The Knight of Her Dreams (Dragons and Dreamphasers) (39 page)

“What are you doing?” she
asked, earning a quick shushing from Vicki.  “Why are we whispering?” she
continued in a softer voice.

“Julianna’s regaling Sammy
with another story,” replied Vicki, giving a short laugh.  “This one’s about
her meeting a man in her dreams every night, who’s supposedly from another
world.  Really, Crystal, I don’t know where she comes up with her far-fetched
stories.  The way she’s talking now, I’d think she’s beginning to believe her
own words.”

Crystal gave a soft smile
of amusement at that.  Knowing she had other things to attend to, she was about
to walk away.  But... since Julianna’s story seemed to have piqued even Vicki’s
curiosity, she couldn’t resist listening in for a few moments herself.  Without
another word, both pressed closer, although still undetectable by the pair in
the room.

By the time Julianna had
finished, Sammy asked when he could see Dominick in person, wanting to meet
this man who sounded like a hero from the adventure movies he’d seen.

“I’m afraid that’s why I’m
unhappy, Sammy,” she confided.  “You see, last night Dominick asked me to marry
him, and I said yes, but...”

“Really?” the boy
interrupted eagerly.  Outside the door, Crystal and Vicki exchanged worried
glances.  Julianna was carrying this fictitious story a bit far, wasn’t she? 
“Will he come live with us too, and be my uncle like Aunt Vicki’s friend Luke?”

“I suppose he will be your
uncle someday,” she agreed.  “But I’m afraid Dominick and I can’t be married—at
least not yet—until he can find a way to travel from his world to ours.”

“Not
yet
?”
gasped Vicki.  “What’s she talking...?”

 Quickly clapping a hand
across her mouth to silence her, Crystal pulled her aside and then called out
loudly, “Julie, are you home?”

Flustered, Julianna held a
finger up to shush Sammy, reiterating the need for secrecy.  The boy promised
to keep quiet about all she’d told him, and then innocently went back to his
earlier game.

“Sammy and I are in here,”
she replied finally.

Moments later, Crystal and
Vicki strode in, the former giving her younger sister a bright smile.

“Hello, you two,” she said
cheerfully.  “Been keeping busy I see.”  Casting a shrewd eye to the sketch in
Julianna’s hands, Crystal gave it an approving nod, even as she silently tried
to identify the man in the drawing.  No, he didn’t look familiar, and he
certainly wasn’t Roger.  Was it someone she’d just met, perhaps at work, that
she simply didn’t want to mention yet?

Before she could comment,
Vicki jumped in.  “Cute guy,” she said, trying to hide her amusement with
minimal success.  “Who is he?”

“You mean from this?”
murmured Julianna, touching the sketch lightly.  “Oh, it’s just a drawing.”

“Hmmm.  Anyone you’ve
met
recently?” she drawled.

Julianna shook her head,
unsure where this was heading.  “I told you...”

“It’s a picture of Uncle
Dominick,” Sammy supplied with a grin.  At Julianna’s sudden look of dismay, he
clasped his hands over his mouth, his eyes apologetically wide.

“
Uncle
Dominick?” Vicki asked with deliberate slowness, a laugh breaking through. 
“What happened, Julie?  Anything we should
know
about?  Did you
get married behind our backs without telling us?”

Instantly, Julianna felt
her face color—Vicki’s questions adding to her curious suspicions as to what
she and Crystal might have overheard—but she was unable to say anything on the
matter as Jerry appeared in the hallway.

“What is this?” he chuckled
with a grin.  “A family meeting?”

“You might say that,”
laughed Vicki.  “Or better make that a soon-to-be-family meeting.”  A piercing
shush from Crystal cut her off, just before she turned to smile at her husband.

“I think it’s about time
for you to put a certain young man to bed,” she decided, gesturing towards
Sammy.  Sighing once, but compliant under the circumstances, the boy gave his
mother a quick hug, and then Vicki.  When he reached Julianna, he still seemed
to feel a bit guilty, shifting his feet and at a loss for words.

Seeing this, Julianna
brightened reassuringly and patted his shoulder.  The last thing she’d do was
to let her caring nephew blame himself for something that she’d indirectly
brought on herself.

“Don’t worry about it,
Sammy,” she whispered.  “We’re all human, and everyone has a slip of the tongue
now and then.  Now wipe that frown off your face and come here.”  As she opened
her arms to him, Sammy gave her a tight hug and she reciprocated, smiling
against him warmly.

“I hope Uncle Dominick
comes here soon,” he said quietly, so as not to be heard by the rest.

“So do I, Sammy,” she
replied, patting his back and allowing Jerry to scoop him up for a piggy-back
ride out of the room.  As the pair retreated upstairs, Julianna noticed the
equally puzzled stares of her sisters and grimaced.  “Shall the inquisition
begin?” she asked.

“Inquisition?” laughed
Crystal.  “My, what you must think of us.  We’re just curious what Sammy meant
when he called the man in your drawing ‘Uncle’.  After all, he doesn’t usually
drop such titles accidentally.”

“Yes, well... there’s
always a first time.”

At the evidently flustered
way she’d spoken, Crystal sat down beside her sister and rested a gentle hand
on her shoulder.  “Julie, I’m not going to lie to you.  We overheard your
story, and we’re worried about you.”

“Worried that you’re losing
your mind is more like it,” laughed Vicki.  “When you throw yourself into that
wild imagination of yours, you don’t miss a trick.  A future husband from
another planet?  Julie, if you’re that desperate for a man, you really should
try to find someone real, rather than a fictitious dream guy.”

During her short speech,
she completely missed the way Julianna’s face drained of color while her hands
clenched tightly, but Crystal didn’t, her eyes narrowing.  “All right, Vicki!”
she snapped, quieting her again.  “You’ve made your point.  Now why don’t you
head back to the kitchen and find something to stuff in that big mouth of
yours?”

“As you wish, your
highness,” sneered Vicki, casting a last glance to Julianna before exiting
amidst more laughter.

Sighing once, Crystal
turned back to her.  “She didn’t mean anything by that,” she said quietly. 
“But to be honest, Julie, that story wasn’t your typical bedtime tale.”

It isn’t a tale at all!
Julianna nearly shouted,
feeling even more miserable at the incredible joke that Fate had played upon
her.  She’d finally found the man of her dreams—literally—and he existed a
million miles away.  Much more, in fact, since it was nearly a hundred million
miles to the sun alone, and his world was twice as far.  So even if he was
truly in this galaxy, she still had no proof to offer anyone.

“I assure you I’m fine,”
she replied finally.  “I was daydreaming, and it just came out as a story.”

“Is that really all there
is to it?” asked Crystal.

Forcing a smile, Julianna
gave her exactly the response she wanted.  “Of course that’s all,” she replied,
through an equally forced laugh.  “The next thing you’ll be asking is whether
or not dragons are real.”  Maybe so in actuality, if Dominick’s words about
them were true.  “Dominick’s just a man from my dreams, that’s all,” she
continued, feeling tears well up in her eyes.  Before Crystal could notice
them, Julianna stood quickly to head for the staircase.  “Look, if you’ll
excuse me, all this amusement has tired me out for one evening.”

As she turned to leave, she
was halted by Crystal’s hand clasping her arm.  “Despite what you say, I know
something more is bothering you about all this,” she replied.  “And while I
can’t force you to tell me what, just remember I’m ready to listen if you
change your mind.”

For a moment, Julianna just
stared at her elder sister.  She always
was
the open-minded one
in the family.  Maybe if...  “Crystal, I...” 
No
, she decided.  Not even
Crystal could be
that
open-minded.

Sensing her closing herself
off, Crystal pressed on coaxingly, “What is it, Julie?  You can tell me.”

Julianna shook her head
abruptly.  “It’s nothing,” she insisted.  “I just wanted to say good night,
that’s all.”  Quickly ascending the stairs, she was unaware of her sister
staring after her skeptically.

As unusual as her story
was, one underlying truth remained in Crystal’s mind.  There was something her
younger sister wasn’t telling her, and sooner or later, she intended to find
out what it was.

Julianna wasn’t surprised
to find herself outside the dream castle, although she felt a bit awkward since
everyone was no doubt already inside.  A new shot of nerves grabbed hold of
her, as she didn’t really know anyone in this realm except Dominick, and she
hoped that the others wouldn’t disapprove of her because she wasn’t a
dreamphaser too.

“Not everyone on Chavernos
is, and they’ll love you,” said Dominick, his arms encircling her from behind. 
At her smile, he kissed her cheek, still holding her and smiled back.  “They’re
not here anyway.  I just decided it would be easier for us to meet here first. 
However, since the rest are at the second location, we probably should go now.”

“Fine by me,” she agreed. 
She wasn’t surprised by the short ensuing silence confirming his reluctance to
relinquish their time alone.  Smiling as he leaned forward to kiss her neck,
she spoke again amidst a soft laugh.  “I don’t know where we’re going, hon. 
I’m afraid you’ll have to do the teleporting there.”

“I know,” he whispered. 
“By Chavernos, love, I want you so much,” he breathed against her cheek.
“There’s only one place I feel like teleporting us to, which certainly isn’t
among a bunch of people, and a hell of a lot closer than they are.”

She glanced thoughtfully at
the dream castle.  “We could meet your friends a few minutes later,” she
suggested quietly.

Without a word, he swept
her into his arms, prompting her to wrap her own about his neck.  He kissed her
then, deeply, his desire for her sending its signals to her own yearning body
and back.  His grip tightened as he pulled her closer, he murmured her name...
and then suddenly expelled a sharp breath.

“Chaos, there are times
when I wish I’d been a loner,” he groaned, meeting her gaze with an impish
grin.  “As long as I had you with me for my sole company.”

“You seem to do well enough
there,” she laughed, her mind flashing through their numerous romantic
meetings.  “If we were any more alone than we’ve been lately, we’d never have
the strength to leave our castle room.”

“Mmmm, which one?” he
teased.

“If you don’t know that,
then you must be an imposter to my future husband,” she said knowingly.  “In
which case, I’d better warn you, he totes a mean dream gun.”

“Does he now?” he chuckled,
sending kisses down her neck and lower.  At her soft gasp, he looked up to grin
at her again.  “No, my memory’s better than that, and I know exactly which room
you were thinking of—which I’ll gladly take you to later.  No imposter here,
sweetheart.”

“Ah well, I don’t mind
being wrong on occasion,” she decided, tousling his hair affectionately. 
“Still, maybe another kiss would convince me beyond any doubt.”

“No doubt a man who always
accepts a challenge,” he agreed, his mouth capturing hers again.

When he finally broke apart
a minute later, she smiled into his deep blue eyes—now laced with desire—and
caressed his neck with her gentle hand.  Those selfsame eyes seemed to be
wrestling with more than passion, confirmed when he gave another low groan.

“I think we’d better
postpone anymore such kisses for a while, love,” he told her gently. 
“Otherwise the only destination we’ll get to will be our dream castle bedroom,
and my friends will wonder what’s become of us.”

“Can’t we just let them
wonder?”

“A tempting thought,” he
laughed, gently running his hands along her back while his arms remained about
her.  “But seriously, there’s someone in particular who I’d like to introduce
you to, so I’m afraid we’ll have to take a raincheck on this for now.  All
right by you, love?”

“From you, a raincheck is
always acceptable,” she replied cheerfully, hugging him tighter as she felt the
winds of teleportation sweep them away.

*****

To greet their arrival, an
array of colored lights and the sounds of dancing music filled Julianna’s
senses as she glanced about an enormous room.  This room was more modern than
the former ballroom location.  Half of it catered to dancers, while other
people were seated at tables or leaning against them, chattering away.  Several
seemed to be around her age, while many others were a few years older like
Dominick.  But even so, the thought of getting lost among so many unfamiliar
people gave Julianna pause, and she instinctively clutched Dominick’s arm
tighter.