Burned by Darkness - Alexandra Ivy Page 0,53

to inform Baine that he’d had no choice but to rescue Tayla’s father.

Shoving his fingers through his dark hair, Baine glared at the smirking Char. The younger male clearly found humor in the thought of Baine being stuck with the worthless imp.

It made Baine want to kill something.

“What the hell am I supposed to do with him?” Baine snarled.

“I don’t know.” Char gave a lift of his hands, his overly innocent expression scraping against Baine’s temper. “He’s your in-law, not mine.”

“If you’d left him with the trolls—”

“Not my call,” Char interrupted. “Your female insisted she wasn’t leaving without him.”

“Shit,” Baine breathed.

He couldn’t blame his servant. For such a small demon, Tayla had a talent for making a male rush to obey her commands. That didn’t, however, ease his frustration.

It was bad enough to have that lump of cement she called a gargoyle in his lair. Now he had a drunken imp who would no doubt gamble away Baine’s entire hoard if he weren’t constantly guarded.

“You could always arrange an accident,” Char suggested, his lips twitching as the scent of lemons filled the air just seconds before Tayla stepped into the room.

Wearing a soft cashmere sweater and gray slacks, she should have looked prim and prissy. The sort of female who would be horrified by the lustful urges of a dragon.

Instead, the peach sweater emphasized the luscious swell of her breasts, and the slacks clung to the rounded curve of her ass.

“What sort of accident?” she demanded as she strolled forward, her pale green eyes wary.

Baine waved a hand toward Char, his gaze never leaving Tayla as he inwardly debated how swiftly he could get her out of those prim clothes and stretched naked on his bed.

Primitive, but hey, he was a dragon.

“Leave us,” he growled.

“As you command, my lord.” Char performed a deep, mocking bow before turning to head across the floor. He paused next to Tayla to whisper loudly in her ear. “Give him hell, darling.”

Baine shook his head as his servant at last strolled out of the room, closing the door behind him.

“He needs a mate,” he muttered.

Tayla stood near one of the bookshelves, trying to look like she hadn’t been startled by his words. “I thought dragons rarely mated?”

Baine moved forward. Enough with the games. He intended to claim her, once and for all.

“It’s not as common as among some species, but it’s not exactly rare.” He halted directly in front of her. “Tayla—”

“I suppose you’re angry that I left?” she hastily interrupted, her cheeks flushed.

Baine narrowed his gaze. “I’m angry that you put yourself in danger,” he corrected.

She bit her bottom lip. “I couldn’t leave Levet and my father in trouble.”

Baine shuddered at the thought of what might have happened if he hadn’t sensed her leaving the lair. The assassins would have fed her to the trolls…

With an effort he slammed shut the door on his darkest fears. He couldn’t even let himself think of losing this female.

“We’ll deal with those two idiots later,” he muttered.

“But—”

Her words ended on a squeak as he leaned down to scoop her off her feet.

“Later,” he insisted, cradling her against his chest as he moved to walk through a doorway that was carefully hidden behind a weave of illusion.

Instantly they were stepping into a cavernous room that was fit for a sultan.

A large round bed stood in the center of a mosaic-tiled floor, draped in black and gold bedding. There was a deep bath in one corner that was bigger than most swimming pools, and in another corner was a pile of pillows where he could relax and read without worry that he might be interrupted.

“Where are you taking me?” Tayla breathed.

“Where I should have taken you the second I saw you in my father’s lair,” he said, slowly lowering her to her feet.

She glanced around, her gaze lingering on the nearby bed before moving toward the priceless tapestries that hung on the walls.

“Good heavens.”

He stroked his hand over her golden curls, needing to touch her. He’d released a portion of his fury during his destruction of the assassins’ castle, but he was still working through his terror that he might lose her.

That was going to take some time.

“You’re the first person ever to enter my private sleeping chamber,” he told her.

She blinked, as if startled by his confession. “Why me?”

His fingers slid beneath her hair so he could discover the tender skin of her nape.

“You know why.”

He could hear her heart begin to race, a flush staining her cheeks.

“You