Page 34 of Mikhail
Conrad studied the blurry face of the mystery man, and then it hit him—a flash of memory, centuries old. A man he had seen only once, as they’d passed by each other in a darkened cell. The memory was brief, faded around the edges, but Conrad was sure it was the same man. Mikhail Barinov…the Russian dragon he’d convinced Queen Elizabeth I had been there to betray and use her. She’d thrown Barinov into prison only to later change her mind and throw Conrad in as well as punishment against alldragons.
“Thank you, Mr. Winston.” Conrad removed the drive from his computer and handed it back to Barty. “I will handle everything from here on. I no longer require yourservices.”
Barty gulped. “And my fee?” Each word shook as he spoke, and Conrad couldn’t resist scaring the sniveling little mortal. He stood up and placed his hands on the desk as he leaned over to stare at theman.
“And what, exactly, do you think I owe you? You were unable to fulfill your end of thebargain.”
“But—”
“But nothing. You are fortunate I am letting you leave here with yourlife.”
“Mylife?”
Conrad let his dragon start to claw its way to the surface. His dark eyes turned to bright gold, and he lifted one hand from his desk, his fingers suddenly wreathed inflames.
Barty let out a terrified screech and fell flat on his back as his chair tipped over. Conrad watched the pathetic human scramble away on his hands and knees out the door. Well, there was one less vote for him come the generalelection.
When Conrad was alone, he sat back down at his desk, thinking. Mikhail Barinov had only one set of allies that he knew of in England, the Belishaws, which meant he could use that connection to findhim.
The one problem was that the Belishaw family was still considered the current ruling family of the dragons in England. He would be putting himself at great risk if he forced his handearly.
Conrad snorted at the irony. Once again, Mikhail Barinov had inadvertently forced his hand, made him have to move ahead of schedule. But he needed those gems for an alliance of his own, for the final pieces of his plan to fall into place. Then the coming election would be all butguaranteed.
And then the fun wouldbegin.
Conrad smiled and leaned back in his chair. There was a knock at his door, and his smilefaded.
“Mr. Sinclair?” His assistant, Brenda, a small mousy woman, appeared in the doorway, smilinghesitantly.
“Yes?” he asked, watching her intently. He did so love to make hersquirm.
“The prime minister is in the conference room. I believe she is a tad early for your meeting.” Brenda glanced at her smartphone, no doubt checking their sharedcalendar.
“Tell the prime minister that I will see her in fifteen minutes,” Conrad announced. He wondered if she was having doubts about stepping down. Well, it wouldn’t take much to remind her it was the right thing to do. For the good of thecountry.
After Brenda closed the door, he laughed for a good long while. Even in five hundred years, he had not lost his ability to control humans. After the prime minister stepped down and called for a new election, things would move very fast indeed. A fiery campaign, preying on the fears and prejudices of the population, convincing them he would be their salvation. It had worked before, and those politicians didn’t even have a dragon’scharisma.
And then, when the country put their trust in him, he would watch it allburn.
Oh, Elizabeth, I swore to you that I would destroy your precious nation for what you did to me. I just never saidwhen.
* * *
Piper woke slowly,her body stirring with a languid, relaxed feeling of bliss. She’d never known her body could be so limp. Heat radiated from behind her, and warm breath fanned against the back of her neck. A large masculine hand cupped her right breast, offering a slight squeeze as shestirred.
Mikhail.
She was in bed with a man who could shift into a dragon. And he’d made love to her. Her thighs quivered with the memory, as did the soreness deep insideher.
She’ddoneit. She’d finally had sex, and it had been scary, a bit painful, and thenamazing. He’d been slow and gentle, and she’d felt herself come apart beneath him. The memories warmed her all over. She was going to be embarrassed when he woke up, but at least right now, while he was asleep, she could enjoy this. Jodie had been right. This wassoworthit.
But as much as she wanted to stay right where she was, nature was calling. She gently pried Mikhail’s hand off her breast and slipped out of bed. He made a soft growl but didn’t open his eyes and rolled onto his back, stillasleep.
The dressing gown with the dragons stitched into it lay beside the bed on the floor. She slipped it on and went into thebathroom.
Afterward, she stared hard at herself in the mirror and almost didn’t recognize the woman she saw. This woman had swollen lips, and her hair was in a wild tumble of waves, looking more golden than plain light brown. The red satin gown hugged her full figure in a sensual way that made her look like a lingerie model rather than a timid, curvaceous virgin scientist who knew almost nothing about sex. She couldn’t help but smile. If Jodie could see her now, she’d totally freakout.
Hello, sex kitten; goodbye,prude!
