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That really got my cheeks warmed to a steady steam. “I-I hadn’t really noticed. Everything happened so fast. I-I wasn’t really thinking-”
He held up one hand and shook his head. “Natural impulses are nothing to be ashamed of. One must follow their heart where it leads.”
I tried to tamp down the rising heat within me, and I did that by stepping into the cool waters. The pool was comfortably warm but still cold enough to soothe my stifling embarrassment. I stared down at my reflection and beheld my reddened cheeks.
The waters stirred as the dragon lord followed me into the pond. I couldn’t face him and I stiffened as he wrapped his arms around me. His musky scent surrounded me and soothed my tense muscles.
He leaned down and his whispered voice floated over my ear. “Do you have regrets?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to steady my words. “I-I don’t know what to think. I don’t understand anything that’s going on. I don’t know whether I should go home or. . .”
“Or what?” There was a reluctant hope in his voice.
I let out a shuddering breath. “Or stay here with you.” I turned around, breaking his gentle hold around me, and studied his handsome face. “Why do you want me to stay? Why did you have them bring the other women and me here? The people you hired told us you wanted a bride.”
The lord turned his face away and pursed his lips. “Yes. My kind mate only once in our long lives, and we go in search of that bride only when the urge comes upon us, which is rarely.”
“How rarely?” I asked him.
“I have not felt the urge to find a mate for nearly two centuries.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
My eyes widened.“How long do you guys live?”
A bittersweet smile slipped onto his lips as he continued to look away from me. “Would you believe I am two thousand years old?”
My lower jaw hit the pool of water beneath me, and when I could find my voice it came out in a squeak. “You. . .you’re. . .that old? Are you sure?”
He chuckled. “I may be off by a century either way, but yes, I’m sure.” He turned to face me and his good humor faltered. “I felt the urge for a bride come to me a fortnight ago and sought the assistance of my ‘acquaintances’ to acquire a bride.”
I shook off my shock as many questions bounced around in my head. “But why did you have to go to another world for a bride? What’s wrong with the women in this one?”
He shook his head. “I’m afraid I can’t answer that question, as I myself do not know the answer. I only know that the call came from a land far away from my own, and so I sought to use my chosen stone in order to open a gateway to the prospective brides.” He turned to face me and his eyes studied me with curiosity. “Little did I know it would lead Enna and her ilk to another world.”
A word he said caught my attention. “The chosen stone? You were talking to Enna about getting that back to her, weren’t you? What is it?”
He lifted one arm and studied the muscled limb. “It’s called a stone, but it’s actually my scales fashioned into a ball by my own fire. Only a dragon’s fire can burn a scale, and we dragons use that flame to create a concentration of our powers. There’s no greater source for our magic, except for our blood.”
I tilted my head to one side. “Why? What’s in your-”
“Whoa! Whoa!”
The shout came from the south of us in the direction of the road. The lord whipped his head about and frowned. “Someone’s in trouble.”
My heart skipped a beat. “What do we do?”
“I will go see if I might help,” he told me as he grabbed my hand and guided me to the shore. “You will remain here-”
“Oh no,” I insisted as I swept my eyes over the silent woods around us. “I think I’d rather go with you.”
He stuffed my shoes and socks into my arms, along with his own. “Then you may carry these.”
I wrinkled my nose before a yelp interrupted my disgust. He had again swept me off my feet and spread his wings wide. In a moment we were airborne and he bore us in the direction of the noise. Another shout caught our attention and I glimpsed something moving quickly among the trees toward his stately abode.
Lord Thorn dove down so we were just barely above the tree branches. Breaks in the canopy allowed us to see a box-shaped wagon careening down the dirt road. The back was covered by a heavy blanket that flapped in the wind and at times revealed heavy trunks that bounced about.
A man sat in the driver’s box. He sported a long mustache and plain trousers with a brightly colored buttoned shirt. Theman pulled hard on the reins, but the two terrified horses kept up their panicked gallop. The wagon hit a bump and a pair of terrified female screams came from inside the rear box.
