The Island Of Dragons: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (5 page)

With his heavy brown boots making deep tracks in the sand, Hugh glanced over at me. “So, the only reason you’re eager to see Chief Warren again is because you want to convince him you’re not up to no good? Sure that’s all?”

“Yes. Absolutely all. That’s the
only
reason I’m eager to see him again. That’s it; that’s all... that’s it. That’s the only reason.”

“You sound more like you’re trying to convince yourself than me.”

Afraid that he was right, and having the teeny-tiniest of sneaking suspicions that he was, I abruptly changed the subject.

***

The following afternoon, using a phone that Hugh had given me, I sent Warren a text. I just wasn’t able to help myself. It read:
I’ve been fully hydrated for days, and yet you still haven’t come to talk to me again like you said you were going to. Some chief you are, not following through on promises.

Within a minute, I received a response.
Well, here’s a new promise. I’d like to meet you at my place for dinner at seven this evening to talk to you further, and I promise I won’t be late.

*

I read Warren’s text with my pulse pounding, telling myself that it was doing so because I was angry that he presumed that I’d even
like
to have dinner with him, despite the fact that I was, of course, still his prisoner. However, being that I did still want to talk to him, I sent a brief return text, saying that I would meet him at his place at seven.

The day dragged. Trying to distract myself, I spent several hours teaching the village children ballet and other forms of dance on a wooden outdoor platform reserved for special events and shows. I’d been doing this for a couple of days, keeping the lessons informal and the groups small, and each day, more children had shown up with their moms to see if they could take lessons, too. I was back in my element, teaching dance, and I loved it, though on this day, I had a bit of a difficult time concentrating.

When I knocked on the heavy wooden door of Warren’s castle at seven, dressed in a red sundress, he answered the door himself. Being that he was chief, I wondered if he might have a servant to get the door or something.

The moment I saw him, my knees went weak, though I worked hard not to let my facial expression betray my sudden attack of jelly-legs. Dressed in dark dress pants and a white shirt open at the collar, revealing a tantalizing glimpse of his lightly tanned, muscular chest, he looked, as Melissa had described him, smoking, scorching-level hot.

After ushering me inside, he did a not-very-well-disguised once-over of me, with his breathing seeming to suddenly accelerate just a bit, before speaking. “Hello, Miss Eleanor Christine Elizabeth O’Brien, esquire. I hope you’ve been well, though I’ve heard that you resent having a prisoner guard assigned to you.”

I nodded, folding my arms across my chest. “You’re damned right about that.”

“Well, I have to admit I was a little taken aback that a sharp-tongued legal eagle such as yourself was so surprised at the way the justice system works around here.”

I snorted, blood boiling. “Oh, what justice system? You mean the one that seems to consider people guilty until proven innocent?”

Before he could respond, a middle-aged woman with glossy black hair shot with a few streaks of gray, came bustling out to the foyer announcing that dinner was ready. We’d met very briefly before, in passing, and I recognized her as Hugh’s wife, Sadie, remembering that he’d mentioned that she and another woman did cooking and cleaning for Warren.

Warren and I were soon seated at a long, polished wooden table in his very spacious stone-floored dining room, and after serving our dinner, Sadie wished us a good evening and left. Warren sat at the head of the table, of course, and I sat on his left. Just close enough to see his dark hair glinting with the faintest sparks of auburn. The late-day rays of sun slanting in through the windows were revealing this, as were the flames from two tall white taper candles that Sadie had placed on the table.

While the two of us enjoyed a delicious lobster-tail dinner, our meal was pleasant at first. Warren asked me to tell him all about myself, and I gladly did, hoping to convince him I wasn’t a spy. I told him all about my love of dance, and teaching kids, and I even told him a bit about my family, including what had happened to my parents, which wasn’t easy for me to talk about. I did it anyway, wanting him to get a good feel of my sincerity and who I was as a person.

We were even getting along so well that after I’d told him some of my hobbies and interests outside of dance. Warren even made me crack a smile when he said with a completely straight face that he was surprised that in all my telling about myself, I hadn’t once mentioned my love of law and my dreams of someday getting into law school and becoming a full-fledged attorney.

I pointed my little lobster fork at him, actually fighting a chuckle. “You’re hilarious. Maybe
you
should consider taking some comedy classes and becoming a full-fledged comedian.”

Fork perched above his lobster, he smiled back, revealing perfectly straight, white teeth. “Lieutenant General Chief Warren James Knight, comedian. I like the sound of that.“

“That’s the spirit. If you can dream it, you can do it.”

Things took a bit of a turn a short while later. Thinking that I finally had him convinced that I wasn’t any kind of a covert ops enemy, I casually asked if, when I left after dinner, I should inform Hugh that his services as my prisoner guard weren’t needed anymore. “Or do you want to tell him yourself?”

Frowning, Warren took his napkin off his lap and placed it on the table. “I won’t be calling off Hugh’s services, and neither will you.”

I stared at him, hardly daring to believe my ears. “What?”

“You’re still my prisoner, and until I can trust you in my community fully, I’m going to have you under guard every second of every day. Same as your friend Dalton.”

Heart racing, I suddenly stood, slamming my napkin on the table. “Like I told you in the hospital, Dalton is not my friend, or my boyfriend, or my anything. I only just met him the night his stupid vibration device thing made me fall over the deck of the cruise ship.

I’ve barely even spoken to him while we’ve been here in the village together. I’m not a spy, and I’m not any kind of an enemy to you or any of your people. And if you still don’t believe that even after everything I’ve told you tonight, your name shouldn’t be Lieutenant General Chief Warren James Knight, comedian. It should be Lieutenant General Chief Warren James Knight, asshole.”

With that, I turned heel and began stalking out of his castle, not caring if he chased after me or what his reaction to what I’d said would be. Melody had assured me that there really wasn’t even any kind of a jail facility in the village, so I didn’t have any fear about that anymore. Warren didn’t chase after me, or yell, or do anything. I didn’t even hear him get up from the table.

Once outside, I strode past Hugh, who was sitting beneath a copse of palms just a short distance from the castle. “I guess you can escort me home now, since I’m still a prisoner, still a person not to be trusted, not even to walk from castle to castle, despite the fact that I just spilled my guts about my life in an attempt to prove I really am who I say I am.”

Hugh had gotten up and was walking beside me now, though he didn’t respond to me right away. When he did, it was in such a quiet, serious voice that I had to strain my ears to hear him above the noise of the churning, nearby ocean.

“I’m probably old enough to be your father, Ellie, so let me give you some fatherly advice. Just slow down. Give him time. Chief Knight has experienced some betrayals in his life, both before we all came here to the island and after, that have made him very slow to trust. But eventually, if you’re really not a spy—”

“I’m not.”

“Then eventually he’ll come to realize that. Eventually, he will learn to trust you if you are trustworthy. And maybe even sooner than you might think if you’ll just step back a little from trying to force him to trust you and just let it happen naturally.”

I snorted, stomping across the village walkway. “‘Let it happen naturally’ by continuing to allow myself to be treated like a prisoner?”

Hugh sighed, looking exasperated in a very fatherly sort of way. “Short answer, yes. But you could also let it happen naturally by not continuing to deny any romantic feelings or attraction that you may have toward Chief Knight.”

“And what on earth makes you think I have any?”

Hugh sighed again, looking even more exasperated. “I’m with Melissa. You do ask some dumb questions sometimes, Ellie.”

I snorted, turning my gaze from Hugh’s face to the stretch of walkway straight ahead. “How kind of you, Hugh. Thanks.”

“Look. I’m sorry about that. I’ll answer your question. What on earth makes me think that you might have some romantic feelings or attraction to Chief Knight? Well, I could list quite a few different things, but just for starters, Sadie told me that she took a little peek at you two when Chief Knight first let you into the castle this evening, and she said there was so much electricity between you two that she could almost actually see it.”

“That was probably just static cling from my dress. Melody told me she forgot to use fabric softener on it when she laundered it.”

“Smart aleck. I’ve got a smart aleck with a smart mouth for a prisoner.”

“Oh, and by the way, if Sadie took a covert peek at Warren and me when we weren’t aware, that actually makes Sadie the only real spy in this village. So, maybe you should go guard
her
.”

“Spend more than a couple hours a day with my wife? We love each other dearly, but we’d kill each other. Now, listen. Let me ask you something, Ellie. And I don’t mean to get too personal here, but—”

“You’re going to anyway.”

“I guess I am. So, let me ask you a question, and it’s this. Have you ever been betrayed in your life as Chief Knight has been? Has anyone ever let you down? And by
anyone
, I mean a friend, a family member, or whoever... but particularly a man you’ve been involved with. Has any man you’ve ever cared about ever let you down or betrayed you?”

I almost laughed out loud.

“Only all of them. Only every boyfriend I’ve ever had. I seem to be great at attracting men, but not good ones. Not quality men. Just men who cheat on me or disappoint me or let me down in various other ways. I’ve never had a boyfriend I could completely trust, and because of that, I don’t think I’ve ever really been able to love anyone fully.

And in fact, even though it was a while ago now, I’m kind of still getting over the disappointment of my last failed relationship, even though I don’t really miss my ex-boyfriend himself, if that makes any sense.”

Hugh nodded, seeming to be deep in thought. “It does. Now, let me ask you another question. Do you think it maybe your past disappointments in relationships, more than anything else, more than Chief Knight holding you as a prisoner, that’s making you deny anything you might feel for him and view him as your enemy?

Because maybe subconsciously, you think he might be a good man, but you’re scared that once again, he might not turn out to be that quality man you’ve been looking for?”

With my steps on the flagstones slowing, I didn’t answer right away, thinking. “That was two questions, Hugh.”

“Well, so it was. At any rate, I hope I’ve given you some food for thought.”

He certainly had, though I wasn’t completely convinced that his thinking was on the right track. No matter what disappointments I’d experienced in the past, my issue with Warren was just what I’d been saying it was all along. My issue with him was that he was holding me as a prisoner, despite the fact that I was innocent of what he suspected me of, and despite the fact that everyone else in the village seemed to believe me. At least, that’s what I kept telling myself was my issue.

As the sun sank low in a peachy-pink sky, Hugh and I walked the rest of the way back to my castle in silence. To our left, on the beach, a group of women and at least a dozen children were enjoying a clambake and a game of volleyball. Some of the kids and women waved at me, and I waved back, trying to force a smile.

Once we arrived at my castle, Hugh broke our silence with more quiet, serious words. “I think you and Chief Knight may have the same sort of problem, Ellie. With that problem being a little difficulty with trust. Just think it over. Goodnight.”

I mumbled goodnight and let myself into my castle, knowing that he’d be right outside, circling around the perimeter, until midnight. Which, of course, was completely pointless.

I went to bed early, around nine, but I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about how over dinner, I’d forgotten to thank Warren for pulling me from the ocean, saving my life, the night I’d arrived on the island. Like I’d told Melody, I
was
truly thankful to him for that, and I
had
really been intending to tell him. But at the same time, despite that, and despite my chat with Hugh, I
was
still very angry at Warren for
still
not “clearing” me as a spy, even after I’d basically told him my whole life’s story over dinner.