Grace was in shock. Garrett had taken her into his office when the show was still going on and told her she’d sold all but one of her paintings. Twice now she’d had to put her head between her knees, which wasn’t easy with her dress, in order to not pass out. Sold all but one? How was that even possible?

“You want me to get someone for you?” The first person to pop into her head wasn’t her sister, but Lincoln. Which was silly—she didn’t even know him that well. “I can get Ginger for you, she’s not too far away.”

“Away? Did she leave?” He told her what she was doing. “Oh. She told me that she’d have to pump tonight. No, don’t bother her. Could you maybe get one of the Mannings? I had a nice talk with the really tall one.”

“They’re all really tall, darling. But I’ll get Lincoln since I know he’s your mate.” She didn’t get a chance to ask how he knew because he was gone that fast. When the door opened again, she didn’t even bother looking, knowing he’d turned her down.

“You can bring in one of the women then. I know it was a longshot to ask him in here.” He cleared his throat and she turned to look at the most handsome man she’d ever laid eyes on. “I didn’t think you’d come.”

“Yes, well, he said you were hyperventilating, and needed someone to pick your chin up off the floor.” She was going to kill Garrett. “You look better than I expected, at least. Are you all right? You don’t look comfortable. Want me to hold your hand?”

“No, I’m not all right. I sold all but one of the paintings.” He said that he’d heard and congratulated her. “I don’t want to sell them all. I’m not that good.”

“Apparently other people have a different opinion. Just so you know, I have the same one. You’re very talented. And Ginger said you were self-taught. I’m very impressed with your work, honey.” He sat down on the floor in front of her, and all she could think about was the color of his eyes. They were the most gorgeous shade of green that she’d ever seen. “How you doing now?”

She straightened, then stood when her dress started to ride up on her hips. He laughed when she struggled to pull it back into place. Grace didn’t know whether to kick him or beg him to help her. Actually, she wanted him to remove it, and that thought tripped her up a little.

“I don’t wear this kind of clothing often. Not ever, really, but Garrett told me I needed to make a statement. I didn’t have any idea what I was supposed to be saying with the message, so I went with black like he suggested.”

“Would you like to know what I think your statement is?” She wasn’t sure but nodded anyway. “I’m a powerful woman who knows her own worth. I’m sexy and I don’t need to cover myself when in a man’s world. I think with your talent, there will be men all over the world doubting they’re really any good when compared to you.”

“All over the world, huh? I doubt very much if anyone will care about this self-taught wannabe.” He asked why she was a wannabe. “I have always wanted to be this premier artist. Painting wasn’t my first choice, but it went much better than being a potter or even someone that sewed. Which I failed at both big time but would honestly like to try again. And then one afternoon, while I was putting my paints away, the gas man was reading the meters and asked if I’d sell him the one he’d seen in the kitchen. I don’t even remember now how much he paid me, but it wasn’t a lot.”

“He’s going to be jumping for joy when it gets out that you are a premier artist. I think anyone that has one of your paintings will be selling them soon enough.” She laughed. “I’m serious. You’re that good.”

“I’m average at best. And don’t get me wrong—I’m not fishing for compliments, I just know what I do and how good I am at it. And it’s fun. I don’t want it to ever become something that I need to do to make money. I think that would take all the joy out of it.” He asked her about the painting in the hotel room. “It’s not finished.”

She was embarrassed to tell anyone about it. Especially this man. A dragon. She must have been thinking of this family when she’d started it. Instead, like he’d done, she changed the subject. Sitting down again, she had to rack her brain to find something to talk about that had nothing to do with paintings or sex.

“I’m all right now. If you’d like to get back to whoever you came with.” He told her who he’d come with. “Well, I’m sure your family misses you.”

“I don’t think they will right away.” He stretched out his legs in front of him and under her chair. It was intimate, the way he was sitting, and when he spoke, she had to have him repeat it. She’d been deep in a fantasy about him being naked in this same position. “I asked if I could kiss you.”

She stood so fast that her dress caught under his shoes. Instead of falling, which she was sure she was going to do anyway, it ripped from the top of her shoulder down to the split at the side. Trying to get herself covered, she felt her temper snap.

“What were you doing with your big feet on my dress? Do you have any idea how much this cost?” He didn’t answer, but he did stand and push her hands out of the way. “What the fuck are you doing? I can dress myself.”

“I’m sure you can, but all you’re doing is showing me your lovely nipple, and as much as I’d like to take it in my mouth, I think you’d hit me. Or worse. Just let me tie it.” When he had her dress tied at the shoulder again, she kept holding onto the rest. As soon as he told her to turn when he took off his jacket, she put her arms through the sleeves before she could think. “Now, this should hide your pretty parts from anyone while I take you to your hotel. Garrett said he could make excuses for you.”

“How do you know?” Lincoln told her that they had a connection, and he spoke through that link to tell him she needed to go home. “Does he know that I tore my dress with your help?”

“If I had told him that, he would have cheered me on in getting my mate naked. I thought that if I just told him you had a headache you’d be able to show your face to him next time.” She felt her cheeks heat up then. “Unless, of course, you invite me to spend the night with you. Then he can say whatever he wants.”

“You don’t want to do that.” He was guiding her to the back door and his car before he asked why he’d not. “Because we just met. Even if that wasn’t a good excuse, I don’t even know if I like you or not. Or if this is going to work.”

“Well, let’s find out.” Grace didn’t know what she was going to say, if anything, but he took her mouth and she saw stars. Even on a yucky night like this, they burst behind her eyelids even as the rain fell on her face. Christ, the man sure could kiss. When he lifted his head all she could do was stare at him. “What’s your opinion?”

“On what?” He laughed gently, and she had to smile. “Oh, you mean the kiss. It was all right. I mean, you sort of caught me off guard or I would have shown you what a kiss really is.”

“Then show me. I’m at your mercy.” She started to tell him no, that she wasn’t going to subject herself to his kind of treatment, no matter how wonderful it was, but he spoke again. “Or are you afraid that I’m better?”

It was a childish taunt to get her to do what he wanted, and she fell for it. Pulling his head toward hers, his mouth barely above hers, she licked his warm lips before taking the lower one into her mouth and nibbling on it. His moan made her wet; the thong that she had on, she knew, wasn’t going to be worth shit by the time she was finished. But when he grinned at her again, she had a feeling that he knew just what was wrong with her and that she was burning up to have him take her.

“I can smell you, the way your body wants me to fill you, to fuck you right here.” The words were crude, but the way he said them made her wetter still. “If I were to run my fingers through your lips, touching your hard clit, would you come for me?”

“You’re not nice.” Lincoln kissed her again, moving between her legs so his cock was at her pussy. Riding him now, not getting any help from him, she cried out when he was suddenly at her breast, his mouth making her nipple hard, her breast swelling with more need. And when he nipped her hard enough to draw blood, she was sure she came loud enough for the entire parking lot to hear. “More. I need more of you.”

He sat her on the hood of a car, and when she was reaching for his pants to unbutton them, he tore her panties off. Panting now, she was dizzy with need. And when his cock was free, she wrapped her hand around him and moaned again.

“You’re going to make me come all over you if you keep that up.” She told him she saw nothing wrong with that. “But then I can’t come deep inside of you. Fill that hot pussy of yours until you scream out my name. Will you, Grace? Scream for me when you come, telling the world that I belong to you?”

He moved her hands. They had stilled anyway when he said that he belonged to her. And when he was filling her, his hands lifting her up so she could ride him, all she could think about was this man, his cock, and that he was inside her.

Her body was being pounded, hard enough that the car she was on was rocking. And when he cupped her breast, pulling it up so that he could suckle at it, she threw back her head and gave him whatever he wanted. She was as close to coming as she’d ever been, and he was making her want it all.

“Come for me. Bite me and come.”

She wanted to do both. To taste his blood while it went down the back of her throat while he filled her body. When she felt his body stiffen over hers, she moved to his throat and bit down as hard as she could. As soon as his blood filled her mouth, she came with him, screaming around the blood filling her mouth while he took her harder than before.

When she thought him finished, he pulled out and leaned her over the hood of the car. Entering her from this end, he yanked her body to his and she cried out. His hands squeezed her breasts like he was trying to milk them. All the while all she wanted to do was come again, feel him coming inside her like this. And when his fingers slid over her nubbin, Grace screamed again at the release and felt her entire world just snap out and her body go limp.

When she opened her eyes, they were in a car. A limo, she thought, and she started to pull from his embrace. He held her until she struggled more, then she sat across from him on the other seat. She was wearing his jacket and her torn dress, and nothing more.

“What did we just do?” He asked what she meant. “We had sex against a car that wasn’t even yours, didn’t we? Christ, I’m an idiot. I didn’t...I don’t suppose you used any kind of protection, did you?”

“You’re not carrying my child, Grace. As much as I’d like that, your timing is off. Besides, as a human, you can’t have a child of mine. But we can adopt should you want to. I’d be great with that.” She wanted to slap the smug look off his face. “You’re upset.”

“You’re damned right I am. I had sex with a stranger.” He told her they were no longer strangers. “Oh yes we are. I know nothing about you other than the little bit you told me. And I don’t sleep around.”

She realized that she was yelling at him when the glass behind her rolled up. The man driving would have heard everything, and that made her more upset. Grace just wanted to go home. Alone. And she wanted to think. Or not think about this anymore.

“You’re not staying with me.” He said all right, like he wasn’t planning on it anyway. “You don’t want to?”

“I’m trying to be gentlemanly, but you’re snipping and snapping at me like I harmed you somehow.” She told him again, this time with clenched teeth, that she didn’t sleep around. “I get that. I’m glad you made an exception to that rule for me. But even if you won’t admit it, it was the best sex I’ve ever had. And will ever again.”

“I didn’t enjoy it at all. You took advantage of me.” She knew that wasn’t true the moment she said it. “I want you to stay away from me from now on. I mean it.”

“All right. But you’re not telling me the truth. You enjoyed that as much as I did. In fact, I would say more so.” She slapped him then and watched as the mark turned bright pink under the lights of the limo. “Do you feel better?”

He knocked on the glass, and when it rolled down, he told the driver to pull over and let him out. When the limo stopped, he opened the door and sat there long enough for her to realize that he was as pissed as she was. The problem was, she had no reason to be, and he did.

“Phillip is the driver for our family. He’ll take you wherever you want to go, but know that if I ask, he’ll tell me where you are. But I won’t. You seem to be bent on me not knowing a damned thing about you, even after what we shared.” He got out then and the door slammed shut.

Grace sat there while the car started to move again and wondered what she’d just done. Phillip asked where she was staying, and she told him. Then she asked him not to tell Lincoln. His “No, ma’am” sounded like he thought it was funny, but she didn’t care. She was confused and hurt. Not at Lincoln, but at herself. What had she just done?

She’d had the best sex of her life with a man she’d only known a few hours. And she knew, as surely as she was sitting here, that no matter how many men took her bed after this, she’d never have it that good again. Grace did something that she’d not done in a very long time. She cried. And while it didn’t make her feel any better, she did it until the car stopped in front of her hotel.

~~~

Lincoln went home that night. As soon as Phillip returned he asked if he minded taking him. When he said that he had to take the family to the hotel, then he’d be back, Lincoln told him never mind, that he’d rent a car. He didn’t want to put him or the family out because he was pissed off.

Instead of renting a car—everything was closed anyway—he waited until it was nearly midnight and flew home. As always, he was careful of planes and other things going through the air at night. It took him less than an hour, and when he was home he went straight to the wooded area behind his house.

He’d been chopping wood for the fireplace he had put in. It was hard work, but it was also a stress reliever. Right now, he figured that he could easily chop down the forest and it wouldn’t be enough. As he started on his next bunch, he was finally calm enough that he could think beyond her blaming him.

There were several things about her that made him mad enough to beat her bottom. But there were many more that had him wanting to find her and talk to her again. She was smart, witty. A little on the mean side, but she’d been confused, and he had added to it, he supposed. Grace was also tantalizing and beautiful. Her talent was beyond what he’d ever expected, and she was humble enough she didn’t see what others did. And she had a complexity that he wanted to explore for the rest of his life.

He smelled Tristan before he heard him. There was some sort of sixth sense about the six of them that they could tell which one was coming close to them. He supposed it really was his smell, but Lincoln thought it was something else too. Perhaps the fact that they were all each other had and that made it so they could find them when they needed. Whatever it was, he only just then realized it was daylight and his family was probably wondering what had happened to him.

“So, this is where you come to blow off steam. You’ve been busy. If it matters to you, Grace isn’t talking either. Not that she has to; we kind of know what went on.” He looked at Tristan and told him to fuck off. “You’ve been busy out here, as I said. Is it sexual frustration or simply frustration? What do you have, ten or twelve cords of wood? Are you planning to burn her body in effigy, or just burn the house down?”

“The woman is nuts.” Tristan said nothing but sat on one of the many logs he’d split. “We had this great sex, and then she tells me that I took advantage of her. Then she slapped me.”

“What did you say to her?” He said there wasn’t any chance to say anything. “I see. Actually, I don’t. But you might like to know that she’s as confused and upset as you are. Are you going to talk to her?”

“Nope.” He split three more logs before stacking them on the cord that he was filling. “I’m done trying to figure out women. And that one is mean. And violent. Did I tell you that she slapped me?”

“Yes, you did. Mean? I don’t think I would describe her as that. Upset? Yes, without a doubt. Stressed? Oh yes. But unlike you, she doesn’t have an outlet for it. Unless you count you. Then there is that. Do you suppose that she might have been embarrassed about something and took it out on you?” He told his brother that was more than likely what it was. But he wasn’t budging. “Then it’s your head. Oh yeah, Cooper doesn’t think that you forced her into anything, but he’s coming to talk to you.”

He stacked the rest of the wood up after Tristan left. Lincoln wasn’t sure what he had wanted in the first place, but now that he was gone, he realized that he was exhausted. Going to his house to shower and change, he was glad now that no one was up when he came home. While changing his clothing, he ripped the tux to shreds, then sniffed it while taking it out to the trash. It smelled just like she had when she came.

Breakfast was his usual juice and cereal, like the kind a ten-year-old would eat. As old as they all were, they didn’t eat as much as other beings. But his breakfast was his time. He would plan out his day and make adjustments as he drove to work, just as he was doing right now. He’d been thinking about the expansions on the greenhouse for a couple days.

When he got there, Cooper was waiting. “Your mate is pissed off.” He told him that he wasn’t in such a good mood either. “Want to tell me what happened? I don’t think it was anything bad, but sometimes talking about it helps.”

“No, I do not. But I will tell you that no one is going to force her or me into anything. I’m not going to see her until I’m ready.” He asked when that would be. “I don’t know, Cooper, when I’m ready is when I’ll know. Why?”

“She’s leaving.” He asked when. “I don’t know. And she’s convinced Ginger to go with her, that she’d help her with the kids. There’s something else you might want to think about. Walton is out. They don’t know what happened there, but his father came to see him last night while we were away, and after he left around nine-thirty, Walton wasn’t in his cell at midnight. It looked like he’d never been there.”

“Inside job?” He said that it looked like it. “Did you send Carson to figure it out? I mean, she’d have the best knowledge about that.”

“She went over first thing this morning. And all she could figure out so far was that someone let him out the side door and he rode off with his father. Also, and this will piss you off more, his father saw him in one of the conference rooms rather than the usual cell area. Winnie is helping Carson decide what needs to be done now.” Lincoln looked at the marketplace, then his brother again when he continued. “We’re losing a great deal more than your mate and our accountant with this, Lincoln. She’s going to get herself killed, and that sister of hers too. Ginger won’t stand a chance going against a man like Walton. He has a couple screws lose.”

“Neither will Grace if it comes to that. Unless it’s a verbal contest, and she’ll win hands down.” He asked if he was going to fix this. “Fix what? She already has me dubbed as the bad guy. And blaming me for us having sex.”

“I’m not even going to ask if you forced her. I know better. But what did happen last night, Lincoln? The couple times I saw you, you seemed to be getting along.” He told him the highlights of last night. “Sounds like she might have been embarrassed at giving in so easily. And the fact that it was outside.”

“That’s what I think too, but I can’t go and ask her. She doesn’t want me to know where she was staying last night.” He said that Grace and Ginger were at his house right now. “Packing, I guess.”

“No. I mean they probably are, but Carson wanted to see the kids again, and she invited them over for lunch. She had to promise Grace that you weren’t there.” Lincoln said he was sorry. “I’m not. However, if you were to show up now, looking for me, then you would be just then coming around instead of being there in the first place. Get what I’m saying to you?”

“Yes, I’m not stupid. But she’s going to be pissed at you, I think.” He said that he could handle her. “Grace was really angry last night. And as much as I wanted to remain calm, when she told me that I took her, it hurt. I’m sorry, I sound like a child.” They were walking toward his car.

“You don’t. But you had better fix this. I’m sure that once she leaves, there will be— We need to go. Now.” They started running to the cars. “Walton was spotted on the grounds, and Carson wants us to come back. Grace saw him.”

Lincoln wanted to fly home, but it was too bright out and he’d scare a great many people trying to get to his mate. As he was turning his truck around, he thought of all the things Walton could do to Grace. And hurting her sister or the kids would be what he’d do to make her pissed off.

It only took them about twenty minutes to get back to Cooper’s, but it was long enough for the police to have arrived and search the woods. He asked if the pack was around and was told that four had been killed by Walton. Now, not only were they searching for him, but the pack and police were as well. As soon as Lincoln walked in the door, he looked for Grace. She came to him and threw herself into his arms like she’d done it a million times before. And he found that he liked being her support.

“I’m so sorry. I’m an idiot.” He held her, trying to figure out what was going on now. She was sort of high strung, and he didn’t want to piss her off again. “I got back to my hotel and realized what a fool I’d been. That I’d lashed out at you because I was so self-conscious and embarrassed. I felt stupid. I’m so sorry.”

She looked up at him then, and he wiped the tears away from her cheeks. “Are you all right now? I mean, I don’t have to look for a dagger you’re going to hit me in the back with?” She smacked him on the chest and started to pull away. “Not yet, please. I’ve been calling myself all kinds of a fool too for letting you be angry at me. And now I hear we’re leaving.”

“We’re leaving? I didn’t realize you were too. Is it because of me?” He said where she went, he was going. “I don’t want to leave, but my sister is afraid of.... Well, that he’d get out, and now he has. I don’t want them hurt.”

“We’re dragons, remember? A puny human isn’t going to bother us overly much.” She laughed. “I have a house we can all live in together. It’s huge.” She looked at her sister holding Wendall as he cried. “She needs to sit and calm down to nurse him. I was a doctor once in all my lives, and women can’t nurse when they’re upset. The milk doesn’t drop where the baby can get it. Take her to the living room and stay with her. I’ll be in when I make some arrangements to have you both brought to my house. All right?” At her consent, he went to find out what he could do to make them safer.

He’d had more security put around the house and barns last night—or earlier this morning when he’d been chopping wood. His brother hadn’t been his only visitor. He knew of a couple things in the house that would also keep them safe.

There was a tunnel, of all things, that went from the house to the barn, where there was a fallout shelter. He’d only discovered it by chance when he’d been in the basement looking around. If need be, he’d put the four of them down there until this thing with Walton could be fixed. And by that, he meant for the man to be dead. To Lincoln that was the only way to take care of a mad dog—to put it down for good.