Dragon in Chains

“… if you are the Rose, Randa, then I am the Dragon,” Kit’s green eyes stared into hers as he lifted her fingers and kissed them gently. “And this Dragon loves you very, very much….”
Miranda was smiling as she came totally awake.
Yawning, she flung both arms outward, one hand striking cool, firm flesh which reacted by pressing against her open palm. Strong arms encircled her waist. She opened her eyes and stared directly into Kit’s.
“Good morning!” He sounded much too chipper for someone who’d just awakened, his voice holding none of that just-barely-conscious hoarseness.
“’morning…. ” she mumbled, before asking suspiciously, “How long have you been awake?”
“Oh--hours and hours,” came the careless reply, as he reached out and brushed the tousled blonde hair back from her forehead. “--and that gave me plenty of time to lie here and enjoy watching you sleep.”
“Oh, please!” She looked away, embarrassed at the affection behind the words despite his ironic tone. “Some enjoyment, I’m sure--me, lying here with my mouth wide open--snoring, drooling…”
“Ah, but it was a very ladylike little snore,” he corrected, the green eyes twinkling, “and the drooling, well, it was only a drop or two!” and he caught her by the shoulder, turning her to face him again, “Good morning, Randa!” and kissed her.
For just a moment, Miranda didn’t move. Having Kit openly express his love for her was still something new and just a little surprising and every time it happened (which was becoming more and more frequent), for just a moment, she was startled into immobility with the shock of it all.
I just can’t believe that this man loves me!
Then, the moment was broken, as she put her arms around his neck and returned the kiss, snuggling closer to him, resting her head against his chest. His skin was cool, much cooler than a Terran’s, his heartbeat, loud and clear against her ear, was faster than her own, coming from the right side of his chest.
My darling, darling extra-terrestrial!
“You were smiling-- ” her own private E.T. began.
“I was dreaming,” she told him, and smiled again.
“About what?”
She twisted away to look up at him, grinning now. “Oh, that’d be telling! Maybe I don’t want you to know what I was dreaming! That’s pretty personal, you know.”
“Let me guess, then!” Once more she was captured and drawn back to lie against him, warm flesh against cool.
“All right, Mr. Smarty! Go ahead!”
“You were….” his voice hesitated, as if he were considering carefully. “I think…. You were dreaming…about us-- ”
Miranda snorted, a total unladylike little sound.
“A lucky guess….”
“…and I told you how much I loved you.”
“So what else is new? That’s hardly a surprise, since you do that an awful lot!” She pulled away to look up at him, suddenly serious. “You did tell me you loved me, Kit, and i-it was beautiful.”
“Glad I’m so eloquent--in your dreams, at least!”
“Hush-- You said, ‘If you’re the-- ‘”
“If you are the Rose, then I am the Dragon,” he interrupted quickly, and went on as she stared at him, mouth open. “And this Dragon loves you very, very much!”
“B-but t-that’s exactly what you said! How--how did you know?”
Kit didn’t answer, just let his mouth curve slightly in a knowingly little smile.
“I knew it! You can read my mind!” As always happened when it was suddenly pointed out to Miranda how little she really knew about Gataens, she felt that slight wiggle of fear deep in the pit of her stomach. “Tell the truth now, Kit--do you actually possess ESP and just never bothered to tell me?”
“Miranda, will you stop that?” Briefly, he let irritation creep into his voice. “I’ve told you before, Gataens are no different from Terrans! We don’t possess superpowers, and we can’t read minds!”
“Then, how did you know…another lucky guess?” She was still suspicious.
He shook his head. “You also talk in your sleep, my darling,--quite loudly and very clearly!”
“Oh, my goodness!” One hand went to her mouth, bright pink creeping over her cheeks. “Glad I didn’t say anything incriminating!”
“Don’t be embarrassed,” Kit went on. “I’m flattered, and I wish I had thought of saying it to you on my own, because it’s true. You are the Rose of the House of Andrus just as I’m its guardian Dragon, and this Dragon does truly, truly love you!”
His smile widened.
“You know, originally, the head of security was called “the Great Dragon” and-- “
“Shades of the Ku Klux Klan!” Miranda muttered.
“What?” Kit’s frown showed he didn’t understand the reference.
Obviously, that little bit of Terran history had managed to slip by him.
“Oh, nothing. You were saying? And-- ?”
“And “the Rose” was his wife or his female companion.”
“Oh, ho!” She tried to look offended and failed. “So now, I’m relegated to being a “female companion,” am I?”
“There’s no other female I’d wish to accompany me.”
There was another kiss, one which Miranda wholeheartedly returned, one that threatened to turn into something a little more involved as Kit’s hands slid from her shoulders down her back to gently cup the curve of her hips.
Miranda relaxed and waited for Nature to take its course.
Nature got thwarted.
Abruptly, she got a gentle slap on one buttock and Kit pulled away, leaving her lying there, lips still pursed.
“Enough of this dally-dillying….”
“That’s dilly-dallying!” she corrected.
Although Kit prided himself on his knowledge of Earth-English and its idioms, once on a rare occasion, he got them wrong.
“Whatever.” A shrug of broad shoulders brushed aside his error. “I’m afraid I’ve got more important things to do this morning than lie abed with the woman I love and…uh…make out!”
Throwing back the sheets, he slid his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up.
“Zane Taluti is coming to the House today.…”
Zane Taluti… for just a moment, Miranda went cold, remembering how Zane’s identical twin, Xandr, former Lord of the House of Taluti and a total lunatic, had kidnapped her and her three young charges in an attempt to lure Kit into a trap where he could murder him. All Xandr had succeeded in doing was getting himself killed, and with his death, brought to an end the war that had raged between his family and Kit’s for nearly six years.
With his brother dead, Zane become the new Lord, immediately expressing a desire for the killing to stop….
…and now, he was coming to the House of Andrus….
“…there are plenty of papers for him to sign so he can legally accept leadership of his House until Adrian is old enough to take over.”
Adrian Andrus was one of the children Miranda had been hired to nanny and the innocent cause of the war…in his will, Adrian’s grandfather had left leadership of the House of Taluti to his grandson’s guardian. Since Adrian’s mother had died after she divorced his father, Xandr had relinquished the boy and his two siblings back to Dominic Andrus. When he realized he’d given away his lordship, he’d tried to regain custody of his nephew, and the bloody and deadly six-year war between the two houses was the result.
Miranda shivered slightly.
Kit turned toward her. “What’s the matter?’
“N-nothing--I was just…remembering….”
Quickly, he was at the bed again, putting his arms around her. She huddled against him, pressing her face against his chest.
“It’s over now, Randa. You know Zane is nothing like Xandr, and he wants what we’ve wanted all along--peace.“
Silently, she nodded.
“Kit?” Her voice was muffled against his skin.
“What is it, Sweet?” His voice held a deliberate patience as he realized that she was still remembering what had happened.
“C-can we really trust Zane?”
“Don’t worry! If we couldn’t, Dominic wouldn’t let him within fifty meters of the House!”
He released her, and went to the closet, waving one hand over the tiny silver sensor set into the wall. As the door slid open, Kit busied himself selecting clothing for the day, and Miranda busied herself with watching the man she loved move about the room. Her eyes took in the graceful movement of the broad shoulders as he bent over the dresser…the slim waist…and…all the goodies below it….
He disappeared into the bathroom and in a few seconds, she heard the gentle sound of running water.