“Bloodyhell,Charlie.” I stepped backwards. “What the hell?”
“He might be in his study. If he’s not there…” Charlie trailed off, and we’d been together too long and knew each other too well. I knew the blanks he intended me to fill in. He’d once fucked me over his father’s desk. We’d been caught and thrown out of the house, and at the time, it had seemed wild, exciting,fun.It had never occurred to me, as it now did, how damn disrespectful we’d been.
I had nointention of hooking up with Charlie, no matterhowgood the sex had been, but what he was proposing would give me access to the power base of the entire family. Perhaps I could knock Charlie out and search for the information I was after. I could be back in my car and heading home before midnight, with a job welldone and Charlie nursing a spectacular bump on his head, wondering what the hell had happened. Dazed and confused, rather like how he’d left me all those years ago.
“Lead on,” I said, and followed his unsteady path out of the room.
Chapter Two
ALEX
I’d been reluctantly impressed when I’d seen the Circus for the first time. Impressed, because the circle of tall houses built of cream-coloured stone was beautiful. Reluctantly, because only rich people could afford to live somewhere like this, and I didn’t know why rich people wanted anything to do with us.
The Fortescues’ house was enormous. At some point, two of the old terrace houses had been knocked through to create what felt like a mansion. The size of the place meant they could accommodate all ten of us without any problems. Well, when I say no problems, I mean they had space for us all. As for the problems…
They were a bunch of bankers. I’m no linguist, but banker and wanker are strikingly similar words. Bankers are parasites on society, gorging themselves on other people’s hard-earned money and contributing nothing.
That’s not the attitude most people expect from a dragon. But the legends about dragons have become twisted over the years.There are some of us, like my family, who aren’t interested in gold or jewels. Those big banker families, the Mortimers, the Fortescues, the Swifts and the Carews, take centre stage in the dragon world. There’s no denying that they also wield power in the human world. Abimelech Mortimer has the prime minister practically in his pocket. But we’re not all like that. And my family can trace our line so far back that I’d be inclined to saywe’rethe real dragons. The gold-hungry ones came later. We value other things. Moreimportantthings.
The gulf between us and the gold-hoarding dragons meant the Fortescues’ invitation had surprised us all. Margaret had gathered the senior members of the family together to tell us about it, and I think I’d spoken for everyone when I’d asked why they’d invited us.
“That’s the interesting thing—I don’t know,” she said, greying eyebrows raised slightly. “I’m going to accept the invitation and find out what they have in mind. And if it means our youngsters meet dragons in a different gene pool to the families we usually mix with, that’s all to the good.”
So, there we were, a bunch of Cornish dragons rubbing shoulders with rich, entitled bankers, each of whose haircuts probably cost more than I made in a year. We don’t have a heap of money to go around, which might also be why Margaret wanted to know what the Fortescues were proposing.
Two days after our arrival, I was sick to death of the most stuck-up, self-important bunch of dragons I’d ever met. They were holding yet another drinks party, allegedly to welcome us. My only comfort was the fact most of them looked as pissed off as I felt. So much for instant love blossoming. They were as rich as Croesus, entitled and arrogant, and we were normal. It was never going tohappen outside of a Hallmark movie. And thank Godwe weren’t in one of those.
I guess it wasn’t a surprise that one of them mistook me for staff. The bartender, who'd been working hard serving drinks all evening, had disappeared somewhere, so I slipped behind the bar to help myself. At least the guy who asked me for a drink said please. And once I’d had a good look at him, I didn’t mind giving him a hand.
I’d have happily given him more than that. He was a couple of inches taller than me, which would put him at six three, and I’d always had a thing for tall men. His hair was a mid-brown with lighter streaks tousled through, and he had thickly lashed brown eyes and a face that would have been pretty without such a square jaw. Not that I mind pretty, but with his build, pretty wouldn’t have looked right. He was muscular, like most dragons, and the green Henley he was wearing was tight enough across his broad chest and around his biceps to get my interest. I liked what I saw, very much. And I liked that he checked me out, right up until the chief wanker showed up. Charlie Fortescue was the most unpleasant person I’d ever met.
When Charlie let loose with his usual delightful small talk, I’d have stayed out of it if it hadn’t been for the look on the hot guy’s face. A joke’s only a joke if everyone’s laughing, and the guy Charlie was sniping at looked dazed and somehow lost.
Before Charlie could blow his top at me, the guy distracted him, and they left together. I was disappointed that the guy was leaving without giving me his number. Because watching his arse in tight dark jeans as he left the room… I’d do him in a heartbeat. Or have him do me—I’m vers.
Sadly, that wasn’t why I was here, enduring the company of filthy rich bankers. I had to stop lusting and start thinking.
NATE
James Fortescue’s office was at the far end of the landing. When there was no answer to his knock, Charlie opened the heavy walnut door and pulled me through, closing it firmly behind us.
We stood there for a moment, looking at one another. I’m not sure what he was studying so closely. I was older, a bit less pretty, a hell of a lot tougher—and that was because of him and the way he’d ended things between us—yet as I looked at him, part of me was still that twenty-five-year-old who’d been so desperately in love. I’d thought Charlie was my soulmate, and it had never occurred to me that he thought anything different because we were inseparable. Not so much Charlie and Nate as Charlie’n’Nate. We went everywhere together and did everything together. Everything except the succession of twinks he’d been screwing in our bed when I’d been working late.
In some ways, he was the same. He still had the heartbreaking good looks and the pouty mouth that had made me so many promises. Or so I’d thought. Now, I realised that I’d believed his kisses to be promises when they’d just been kisses. He was different, too. His cheekbones looked sharp enough to cut paper, his cheeks were slightly hollowed, and there was a glitter in his eyes even through the haze of alcohol. He seemed almost frenetic.
“God, it’s good to see you,” he said at last, cupping his hands around my jaw and leaning in to kiss me.
I stepped back sharply. I had to. If I’d waited an instant longer, our lips would have met, and I didn’t think I’d have the strength to push him away. My mind told me that he was a bastard, that he’d never loved me the way I’d loved him, but my heart? Apparently, my heart was still his. AndIhatedthat fact.
“What the hell’s wrong with you? You know how good we were together.” He leaned against me, whisky fumes washing into my face. “You know how I made you scream and how you loved it.”
He was swaying, and I grabbed him by his upper arms, holding him upright before he collapsed in a drunken heap. “Come on, Nate,” he coaxed. “Let’s have some fun.”
He fumbled with his belt, and I stared at him, looking for the charming and intelligent guy I’d been in love with. My wild, headstrong, arrogant Charlie had turned into a drink-sodden mess. When we were younger, we’d drunk enough to keep a distillery in business for a decade or two, but that was a rite of passage for most uni students. And it had never—well, rarely—been at inappropriate times.
“Charlie.” I had to say his name twice to get through to him. He relinquished his clumsy attempts to undo his belt and squinted at me.
“You’re plastered,” I told him. “Go and drink some water, or you’ll have the head from hell tomorrow morning. And while you’re at it, find me a drink.”