Page 25 of Dragon His Heels
“Who’s her mother?” the schoolmistress asked Talia.
Talia cleared her throat. “She doesn’t belong to our colony any longer.”
“She’s mine,” Gabe said, because it sure felt like Ilsa was questioning Ruby’s paternity. “I’m going to proclaim her as my heir at the next colony meeting.”
Talia’s eyes widened. Oops. He probably should have mentioned that to her first.
“Really?” Ilsa said, her voice perking up. “And are you taking a mate too?”
“Nope. Not necessary. Heir’s already been created.” He waved at his daughter, who stood between them, quiet as a mouse.
“Ruby needs your guidance, Ilsa,” Talia said quickly, probably to waylay any retort the old dragon might make. “She’s a couple years behind in her schooling.”
Ilsa nodded and made a note on the paper lying on her desk. “We will put her with the first years until we get a feel for her skillset. Eight a.m. Wednesday. Bring your own lunch,” she said, looking at Ruby. “Noah’s food is far better than the swill served here.” She wrinkled her nose.
They were back to the house by lunchtime. Noah had made a macaroni salad and left sandwich fixin’s in the fridge. It was another gorgeous, sunny day, like summer was refusing to let fall even think about taking hold. After lunch, Ruby, naturally, asked to go swimming.
“Come with us,” Gabe said, and then he leaned close and whispered next to Talia’s ear, “We can swim out to the dock and fool around underwater where no one can see us.” He was getting hard just thinking about it. Or maybe that was the close proximity to Talia. Damn, she smelled good. Like peach pie. He wanted to eat her up.
Ruby was already in her bedroom, changing into her swimsuit, so he crowded Talia, backing her up until she was pressed against the wall. He wrapped one hand around the back of her neck and slipped the other under the hem of her dress, sliding up until he could squeeze her ass. But when he leaned in to kiss her, she twisted out of his grip.
“I can’t. I promised Petra we’d get together.”
Petra Sharmell was Talia’s best friend. He personally wasn’t a fan. She’d spent a lot of time over the last five years voicing her opinion about the way he was managing the colony. And it was her opinion that he was doing a lousy job of it. While he knew it to be true, he didn’t like to hear it from other people. Especially someone who had no experience in the position of reeve and didn’t seem to give a damn about the colony herself.
He didn’t understand how she and Talia were such good friends, considering Talia seemed to live for taking care of this colony. Or maybe it was just him she wanted to take care of.
Would she be such a devoted PR manager for any other reeve? He’d never really considered it before, but now, he wanted to believe she cared so deeply because it washim.
He dropped his arms to his sides. “Well, at least I know if you’re with her, no other dragons will hit on you.”
Talia gasped and swatted his arm. “What a horrible thing to say!”
He shrugged. “She’s one of the prickliest dragons I’ve ever met. Which is probably why she never gets laid. I bet if she got a little nookie, she’d be a changed person. But, of course, that’ll never happen since she’s so damn grumpy all the time.”
“Thank you, Dr. Dragon Love, for that analysis. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to go hang with mypricklyfriend.”
She headed down the hall toward her bedroom. He called out to her retreating back, “Hey, when you get home, I’ve got something prickly for you to touch. It needs lots of fondling. It gets bigger the more you rub it.”
She shook her head but didn’t turn around. A little voice near his leg asked, “What is it?”
Gabe’s gaze dropped to Ruby, who stood in the doorway to her bedroom, wearing a blue tankini and staring up at him. “What is what?”
“The prickly thing that gets bigger when you rub it.”
“Uh…” He glanced up, but Talia’s bedroom door was closed. Shit. “Um… Hang on, let me go change into my swim trunks. I’ll be right back.” He retreated to his bedroom and hoped to hell Ruby would forget about the mysterious swelling, prickly object by the time he was done.
Which was exactly what he should do. Forget about the temptation Talia presented. Forget about the fact that his dragon believed she was his fated mate.
Because if he didn’t care, he wouldn’t get hurt.
Again.
