Her Druid Desire (The Amber Druid Series) (8 page)

           
Renee’s hand covered hers over the huge mound of papers between them. “Honey,
you know as well as I do that you love animals. That dog will love being there
with you.” Then she pulled her hand away and continued looking.

           
“You are right. I have no reason to worry about anything,” Nadia agreed. “And
anyway, it will be a few more weeks because she has a pretty weighty cast on
her leg, and she is receiving the best care at the Haven right now. There is no
need to move her.”

           
There was also no need to throw
herself
into Drake’s
presence right now either. Their last little meeting had taken place the
weekend before, and Nadia was just now starting to feel as if her life was
returning back to normal. A dose of Drake didn’t fit into the picture.

           
“Found it!” Renee’s vastly relieved statement woke Nadia up from her silent
musings. “I’m going to input this into the computer for you, and then we can
both go home,” Renee told her as she waltzed out of Nadia’s office.

 After
Renee’s departure the abrupt silence that ensued made Nadia’s ears ring. The
last thing she needed to be was alone. She couldn’t trust herself when she was
depressed, and she still was, even though it had been almost a month since she
walked in on Donavan.

Moving
around papers on her desk, she finally found her datebook knowing that she
would see Cole Walker’s invitation written down. Cole Walker held an annual
barbeque at his home in Houston, but the unique thing about this get together
was that half the proceeds went to various charities and organizations. With
the plate prices varying from $200.00 to $500.00, and with a large number of
guests attending the lavish event, the charities were always happy when they
received the check. Nadia’s part in the event was distributor of funds. The
part she didn’t like was that more than half the people she couldn’t stand
would be there. Thank God the gossip about Donavan messing around with Suzanne
was starting to die down.

Why
not go? Enjoy good food, maybe take in the beautiful environment that Cole
Walker lived in, and let go, just for a little while? But would she be able to?
Not giving herself the chance to back out, she grabbed her phone.

Seconds
later Cole’s secretary answered. Even though it was close to four-thirty in the
afternoon, Nadia knew he was still there, and after she asked the secretary to
speak to him, he was on the phone.

“Nadia,
how are you honey?” Cole was the consummate Texas gentleman, suave, debonair,
undeniably handsome, rich, and loaded with southern charm. He was more than
just a great catch. He was turning out to be a good friend.

“I’m
fine, Cole. I hope the invitation to your barbeque is still open, even if I had
already cancelled once before?”

“
Darlin
’, you could deny every invitation that is sent to you,
but you should know better than to think that I would refuse you anything.”
Silky incitement fluttered in his voice, and Nadia knew, like she had for
almost three years now, that if there was the least bit of a nod from her, he
would do his damndest to mark his territory around her. He was nothing but a
harmless flirt, but she had known from the first moment she met him that he
would make some woman happy some day. But that woman was not her. Thank God he
never pushed the issue.

“Well,
I’m planning to attend tonight.”

“My
guests and I will be waiting patiently, honey. Just make sure you bring your
dancing boots. I’m sure I won’t be the only one waiting in line for a dance
with you.”

“Shameless
flirt, but thank you. I will see you tonight.”

After
hanging up the phone to Cole’s laughter in her ear, she smiled and thought to
herself that she might just have a good night after all.

***

           
“I see the earlier rain shower didn’t stop your guests from showing up on
time,” Drake told Cole Walker when he finally managed to snag a moment of his
host’s attention.

           
Cole shrugged his shoulder and returned Drake’s smile. “You know us Texans. If
you promise us food, beer and dancing, we show up in drastic numbers.”

           
Drake knew Cole was right.

           
The early evening was more than a little warm, but with that earlier rain
shower, a breeze now kicked up from the south. Everything smelled fresh, damp,
and Drake had a feeling that his night was about to get better. Where that
thought came from, he had no idea.

           
“How are the animals managing with all that fancy new fencing and high tech
gear you have over there?” Cole asked him before he took a sip from his beer
and nodded at another guest that walked past him on the large outdoor patio.

           
“I’m sure it takes some getting used to, but the new fencing and other gadgets
my people put up around the area are equipped with some pretty damn good
sensors. If the animals in our northern pasture piss wrong, we will all know
about it.”

           
Cole grinned at that. “Well, at least you know the animals will be safe while
they recuperate from whatever injuries they sustained before.”

           
Drake nodded then took a deep draw from his own beer while letting his gaze
take in the huge event. He and Cole kept up a light conversation about the
current stock market woes while Drake took in his surroundings.

           
Cole’s large, rambling ranch home was behind them, while around two hundred
people milled in Cole’s large yard. The ranch was just east of Houston, so the
drive wasn’t too horrible from Beaumont. With the large number of guests, Drake
was sure that Cole would meet his quota of donations before the night was over
with.

           
Cole Walker was in his mid thirties, a good ole Texas boy with loads of charm,
loads of money, and a fair amount of brains in his head. Drake liked to
maintain good company, and Cole was one of the best. He was one of the top dogs
in a firm of lawyers in Houston, and even though he made good money putting the
bad guys away, he didn’t need a dime of it. Cole’s family was tremendously
wealthy in oil, banks, and many other endeavors that Texas had generated over
the past hundred or so years. Drake had known his ancestors on a friendly basis
for almost two hundred years now.

           
“Damn, she did show up,” Cole’s statement and following whistle caught Drake’s
attention. “And she brought company. Would you look at that pair of lovely
women? The night couldn’t get any better.”

           
Drake followed Cole’s nod, and when he caught sight of the women, he became
stock still.

           
He should have known with this being a charity event that Nadia might show up.
But when he first got that thought in his mind, he had chased it off. Never
before had he looked for reasons to go out of his way to ignore, or get away
from her company. Lately, for some reason, he was finding it odd he was having
those thoughts in the first place.

           
Her curvy, flame haired secretary was with her. But for all Drake knew, Renee
could have been Cindy Crawford and he still wouldn’t have looked twice at her.
Now
that
was a thought that he
didn’t
need to dissect. Damn, he
just needed to stop thinking all together.

           
“Who is that beauty beside her?” Cole questioned, and Drake watched his eyes
follow the tall Amazon beside Nadia.

           
“I’m surprised you don’t already know. That’s her secretary, Renee Allemande.”

           
“Renee, hmm…I believe Nadia mentioned her before, but I don’t remember ever
seeing her until now. Besides, how could you forget a woman like that?”

           
“Now that you mention it, it’s been only lately that Nadia has brought Renee
with her to many other charity events,” Drake mumbled, clearly getting a new
direction of thoughts on why Nadia would do that.

           
“She is drawing confidence from a lady that clearly has plenty to draw from.
I’ll bet anything that she is doing that because of what Donavan did to her.”

           
Drake turned and looked at Cole. It wasn’t too often that a human picked up on
something so hidden, that only a Druid or witch would have seen. Apparently
Cole listened to his gut about as much as Drake did. It wasn’t often that a
human impressed him. Now was one of those times.

           
“I believe you are right. Renee is obviously very confident in everything she
does; it fairly oozes from her. Nadia must have been more hurt by Donavan than
she lets on.”

           
Just thinking about that ass caused Drake’s hand to itch. The urge to beat him
to a bloody pulp, castrate him,
then
show him what kind of harm that he
could really do, surged through Drake. This wasn’t the first time he wanted to
kill a human. He was sure it wouldn’t be the last.

           
With a blink he changed his thoughts. It wouldn’t be wise to allow his anger to
override his judgment. What a show that would be.

***

           
She felt his eyes on her from across the yard.

           
Now it was a forgone thing to ignore him. There was no way she would be able to
get away from him if he wanted to readdress their discussion from the other
night, bullshit about mundane things, or just tell her hello. She was well and
truly stuck. And here she had thought her night would be amazing. How was it
possible for it to turn crappy so fast?

           
Her eyes slid over him quickly. She didn’t want to be caught staring, and from
what she saw, he was still making all the women drool. Didn’t matter if it was
an outdoor party or black tie, the man was simply dangerous.

           
A plain black tee shirt that had the Safe Haven seal on the left side covered
his upper torso. Dark washed blue jeans fit him tightly, and a trusty pair of
boots was on his feet. He looked relaxed, at ease, in the early twilight that
filtered through the many trees, the last rays of sun touching him, bringing
every detail of his finely molded body into high relief. Even while she noticed
him looking at her, she felt his relaxed stance. She couldn’t fight off the
knowledge that he was more comfortable at night, in the darkness, where for
some reason she sensed the subtle layer of privacy cloaking him really came
down, baring the real man, the man that she itched to know.

           
Those light, caramel colored eyes tracked her movement until she was standing
before both him and Cole. Nadia had about half a millisecond before Cole
grabbed her in a huge hug and squeezed her.

           
“It’s good to see you again, Nadia. I’m glad you changed your mind,” he told
her as he let her go and sent a wicked look towards Renee. Nadia was more than
happy to introduce her secretary and let Cole’s interest be pushed onto someone
else.

           
“This is Renee Allemande. She has been my secretary since I became president,
but I have known her for almost three years,” Nadia told Cole.

           
“Miss Allemande, it is my pleasure,” Cole said, as he held out his hand.

           
“It is lovely to meet you, Mr. Walker. I have heard nothing but good things
about you.” Renee sent him a sly glance, long enough to take him in, then gave
his hand a hearty shake.

           
Cole grinned, “Call me Cole, and with Nadia doing the talking you never know.
But I’m glad to hear they were good things.”

           
Nadia rewarded him with a slap on the arm. “Keep it up and I might tell her
more than you want her to know.” She sent a wink in his direction, softening
the threat, then turned to Drake who had been silent through the introduction
but had a small grin on his face.

           
“I’m sure you remember Renee, right?” Nadia asked Drake.

           
Drake smiled his crooked grin, leaning in as he shook Renee’s hand. He was so
tall that he had to bend a bit to look her tall friend in the eye. “Renee, I
hope you enjoy yourself tonight. Cole makes some of the best barbeque in the
state.”

           
Renee shook his hand and gave Nadia a quick look, “I’m sure I will enjoy
myself. I just have to make sure that the boss lady here does the same.” Renee
leaned in towards both men, as if she were about to impart a juicy secret, “We
all need to do our part to make sure that happens, don’t we, boys?”

           
Only Renee could get away with calling two virile, mature men, “boys”, Nadia
thought, while she silently fumed at her secretary’s underhanded attempt to
make sure she had a good time.

           
Minutes later, Cole managed to steal Renee away, which left Nadia alone with
the one person that she shouldn’t be alone with.

           
She looked everywhere, except at him.

           
Huge oak, sugar maple, and pine trees dotted Cole’s overly large yard, but they
were spaced at certain intervals, which led Nadia to assume that all of this
had been designed by human hands, not by Mother Nature. Even so, it was still
extremely lovely and breathtaking. Flower beds were also trailing along at
different angles, some at the base of the trees, some with their own beds
closer to the large patio. People mingled, music blared from the side of the
house, and Nadia could feel Drake’s presence like a drug in her system.