Page 29 of Raul
“Sounds good to me.” Since the palace had insisted on paying her for the full four days allocated for the camping trip, she had the day off too. Besides, one beer would not impair her.
She crossed the room to the drinks cabinet, its olive-wood doors carved with dragons and lilies. Probably a priceless antique. Quite a contrast to the cheap, laminated cupboard that held her few bottles of booze. She eased the doors open and found a bar stocked with very high-end liquor. “How did you stomach thepitorrorum when you’re used to drinking this good stuff?”
“It was the only alcohol available.”
She looked in the refrigerator and gasped. “You have Dark Lord Imperial Stout.”
“Good choice. I’ll take that,” Raul said.
She wanted to ask how he had gotten a beer that was sold only one day a year in the U.S., but realized it was a ridiculous question. He was a prince. He could get anything he wanted.
Just another demonstration of how far apart their worlds were. However, there was no reason she shouldn’t enjoy this little taste of luxury.
She pulled out two bottles, peeled off the silver wax, and found a bottle opener to pop the tops off. The aroma of hops, coffee, and molasses wafted out, making her inhale deeply. She carried the bottles back to the sofa and surveyed Raul’s reclining position.
“Do you need more pillows?” she asked.
“Maybe bring back the one I threw at Gabriel,” he said, starting to shove himself more upright.
She placed the bottles reverently on the coffee table and collected the green-and-gold tapestry pillow from the chair where Gabriel had been sitting. As she approached the sofa, she realized that she was about to put herself in a hazardous situation.
Taking a deep breath, she bent over to shift the pillows behind Raul so she could shove in the extra one. For a moment, their faces were only a few inches apart. She could see the faint lines at the corners of his intense blue eyes and the texture of his hair where it curled against his temples. A scent of cedarwood and vanilla banished the stout’s aroma and made her want to taste his skin. Those sensual, sculpted lips curved as he said,“Muchas gracias,”making his breath brush her cheek.
A delicious shiver of warmth and desire surged through her. She jerked away and grabbed a bottle to thrust into his hand. He was theprince. He had jeweled canes and limited-edition beer. She had no right to think of him with desire.
Picking up the other stout, she plunked down in her chair and said,“Salud!”before taking a large sip. She nearly choked as the powerful liquid hit her taste buds.
Raul lifted his bottle in a silent toast and tilted it to his lips, but his gaze was on her face, and it nearly scorched her.
He was bored and she was there. That was all his attention meant, nothing more significant.
“Pascal and I found the hole where you hurt your ankle,” she blurted. “I think it was a dragon’s nest.”
The light in his blue eyes went cold. “Someone took the eggs?”
“The eggs and the dirt around them,” she said, missing the heat in his gaze, even though she had wanted to douse it for her own sanity. “I’m afraid they might have taken a dragon too. The mother would have been guarding the nest.”
“Carajo!”Raul growled. “If they killed her for her skin…”
“We would have found some evidence of that. There was no blood.”
“They must have captured her alive on her nest.” He tapped the ring he wore on his left index finger against his beer bottle as he thought. “The female dragons don’t lay eggs until they’re over three feet long, so she would have weighed a hundred pounds or more. They had to have used a helicopter to take her away.”
“But away to where? Our dragons don’t generally survive away from Caleva,” Erica said. Captive breeding programs in foreign zoos had always failed. “The eggs don’t need a mother to hatch. She just keeps predators away from the nest.”
“And they took the dirt with the eggs, which indicates they’re going to try to incubate them,” Raul said, his ring clinking again.
She peered at his hand to see that the gold ring was shaped like a dragon claw that was gripping his finger with three toes on one side and a single toe on the other. A small emerald glittered in the middle appendage.
“Disculpe,”he said as he ceased tapping. “I’m sorry. It’s an annoying habit of mine.”
“I was just admiring the ring,” Erica said. “Is it old?”
“La ReinaIsabella the First wore it as a thumb ring.” He tilted his hand so the emerald flashed. “She was a Dragón through and through. And she would be very unhappy about this criminal poaching, as am I.”
“She would throw the poacher off the cliffs for sure,” Erica said with a wry grimace, remembering the queen’s punishment for traitors.
“Sometimes I feel like it’s a shame that we can no longer do that,” Raul said, almost to himself, his face like granite.
