daughters.”

  Christina stopped again, her mouth open. “Why has no one ever told me of this before?”

  “Well,” Theo looked sheepish. “I don’t think the Eldest likes to admit to basing decisions on prophecy. He’s old school, but visions are more or less ancient school. As in superstitious rubbish.”

  “And yet I’ve been almost-betrothed since I was ten,” she said sadly.

  “You’ve always seemed fond of Felipe.”

  “I am fond of him. Everyone is fond of him. But for marriage, don’t you think something stronger than fondness is a good idea?”

  CHAPTER THREE

  “So are you going to tell us what happened in New Zealand?” Leah Sarkany asked her brother-in-law.

  “Lord Te Kanewa turned my request down flat,” Ivan replied shaking out his dinner napkin. “Apparently, we decadent European dragons are not good enough by a long way to marry Maori girls.”

  Leah glanced across the table at her husband, saw his black frown, and hid her smile with her soup spoon. Really, these Sarkanys ran so true to form. Arrogant womanizers the pair of them, but they really believed the rules did not apply to them. Oh, Hugo might be a reformed playboy these days, now that they were married and had a fireling on the way, but he and Ivan had spent their young manhood sampling the loveliest females without a thought for the future or the females involved.