Her Druid Desire (The Amber Druid Series) (25 page)

           
For most of the night things had gone astonishingly well. Except for his slip
earlier with Nadia, Drake felt as if the rest of the night would be fine, and
so far it had been. But everything would come to a head tonight, after the
gala. The ice forming in his veins told him so.

           
He hadn’t meant to show her the drastic change of his eyes. That had been his
first step to destruction. His next was the small, desperate kiss on her ear.
Hell, that one simple, innocent touch had been hotter than some of his previous
sexual encounters.
All because there was no pretense with
Nadia.
What she felt broadcasted to him so easily, and he knew from the
way she had shook in his arms, the way her breathing had hitched with suppressed
desire, and the way her body had molded to his that she had wanted that, and
whatever else he could give her just as badly as he did. And that he knew
without using
any
of his Druid skills. If he had let that part of him go
free, he would have had her up against the wall in seconds, pounding himself
deeply, and oh so hard, into her body.

           
The thought of that made his eyes and gums burn. He ruthlessly shoved that down
and focused on his dance with the mayor’s wife. There was no need to give the
older woman more excitement than she could handle.

           
Wherever he went, his eyes and his senses stayed attuned to Nadia. She was
constantly checking things, the caterer’s orders, the guest list to make sure
no one had been left out. Her actions were telling to Drake. She was nervous
and she was attempting to work off that nervous energy. Tonight, if she let him
touch her after their conversation, he could give her a relaxing spell,
something to help her sleep better and not worry about the desire she felt for
him instead.

           
Just how far was he going to go with this? Should he tell her the whole truth?
Should he put all of this on her right now? Or should he tell her part of it
and try to stop lust from taking over.
Because if she knew
everything, Drake had the bad feeling that she wouldn’t come near him again.
But he could be wrong. Maybe she was different; maybe he was being too hasty
with his judgment. He would have to wait and see.

An
hour later Drake found Nadia at a table talking to a number of people. He
looked at her and felt a jolt of excitement curl through his blood. Her
glorious hair was pulled back into a low bun on the back of her head where a
large, beautiful Camilla rested amongst the black satin strands. The deep
V
of the front of her dress was echoed in the back, and Drake knew that he had
never seen anything as stunning as Nadia in that moment.

The
curve hugging dress was entirely lace, the only saving grace was the under
dress that was a deep gray color. The cream colored lace combined with the gray
color was unique, and the total package was astounding on Nadia’s frame. She
looked like a picture perfect senorita, one that he couldn’t wait to hold in
his arms again, even as his head told him not to contemplate that.

No
matter how much he knew it
shouldn’t
happen, he found himself thinking
of ways that it
would
happen. She was so lovely, so innocent and artless
that Drake wasn’t sure he could
not
touch her again. It would happen.
His fingers would glide along her skin, slip into the heat that was under that
heavy fall of hair against her neck, rub along those ridiculously long legs,
and at some point in the near future, his fingers, his tongue, and his body
would be inside of her, bringing her nothing but pleasure-something he was sure
she had never felt, at least not the way she should have by now.

His
gums throbbed as he walked up behind her. The conversation had stopped as some
of the group had left to go dance. Drake let his body come up close, not close
enough to touch, but close enough to let Nadia know he was there. He let his
breath whisper out along the side part of her neck. Immediately chills popped
out along her skin.

“I
haven’t seen Donavan yet, have you?” She was breathless as she spoke.

His
cock throbbed at the way her body reacted to him without conscious thought. And
that was just from him standing behind her. Damn.

“He
is here, but he is staying clear of you, as he should.”

“Where?”
Her head turned automatically scoping out the area. The ballroom was massive,
but Drake knew if she took her time she would find him.

Drake
didn’t even look in Donavan’s direction. He didn’t have to. Thank God the
bastard had stayed in the same spot for the hour he had been here.
“Up along the right wall, towards the top corner with a group of
about ten people.
Do you see the tall blonde with the long white dress?”
Drake waited for Nadia to glance in that direction. “That is his date for the
night. She isn’t from Texas, which I guess is why he picked her to come.”

He
felt Nadia stiffen. Apparently she had spotted him. “Who is she? I feel like I
should go over there and warn her about who she is with.”

“Annabelle
Scrota, daughter of an Italian photographer. I have no idea how he met her, but
she seems to be a bright girl. Maybe she will catch on by herself.” Drake
walked up beside Nadia and then stepped in front of her. “You know damn well
you can’t go over there. You would be violating your own order.”

“I
know. I just feel horrible about any woman getting entangled with him.”

Drake
caught the worried look in Nadia’s eyes. He sent out feelers across the
ballroom and scoured Donavan’s aura, looking for any anger or antagonism
directed towards the lovely Annabelle. He didn’t pick up anything of the sort.
Now there was fury, but that was clearly directed at Drake and Nadia. He turned
and sent Donavan a quelling look. The bastard knew better than to fuck with him
or the woman at his side again. Drake turned back to Nadia.

“She’s
going to be fine. She is stronger than she looks.”

Nadia’s
green eyes landed on him. “How do you know? Have you met her before?”

Ah,
jealousy, a new emotion from her, to be sure. He tried not to smile. “I have
met her before, but it was long ago.” The blood in her body began to move a bit
more feverishly. Oh yeah, she was not happy about something.

“I’d
say she made an impression.” Nadia did everything but huff in his face.

The
smile he had been holding broke over his face. “She is a lovely woman, smart
too.” Yes, he was baiting her on purpose.

Green
eyes landed on him full of fire. “Maybe you should have asked her to come
instead.”

Whoa.
Someone needed to hand him some ice. Nadia was hot enough to start fires. He
wasn’t sure he should say what he needed to, but he might as well let the truth
out; otherwise, she would find out from someone else and then he would have
hell on his hands.

“She
was my date.” There. He said it.
“My original date for
tonight.
She had called me about two weeks ago and asked me if I had an
invitation and then if I had a date or not.”

Nadia’s
green eyes sparked flames at the tall blonde. Drake was amused, but he kept it
to himself. He had never imagined that little Nadia would have been jealous
over another woman, especially one that had been connected to him. The new
things he was learning about her were eye opening, to say the least.

His
eyes travelled once more down her small, compact, but very lovely frame. She
had no reason to be jealous of another woman. Even if that woman was with him
or not, she was beautiful in her own right. Apparently the guys she’d dated
before had never informed her of that fact. Drake had never thought of her as
having a low outlook when she viewed herself. This was all very surprising.
Nadia was turning out to have more layers than he had originally thought.

“She
is a very beautiful woman. I’m sure you both would have had a great time
tonight.”

           
Then she turned and walked away, leaving a very shocked Drake standing there
with his mouth gaping.

***

           
Tears burned in her eyes and fell over the lower lids, scalding down her
cheeks. Nadia sniffed and hastily made her way out into the lush courtyard that
surrounded the ballroom. There was no way in hell she could have stood there
any longer and stared at the woman that Drake had
intended
to take with
him here before her plan came into effect. She was beautiful, tall and golden,
so unlike Nadia in every aspect.

           
A mature climbing rosebush was situated in front of her with a latticework arch
where the branches twined around the wood. She stopped there. The hot night air
brushed along her skin, but the heat did nothing to stop the tears that ran
unchecked down her cheeks. She knew it was stupid to get upset over the fact
that he dated beautiful women. She had known it for years. It was no surprise
to her at all.

           
But after what had taken place at his condo…What? What had taken place there?
Not a damn thing. Not enough for a well seasoned man like Drake to take
anything into consideration. Not enough for him to go crazy with desire, not
enough for him to ache in places like Nadia was right now, not enough for him
to get hysterically jealous over any man that had dated her or found her
attractive.

           
You’re being idiotic, Nadia.

           
Clearly she was taking this to extremes, but she couldn’t stop herself. It was
like a spring had been uncoiled inside her body and only he could set it back
to rights again.

           
The pain of not allowing herself to give into her emotions for over nine years
sucked her down. The ache caused her heart to hurt, and her insides to churn.
The incident in his condo was some delicious figment of her imagination; it had
to have been. But to Nadia, it had woken up every single trembling inch of her
body in a way that only Drake could pull off. Added to the emotions she
experienced when he was around, she became a mess of a woman.

           
She grasped the beautiful material of her dress and wanted to rip it off of her
body. It didn’t matter what clothes she dressed in, what circles she moved in
and everything she did to make her life better, nothing could make Drake feel
for her what she felt for him. Nothing she did could make her anything like
that tall blonde woman in there. Nothing could make her enough for him. And if
he hadn’t felt anything for her by now, would he ever?
Probably
not.

           
The truth caught Nadia deep in her chest and sent pain radiating outward. She
hiccupped and then a loud sob tore from her chest. Oh God, it hurt so
bad
. It always had, but now she knew how he could make her
feel with the barest touch from him, and knowing what she could never
have
hurt even worse.

           
Her hands tore at her hairdo, loosening the pins and dislodging the beautiful
Camilla she had so lovingly placed there. Her shoulders hunched over when the
weight of her hair fell down in cascading waves around her arms. Tears poured
from her eyes as she tried to calm her breathing. She could never go back in
there like this, never.

           
“Nadia?”

           
At his voice in the darkness, Nadia immediately halted all sound and movement.
She barely even breathed.

           
No, please make him go away. I will never be able to explain all of this.

           
Her mind screamed at her to turn in the other direction but she couldn’t. The
only way out of this hidden arbor was back in his direction. She hastily began
to wipe the tears from her cheeks, even as fresh ones started again.

           
Seconds later she felt those telling tingles erupt over her skin, and knew that
he was standing close. She sniffed as delicately and quietly as she could
manage, but she knew that he had heard her. Hell, how couldn’t he have? It had
been as loud as a train blast.

           
He didn’t say anything, but he moved closer. Soon his large body was next to
hers and Nadia could smell his scent on the hot breeze. Everything about him
was familiar. Then his hand came up to rest on her shoulder, and Nadia knew he
was going to turn her around.

           
When he applied pressure she went with it. There was no use in trying to stop
him. His blinding white shirt came into view, and the lovely expanse of his
thrilling skin was now hiding beneath buttons. Nadia wanted to rip it from his
body.

           
“Angel…why are you crying?”

           
His soft, deep voice sparked fresh tears, and even more humiliating than that
was her lip started to shake, then her chin, and soon enough she hiccupped
again.

           
When his arms came around her, Nadia knew she should be running in the other
direction, but she couldn’t. So she turned to the one man that was the reason
why she was the way she was. She allowed him to pull her close, to comfort her
while she cried, and she allowed him to pity her for what she was doing. At the
moment she didn’t care. She was past caring. Her tears fell quietly now.