Kelly opened her eyes and saw the man sitting in the chair. Before she could move and figure out what was going on, a soft snore had her turning. The big dog laying against her backside made her smile. Kelly had a weakness for Irish setters. When he opened his eyes and looked at her, Kelly simply fell in love.

“Hello boy. What’s your name?” She found the beautiful collar around his neck and read his name. “Well, hello James, my name is Kelly. Do you happen to know where I am?”

“My home.” She turned to look at the man who hadn’t moved other than to open his eyes. “I call him Jamie. For some reason he’s taken quite a shine to you.”

“He’s beautiful.” Almost as if he knew she was talking about him, he licked her face. The pain of it had her moaning.

“Come on, boy, before you hurt her again.” The dog leapt off the bed at the man’s command and she tried to sit up more. “You feel all right? Do you need anything for pain?”

“No. I think I’m fine.” He nodded and still hadn’t moved. “I think I remember you, but I’m not sure. I fell and you found me.”

“Yes. The creeks around here swell quickly, and if you’re not careful they can pull you in. Mostly it’s smaller items, but on occasion a dog gets pulled in. How are you?” She told him again she was fine. “I’m stalling. I have made a mistake, I think, and I don’t want to tell you about it. You’ll find out sooner or later, but...well, sooner I guess, but it’s been something that I’ve regretted since they arrived.”

“I see.” He sat up now and she could see that he was incredibly tall. “Maybe if you tell me what it is you’ve done I can help you with it. I’m pretty good at figuring things out.”

“I had your things brought here from the inn. Riley’s been to see you, by the way, and is feeling better about losing you when he did. I don’t think it was his fault, but he did blame himself for giving you the list.” She tried to keep up with what he was saying, but he kept jumping around with things. “I’m Devon. I told you that before, but you might not have remembered. And you’re Kelly Dalton, from Ohio.”

“Yes, I am, and no, I didn’t remember your name. What did you do wrong?” He grinned at her and she felt herself warming to him. Even though he was a little odd. “Am I not going to like it?”

“I don’t think so. You seem pretty normal. And my grandma had claimed that you’re nothing like them.” She asked him who he was talking about. “My grandma…you met her in the cemetery that day. She said that she invited you to have a seat with her and that you were so sweet. It’s one of the reasons I think you might be adopted.”

“I’m not. I wish it at times, but...why would you think I was adopted?” She heard voices in the hall and looked at the door, then back at him. “You didn’t. Please tell me that you didn’t bring my sister here.”

“I’m afraid that I did. And your mom. I thought it would be a nice treat for you.” She lay back on the bed again. “They’re not very nice, are they?”

“No. They’re rude and mean at times.” She had no idea why she felt she could tell him that, but she felt the weight of her family crush her. “Where am I, and is there a back door to escape?”

He laughed. It was full of life, but she had a feeling that he didn’t do it often. It took him by surprise too, she’d bet. When he stood up she watched him walk toward her. And when he sat on the edge of the bed, she felt heated by his closeness.

“My name is Devon Wakefield, tenth Marquess to the house of Wilkshire.” Kelly nodded as he lifted her up from the bed and put her on his lap. “And as such, I’m the lord of the castle. A castle that has been in my family for ten generations. A castle that hasn’t known happiness for a very long time.”

“And you thought my mom and sister could bring you that happiness? I’m sorry to tell you this, but they only bring grief and sorrow.” He said that he’d discovered that too. He pulled her hair from her neck and she nearly moaned. “Is there a reason that you’re holding me like this? Not that I’m not enjoying you...it, but I don’t know you.”

“No, you don’t. Not yet, at any rate.” She felt his breath on her neck and her nipples tightened. “You’re something else. Not at all what I expected. It took me a while to figure it out, but now that I have, I find that I’m quite happy with the results.”

“I see. Actually, no I don’t. Would you mind not speaking in riddles and tell me what the hell you’re talking about?” He kissed her throat, then her chin. “Devon, you’re making me all hot and bothered, and I don’t think you’ve explained to me what’s going on, why my family is here, or for that matter why I am in your arms.”

“I answered your phone when your sister called. I brought them here because, and I see this as my mistake now, I thought it would be nice for you to recuperate with them here. They aren’t the sort one calls when you’re ill. May I kiss you?” The change of subject caught her off guard, and she was nodding about her sister when he pulled her mouth to his.

This was no simple meeting of the lips. She felt devoured by him, consumed by his heat. And when he shifted her on his lap, Kelly felt herself being touched in places that seemed to beg him for more. His hands were everywhere, his mouth moved over the same path. And when he took her bared breast into his mouth, Kelly held him to her, curling her fingers in his hair.

“You taste like I thought you would.” Kelly wanted to ask him why he’d been thinking of tasting her when she felt him between her legs, his thick cock at her nether lips. “If you were to come right now, would the household hear you scream? Would you cling to me while I feasted on your body?”

“I’ve never had sex before.” He chuckled and told her he knew that. His mouth was at her belly, his tongue in her navel. When he sucked hard on the indentation, she cried out and wrapped her legs around his. “What are you doing to me? I don’t think we should be doing this, do you?”

“Oh yes, I very much do.” Looking down her body at him, she realized that she was naked, that at some point he’d laid her out on the bed and had stripped her naked. She watched him lower his mouth to her pussy and cried out again when his tongue teased her clit. “I’m going to eat you. Then if you’d like, I’d very much like to come deep inside of you. Would you like that as well?”

“Yes.”

He covered her mound with his mouth and she felt his teeth nibble at her clit again. His hands were holding her; his mouth was doing amazing things to her. And when he bit down on her, his fingers sliding into her pussy, Kelly felt herself bow up off the bed as the most incredible pleasure washed over her. Grabbing the pillow by her head, she screamed out her release as he continued to feast on her.

He didn’t stop. Devon made her come a dozen or more times before she begged him to please let her rest. But when he sat up on his knees between her legs, she could see that he’d stripped too, his body bared for her to see him. And Christ, what a body he had.

“I want to come on you this way the first time. My need to claim you is beyond what I think you can handle our first time together.” He wrapped his hand around his leaking cock and moved it up and down. “Do you have any idea what I want to do to you?”

“Fuck me?” He laughed and said yes. “I’d really like to feel you fucking me. I mean, I’ve never done it before, but I have a feeling that you’d be really good at it.”

“You’re making it very hard for me to be a gentleman about this. I wanted us to go slowly this time.” She realized he’d said that before and asked him about it. “Do you want me? Right now? Or do you want me to explain things to you? I can do that, but I think we’d both enjoy this more.”

“You’re stalling again.” She watched as a thick cream leaked from his cock. “Will you explain as soon as you’re done with me?”

He moved then, his body stretching out over hers. Kelly felt her pussy soak and her body tighten at the thought of him taking her. But when he touched his mouth to her nipple she held him there and begged him to do it.

“I will, but I want you to enjoy it as well. Relax, darling. I won’t enjoy this if you don’t.” She tried to relax but she was sort of nervous. “You have the most beautiful body. And I love the way your nipples tighten when I touch my tongue to them.”

He did that now, his tongue teasing the very tip of her breast. And when he nibbled on her, Kelly wrapped her legs around his thighs and felt his cock at her entrance. She tensed up again.

“Just do it.” He laughed again. “I’m afraid you won’t fit or something. I mean, I know how sex works, but you’re really big.”

He thanked her. “I can’t just do it if you’re too tight, sweetheart.” She had a feeling he was teasing her, but he spoke again before she could ask. “The thought of sliding my cock into your heat, your wet body, makes me want to come right now.” As his cock touched her, gently moving in and out of her, she began to need more from him. Rocking up when he pulled back, he moaned when she did, and she wanted to beg him to take her. “Come for me, Kelly. Soak me with your juices and I’ll fill you.”

Her body did as he said like he’d pulled a string. She screamed out her release, feeling it all the way to her toes. But when he moved into her, she felt like he was tearing her apart and held him still.

“It’s too much. I’m so sorry.” He kissed her and she looked up at him. “You can just go if you want. I’m okay. You gave me so much before this.”

His body moved. There wasn’t any more pain but the most wonderful pleasure. Begging him to do it again, he lifted her ass up to his body and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He moved slowly, filling her with his cock, and she wanted more, needed more. When he kissed her again, this time fucking her hard, she held him as tightly to her as he was her. And when he bit down on her throat, his teeth pinching at her flesh, Kelly came so hard that she literally saw stars dancing behind her eyes.

“Again, love. Come for me again.” She cried out when he held her to him, his body pounding hers in a way that she thought that she’d come apart, but the pleasure was building again and she had a feeling this was going to be better. “Take me into you. Drink what is freely offered. Take me to your heart.”

She wanted to ask him what he was saying, beg him to repeat it. But he pulled her mouth to his throat and told her to drink. The first taste of blood, hot and spiked with something delicious, had her craving more. Sucking on the wound at his throat, Kelly screamed again when he tore at her own throat and filled her. She came hard and was dizzy with it. She felt the moment that he released too, felt his cum as it filled every part of her. Darkness swallowed her up and she didn’t think she’d ever come back from it.

~~~

Devon held her to him. He hadn’t meant to go this far with her, but Christ, she was beautiful and he’d not been able to resist her. When she stirred, he looked at her face and wondered why he’d been so afraid of having someone in his life and had tried too hard to avoid it. He smiled at her when she opened her eyes.

“We had sex.” He nodded, feeling like a fool laughing at this. “I don’t think we should have done that, do you?”

“Oh. Did you not enjoy it? I could try harder if you’d like. I’ll have to wait for a couple of minutes though…you wore me out.” She smacked his arm. “You are so beautiful.”

“I’m not, but I thank you. And so you know, you’re supposed to woo a woman before you take her to your bed. After sort of defeats the purpose of it. I mean, we already did it.” Kissing her again, he felt her body move against his. And when he lifted his head from hers, she looked dazed and as needy as he felt. “I’m thinking that once was not enough for you.”

“No, but I can wait. You’re going to be sore enough as it is.” Her face reddened and he had to laugh. “Would you like for me to run you a bath? I could wash your back. We could even have a little fun while we’re at it.”

“You said that you would explain things.” He nodded but kissed her again. This time she jerked his head up and glared at him. “Explain.”

“All right. I brought them here because I felt badly about your being hurt. Your sister...well, I must confess that I had thought to mend any broken fences between you. My grandma said that you’d not taken her call, and I was under the assumption that I would help you. I should have stayed out of it.” She said that he should have. “Okay, what else do I need to explain before I can make love to you again?”

“You’re a Marquess. Of a castle.” He nodded, and felt hurt that her voice sounded so sad. “I’m a woman from Ohio that hasn’t two pennies to rub together other than the little cash I have to go home on. I have less than that. My apartment caught fire and I have nothing at all now. We shouldn’t even be in the same zip code, much less in bed together.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her that she had all she wanted, but he felt that she might hurt him. He watched her face as every emotion she had moved over her. He needed to have a talk with her. Should have before he took her. He held her to him as he tried to think how to begin. The start, he supposed, would be the best.

“I’m not sure how much you know about non-humans.” She didn’t say anything and he moved forward. “I’m not human. I know that’s blunt, but I want to tell you about myself. I need you to understand that I wasn’t looking for you when I found you, but now that I have, I need you in my life.”

“What do you mean, you’re not human? And I know a few shifters. Are you saying that you’re some kind of shifter?” He said that he was. “And this thing here, this sex between us, you needed to score with a woman and figured I’d do? This guy I know, he told me that to fuck humans is the best. There would never be a child to come back to haunt you.”

“No, it’s not like that.” He watched her when she got out of the bed, wrapping the duvet around her. He nearly begged her to come back to him when he saw his mark on her. “You’re my mate, Kelly. I knew it the first time I touched you, but I was too worried about you to know what it was. See? You have my mark now. It’s there on your hip.”

Adjusting the blanket, she looked down at her hip and he sat up on the bed. Kelly stared at it for several seconds, not saying a word, before she sat down on the chair he’d been in the last three nights. When she only stared at him, he thought perhaps she was in shock and started to ask her if she was all right when she spoke.

“That is a dragon on my hip. And it wasn’t there before.” He said because they’d not had sex before. “Don’t be a dick. I’m dealing right now.”

“I’m sorry. I’m trying to help you.” She snorted at him and he wanted to laugh. He wondered if she’d hurt him if he told her he was enjoying this more than he had anything in a long while.

“So this dragon on me. I’m to assume that because you say we’re mates—not that I’m saying I believe you, but you say this—this is why I have a dragon on me.”

“Yes. When we find our other half, our mates, we share a mark. Mine is a green dragon. Like the one on you.” She didn’t speak but sat there staring at the wall beside him. “Can I continue to explain?”

“Not yet. I’m processing.” He pulled the blanket over his legs and watched her. He could have dressed himself, her too, but he was worried that might be too much for her. “Explain to me why you thought it would be a good idea to bring my sister and mother here. And so you know, you’re going to regret that more and more before we leave here.”

“You can’t leave me. Well, you could, I guess, but I’d follow you. And I’m not sure I could regret them more. They’re very...manipulative, aren’t they?” She told him he had no idea. “I’m beginning to see that. Rachel told me about the joint account and how you didn’t hold up your end of the bargain you’d struck. That’s when I discovered that she doesn’t hear what she doesn’t like…or pretends to not hear. And after you stopped putting money in it you had the nerve to get pissy, I think she called it. She doesn’t understand why you didn’t do anything you promised her. I’m assuming that you made no such promises. Your mother told me how you’d left them at the airport without any tickets to travel with you when it had been Rachel’s idea. Not a ticket nor any new clothing either, she said. I found the list in your things when I was trying to find your clothing size.”

“Why did you need to find my clothing size? Never mind. I’m sure they told you what an ungrateful daughter and sister I am too.” Devon nodded. “I’m assuming that at some point before we had sex you had an idea who I was to you. Or who you think I might be to you. How did that come about?”

“May I show you?” When she hesitated, he slid off the bed and made his way to her on his knees, speaking low as he went. “You were battered pretty badly when I found you. Sprained wrist, a gash in your head. There were bruises too, along your legs and ribs. Donald, my physician, said that he thought that you’d not broken anything, but he wasn’t sure.”

“The water. I was watching the rain coming over the mountains. I saw the castle then. And I wasn’t really paying attention to my surroundings. The little bridge I was standing on…the creek beneath it filled to overflowing in a matter of seconds.” He nodded and took her hand in his. The one that had been hurt. “I’m not hurt. You fixed that, didn’t you?”

“Yes. As soon as I touched you after I realized who you were, my fingers running over the wound, you were healed. For some reason...I don’t know why, but I guess I had to acknowledge you in some way as to who you were. The marks to your skin were gone, the swelling in your wrist disappeared as well. It was as if you had never been hurt.” The noises at the door had them turning to it.

He knew it was her family. They’d been trying to get in since they’d been brought to the house. Devon was sick of dealing with them and had only been doing so because they were Kelly’s relatives. When she said his name, Devon looked at Kelly.

“I guess I have to go and see to them.” He told her they would. “They’re my problem. And as much as I hate to say this, I really wish that they were someone else’s. I never realized until I took this trip and made decisions based on what I wanted and needed how much they were dragging me down. I don’t know what I’m going to do when I get home.”

“This is your home, Kelly. Anything and everything that I have, it’s yours as well.” She shook her head and he grabbed it in both of his hands. “It is. You are my mate. My one and only love. You are, as of the moment we made love, the Marchioness of Wilkshire.”

Her mind worked around his words. He could see it, almost feel it beneath his hands. And when she smiled at him, he was sure he was going to love whatever she came up with. Devon was very glad that it wasn’t going to be directed at him, whatever she’d come up with.

“You brought my clothing here?” He nodded and put his hands on her arms and dressed her. When she inhaled sharply, he apologized. “Don’t do that...that was amazing. But don’t do it again without some warning. By the way, can you do that to anyone?”

“No, just you and I.” When she stood up, he dressed as well. “I must say, you are beautiful naked, but positively gorgeous dressed as well.”

“You, my dear dragon, are a charmer.” She went to the mirror and then looked back at him. “This is really pretty. I saw this...in one of the shops when I was traveling. How did you...? Can you read my mind?”

“And you can mine as well.” He sent her an image of her riding him. “I’d very much like to strip you down again and have you sitting atop me.”

She helped him stand and kissed him quickly before going to the door. “First we have to deal with Rachel and my mom. Then we can spend the day in bed. After you tell me everything else. I’m not saying that I’m ready for it all, but I’m getting ready to listen.”

“Are we tossing them out? I can have Benshaw help.” She asked him who that was as she stood at the door with her hand on the knob. “Benshaw, a man I admired and loved more than anyone else, died a few months ago. He was my friend, butler, and ran the household. His grandson, also Benshaw, has filled his shoes. I think you’ll like him. Are we going?”

“I’m afraid.” He moved up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, and Devon was glad when she leaned back against him. “It’s not going to be easy or pretty. But I’m tired of them.”

“I’ll be there for you.” With a short nod, she pulled the door open and stepped into the hall. Devon smiled and followed. He’d hate to be her sister and mom right now.