Iszak (The Dragon's Mate Book 2), page 4
“I’m leaving now.” She twisted the knob but didn’t open the door. She could feel the cold air on the other side and didn’t want to go out in it. But what choice did she have?
“I can see that.” He took his plate, which was now full of food, and sat down at the table. He started eating as if she was already gone.
With a huff of breath, she yanked open the door and the cold air hit her. She stepped out on to the porch and slammed the door shut behind her. Who did he think he was? She’d never met a ruder man in her life and she worked in a busy restaurant.
The snow was deeper than it had been yesterday and the fire of her anger only carried her about halfway down the track leading to the road. Her stomach chose that moment to point out how stupid she was being. The half cup of coffee she’d drunk did nothing to fill her stomach and the memory of his plate heaped with bacon, eggs, fried potatoes and toast only served to torment her. She stopped and blew out a sigh.
“You just had to get offended, didn’t you? You couldn’t wait until after you’d eaten and the snow had cleared before you went off in a snit. So he’s an asshole, get over it. You don’t have to be besties with him, you just have to stay somewhere warm and dry.” Her voice cut through the silence surrounding her and she glanced back at the cabin. She was going to have to go back there. He would probably laugh at her and she deserved it. She was always doing shit like this, going off half cocked and regretting it later.
She turned and walked back to the cabin. She wasn’t going to let him get to her. He was the one who was in the wrong for being rude and she would be the bigger person.
Well that certainly could have been handled better. Iszak shook his head as he looked at the door Julia had stormed out of. He would have to go after her, since the countryside was not fit for traveling. When had he lost control of himself to the extent that he’d driven her out in inhospitable weather? It wasn’t her fault that the sound of her voice did things to him, things he didn't want to think about lest he forget what kind of family she came from.
When she’d walked into the kitchen earlier, looking rumpled from sleep, he’d known that he was in trouble. It made him see her as a potential mate, not as the dangerous enemy she was. He couldn’t forget that the woman who stood in the kitchen staring at him with her deep blue eyes and speaking to him with a voice of honeyed silk had a dragon killing crossbow in her room. All it would take would be for one slip on his part and he’d be dead on the floor with a dragon bolt in his heart. He would find a woman to mate with but it couldn’t be her. The risks were too great.
He stabbed a piece of fried potato and shoved it into his mouth. Why couldn’t the Robillard clan breed ugly women, with voices like screaming harpies? Many dragons would not have met their deaths if they hadn’t been lured in to a trap by those women, like sailers pulled to their dooms by the lure of a siren’s call. The female members were sometimes the fiercest among them.
Perhaps that was part of the allure. A beautiful woman strong enough to hold her own against a dragon was a powerful temptation. Most dragons wanted to pass that strength onto their children, but unfortunately all the Robillard roses that had been plucked in the past had deadly thorns.
Iszak sighed and pushed his plate away. He could make all the excuses he wanted for himself, could blame her for everything but he was responsible for what just happened. She made him uneasy and he was rude as a result. She was attractive and seemed like a sweet woman, and hadn’t deserved to be on the receiving end of his ill temper.
He shoved his chair back and stood. He’d go after her and try to get her to come back. While her family ties posed a danger to him, there was a greater danger to her if she ventured out with the snow as heavy as it was. He did want her out of his life as soon as possible but even he wasn’t cruel enough to wish her ill when she’d done nothing to him.
He picked his plate up off the table and the cabin door opened. Julia stepped inside and he looked at her. Her cheeks were pink from the cold and drops of rapidly melting snow flakes dotted her hair like pearls. She looked down at her feet and he suspected that some of the color on her face stemmed from embarrassment. She shouldn’t feel that way, since he was what had driven her out of the cabin in the first place.
“It doesn’t look like I’m going to be getting out of your hair today, but I promise as soon as I’m able, I’ll go.” She delivered her statement to the floor.
A stab of shame went through him. It wasn’t her fault that when he first met her that a spark of hope had lit inside him that she might be the answer to breaking the curse hanging over him. That a deep disappointment was now sitting inside him when that hope had been dashed by a dragon killing crossbow. She deserved better treatment than he’d given her so far.
“I’d like to apologize for my behavior earlier. I’m not the most social person and I don’t usually entertain guests. I was rude and I’m sorry for it. Come in and get your things off. I put your plate in the oven so at least your food is still hot.”
He turned away and put his plate on the counter. There was a rustle of clothing behind him. Thankfully it appeared that she was prepared to accept the olive branch he was extending. They were stuck with each other for the immediate future, and it would be a much more pleasant experience if they were cordial.
He needed to act like the civilized human being she thought he was. A short spurt of grumpiness, early in the morning might be easy to explain away, but if it was prolonged she might begin to wonder just what sort of man he was. The last thing he needed was to put ideas in her head that would lead to the truth about him.
“I should apologize too. I was being childish for stomping out of here like that. You have every right to be in whatever mood you want in your own home. I know my being here is an intrusion on your privacy and I’ll try to stay out of your way from now on.”
He grabbed the dish towel that hung on the rack by the stove and used it to pull her plate out of the oven. Did he want her too stay out of his way for the small amount of time she was here? It was not a hardship to look at her and perhaps given the chance, they might be able to have some pleasant conversation. He’d come here for solitude, but now that she was here, he might as well make the best of it.
“Why don’t we start over? We are both stuck here until the snow clears, so we might as well make the best of it. The cabin is too small for us to avoid each other.” He turned with the plate in his hand and set it in front of her. She picked up the fork she’d abandoned when she’d stormed out and ate her food. She had a healthy appetite and a silly spurt of pride went through him that he was able to provide for her, even if it was just a meal. “Do you want more coffee?”
He didn’t wait for her reply and picked up her mug, dumping the dregs in the sink. He needed to do something to keep from staring at her like he’d never seen a woman before. What was wrong with him? Hadn’t he already gone over this in his head a dozen times? She wasn’t meant for him.
He poured her coffee, came back to the table and set it in front of her. She smiled up at him and his mouth went dry.
“Sit and talk to me.”
It must be disconcerting to eat breakfast while a strange man loomed and stared. She didn’t seem bothered but he sat in the chair as she’d asked and willed the awkward feeling inside him to go away. What the hell was he going to talk to her about? There weren’t too many safe topics for a dragon and a dragon hunter to discuss without giving too much away.
“What were you doing out in the storm yesterday? You said you left before the weather turned, but didn't you know the storm was coming?”
A funny look crossed her face and she put her fork down. “I did know that the storm was coming but I didn't think it would get as bad as it did.”
“If you knew the storm was coming why did you go out in it at all? Something must have been very important to have compelled you to take such a risk, even if it was only a possibility.”
“I have business in Waldron Valley. It’s family business and I need to get it done over this week while I have time off work.”
Ice pumped through Iszak’s veins. It couldn't be a coincidence that she was going to the town where he lived with his brother if didn’t have something to do with dragon hunting. He exerted all his self-control to keep his face in a neutral expression. The more he knew about what she was doing in Waldron Valley, the more information he would have if he needed to warn Andor.
“What sort of family business?” He kept his voice casual, as if he was only asking to make conversation. He knew very well what sort of business her family was in, the crossbow in her room proclaimed that. That weapon seemed all the more sinister now that he knew she was going to the town where his brother and his mate lived.
Her lips tightened for a second and she looked down at the table. He knew she wasn’t going to come out and say that she hunted dragons. If he was the normal man he appeared to be she would not tell him that. He'd never believe her and would think she was insane. It would be interesting to see what sort of spin she put on it.
“Just something I need to do for my father. My brother has gone missing and he wants me to look for him.” She took a sip of her coffee and he knew she wasn’t going to say anything more without prompting.
“You don’t look that concerned.” For someone who said she had a missing brother, she didn’t seem at all bothered by it. Maybe she wasn’t as close to her family as he was to his. If one of his brothers was missing he’d tear the world apart looking for him.
“Kevin’s my father’s favorite and there is an expectation that we drop everything to look for him. He’s done this before and it turned out he was not missing at all. I’m sure I’ll get to Waldron Valley and track him down.”
She had a brother named Kevin? An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of Iszak’s stomach. He believed in coincidence only to a point. What were the odds that there were two dragon hunting men named Kevin in Waldron Valley?
He took her now empty plate and stood up, turning his back on her while he put it in the sink. He couldn’t sit there and act like nothing was wrong when she’d dropped that bombshell on him. The man his brother had killed was almost certainly her missing brother. While he knew that Andor had only been defending himself, that Kevin had taken him away from his home at gunpoint, he was certain that she would not see it that way. All she would see was that a dragon had killed her brother.
“I’m sure you know what he’s like. Hopefully the snow won’t keep you here too long. Would you like some more coffee?” His voice sounded strange to his ears, but when he glanced at her over his shoulder, she didn’t look at him as if there was something wrong. She held her mug up to him with a grateful smile and he brought the coffee pot over to her.
“How long have you lived out here?” She blew on her steaming coffee before taking a sip. Her deep blue eyes were curious as she looked up at him. How much should he tell her? Should he tell her that he didn’t actually live here, that he happened to make his home in the same place that she was going?
A spark of an idea came to him as he turned away to put the coffee pot aside. He had to proceed carefully, because if the plan that was forming in his head backfired on him, he would be killing himself and his brother.
As he saw it, he had two choices in what method he employed to protect Andor. He could kill her outright, which would certainly solve the immediate problem she posed. His mind turned away from that avenue because while he was prepared to kill to defend himself, he couldn’t do it in cold blood. The other option that was open to him was to seduce her, so that he could have a reason to be close to her. If he was with her, he would know first hand what she learned and could possibly control the outcome.
With his mind made up, he turned back to her with an easy smile on his face.
“I don’t live here, at least not permanently. I’m only here for a short time while I wait for my new apartment to be ready to move in to. It’s funny that you’re going to Waldron Valley, since that’s were I’m from.”
A smile crossed her face as he came back to sit across from her. “What a small world.”
“Indeed it is.” She didn’t know just how small it was and with any luck she was never going to find out.
4
The snow had finally stopped yesterday afternoon, but as Julia looked out of the window in the cabin’s kitchen, her mouth gave a twist. She was never going to get to Waldron Valley at this rate. The week she had off work was being eaten by idleness, and it didn’t help that her father had called her again this morning, wanting to know if she was on her way to find her brother. She had to tell him that the snow was still too deep to go anywhere, and the disappointment in his voice had triggered her usual guilt response.
She needed to get out of here, and not only because her father was breathing down her neck. Iszak seemed to have taken his bad behavior yesterday to heart and was now a changed man. She wasn’t sure she liked the seductively friendly version of him any better than the growling bear version. At least with the bear there was no chance she would start thinking the thoughts that were slowly creeping into her head.
Thoughts like how attractive he was, which was made blindingly obvious by the smiles he was giving her. He talked about things that interested her, especially when she’d revealed that she had a love for medieval history. That period of time fascinated her, and not only because of the stories she’d heard about her family’s glories during that era.
Apparently he was a bit of a history buff for that time period too, and they’d talked long into the night last night, and he’d been a veritable font of information. He made it come alive, almost as if he’d lived in it.
She let the curtain fall back over the window with a sigh. It would be so much easier if they didn’t have anything in common. She could ignore his attractiveness if he didn’t stimulate her mind. Maybe she was out of sorts with the change in her normal routine, but it felt like he was actively trying to seduce her.
If that was his intention it was working, because she’d gone to bed last night with him in her thoughts and his hands on her body in her dreams. Of course, she was imagining it all. Why on earth would he be trying to seduce her?
The wooden floor creaked behind her, and she tensed. She couldn’t turn and look at him, otherwise she’d weaken. She had to focus on what was important, and tangling with him was not her priority. He was a temptation, but she had to be strong. She had to get the search for Kevin over with and get back to her normal life. A life that didn’t include deep relationships with men. There were too many secrets lurking in her family history, fantastical and unbelievable secrets.
The smell of his soap wafted over to her and she closed her eyes. It was nothing more than a fresh, clean scent but it made her want to turn to him, bury her face in the crook of his neck and breathe him in.
“What’s troubling you?” The deep rumble of his voice made her close her eyes. Jesus, even the sound of his voice was her undoing. He made her want things that she was not prepared for. Being alone with him only tormented her, since it made her think of all the things that were missing in her life. Things that she hadn’t known she wanted until now.
“I was checking to see if the snow had melted enough to get out of here.” His close proximity was doing things to her, putting thoughts in her head that she couldn’t act upon. She needed to get out of here for a while. She needed to clear her head and focus on what she needed to do. She needed to find her brother, assure her father that he was fine and she couldn’t let this man distract her, no matter how gorgeous he was.
He brushed past her, drawing the curtain back and looking out on the scene that she had memorized. There was little hope of getting out of here any time soon but she needed to do something to get away from his intoxicating presence. He turned back to her and stepped closer.
“I don’t think you’re going to be going anywhere with the snow still so deep. Is my company so difficult to abide by that you want to race out of here? I’ve been trying to be on my best behavior.”
His behavior was exactly the problem but not in the way he thought. Now that he was deliberately trying to be open and friendly, it was making her forget why she couldn’t be with him. Her female hormones picked a horrible time to make their presence known. None of the men she’d dated casually, even the few she’d slept with, had ever made her long for them like he did.
“I’m getting cabin fever. I’m going to walk to my car and see if I can dig it out. At least try to get it out of the ditch.”
That course of action seemed like the best idea she’d had in a long time. She needed to get away from him for a little while, to build her defenses up against him. She was fairly certain that he was not trying to seduce her, but her body didn’t seem to care. She wanted him and she needed to get away from him before she made a fool of herself.
“I don’t think you’re going to be able to get anywhere, but I can help you if you want.”
“I don’t need your help.” Her voice came out much sharper than she intended and his eyebrows climbed to his forehead. Now she was the one being rude, and there was no call for it. If she didn’t tone it down, he would start asking what her problem was. She couldn’t exactly tell him that he made her want to jump his bones, especially if this attraction was one sided. “I’m sorry. Like I said, I’m getting cabin fever and just need to get some fresh air for a while. I’m not used to being inside this much. You don’t need to trouble yourself. I’m going to go blow off a little steam.”
Hopefully the fresh air and exercise would drive out the desire for him that was brewing inside her. A smile crossed his face and she had to look away from it.
“Don’t worry about it. I think there’s a shovel in the shed. I’ll go get it for you while you get ready to go out.” He walked to the front door, put his boots and coat on without doing it up. He left the cabin and a blast of cold air from outside hit her.
