Chapter Eleven #3
Bless Janie. She might be a man-crazy twenty-something, but she was also a good hedge. Sophie made her slow way back to the couch. Last night, Michael had been at her side every time she moved, but Robert just stood there, looking annoyed.
“I wasn’t aware that I needed to report in to you, Robert.”
“You were in a car accident with broken bones. I certainly should have been informed.”
“Why? And how did you find out anyway?”
“I just came from the clinic. Your new girl, Morgan, told me. Of course, I had to flirt a little to get it out of her, but that didn’t mean anything.”
Just like old times. “Flirting never means anything to you, does it?”
“Oh, come on, baby. Let’s not fight.” Robert sat down beside her, giving her the confident smile he used in the courtroom.
“She’s a hot little number, but she’s been around the block a few times, I think.
She’s definitely not you.” He moved closer and put his hand on her good thigh. “Let me make you feel better.”
Before she could brush his hand away, Pendragon roared and flew across the room to land squarely on the coffee table in front of them. His spikes rose along his spine as he prepared to shoot a fiery flame at Robert.
“Stop!” Sophie shouted.
Pendragon growled and extended his claws like a cat.
Robert had jumped back, but quickly recovered. “Well, well, well. What have we here?” he asked.
Sophie sighed. How in the world was she going to explain a dragon? If only Pendragon had let her handle this! Dear Lord, don’t let him speak!
Pendragon growled again, but settled on his haunches, thankfully silent.
“You know I sometimes take in exotic species,” Sophie said, her mind racing for a really good explanation. “This is…um, a very rare Gila monster. He was scaring the cats and dogs at the kennel, so I brought him home.”
Pendragon blinked at her.
“Gila’s are orange and black,” Robert said suspiciously.
“Yes. That’s what makes this one so rare.”
“And they are also poisonous,” he added.
Pendragon drew back his lips to expose his sharp teeth. Tiny tendrils of smoke drifted from his nostrils.
Robert sidled away from Sophie, keeping an eye on Pendragon and moving slowly toward the door.
Sophie almost smiled. It actually felt good to see Robert unnerved for once.
She motioned for the dragon to return to the office.
He rumbled, but jumped off the table and ambled away, his claws clicking on the floor.
Robert sharpened his gaze. “I don’t know what’s going on here, Sophie, but I think you’re lying.”
“I’m not a liar!”
“You’re not a good liar. I deal with them every day.” He studied her for a moment, bolder now that the dragon had retreated. “There is no logical explanation for it, but I think that thing I just saw is the dragon, the one the media has been in such a frenzy about.”
“You’re right on one count, Robert. That certainly is not a logical explanation.”
He shrugged. “The big dragon lighting up the night sky isn’t logical either. But Air Traffic Control at DFW sighted something on their radar that wasn’t a plane. That data has been sent to NOAA and the FBI.”
Sophie groaned inwardly. She should have known this craziness wouldn’t stop simply with the media. “I have no idea what that was.”
“Liar,” he said again, “and, unless you want the media to ‘somehow find out’ you’re harboring that dragon in small form, I suggest you think twice about us getting back together again.”
“The divorce has been final for a year. Let’s not rehash old problems. Go back to Amber.”
“I’m not taking that whore back.” Robert gave her a look that was just short of menacing. “And I don’t appreciate another man messing with my wife, either.”
“I’m not your wife and what are you talking about?”
“Morgan told me how that guy, Michael, has been sniffing around your skirts. No doubt he wants to get between your legs—”
“That’s enough. You keep Michael out of this.”
Robert’s eyebrows rose. “So. I have competition, I see.”
“You don’t have competition! What I do is my own business. You no longer have any claim to me!”
“We’ll see about that,” Robert said, his eyes narrowing a bit. “I’m sure the authorities might be very interested in knowing what you harbor here.”
Sophie stared at him, feeling her blood chill. “You’d turn me in?”
He gave her his confident-attorney smile. “In a heartbeat, baby. I’ll call you tomorrow and see what your decision is. Hope you make the right one. We used to be so good together. Remember?”
Sophie watched him walk to his car. If there had been even one tiny drop of doubt in her blood, it was gone now. Robert was a cold, self-centered man only concerned with his own interests. And somehow, that “interest” had refocused on her.
The last thing she wanted to do was spend more time with Robert, but she couldn’t let the media—and certainly not the authorities—discover the dragon either. If he returned to full size, breathing fire, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill him.
Nor did she want Robert dragging Michael’s name through the mud. Or worse, concocting some foolproof accusation against Michael that would land him in jail. Robert was capable of it.
She’d have to find some way to keep Michael away from her.