“I’m so sorry,” Carly whispered about an hour later as they sat across from each other in the living area of his rooms.

Drago lowered the cold, damp cloth he was holding against his cheek and glared at her. She gazed back at him with wide, contrite eyes. Her bottom lip was slightly rosy from biting on it.

He had never lost consciousness. Instead, he had lain there breathing deeply and waited for the pain to subside. He had also been trying to keep as low a profile as he could from Carly.

After she scared the first rodent out of the room, she had searched the rest of the room to make sure there were no other creatures lying in wait to cause him grief. All the while, she had begged for his forgiveness and asked him continuously if he was ‘okay’. He wasn’t sure what the word meant, but he suspected from her tone that she was asking him if he would live.

He instinctively flinched when she lifted her hand to touch his face. With a loud sigh, she dropped it back to her lap, adding to his feelings of guilt. He shouldn’t have growled at her. When he did, her bottom lip trembled and her eyes filled with unshed tears.

“You did not mean to hurt me – did you?” he responded.

“No, I didn’t mean to hurt you. Now you are just being mean,” she pouted, sitting back in the seat across from him and crossing her arms.

Drago’s gaze immediately dropped to her cleavage. The scooped neck of her blouse combined with her movements lifted her breasts. He wrenched his gaze back to her face when she emitted a soft snort and uncrossed her arms.

“You never did answer my question,” he said, lifting the damp cloth back to his cheek.

“What question?” she asked with a confused look.

“You were singing. You said it was a pirate’s life for you. Are you a pirate?” Drago asked, tossing the damp cloth onto the table next to him.

“Pirate? Who me? Of course not! Do I look like a pirate to you?” Carly asked.

Drago studied Carly’s incredulous expression. He studied her slightly rounded face, flushed cheeks, and curvy figure clothed in a low cut sweater with stained blue trousers.

“No, you don’t,” he finally replied.

No, she looked nothing like the pirates that he remembered, and she wore no weapons, though she didn’t need anything more than a broom from what he’d seen and felt.

And the tears in her eyes, he couldn’t help adding.

The tears had struck him more sharply than any blade. Normally, Drago would be the first to argue that a woman’s tears did little to move him. Tears were not something that a dragon shed. Yet, seeing them in Carly’s eyes had tugged at an emotion that he was unaware he possessed.

“Listen, I don’t know what happened. I was hiking on the trail in Yachats State Park. I’ve lived there my whole life and never had anything this crazy happen. Granted, I’ve only been hiking the trails for three days, but I’ve been to the park hundreds of times over the years. Shoot, more than half the town has been all over this place including my best friend, Jenny. She’s like this hiking-jogging-swimming guru from another planet. I don’t know why she thinks any of this is fun or exciting. I practically killed myself just trying to go to the bathroom – and don’t get me started on bugs and animals! I was terrified I’d get eaten by a bear or a mountain lion or Big Foot. When that rat-like creature came out from under the cabinet….”

Drago watched Carly shudder and draw her legs up off the floor. A wry smile curved his lips. He knew all too well what happened when a poor, defenseless animal met Carly – it escaped and he got beaten up.

“I will make sure that all such creatures are banned from the castle,” Drago promised with dry amusement.

Carly’s eyes widened and she leaned forward, almost falling out of her chair. “Can you do that? Sort of like the Pied Piper, only you’d be the Dragon Piper,” she mused.

“I do not know who this Pied Piper is, but the answer to your question is yes, I can send away the creatures that have made their home here,” Drago replied, wincing when his cheek protested his amused smile.

“Great! You can do that while I finish cleaning up in here. Do you have a washing machine? I swear there has to be an inch of dust on everything. With a little elbow grease and some water, we can have this place sparkling in no time,” Carly said eagerly.

Drago watched Carly slide her legs back down to the floor and stand up. His hand automatically reached out when she started to tilt. He stood up to steady her when she hopped on one foot.

“What is wrong? You have hurt yourself?” he demanded.

Carly grimaced. “My foot went to sleep. Ugh… It tingles,” she groaned, holding on to him and wiggling her right foot.

“You are dangerous even to yourself,” Drago retorted in a low voice laced with exasperation when she almost fell.

She shot him a heated glare. “I can’t help that I’m not very graceful. It’s hereditary. My mom was always running into stuff. The Tate women were not made for sports,” she informed him, carefully placing her foot on the floor again.

“I shudder to think of you playing any type of game,” he agreed.

Carly stared at him with a suspicious look. Drago did his best to keep his expression neutral. It was much more difficult than he had expected when her eyes narrowed and her lips twisted. It wasn’t until she glanced away that his lips twitched. He had to quickly press them together when she turned to glare at him again, as if she knew he was laughing at her.

“Why don’t you go make sure all the mice and bugs are out of here while I finish cleaning?” she suggested.

“Are you trying to get rid of me?” Drago asked with a raised eyebrow.

Carly’s gaze flashed over his bruised cheek and she nodded. “It might be safer for you,” she admitted with a rueful expression. “I get kind-of wild when I’m cleaning. Jenny’s learned to disappear when I get on a roll. Besides, I figure cleaning is exercise. I’ve got to be burning calories and exercising muscles when I’m doing that, right? It will cover the last two miles I missed on my hike.”

Drago shook his head. “You are a very strange woman, Carly Tate. Do not try to escape. I have strengthened the wards and protection spells around the castle. If you try to escape, I will know,” he warned.

“Escape? Are you kidding? This is like….” She paused, waved her hands, and glanced around the room with wide eyes.

“It is like what?” Drago asked.

Carly looked up at him again. He swore he could feel the threads of their connection pulling him toward her. He shook his head trying to stay focused on their conversation.

“This is magical,” she whispered, gazing up at him with huge eyes. “I don’t want to wake up yet.”

“If it means you will stay, I hope you do not wake up either,” Drago replied without thinking.

“Really?” Carly excitedly asked.

An exasperated sigh escaped Drago. “Yes, really,” he growled before cupping her chin and pressing a hard kiss to her lips. “I will return shortly.”

He turned before Carly could respond. A swift glance over his shoulder showed that Carly hadn’t moved. Her eyes were closed, her head tilted back, and a bemused smile curved her lips. If she was here to steal from him, she was doing a pretty good job – she was quickly worming her way under the wall he had built around his heart.

With another shake of his head, he strode out of his living quarters. He would try his hand at a cleaning spell – something told him it would be safer to create one than to have Carly do the cleaning. His hand lifted to his cheek, the bruise would be healed in a few hours. Thank the Goddess, his other pain had also subsided, he thought with a shudder. He never wanted to feel that kind of agony again.

Another amused chuckle escaped him and he shook his head. He hadn’t felt this alive in centuries! And it was all due to a mesmerizing woman named Carly.