Dragon's Christmas Baby Read online

  Chapter Four

  The firm of Anderson and Wang had surprisingly lax security, and he was able to slip in through the back door, tensely holding his breath for a few seconds as he waited for an alarm to go off. There could still be a silent alarm, so he waited for ten minutes near the exit where he’d entered, listening intently for the sound of sirens approaching in the distance. He maintained his camouflaged state the entire time, though it was a bit of a tight fit in the storage room.

  Once he was reasonably certain he hadn’t triggered an alarm, he transformed into his human body and slipped on the clothes he had carried in his claw. After that, he left the storage room in his human form and went to the front of the building, looking for a directory.

  It was a small operation, composed of only two floors. He found Anderson’s office easily enough and forced the door open with a little bit of his dragon’s strength. The knob twisted in his hand with a harsh protest of metal against metal, and the door swung open inward.

  He moved across the office, which was surprisingly spartan considering the amount of money Anderson must be making from his mob connections. He sat down in Anderson’s chair, which was ridiculously comfortable, and leaned back. His gaze flicked to the computer, but he wasn’t a hacker, so he wasn’t confident in gaining access if Anderson bothered to use even a smidge more security on his desktop than he did in his building. He let out a satisfied murmur when he found a Rolodex. It was an old-fashioned touch, but he was pleased Anderson kept one for whatever reason.

  Eben flipped through until he found a listing for A.P. There was nothing labeled Peretti, so it was the closest lead he had. He picked up Anderson’s office phone and dialed the number, preparing to apologize if he ended up getting someone besides Peretti. Fortunately, from the way the other party answered the phone, he was fairly confident he’d reached the mobster.

  “Anderson, why are you calling me this early on Christmas morning? You’d better have the broad, or I’ll bury you with a stake of holly through your heart.”

  He chuckled. “That’s a nice touch of Dickens, but it isn’t Anderson.”

  There was silence for a moment. “If you’re not Anderson, why are you calling from his office, and who are you?”

  “It’s Eben Meiser, and we need a meeting.”

  The mobster cursed loud and low at the same time, the pitch of his voice changing with every syllable. “You have a lot of nerve calling me, Meiser. I know you’re shielding Jacobson. Hand her over, and you might survive the night.”

  “We already survived the night, thanks. I’m in Anderson’s office, and I’ll be waiting. Don’t make me wait long.” He hung up the phone before sliding backward to stand up. Eben stripped off his clothes with economical movements and placed them on the edge of the desk within easy reach. Then he paced the office as he waited, first in human form before transforming to the dragon when he heard footsteps approaching. He was camouflaged, but he pressed the bulk of his body into the corner to allow Peretti and his unknown number of goons to enter the office before closing the door.

  “Where is he?” Peretti growled the word as he stopped inside, preceded by two armed men and followed by two more.

  Eben waited to make sure no one else was entering before he moved quietly behind them and closed the door. He crushed the knob in his hand, bending the door into the jam so that it was impossible to easily leave. Then he allowed his camouflage to fade away as he spoke in his raspy dragon voice. “I’m right here, Peretti.”

  It was somewhat humorous to see the five men scrambling to turn around, but not as funny as it was to take in their various looks of shock. Eben didn’t make a practice of revealing his dragon to anyone, so he wasn’t blasé about the shocked and terrified reaction such a revelation usually received. Tonight, he downright enjoyed it and laughed, though it sounded more like a growl coming through his throat in dragon form.

  The goon farthest from him was the first to recover, fumbling for his gun. Eben could have easily stopped him from reaching it in time, but he wanted to prove a point. When the big man lifted his handgun, Eben curled his wings around himself and waited. A second later, the bullets started firing, and there was a slight sting when they hit his skin, but it was barely noticeable.

  “Stop firing, you moron.” Peretti’s voice filled the office as he shouted. “The bullets are ricocheting. You’re going to hit one of us.”

  As he finished speaking, one of the goons let out a cry of pain as the bullets ceased. When Eben folded back his wings, he saw one of the four guards on the floor cradling his leg.

  He didn’t want to have to worry about the hired muscle, since he wanted this meeting to be strictly between himself and Peretti, and wanted to ensure Peretti was focused on him. He moved quickly, flicking his claw against the side of each of their heads. They fell like dominoes, unconscious from the blows to the head, though he had barely allowed a hint of his full strength to come through.

  With a predatory smile, he turned to Peretti. As the mobster tried to back away, he wrapped his tail around the slighter man and pulled him closer. “We need to get a few things straight.”

  “What are you?”

  Eben ignored the asinine question as he wrapped his tail tighter around his quarry. “Just so you understand the situation, Marlie stumbled across the second set of books, and she knows Anderson’s in bed with the mob. To be blunt, she doesn’t care. I don’t care either. It’s my hope that someday someone will bring you down, but it isn’t going to be us. We have more important things to worry about. She doesn’t care, and she’s certainly not going to testify against you.”

  “She can’t if she’s dead,” said Peretti with false bravado. The stench of fear underlying his pheromones gave him away though.

  “And you can’t do anything to her if you’re dead. In the spirit of the season, I’d like to let you live.” That, and the idea of taking a life, even this miserable bastard’s, didn’t sit well with Eben. He didn’t reveal that, of course. “Make no mistake that Marlie and our baby is my first priority though. If I don’t believe we’ve come to an agreement, I’ll end you.”

  Peretti was starting to sweat in earnest now. “What do you want from me, Meiser?”

  “I simply want your word that you’ll back off and leave Marlie alone. She won’t be coming back to work at Anderson and Wang, and I guarantee your secret is safe. Do I have your word?”

  Peretti arched a brow. “You’re going to take my word for it?”

  Eben nodded. “Not that I believe you’re a man of honor, but only a fool would go back on his word with a dragon.” As he spoke the last word, Eben allowed a small stream of fire to escape his nostrils. He kept it carefully controlled and in check. The flame was just enough to singe Peretti’s eyebrows and the hair on his forehead, while leaving him with a faintly pink glow that looked healthy. It probably stung like a terrible sunburn though. “You take my meaning?”

  Peretti nodded frantically. “Yeah, okay. We have an agreement. I’ll back off the broad—” He let out a choking sound when Eben tightened his hold slightly before loosening it. “Miss Jacobson, and you’ll disappear? I won’t see you again?”

  “As long as you keep your word, you’ll never see me or my dragon again. If you come after Marlie or me, I’ll unleash hell upon you.” It sounded like a nicely dramatic touch, and since he had no intention of explaining the true origin of dragons to the mobster, it wouldn’t hurt to leave the other man with the impression he had some sort of supernatural powers.

  “I’m done with both of you.”

  “Likewise.” Eben uncurled his tail from around the other man and pushed back away from him. “And leave Robert Kane alone from now on too. His debt is paid. Got it?” Without awaiting confirmation, because he was certain Peretti wouldn’t argue with any demand he made, he turned his back on the mobster to face the glass window. He could have left the way he came, but he wanted to leave an impression with Peretti, so the other man wouldn’t change his mind
or convince himself the encounter hadn’t been as frightening as he remembered and come after Marlie again.

  He reached behind him and snagged his clothes off the desk before unfurling his wings and letting out a blast of fire that melted through the glass window in seconds. The fire alarm rang, and water started sprinkling from the ceiling, but he barely noticed as he took flight through the ruined window without looking back. He couldn’t help chuckling at Peretti’s bleat of terror that sounded in his wake.

  Once he was free of the building, he slipped into his camouflaged mode and flew back to Gabe’s home. He paused in an alleyway near the brownstone to shift from dragon to human and dress again. A few seconds after that, he was at Gabe’s door and rang the bell.

  Marlie opened it a few moments later. She stared at him for a moment, as though confirming it was really him, before throwing herself into his arms.

  He wrapped her in his embrace and held her close, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “It’s over.”

  She looked hopeful as she lifted her head, moving backward as he gently scooted her forward to enter the brownstone.

  Gabe hovered in the hallway behind them. “Is everything all right?”

  Eben nodded. “It’s fine now. Thank you for taking care of her.”

  “You’re welcome to stay. I have friends coming over for Christmas dinner later.”

  Marlie looked exhausted, and Eben shook his head. “Not this time, Gabe, but I promise you’ll be seeing more of me in the future. I’m sorry I let so much time pass, and I’ve been a terrible uncle. I’m going to change things.”

  Gabe looked satisfied as he came forward, extending a hand to Eben in a manly gesture. Eben surprised both of them by pulling him close for a hug instead. “Merry Christmas.”

  Gabe stepped back, and there was a slight hint of awkwardness in the moment, but he was certain that would soon fade once they became better acquainted again. “Merry Christmas to you too, Uncle Eben.” He turned his gaze to Marlie. “And you too, Marlie.”

  She took his hand and leaned forward, stretching upward to press a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you for your help, and Merry Christmas, Gabe.” Then she turned to Eben. “If it’s safe for me to go home now, that’s where I’d like to be.”

  It was too light outside to fly Marlie, so he turned to Gabe. “I need one last favor. Would you call us a cab and loan me some money? I dropped my wallet earlier this evening, and I haven’t had a chance to retrieve it yet.”

  He nodded. “Sure. I’ll take care of it.”

  ***

  They reached Marlie’s apartment a half-hour later. She didn’t have her keys with her, but he took care of that easily enough. She seemed surprised when he followed her in, and he ignored that reaction as he turned to put on the deadbolt and two of the locks that she hadn’t engaged earlier, so they hadn’t been damaged when he opened the door. When he turned back to face her, he found her arms crossed over her chest.

  “Now tell me what happened with Peretti, and if I find out you endangered yourself, I’m going to be angry.”

  Her obvious concern for his well-being sent a pleasant dart of warmth through him. He quickly summarized the meeting with Peretti.

  She frowned. “You’re going to trust him to honor his word? That doesn’t seem like much of a guarantee.”

  He nodded as he led her into her own living room, seating her on the couch before sitting beside her. “Normally, I wouldn’t trust him to be the type to keep his word, but I can be pretty persuasive in my other form. I gave him a little demonstration of just how impervious I am to bullets, and what my fire can do. I’m sure he’s done with you. You’re safe now.”

  She bit her lip. “Shouldn’t I go to the police?”

  He scowled at her. “No, you shouldn’t. If you want, you can make an anonymous tip, because I guarantee you someone somewhere is investigating the Perettis for tax evasion and racketeering, if nothing else. You aren’t going to put yourself at risk trying to do the right thing for a few thousand dollars that isn’t your money.”

  She frowned at him. “I don’t like your bossy tone, and it was hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

  He let out a sigh, trying to regulate his tone. “I don’t mean to be bossy, but you can’t be entertaining the idea of going to the police. He’ll come after you for sure then. You’ll put him in a position where he has no choice. Do you want to force me to go to war with the Peretti family?”

  She sniffed at him. “I fail to see what it has to do with you.”

  An angry growl left his throat, and he put his hand across her stomach in a possessive fashion. “It has everything to do with me. Keeping you and our baby safe is my only priority. Don’t be so bloody stubborn about doing the right thing. In this case, the right thing is to let the authorities handle him while we take care of our family.”

  Her eyes still shimmered with a hint of anger, but her lips trembled too. “Our family? Do you really mean that?”

  He let out a small sigh, trying to stifle his impatience. He could understand why she was questioning him, and he was certain she would stop asking about his resolve when she finally accepted he was serious. He just had to be patient until then. She had every reason to doubt him based on his past behavior. “I’m certain. I love you, Marlie, and I never should have sent you away the first time.”

  “I actually walked away, if you remember?”

  He nodded. “But after I drove you to it. I should have come after you instead of being stubborn, and I certainly shouldn’t have ignored your attempts to get in touch with me a few months ago. You know I can be a stubborn ass.”

  She widened her eyes and feigned shock. “You, stubborn? Never.”

  He rolled his eyes. “That’s something else I’m going to work on changing.”

  Tentatively, she cuddled against him, laying her head on his shoulder. “I don’t want you to change who you are for anyone, Eben.”

  He laid his head against hers as he tucked her body closer to his. “I know you aren’t asking me to change, but I see some issues in myself that I need to address. I want to be the best husband and father I can, and that means I do need to make a few changes.”

  Her breath caught in an uneven rasp. “Husband?”

  He shifted her in his arms so he could look into her eyes. “Will you marry me, Marlie?”

  He was gratified by her lack of hesitation as she nodded and threw her arms around him. The kiss started out celebratory, but soon veered toward heated. It had been too long since he’d held Marlie, and he was impatient to do so.

  Not so impatient that he was going to make love to her on the couch, though. He pulled his head away reluctantly as he stood up, scooping her into his arms and carrying her down the hallway to her bedroom. It was the same as he remembered, down to the clothes on the floor and the messy stack of papers on the desk.

  Instead of irritating him like signs of clutter would have in the past, it was just a welcome sight and felt like coming home. Speaking of... As he laid her on the bed, taking a moment to shuck off the sweater and sweatpants before joining her, he said, “We need to remodel the house. All the bullet holes have insured that.”

  Her eyes darkened. “I’m sorry about your home, Eben.”

  “Our home...at least it is if you like it?”

  She hesitated. “I like parts of it.”

  He laughed before bending forward to kiss her again. When they broke apart, she was breathing erratically, and he wasn’t much better. “We’ll restore it to the original plans. It’ll be sweetly old-fashioned and vintage Victorian. You’ll love it.”

  She frowned. “But will you? It’s your home.”

  “Our home,” he reminded her with a bit of a growl as he folded her hands in his, holding them at her sides while his mouth nibbled down her chin before he spoke again. “I had originally planned for it to look like that. I bought the house when we were together, and I didn’t admit it to myself then, but I bought it with you in mind. When we split apart
, I called the designer and went in the completely opposite direction. I was hurt and angry, and I ended up with that monstrosity that it currently is. I want you to be happy in our new home, and I’ll be happy anywhere that’s with you.”

  She stopped protesting his plans to remodel after that. As he stripped her clothes methodically, she stopped protesting anything. Instead, she filled the silence with moans and whimpers of pleasure as he worshiped her body, re-familiarizing himself with every creamy inch of her skin.

  He spent a long time on her belly, raining light kisses across the surface before pressing his cheek to the lower part when he felt movement. His daughter tapped against his face with either her hand or foot, and a different kind of warmth suffused him. The family he’d been denied for so long was there with him, and he could picture their future so vividly in his mind that he had to blink back tears for a moment. When he lifted his head, meeting Marlie’s eyes, which were hazy with passion, he sounded almost like his dragon from how raspy his voice was. “This is the best Christmas gift you could ever give me.”

  She just moaned and nodded, clearly not quite following the conversation. When she arched her hips insistently, he returned his attention to her pleasure, before moving up her body to claim the spot between her thighs. When he entered her silken heat, a sense of peace filled him even as ecstasy overtook him. For the first time in months, everything was perfect and in balance again, and being inside her was like being home.

  Epilogue

  Christmas Future—one year later

  Madison was too young to appreciate everything about the beautiful tree and all the touches Marlie had used to accent their Victorian-themed Christmas. She was old enough to appreciate a good box though, and Eben chuckled as he watched his ten-month-old daughter ignore the flashing light toy that had been in the box in favor of lifting the cardboard and slamming it down on the hardwood floor with a giggle before repeating the motion again.

  Marlie curled against him, still in her pajamas and with fuzzy socks on her feet. “I think we could have saved all the trouble of shopping and just wrapped her a few boxes.”