The Dragon's Dilemma (Lochguard Highland Dragons 1)

Finn growled. “Now is not the time for flippant comments.” He tugged Fraser’s bicep and they started walking. “Come. The sooner you’re with Holly, the sooner I can focus on the half-dozen other problems newly landed on my plate.”

“I would say I’m sorry, but would you apologize for Arabella?”

His cousin grunted. “I don’t care about an apology. I just want you to bloody well confide in me from now on.”

~~~

Holly sat on the bed for a few seconds before standing again. Pacing to the window and back to the bed, she tried to focus on anything else but that Fraser was coming to claim her.

Her stomach both fluttered and flipped. The anticipation was killing her.

Since Holly was alone in the cottage, all she could think about was Fraser ripping off her clothes and covering her soft body with his hard one. Fraser the man would be playful and somewhat patient. Fraser the dragon half, however, she had no idea what to expect.

She would be a fool to deny it scared her a little.

Her nerves had been made worse by Faye muttering something about not wanting to be there when Fraser arrived. The fact a strong dragon-shifter was afraid of her own brother didn’t speak well of what would happen.

Buck up, Holly. Maybe Faye didn’t want to see her brother half naked and kissing Holly. Given the option, most siblings didn’t like to see their brothers or sisters fondling someone else.

Holly moved back to the window. It was mid-morning and the light drizzle sprinkled against the glass. Born and raised in Scotland, Holly hadn’t even bothered to ask for an umbrella on the short walk to the cottage. As a result, her hair was damp and frizzy.

Maybe under normal circumstances, she’d care more about her appearance. But as her stomach flipped again and her heart pounded, Holly wanted to be ready the second Fraser arrived. She didn’t have time for a shower or to find some new clothes.

A part of her was sorry for causing Lochguard so much trouble, but another part of her wouldn’t apologize. After laying on Fraser’s chest and being surrounded by his heat, she wanted Fraser and only Fraser. It was selfish and she knew it. But for at least a short period in her life, Holly wanted to experience passion. Once she left Lochguard, she might never experience it again; human men often held prejudices against women who had sacrificed themselves to the dragons.

Not to mention Holly would want to visit her child at times. It would take a very understanding human man to accept she’d not only sacrificed herself, but also to accept the fact she would have a half-dragon-shifter child.

No, the only passion she would ever have would be her brief time with Fraser.

Rubbing her arms, three shapes appeared in the distance and Holly stopped thinking about what would happen to her after she left. It was time to face the path she’d chosen.

She leaned closer toward the window. But because of the drizzle, all she could make out was two men holding a third man between them. One of them could be Fraser.

She hugged her upper body and held her breath. Two seconds later, the man in the middle looked up at the window. Even from a distance, the intensity of Fraser’s gaze made her heart skip a beat.

Holly shivered at imagining that gaze on her body when she was naked. She’d had her fair share of boyfriends, but none had looked at her with half the hunger of Fraser MacKenzie.

She only hoped it was entirely because of his dragon.

Blinking, Holly pushed that thought aside. It wasn’t as if she could keep Fraser, not even if she survived the birth. She would have to give up everything she knew—her career, her father, her friends—if she stayed. Could she really manage that and still remain who she was?

Maybe there was some way everything could work out in the end. But as the figures disappeared through the door below, all she could think about was the immediate future and seeing Fraser again.

Holly turned away from the window. Each second that passed made her heart beat faster. As the sound of steps on the stairs and then in the hall grew nearer, she clenched and unclenched her fingers. The wait was going to kill her.

Someone knocked and Finn’s voice drifted through the door. “Are you ready, Holly? I’m not sure I can pull Fraser back once he sees you.”

This was it. For a split second, Holly’s confidence faltered. Could she really handle a dragonman in the throes of a frenzy? Not only that, but would Fraser’s human-half disappear completely for the next week or more?

Finn’s voice boomed again. “Holly? Are you all right, lass?”

Taking a deep breath, Holly nodded to herself. There was no point in delaying the inevitable. It was time to fulfill her contract. “I’m ready. Let him in.”

The doorknob turned and then Fraser was standing opposite her, restrained between Finn and a man she’d seen only once before, when Faye had escorted her out of the surgery. Grant-something-or-other.

Fraser growled as his pupils flashed to slits and back. “Mine. Let me have her. She’s my mate.”

Holly nodded at Finn and the two men released Fraser, pushed him into the room, and shut the door.