Her Druid Desire (The Amber Druid Series) (4 page)

           
The buzzing of her phone slapped her back into reality.

           
“Excuse me,” she murmured to Drake and picked up the phone. “Yes?”

           
Renee’s eloquent voice came over the line, “Isn’t he just delicious?”

           
Nadia couldn’t even think of a decent reply, except for the furious blush that
was working up her throat at the moment. She mumbled, “I’ll buzz you when I’m
done,” then hung up the phone, praying the blush wasn’t as furious as she
thought.

           
Clearing her throat, she looked back at Drake. “What can I do for you?”

           
“I tried to come by on Tuesday but you weren’t available.” The piercing eyes
looking over at her from across her desk were intelligent and deadly accurate.
Nadia didn’t even blink wrong, knowing instinctively that he might take
something from that and glean the truth. She knew he might already know, but
him knowing, and her telling him, were two different things. Her heart couldn’t
handle anymore excitement at this moment.

           
“I was out of the office on business.” Changing the subject seemed like a great
idea. “How is the Border Collie? Were you able to patch her back together?”

           
“She is doing wonderful. Her spirits are up and her vitals are good. The back
leg was merely fractured, but she is in a cast. Although she is so lively, I
doubt it would have stopped her if she had lost her leg at all.”

           
He spoke warmly of the animal, and Nadia knew that he cared for the small dog.
She wished that she could have bounced back so easily from her own problem.

           
“She is under care at the Haven, as I’m sure you figured, but I have not placed
her on the list for adoption just yet, and I won’t, if you want first dibs at
her.” Cunning brown eyes zeroed in on her and Nadia knew that he had seen
through her thin shell the other night, and today as well. He’d sensed
something was wrong, and he knew that the small dog would take her mind off of that.
She understood she needed the distraction of the dog, but how did he know that?

           
His hand stroked the arm of the chair, and Nadia was mesmerized by the slow
touch of his finger against the grain of leather. Silently shaking her head,
she thought about bringing home a dog. Her back yard was large and fenced in,
there was ample room in her cottage just in case she wanted the dog inside, and
it wasn’t like she didn’t have the means to take care of the animal.

           
Drake spoke, as if sensing her hesitation. “She will be fixed, if you are
wondering what you would do with an unexpected litter of puppies. And she will
be up to date on all of her shots when you pick her up.”

           
“You are a born salesman, you know that?” Nadia told him.

           
He shrugged his massive shoulders with a grin on his face, “Some things just
come naturally.”

           
There were too many things that came naturally for Drake Thompson. Nadia took
it as a fact of life that he was magnetic, driven, and extremely lucky when it
came to women and business.

           
“Look,” he told her as he leaned forward in the chair, “we both know that you
felt something for her, enough so that you made sure she would be okay, even
while you were having your own problems.” He didn’t go into detail and when
Nadia leveled a hard look at him, he just continued. “Don’t make me give her to
someone else that I know won’t show her the love or affection that you will.
She deserves a good life too.”

           
Nadia let his words pour over her. She heard and understood the hint. Her life
was better than it ever had been. She was president of a large company, was
more than covered on any money situation that might arise, but yet her personal
life was a mess. Nadia knew he was trying to take her mind off what happened;
she understood that, but she doubted any of it would work.

           
The truth was she needed that dog. If anything could help her through this
rough patch, it would be that sweet bundle of fur. She had the time, didn’t
she? Besides, didn’t she owe it to the dog?

           
“Okay. I’ll do it.”

           
When she caught the knowing gleam in his brown eyes, she didn’t feel as if he
was playing upon her weakness for hurt animals. She felt that she was doing
something good, something that
she
wanted to do for a change. And
knowing that the adorable Border
Collie
would be hers
to care for made her maternal instinct kick in. Now she would have something to
help take her mind off of all the gossip and pain.

           
“Good. She needs you too, Nadia.”

           
She looked up, surprised at his words. Why she was surprised, she couldn’t say.
Drake had always been a very astute man. For him to see beyond her tough front
was nothing new. Ever since she was sixteen it had been a battle to keep her
feelings hidden. Her adolescent crush turned into a burning, all consuming love
for this man. She never deluded herself into thinking he would be hers. It was
almost a rule of nature that he would never be tied down by any woman, much
less her. The pain of seeing him with other women would never fade, especially
when she knew that he didn’t think of her as someone desirable.

           
Heat drenched the backs of her eyes. She looked away, blinking furiously to
clear the tears forming there. Clearing her throat she said, “Thank you for
giving me the option to have her before anyone else.”

           
“Her name is Belle.”

           
Nadia resolutely kept her gaze on the papers she was trying to straighten on
her desk.
“Belle.
It suits her.”

           
Quiet descended on the office, and for a moment Nadia felt relieved until he
spoke.          “Nadia…” when he said
her name he placed emphasis on each syllable, and to her it sounded foreign and
mysterious, which caused her heart to flutter, and hidden, forgotten parts of
her anatomy to stand up and take notice. “Look at me.”

           
Please don’t make me.

           
She
knew what would be in her eyes if she looked at him right now. Her feelings
that she thought she’d hidden so well for the past week were at full brim.
Being near him had always screwed with her inner balance somehow. She felt off
kilter, lost and floundering.

           
“Nadia,” he murmured again to her, his drawl making the name seem longer. She
focused her gaze on the intriguing opening of his shirt. There were two buttons
open, exposing the dark, luscious tone of his skin. It was roped with tendons.
His Adam’s apple bobbed. Her stomach fell to the floor as she finally brought
her eyes to his.

           
Warm, rich colors swirled under dark lashes. His eyes weren’t merely brown.
They were alive, bursting with life and some other fiery sentiment. It was the
most unusual thing Nadia had ever seen. But she refused to look away. He held
her there, suspended by her emotions and the raw, primal power she sensed in
him. His eyes were beautiful, deep and mysterious. Barely hinting at the inner
man she never thought she would see.

           
“Everything will be fine.”

           
His deep voice resonated in the room. The sound, the genuine amount of
sincerity in that hypnotic drawl, caused her eyes to flood with tears. She
could see that he understood, even if he hadn’t heard the full story. By some
weird cosmic act he understood her broken trust, the horrifying rawness of her
feelings.
Amazingly enough, he never once said, ‘I told you
so.’

           
Nadia sat there, floored by his level of understanding and shook her head in
affirmation. She couldn’t speak. It seemed as if all sound was torn from her
vocal cords, but looking into Drake’s soulful eyes, she realized it didn’t
matter. He understood more than mere words, and that made the pain of not
having him hit even deeper than before.

           
She watched, in a trance, as he stood up, tipped his head courteously in her
direction then quietly left her office.

***

           
She broadcasted her emotions far too easily. And since they were out in the
open, Drake had soaked up every bit of sensation she had let slip.

           
His Druid senses picked up on them easily in her office, but sometimes it was
harder.  There was no way for him to ignore them. Her nerves were all over
the place today, and it made her emotions harder to hold back.

           
There were determining factors to reading someone. If you were close to that
person, emotions and feelings got in the way. The process was easier if you
didn’t know the person you were trying to decipher.

           
Drake closed the door to his work truck and started it up. A rock station
blared to life, but he ignored it, focusing instead on the light green eyes
that he had seen minutes ago. Within seconds, the emotions he knew she was so
good at hiding, were apparent to him. Nadia had always been intensely personal
and private, but even with that she still couldn’t block the way she felt.
Drake knew that even if he wasn’t a Druid, he would have still been able to see
the abject pain in her eyes.

           
Drake felt more than a little protective of her. With her small stature and
delicate build, he always felt territorial, as if she were too young and naïve
to get along without him. The past few years had proved him wrong. He watched
her move up from assistant, to president of the Browning Corporation. And she
handled it with grace and aplomb. But even through all that, especially after
taking the head job little more than a year ago, Drake could still sense the
underlying emotions she was trying to conceal.

           
This afternoon’s episode was proof that she needed something, something
relaxing, something to make her slow down a bit. Drake couldn’t even remember
the last time he’d seen her laugh, since seeing her out in Texas society was
about as close as he’d been to her recently.

           
As both his personal and business life were chock full of charity work and
invites to exclusive gala’s and events, it was a given that he would see her
often. Drake knew that it was all business to Nadia. Every event, every society
function, was overtime for her. She never enjoyed the functions, and Drake knew
part of that reason was Donavan.

           
Donavan Hamilton became a slug the minute Linda passed, as if sensing that
maybe the new protégé would be a bit more willing to slough off some of her
money to a suave businessman with loads of charm. Drake admitted to himself,
Donavan knew business. As the manager for a firm of accountants, he had a
pristine business reputation. But it was his personal financial situation that
caused him to scent out the richest woman in the area and try to freeload. His
gambling addiction was only
one
vice that needed to be reined in.

           
Nadia allowed herself to become embroiled in a fantasy world of Donavan’s
making. She had allowed him to help her, and if there were any business
problems, she went to Donavan.

           
That was a bitter pill for Drake to swallow. But he knew it was because of him
that she allowed herself to be pulled in Donavan’s direction, because she
didn’t want him to think she was leaning on him too heavily, as she’d done so
in the past. That knowledge hurt him; it still did. But he knew then, and still
did now, that it was better this way. Although, Drake was damn happy to know
that she now realized exactly what kind of man Donavan was. Drake knew for
certain Donavan would be nothing but history, if he wasn’t already.

           
At that thought, a pleased smile crossed his face.

***

           
After dropping off menu suggestions and decoration ideas at her organizers
house, Nadia was finally on her way home. She had a fairly large charity event
at the end of the month that was draining what was left of her creative energy.
When she pulled up in her driveway, she almost drooled at the sight of her
front door.

           
She needed a damn vacation.

           
It wasn’t like her staff couldn’t handle everything if she decided to take one.
They were more than capable of doing what needed to be done. It was her, Nadia
reasoned, that was hesitating. She couldn’t get past the thought that if she
stayed home she might just lose her mind.

           
Glimpses of Donavan and Suzanne kept flashing through her mind. She had known
better than to let herself fall for him. But he was charming, handsome, and so
knowledgeable with business. And with Nadia desperately trying to show Drake
that she was okay in this new job, Donavan had been the answer to her prayers.
Seems like her plan to make Drake realize a few things was coming back to bite
her on the ass.

           
She should have known better than to think things would ever run smoothly
again.

           
After checking her emails one last time, she sent a reminder to Amy to be ready
to shoot tomorrow morning with Franco at eight sharp. After a quick shower,
Nadia sat down in her recliner and waited for the loneliness to set in.
Nighttime was always the worst.